D.C.H.S. Students Chosen for Honors Band

February 17, 2023
By: Bill Conger

Four DeKalb County High School band students made the final cut to perform in the Honors Band at Tennessee Tech University.

Ayden Jones and Jayden Wildes on trumpet, B.J. Mosley, tenor sax, and Owen Warren, tuba were selected to perform during the 60th Annual Festival of Winds and Percussion, Feb. 10 and 11 at the Bryan Fine Arts Building at TTU. For their audition the students had to play 3 major scales two octaves, a chromatic scale, and sight read two pieces of music.

“They checked in early Friday morning, and they literally rehearsed for ten hours total Friday and Saturday,” D.C.H.S. Band Director Don Whitt says. “They were performing some rigorously challenging music.”

The event began with a meeting between directors, students in grades 9-12 from Middle Tennessee, and a 25-year-old composer, Katahj Copley from Austin, Texas, who wrote one of the pieces they were going to perform.

“Katahj is a much younger composer, and all of the students really were enamored with him because usually composers to the students are thought of to be like Beethoven and are like old and dead,” Whitt said with a laugh. “So, it is nice to see someone who is almost their age that connects with them on their level. They also had a master’s class taught by techs and professors of the university.”

Whitt says it was a wonderful learning experience for the high school band students.

“They met composers and worked with professors that potentially they could be seeing in the future if some pursue a career in music,” Whitt says. “They learned more about their instrument, and they got to meet students their own age with the same passion for music as they have.”

“With that said, I really enjoy when all of our students get to have an educational experience like this. In my career events going all the way to when I tried for honor band at Alabama I got to have the same experiences and meet potential colleagues and network This is how some of this is done. I hope more of DCHS band students will get an opportunity like this in the future for other honor bands and similar situations.

The next time the public can catch the band in action will be March 23 when the jazz ensemble performs a benefit concert at The Harvester Center. Music will be from 6-7 p.m. Doors open at 5:30. There will be no cover charge, but donations directly to the DCHS Band are encouraged. On Saturday, March 25, a 1920s Spring Formal will be held at the same location with the Beasley Court Big Band. Proceeds will go to the band.

February 17, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville has an on-line service for city property owners to pay their 2022 taxes.

City property taxes are due and payable without penalty through February 28, 2023.

“You can go to our website at https://www.smithvillecityhall.com/ and there’s a link to the far right where it says “Pay Property Tax”. Click on that link and it takes you right to the screen where you can do a search by tax year (2021 or 2022), name, address, map/parcel, subdivision and it will pull up the information including the taxes owed. It’s pretty simple. You can add it to the cart, and it walks you through the process on how to pay online,” said City Tax Clerk Holly Anderson.

City officials say the online service is also a great research tool for mortgage companies, banks, title and loan businesses and others needing information.

If you pay online a processing fee of 2.50% will be added to your total tax bill or $1.00 per transaction for ACH payments. You may also pay over the phone by calling 1-866-216-9551. Of course, you may pay in person at city hall or mail in your payment.

Smithville water and sewer customers may also access the website at www.smithville city hall.com to pay water and sewer bills although this service has been available for some time. You may also pay water and sewer bills by phone at 1-877-308-6272. Again, you may also pay in person at city hall or mail in your payment.

February 16, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will meet in a special called session following a 5:30 p.m. workshop on Tuesday, February 28 at city hall.

The agenda for the special meeting is as follows:

* Action on 2nd reading of Ordinance No. 509 (Building permit fees)
* Action on Volunteer Fire Department 2023 roster
* Action on 1st reading of Ordinance No. 510 (sewer plant septic tank effluent tanks (STEP).

* Discussion/action of Housing grant from UCDD
* Discussion/ action of greens mower for the Smithville Golf Course

During the special called meeting, the aldermen will act on an ordinance on second reading to amend the current schedule of permit fees for building, mechanical, and plumbing upon the recommendation of the city’s building codes inspector Lewis Bryant.

Currently, building permits are calculated based on $80 per square foot cost for a single-family dwelling. Under this ordinance, the fee would increase to $120 per square foot cost. For example, the cost of a building permit for a 1,953 square foot structure would increase from the current fee of $694.10 to $951.50.

Mechanical permits currently include a $30 base fee for the first $1,000 and $3 for each additional thousand dollars. The new base fee would go to $50 for the first $1,000 and $5 for each additional thousand dollars.

The cost of a plumbing permit currently includes a $20 base fee plus $3.50 per fixture. The new plumbing permit would consist of a $40 base fee plus $5.00 per fixture.

According to the ordinance amendment, the final building permit valuation shall be set by the building official and may be adjusted upon current data provided by the International Code Council where applicable.

The ordinance amendment also establishes a $100 fee for consultation or inspection not otherwise covered by a building, mechanical, or plumbing permit.

Future installation of Septic Tank Effluent Pump Systems (STEP) by private developers may soon be prohibited in the City of Smithville.

During last week’s regular monthly meeting, 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 based on a new state law which requires municipalities to maintain them. JR Wauford is the city’s engineering consultant.

During the special called meeting February 28 the aldermen will act on such a proposed ordinance on first reading.

For several years the city has serviced a development on Coconut Ridge Road with these type STEP systems.

“In a typical sewer system, you have houses that discharge through plumbing to a gravity line which flow through manholes that go to pump stations which ultimately end up in your wastewater plant,” said Tribble. “Alternatively, you could have lines from a home that discharge into a tank which has a grinder pump that pumps into a low-pressure sewer line and then discharges to a gravity sewer line or another pumping station. We call that a STEP system (Septic Tank Effluent Pump System). These systems are not recommended for cities that have central wastewater collection systems like the City of Smithville does. You have manholes, gravity lines, and pump stations to take all this wastewater to your plant and treat it there,” Tribble continued.

“The State of Tennessee passed regulations in May 2022 that changed how cities and municipalities have to view the ownership and control of these STEP systems. It states low pressure pumps, low pressure tanks, septic tank effluent pumps, STEP tanks, and septic effluent gravity tanks are integral to the treatment and conveyance of sewer in a low-pressure system design 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. What that means is the city would be ultimately responsible for the maintenance of these low-pressure gravity sewer lines and pumps. Instead of pumps that you have to replace just at the pump stations everyone pumps to, effectively the city would be responsible for maintaining the pumps of every resident who had this type of (STEP) system. Some are already in the system on Coconut Ridge, but they are not desirable long term for the City of Smithville. Its our recommendation that you don’t allow these in the future,” said Tribble.

The City of Smithville has been approved for a grant to fund a transitional housing program for women in recovery from substance abuse.

Last April during a special called meeting, the aldermen voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the filing of an application for a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant for Recovery Housing through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development with no local grant match or costs to the city. The Upper Cumberland Development District applied for the grant on behalf of the city which is to be administered by the Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency.

Under terms of the grant program, the UCHRA would manage the transitional housing facility as a city partner to serve from 8-12 females or women with children in recovery who would be charged rent to live there.

Contract terms between the city and UCDD/UCHRA, the partnering agencies, as to how the program would be operated and where it would be located are to be worked out if the aldermen move forward with the project. This issue will be up for discussion/action during the special called meeting February 28.

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