College Street Bridge Hit Again

February 10, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The College Street Bridge has been hit again!

Trooper Bobby Johnson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said 48 year old Timmy Ford of Crossville was traveling east on Broad Street Wednesday in a 2014 Peterbilt pulling a trailer loaded with crushed vehicles and scrap metal when part of the load struck the bottom of the bridge as the truck and trailer passed under the overpass.

Ford was not injured but was cited for his load being over height limits.

The bridge has been struck several times in recent years.

February 9, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Ice Skating is coming to downtown Smithville this weekend just ahead of Valentine’s Day thanks to a group of local businesses who are giving you an opportunity to take your honey for a spin on the ice!

The first ever “Skate with a Date” will be held Friday, February 11 from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday, February 12 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on the north side of the public square.

There is no cost to skate, but donations will be accepted to benefit the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, members of which will be manning the skating rink.

Local realtor Tony Luna said he got the idea from a couple with whom he recently did a real estate transaction who own the company that provides such entertainment opportunities.

“I actually sold a lake house to a couple from Lexington, Kentucky and their business called “Party on Air Event and Party Rentals” is inflatables and skating rinks, so we got to talking to Mayor Josh Miller and some of the downtown merchants and we all chipped in and decided to rent the ice-skating rink for Valentine’s weekend,” said Luna.

“It’s a 32’ x 40’ portable self-lubricating polymer ice rink which will be set up on the north side of the public square a little bit diagonal from DeKalb Florist. The city has agreed to block the street in front of the Refuge Church, so the public square won’t be completely blocked off. It will only be that little portion of the square blocked off for this event,” Luna said.

Although the event is being advertised as “Skate with a Date” it is actually for everyone whether you want to bring a date or not. “All you have to do is show up because the skates will be provided by the company. Skate sizes will range from 9.5 toddler to 13 adults. Just show up, strap on some skates and take off,” said Luna.

A special thanks to all the sponsors who are making this event possible including Tony Luna with Lake Homes Realty, the Male Room Brotique, Josh and Melissa Miller, Magnolia Roots, Button Willow General Store & Coffee Shop, Mallory Pfingstler of State Farm Insurance, Tiff’s Bakery, 615 Threads, Cheryl’s Beau Bees, The Market on Main, Bates Apparel, Cantrell’s Clothing, Harmony Lane Farm & Creamery, Rock Solid Construction, Bates Construction, The Purple Door Antiques & Uniques, Town & Lake Realty, The Vintage Owl, DeKalb County Florist, Center Hill Nursery, Just A Little Southern Charm, Upper Cumberland Tourism Association, Farmhouse Finds, Savvy Scrubs, and Infinity Athletics

“We are so happy with all the help we are getting for this event. Downtown Smithville is just so different than it was five years ago with a core group of people working together. We really do have something special down here now,” Luna concluded.

February 9, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville gets good marks in its latest financial audit report.

John Poole, Hendersonville CPA, who performed the annual audit for the city, addressed the mayor and aldermen Monday night.

Poole said the audit showed no major deficiencies. “In doing the state audit we are really trying to do three things. One is to make sure we provide the state the financial information that they require in their oversight but the ladies in the office at city hall do such a terrific job that we as auditors really didn’t have to spend a lot of time on that,” said Poole.

“ Another thing we do that is most important to this board is to look to make sure we are getting the monies we are supposed to be getting, whether that’s from annual property taxes, monthly utility billing and monies from the county and the state such as gasoline taxes, sales taxes, etc. and then once we receive those monies at city hall we have to make sure our employees are following city policy and handling those monies appropriately and to see that those monies get to the designated banks. In our opinion as auditors, we didn’t see anything that gave us any concern. Of course, when you have as many property taxpayers and utility customers as the city does you are going to have some folks that may not pay on a timely basis, but the city does a really good job especially with property taxes tracking that and getting it over to the county. The city also does a good job with the utilities (water and sewer) managing that risk and doing cutoffs as needed so as for the city getting the monies it is supposed to get, we think the city is doing that very well,” Poole said.

“The third thing we look at is making sure the monies this board authorizes the department heads to spend is done for city business and we didn’t find anything to cause a concern as to how the monies are being spent. As auditors we are looking to make sure the city is following its purchasing procedures especially when there are grant or loan funds involved and again, we didn’t find anything that gave us a concern,” Poole continued.

According to Poole, the water and sewer fund showed a surplus for the year which meets the state’s requirement that the utility be financially self-supporting.

“With utility funds it’s a state law that you must have at least a one-dollar surplus at least every other year. The change in net position is $469,000 so from the state’s standpoint we had a surplus of $469,000 but the capital contributions or one time grant monies make up a large portion of that but even when you back that out and you are still at $140,000 in profit. As for the balance sheet, what we own and what we owe, the amount in checking, savings, and CDs altogether is almost $4.7 million dollars. If I wanted to compare cities in the middle Tennessee area serving the number of customers, you do having this amount of money and with the low amount of debt you have this city is well above average which gives you the opportunity to do the things you need to do. Running a water and sewer business is very expensive but it’s nice to know that you have money set aside in case you ever need it,” said Poole.

Although expenditures in the general fund exceeded revenues for the year, Poole said most of that was due to large one-time purchases and he isn’t concerned.

“In the general fund we spent $885,000 more than we took in but there were some big capital outlay numbers for purchases made during the year so without those big expenditures there would have been a surplus. In fact, from the state’s standpoint officially we show a surplus of over one million dollars for the year so again in my opinion from a financial standpoint the city is doing very well with the $6.3 million that the city has to do the things it needs to so,” added Poole.

In other business, the aldermen voted to hire Braxton Atnip to fill a vacancy in the sanitation department.

The aldermen also voted to take bids for the resurfacing of the city tennis courts.

The aldermen also approved a budget amendment on first reading to make a contribution of $20,000 to the DeKalb County Youth Baseball League for the repair and rehabilitation of the city owned Joe L. Evins Ballpark. The funds will come from the city’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act money.

The council further approved the list of Smithville Fire Department members for 2022 including the following:

Chief Charles Parker- 42 years of service, Hoyte Hale-Deputy Chief-37 years, Captain Jeff Wright-37 years, Lieutenant Danny Poss-42 years, Lieutenant John Poss-30 years, Lieutenant Donnie Cantrell-42 years and Firefighters: William Brown-24 years, Gary Johnson-17 years, James R. Hunt-17 years, Stephanee Wright-16 years, Glen Lattimore-14 years, Cory Killian-11 years, Greg Bess-photographer/auxiliary member 27 years, Becky Atnip-9 years, Shawn Jacobs-auxiliary 9 years, Bradley Johnson-8 years, Dalton Roberts-8 years, Kim Johnson-6 years, Seth Wright-6 years, Dillon Hicks-4 years, Jeff Prisock-3 years, Andrew Cooper-3 years, Kayla Johnson-auxiliary 3 years, Dakota Nokes-2 years, Cole Wright-1 year, Mark Riggsbee-auxiliary 1 year, and Tyler Cantrell- 1 year.

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