New DeKalb Voting Machines to be Used for First Time Starting with March 5th Primaries (View Video Here)

February 8, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Beginning with the 2024 election cycle, DeKalb County voters will be casting ballots on new voting machines that will include a “Voter-verifiable paper audit trail.”

(See video below)

In 2022, the DeKalb County Election Commission voted to purchase the machines from the Microvote Company, an action to comply with a law passed by the legislature requiring that on or after January 1, 2024 “each voting machine used by a county election commission must produce a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT).” As defined, a VVPAT means “a paper record that is marked either manually by the voter or with the assistance of a devise that includes human-readable voter selections that the voter may check for accuracy before the vote is cast.”

“This is the first election (March 5) using our new voting machines,” said DeKalb County Administrator of Elections Dustin Estes. “Thankfully, we have the same vendor from our previous voting machines so they are very similar with some minor upgrades”.

“The major difference is that the state now requires us to have a paper trail and that paper trail is contained inside a large black box that is locked and sealed inside the voting unit,” Estes explained. “ It is to the benefit of the voter to confirm when they are verifying who they have voted for through their selections and it will print that on paper inside the box with a window so that they (voter) can confirm that who they selected on the machine is now printed on paper. It is to the benefit of the voter as a double check that who they wanted to vote for is actually who they voted for. Once they cast their ballot, then that paper will roll up, and no one will ever know who they voted for,” said Estes.

“I want the voters to be aware that their name is not printed on that paper and there is no identification that could tie the voter to who they voted for. The secret ballot is intact. That is sealed for 22 months or six months depending upon the election and its held in case there is an audit or a court order for a contest of elections,” said Estes.

February 7, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Prevention Coalition and the DeKalb County Health Department are partnering to offer a community baby shower on March 16 from 2 until 3:30 p.m. at the county complex in the UT Extension Office conference room.

Jennifer Matthews, Director of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition invites the public, especially expectant parents, to attend. Look for the balloons outside the UT Extension door entrance to the building and once you enter it is through the first door on the right.

“This is something we used to offer to the community pre-Covid but now with things getting back to normal we wanted to start it again,” said Matthews. “We will have light refreshments for expectant parents, free resources, information tables, and anything a new parent might need to help them. We will have resources about safe sleeping with infants, information about breast feeding, car seat safety, etc. The coalition is involved offering information about medication safety, how to lock up medication and we will have free medication lockboxes available that day to give parents who want to learn about how to keep their medication safely locked up in their home. We will also have door prizes and giveaways,” said Matthews.

“If you have a local business or are part of an organization that offers free resources or information which could benefit new parents and would like to participate contact Allison Keith at the DeKalb County Health Department at 615-597-7599. Vendors are welcome to attend but we need to have a head count in advance to make sure there is enough space,” Matthews explained.

“The DeKalb County Health Department also has a program called “Gifts” for parents. If you are pregnant and you smoke or vape, they offer a program to you for the first year of your child’s life. During your pregnancy you can be part of this program and if you participate in the right way, they will give you free diapers for the first year of your child’s life every month for the first twelve months. Again, call Allison at the health department for more information about that,” said Matthews.

February 7, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Will the Board of Education partner with the county in funding construction of a new 800 student Pre-K to 2nd grade elementary school to replace the existing Smithville Elementary School complex?

That issue is on the agenda for discussion and possible action during Thursday night’s monthly board of education meeting which will be held at 7 p.m. at DeKalb County High School. A workshop will be held prior to the meeting at 6 p.m.

Three months ago, members of the county commission and board of education met together in an informal workshop setting to work toward some funding arrangement on the project. In October 2022 architects estimated the cost to build a new Smithville Elementary School was $46,199,875 at that time.

According to County Mayor Matt Adcock and the county’s fiscal agent Steve Bates, a $40 million school construction project could be funded without a property tax increase or even a wheel tax, using available local option sales tax funds and interest income on bond proceeds, but only if the school board is willing to make a one-time contribution of two million dollars from its $10 million fund balance reserves. The county would also need a commitment from the cities and school board to extend the existing sales tax agreements between the parties which expire July 16, 2037. Under those agreements, the cities turn over to the county for schools a greater percentage of their local option sales tax collections than they would otherwise be required to do. That money goes into what is called the Local Purpose Tax Fund for Schools to help fund school operation and debt.

“The best-case scenario would be to extend the sales tax agreements between the county, cities, and school board (beyond 2037) in order to do 30-year bonds but do an emission of bonds to build the school and amortize it over a 15-year period with a $ 2 million contribution from the Board of Education from their fund balance together with a contribution from local purpose (local option sales tax fund),” explained Bates.

“Under this plan, we (county) would take $5.6 million (from local purpose/sales tax fund) together with the school’s $2 million contribution and together with bond proceeds issue an amount of bonds to build the school. By amortizing it quickly over 15 years then it opens up future borrowing capacity for another school to be built once that issue is paid off,” said Bates.

The Board of Education has been reluctant to make a $2 million commitment from the school district’s fund balance because of other needs including some that are state mandated which either are being or may have to be financially supported locally from the fund balance (reserves).

“We have concerns about them (county) asking us to contribute $2 million from our fund balance (reserves),” said Director of Schools Patrick Cripps in November. ” Right now, we (school district) have close to $9.9 million in our reserves (fund balance) and that is healthy but when you run a budget of up to $29 million then $9 million is not a whole lot of money and to think that we could possibly be pulling $2 million out of that and suddenly be down to $7.9 million left in reserves is a cause of worry for me. We (school district and school board) have been good stewards of the money and because of that we have been able to give pay raises to our employees without having to ask the county commission for more local funding to do that and I would not want to harm that ability. I would like for us (school district) to be able to take care of our business with our money and not have to ask for more from the county,” said Director Cripps.

“There are also mandates we have to meet which are not funded by the state,” Cripps continued. “Right now, we are able to cover those (costs) with some of the grants we have been able to write because of COVID but those end this year so we will have to come up with additional money to fund those mandates and that comes at a cost to our local budget. So again, it concerns me having to go into our (school) reserves for anything and if we have to go deeper into our reserves to help pay for a new school that scares me even more. And really, although we certainly need new schools, if we don’t have quality teachers and quality support staff in our building working because we are not able to take care of them with their pay it really doesn’t matter what kind of building you have,” said Director Cripps.

In other business Thursday night, the board will consider and act on starting a volleyball program at DCHS for 2024-25; consider and act on a DCHS request to change dual enrollment requirements; consider and act on the DCHS prom being held off campus at the Capitol Theater in Lebanon; and the director will give a personnel report. Matters on the consent agenda will also be considered for adoption.

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