City water and sewer rates expected to increase again this summer

May 7, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Another increase in rates may be coming for Smithville water and sewer customers with passage of the 2022-23 budget this summer.

During last Monday night’s budget committee workshop, Mayor Josh Miller and the aldermen discussed the possibility of raising rates by 2% or more. A rate study will be conducted to determine by how much. Water and sewer rates were increased 2% this past year to help offset costs.

City water customers currently pay $7.40 per thousand gallons. Rates for customers outside the city limits are $11.10 per thousand. City sewer customers pay $6.89 per thousand.

City officials believe its wiser to implement smaller rate increases now rather than larger hikes later to keep incoming revenues ahead of expenses and that is also the recommendation of the state comptroller.

“Last year the comptroller recommended that we go up 2% on water and sewer rates every year,” said Mayor Miller. Now chemicals are costing more, pipes are costing more, and we are looking at giving (11% cost of living) raises to employees. Of course, with those raises, some of it will be (paid for) in the general fund and some of it in the water and sewer department and that is going to be more costs. We were thinking to let Buddy Qualls, the one who did a water study for us before look at this to give a recommendation on if we need to go up more than 2% this year. I think we need to do this (study) but I am not going to be in favor of a major water hike either,” said Mayor Miller.

“I believe we can keep it below 5% but we may need more than 2%,” said City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson

“I just know chemical costs were higher than what we budgeted for the year when I was looking at it last month and I am afraid other costs are going to be a lot more than we planned for this past year and as inflation has continued. I don’t think 2% will be adequate but I would rather have the professional analyzing it give us some guidance,” said Janice Plemmons-Jackson, the city’s financial consultant.

Under state law, if a utility continues to operate at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent.

The city is also considering increasing its contribution to the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad each year from $1,000 to $2,000.

May 7, 2022
By: Bill Conger

The highest-ranking female in Tae Kwon Do in America and the second highest in the world recently visited DeKalb County for the Tennessee State Championship of Tae Kwon Do. Grand Master Brenda Sell, a 9th degree Black Belt and President of the U.S. Chung Do Kwan Association, America’s oldest TKD Association spoke to students and families at the DeKalb County Complex during the event that Middle Tennessee Tae Kwon Do in Smithville hosted.

“Our association is a family,” Brenda Sell said during an interview after her speech. “We have chartered schools all throughout the country and Middle Tennessee [Tae Kwon Do] is one of our charter schools. When they get to a certain size and there’s enough people to be able to have competition in the different rings and all, then they can petition to host a sanctioned event.”

M-T-K’s owner and instructors George and Amy Lloyd petitioned to host the state championships. Students from Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee competed April 30.

“Middle Tennessee Tae Kwon Do has inside their patch the word champion, and I have discovered that champions are not born; champions are made,” Sell explained. “And I think that’s important for everybody to understand. You can be a champion. Maybe not a champion in Tae Kwon Do but through the Tae Kwon Do training, you can definitely be a champion in life.’

Sell touts the many benefits of Tae Kwon Do including that it’s an individual sport.

“Everyone plays. There’s nobody sitting on the bench. There’s nobody well, I ‘m not good enough to be out there today. In Tae Kwon Do we work on building character with the students. We have a set curriculum. There’s six parts of every class, and the third part of the class is what we call forms or patterns. They have to memorize moves in a set order. By the time they reach black belt, they’ve memorized over 2,000 moves in a set order, and at every belt testing they’re graded on this. They’re graded on memorization; they’re graded on technique; they’re graded on balance; they’re graded on dances; they’re graded on enthusiasm, power; there’s a whole list of things they’re graded on. With each belt rank, we add more movements to that.”

Sell adds that the sport provides for a lot of self-reflection and a place for children to positively focus their energy.

“People with anger issues will come in and they have to develop patience because they’re not moving forward if they don’t be patient with themselves in the memorization and the progression of moving forward with training their body to move.”

“We’ve seen a lot of children who have ADD, ADHD come in and we keep them active, and they learn by watching and learn by doing, and that’s a very good learning mode for children with those disabilities. It’s wonderful to see them because they can channel that energy now, and they have a place to put it. We’ve seen their grades go from nearly failing up into the honor roll. We don’t require them to be high on the honor roll. We just require them to be improving.”

Sell, who has been training in Tae Kwon Do for 52 years, first began her journey in the sport at age 14

“I had moved to a new city. I didn’t know anybody. Somebody at the bus stop said how would you like to join Korean karate. It wasn’t even called Tae Kwon Do back then. There were primarily late teen men and young adult boys getting ready to go into the military. The draft was in place then. And very few females and no children.”

She says with a big family of six children, she never thought about a gender gap.

“We just all did everything together. We played together. We wrestled together. I really didn’t even notice that there weren’t a lot of women until it was pointed out to me because I was just having fun. My parents … said to all of us kids, ‘You can do anything you want to except quit. You’re not allowed to quit.’ That discipline of learning the commitment factor has been a driving force in my entire life. With Tae Kwon Do, I enjoyed it so much, I just never saw an end to it. I guess I’ll be kicking until the day I go meet the Lord,” she said, laughing.

May 6, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A Thursday afternoon fire destroyed the home of Roger Tramel at 702 Cill Street as well as a garage on property behind the home off Charity Lane belonging to Danny Adams.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation according to Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker.

The call came in around 4:15 p.m. No one was injured.

Contents of both the house and garage were lost along with a dog. Canopies and vehicles on the properties including a pontoon boat were either threatened, damaged or destroyed.

Heavy black smoke from the fire could be seen rising into the sky for miles and neighbors reported hearing an explosion believed to be from a couple of propane tanks which ignited during the fire.

The Smithville Fire Department arrived on the scene and also deployed the ladder truck to help fight the blaze.

Chief Parker said he wishes to thank neighbors and a rehab team of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad who brought drinking water to firefighters. The Smithville Police Department was also on the scene.

Members of the local chapter of the American Red Cross came to assist with immediate needs of the fire victims.

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