City Awards Bid to Replace Dry Creek Road Bridge Over Fall Creek

March 9, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Construction may begin soon on the replacement of a small bridge with a hole in it on Dry Creek Road over Fall Creek just off of West Broad Street.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the aldermen awarded a bid for the replacement of the bridge. Most of the funds for the project will come from the city’s share of American Rescue Plan Act money but State Representative Michael Hale has requested some state funding to help pay for it. Twin K. Construction of Helenwood, Tennessee was the only bidder and the aldermen accepted their bid of $630,605. In addition to the construction bid, other added costs including engineering have been or will be incurred that will possibly put the total project at more than $700,000.

“Our appropriations filing deadline is Monday and among the bills I have filed is a request for $250,000 from the state to help the city with that bridge not only to benefit the city but because this is the closest access route to our state highway garage which is on Dry Creek Road,” said Representative Hale.

Although it remains partially open to traffic, the bridge has a hole through it that city officials discovered last summer. The Mayor and Aldermen subsequently voted to have an engineer develop plans and specifications for eventual bid letting for a new bridge. A bid opening was held last Tuesday morning.

When construction begins this spring, the street at the site of construction will have to be closed until the project is completed.

In other business, the aldermen adopted on second and final reading an ordinance to rezone the Carol Buchanan property from R-1 residential to C-1 commercial located at State Route 56 and Jennings Lane near the Smithville Church of the Nazarene. First reading action was taken last month upon the recommendation of the Smithville Planning Commission.

The aldermen also adopted on first reading an ordinance concerning septic tank effluent pumps (STEP).

Last month, Daniel Tribble, Manager of Field Services for JR Wauford and Company of Nashville recommended that the city adopt an ordinance or resolution to prohibit future installation of STEPs by private developers based on a new state law which requires municipalities to maintain them. JR Wauford is the city’s engineering consultant.

The proposed ordinance, as adopted on first reading, states as follows:

“Whereas the City owns and operates an existing gravity wastewater collection system; and
Whereas, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation passed updated Rules in May 2022 that state the following in Chapter 0400-40-06 “State Operating Permits”- Low pressure pumps, low pressure tanks, septic tank effluent pumps (STEP), STEP tanks, and septic tank effluent gravity (STEG) tanks are integral to the treatment and conveyance of sewage in a low-pressure system, and shall be owned or under control of the municipality, other body of government, public utility district, or a privately owned public utility demonstrating lawful jurisdiction over the service area; and

Whereas the City desires to continue the use of a gravity sewer collection system consisting of gravity sewers which discharge to existing components of the City’s collection system or to a central sewage pumping station when topography requires. The city desires to control the implementation of low-pressure sewer systems due to the additional maintenance required by the city to maintain grinder pumps. The city wishes to prohibit the implementation of STEP and STEG systems that connect to the wastewater collection system since these type systems require additional maintenance and discharge lower strength sewage which could inhibit proper operation of the City’s wastewater treatment plant.

Now, Therefore Be It Resolved, that:

1. The City may allow the connection of low-pressure sewer pumps in the following situations:

a. When a single lot cannot be served by gravity sewers,

b. When the topography of a proposed development would require numerous central sewage pumping stations which would require more maintenance than low pressure sewers,

c. When the City’s Administrator deems low pressure sewers acceptable.

2. The City will not allow STEP and STEG systems to be connected to the City’s wastewater collection system.”

March 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The next term of the DeKalb County Grand Jury will meet on Monday, April 3.

“It is the duty of your grand jurors to investigate any public offense which they know or have reason to believe has been committed and which is triable or indictable in the county. Any person having knowledge or proof that an offense has been committed may apply to testify before the grand jury subject to the provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated 40-12-105. The foreman in this county is presently Ms. Katherine Pack, 1 Public Square, Room 201, Smithville, Tennessee, 37166.” said DeKalb Circuit Court Clerk Susan Martin.

“The grand jury will next meet on Monday, the 3rd day of April, 2023, at 8:30 a.m.. You may be prosecuted for perjury for any oral or written statement which you make under oath to the grand jury, when you know the statement to be false, and when the statement touches on a matter material to the point in question,” she said.

March 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

DCHS Tiger Soccer fans will get their first look at the boys’ team in action this year on Saturday, March 11 during the Upper Cumberland Classic Pre-Season Play Day in Smithville.

Action will take place at both the game field at 600 Allen Ferry Road and the practice field at 1130 West Broad Street.

DeKalb County’s first game will be at 9 a.m. at the game field against Macon County. Other schools participating are Community, Smith County, Bledsoe County, Cannon County, Watertown, and Westmoreland.

The regular season begins on Tuesday, March 14 as the Tigers travel to Baxter to face Upperman in a district match at 6 p.m.

With this year’s team consisting of several experienced seniors, Tiger Soccer Coach Dylan Kleparek (Coach K) is expecting a good year.

“We have a really strong team coming back. On paper we look like one of the better teams we have had, and we have had a lot of good teams in the past. We lost one senior last year, so we are basically returning our entire team. We have ten seniors who will all start so it’s a really strong group and behind them we have a good group of juniors and a really strong group of sophomores, so we have some depth. I have coached a lot of these players since they were really little kids and watched them work their way up through the middle school program. They are all well experienced and strong players and work well together. We look to score a lot of goals this season. They are very aggressive at attacking the goal and creating a lot of great chances for us. We’re looking forward to a strong, positive season but we have to really work hard and take each game one at a time” said Coach K.

Although the district race will be competitive, the Tigers are expected to be a strong contender.

“Our district is made up of Livingston Academy, Stone Memorial, and Upperman who are in the north side of our bracket and in the south side we have Cumberland County, White County, and DeKalb County. We play each team once and we play everyone on our side of the bracket a second time and then the top team on each side will get a first-round bye (in district tournament) and then the other teams will play in the tournament between the two sides,” said Coach K.

“On our side of the bracket, Cumberland County is always very strong, and they will be tough competition. White County is also usually pretty strong but this year they are kind of an up-and-coming program so we will have to look out for them because in soccer any team can beat another on any day, so you always have to play hard. On the other side of the bracket, Stone Memorial and Livingston Academy are both tough teams and Upperman is kind of the up-and-coming team there so it’s sort of an even two sides to our district. I expect Cumberland County to probably be our biggest opponent this season,” Coach K said.

2023 DCHS Tiger Soccer Schedule:
REGULAR SEASON
March 14: *Upperman-Away: 6:00
March 16: Coffee County-Home:7:00 p.m. (JV) 5:00
March 24: Springfield JV (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 6:00 E
March 24: Ooltewah (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 8:00 E
March 25: Shelbyville JV (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 9:30 E
March 25: Carter (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 11:30 E
March 26: Gatlinburg-Pittman (Smoky Mountain Cup): Away-9:30 E
March 26: William Blount JV (Smoky Mountain Cup):Away-11:30 E
April 4: *Stone Memorial: Home- 6:00
April 6: Cannon County:Home-6:00
April 11: *Cumberland County: Home- 6:00
April 13: *White County: Home- 6:00
April 18: *Livingston: Home- 6:00
April 20: *White County: Away-6:00
April 25: *Cumberland County:Away-6:30
April 27: Central Magnet: Away- 6:15
May 2: Macon County: Home- 6:00 (Senior Night)
May 4: Warren County:Away-6:00

POSTSEASON
May 8: 1st Round District Tournament: TBA
May 9: 2nd Round District Tournament-White County:TBA
May 11: District Championship-White County: TBA
May 16: Region Semifinals:TBA
May 18: Region Championship:TBA
May 20: Substate: TBA
May 22: State Tournament : TBA

2023 DCHS Tigers Soccer Roster
#2-Jonathan Balderas-Junior
#3-Cooper Brown -Senior
#4-Connor Hopkins-Freshman
#5-Brayan Aguirre-Sophomore
#6-Ekow Afful-Turkson-Junior
#7-Jonathan Zavala-Senior
#8-Miguel Mata-Senior
#9-Cameron Miller-Senior
#10-Yair Mata-Senior
#11-Adan Ramirez-Senior
#12-Axel Aranda-Sophomore
#13-Aydan Bean-Junior
#14-Jaxon Kleparek-Freshman
#15-Leo Delgado-Sophomore
#16-Emilio Garcia-Junior
#17-Hector Cervantes-Sophomore
#18-Brandon Silva-Senior
#19-Jose Guzman-Sophomore
#20-Milas Driver-Sophomore
#21-Ryder Miller-Senior
#23-Giovani Palomo-Freshman
#24-Jesus Guzman-Sophomore
#25-Bryan Ramirez-Sophomore
#26-Jonathan Garcia-Senior
#27-Cesar Gaspar-Junior
#28-Cale Brown-Sophomore
#29-Erick Hernandez-Sophomore
#30-Miguel Guzman-Sophomore
#31-Connor Vance-Senior
#32-Jack Gassaway-Freshman

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