Committee Recommends Allocating One Million Dollars in ARP Funds to DeKalb Highway Department for Road Improvements

December 9, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

One million dollars!

That’s how much money the DeKalb County Highway Department is expected to get from the county’s share of remaining ARP funding to help repair deteriorating roads.

During Thursday night’s meeting, members of the county’s ARP committee, which is made up entirely of the county commissioners, agreed to allocate almost the entire amount of remaining ARP funds to the local road department at the request of Supervisor Danny Hale specifically to be spent on improving roads. The full county commission will make the final call at a later meeting

Hale first addressed the ARP committee last month with his request.

Although the road department is primarily funded by allocations from state sources such as gasoline and motor fuel tax, state aid program, and the petroleum special tax, it also benefits from a local mineral severance tax and the county currently kicks in .0326 cents of the local property tax rate which, according to the budget comes to about $196,597 a year.

Even if the county commission adopts the ARP committee’s recommendation the extra one million dollars to the highway department would still only allow Road Supervisor Hale to service about 16 miles of roads. Although it is not near enough to do the work needed, Hale said it is a step in the right direction and he appreciates the good faith effort by the county commission to help him.

“I really appreciate it. We usually don’t get any extra help (from the county) but what we do get I appreciate it and I hope it continues because we need our roads fixed. That’s what the people elected me to do and the more money we have the more we can do,” said Road Supervisor Hale.

Breaking it down by month, Hale explained that his department receives an average of $210,786 in state revenue and $16,416 in county tax funds for a total of $227,202 while the cost to operate is $128,506 per month which covers everything but paving, chipping, and buying equipment.

According to Hale that leaves him only $98, 696 per month to service 514 miles of roads in DeKalb County or $192 per mile in which to tar and chip or pave.

“Eighty five percent of our roads need to be redone (repaved or re-chipped). That’s a reality. Our roads are all to pieces. Its costs us $60,000 to $90,000 per mile to chip a road and $150,000 to $200,000 per mile to pave,” said Road Supervisor Hale.

Meanwhile, the ARP committee Thursday night recommended allocating $65,000 toward a playground at the Belk Community Center and $11,890 for repairs to the Midway Community Center.

A proposal to remodel the county complex office (Re-locating County Complex Main office closer to the front door) using $20,000 in ARP money will instead be reassigned, if approved by the county commission, from the budget’s capital projects fund.

At the beginning of the meeting Thursday night, County Mayor Matt Adcock explained that the county had allocated $2,981,348 in ARP funds of the total amount received of $3,979,942. A total of $661,862 has already been spent.

Funds for the following projects either have been or will be spent, as approved in the 2022-23 budget at no costs to the county.

*Fire Department: $373,372 toward construction of a new three bay Liberty/Dowelltown fire hall to improve firefighting and EMS services in the western portion of the county. Under the plan the current Liberty Fire Hall located in downtown Liberty will be replaced by the new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall to be constructed on an 8.65-acre site formerly known as the old Liberty/Dowelltown Park off Highway 70 on West Main Street, owned by both municipalities, which is no longer in use. The new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall could also serve as an EMS satellite station.

*EMS-$88,642 for 4- Stryker Lucas chest compression devices and $96,864 for 3-Zoll heart monitors.

*Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad- $50,000 for an underwater camera, $7,000 for a raft, and $6,500 for a drone

*DeKalb County Clerk’s office- $26,000 for a BIS outdoor self-service (vehicle registration renewal) kiosk

*DeKalb Health Department- $398,000 as a local grant match for construction of a new county $3.9 million health department center to be funded mostly by the state.

*DTC Communications- $750,000 toward a grant match to help support completion of a fiber infrastructure build in portions of DeKalb County.

* Water Utilities- The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is providing $3,730, 767 in funds to the county to be used strictly for water and sewer needs and distributed on an 80/20 grant match basis per project. TDEC will fund 80% of the match with the remaining 20% to be provided by a local source. The county has allocated $373,000 in ARP money to fund 10% of the 20% local match per project with DeKalb County water utility applicants to fund the other 10%. For example, if a utility applied for a one-million-dollar water project, TDEC would supply 80% of the funding while the county’s ARP funds would support half of the 20% local match or 10% while the utility would have to agree to fund the remaining 10% match. The DeKalb Utility District has identified as its most critical need extending a water line across Hurricane Bridge to directly serve its own customers (approximately 200 meters) there which is expected to bring down costs to the utility. The total project is two million dollars with a $300,000 local grant match to be funded half by DUD and half from DeKalb County ARP funds. Meanwhile, the DeWhite Utility District has identified as its critical need the rehabilitation of the Smithville Highway Waterline in DeKalb County. The total project is $1,453,684 with a $218,052 local grant match to be funded half by DeWhite Utility District and half from DeKalb County ARP funds. The City of Baxter has identified as its critical need a waterline rehabilitation serving the Wolf Creek Community of DeKalb County. The total project cost is $777,778 with a local grant match of $77,778 to be funded half by the City of Baxter and half from DeKalb County ARP funds. The UCDD project administration costs total $111,923 with a local match of $16,788 from DeKalb County ARP funds.

Other ARP funded projects included in the budget are as follows:

*Liberty Tennis Court Renovation: $18,000

*DeKalb Fire Department Brush Truck Purchase: $220,000. The county currently has only one brush truck

*Bonuses or Premium Pay for County Employees: A total of $369,595 of ARP funds were distributed to county employees and volunteers.

* 911 Mobile CAD project: $184,375 to fund purchase of mobile CAD, broadband service, laptops, mounts, and 5 gateways for the mobile CAD project and the Ready OP radio gateways

With approval by the county commission for the latest round of ARP spending as recommended by the committee Thursday night, coupled with the already approved projects noted above, the county will have allocated all its share of ARP funds.

December 9, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County High School’s Career & Technical Education (CTE) Department is getting a grant for $102,000 to enhance programs being offered to students.

Supporting Postsecondary Access in Rural Communities (SPARC) grants from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) are awarded to distressed and at-risk counties in the state, as designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) index of economic status.

During its regular monthly meeting Thursday night, the DeKalb County Board of Education gave its blessing for the grant.

SPARC is a targeted grant program for high school and adult learner populations with a specific focus on Career & Technical Education (CTE). SPARC aims to address the associated education and workforce factors that designate them as economically distressed and to remove common postsecondary education access barriers in rural counties.

According to Brad Leach, Career and Technical Education Director at DCHS, the funds will enhance, among others, the agriculture and cosmetology programs at DCHS and industry certification tests for students.

“This grant is due to the economics of our county. We did qualify this year for this grant and there are certain criteria we have to meet concerning our workforce and economics. The grant is for $102,000 and we will use this grant to make improvements in our agriculture program as well as our cosmetology, advanced manufacturing and I even have a part in there for transportation for industry certification,” said Leach.

In his monthly report on personnel, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps announced that employees Lauren Ferrell, Tina Gash, and Sara Young have been granted a leave of absence as requested and that Transportation Supervisor Michael Agee and Educational Assistant at Smithville Elementary School Jennifer Gay have resigned.

Director Cripps thanked Agee and Gay for their years of service to the school district.

The school board also approved a request for the DCHS girls basketball team to participate in a Christmas Tournament at Maryville December 27-30.

December 8, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The Town of Dowelltown will host the 22nd annual City Lights Contest December 12-16.

If you are a resident of Dowelltown and you want to be judged, please have your Christmas lights lit and on display every night that week from 6 to 9 p.m. Houses will be judged at different times throughout these days. Winners will be announced, and awards presented on December 17.

Winners will receive:
*1st, 2nd & 3rd Prize for Best Overall Scene
*1st, & 2nd Prize for Best Door or Porch
*1st & 2nd Prize for Best Window

The event is sponsored by DTC Communications, Wilson Bank & Trust, and by Liberty State Bank

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