Smithville Mayor and Aldermen to Meet in Special Called Session

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.

February 16, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A woman charged with burglary appeared in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday, February 13.

25-year-old Marissa Paige Anderson entered a plea to the charge by criminal information and was granted judicial diversion in the case for two years. She will be on supervised probation the first year and unsupervised probation the second year if all other probation conditions are met. She was given jail credit of 79 days.

According to court records, Anderson entered a building other than a habitation of Bill Page Ballpark on September 26, 2022 without the owner’s effective consent with the intent to commit theft of property.

February 16, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Tigers will be in Sparta Friday night, February 17 for their debut in the District Basketball Tournament as they face the White County Warriors. The game had been set for tonight (Thursday) but was postponed apparently due to the weather.

WJLE will have LIVE coverage of the game starting at 6 p.m.  Friday night, February 17. DC is the 5th place team and White County 4th. The winner will meet Stone Memorial, the #1 seed, on Saturday, February 18 at 4:30 p.m. at Stone Memorial.

White County is an opponent the Tigers know well this season having lost to the Warriors at home 62 to 57 on December 13 and 84 to 45 at Sparta on January 24.

Meanwhile the Upperman Bees (3rd seed) will face Cumberland County (6th seed) on Friday night in Baxter at 6 p.m. while Livingston Academy (2nd seed) will meet Macon County (7th seed) at Livingston on Friday at 7 p.m. The winners will square off in the semi-finals at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Stone Memorial.

In district tournament girls games, Cumberland County (3rd seed) will meet Upperman (2nd) in the district tournament semi-finals Saturday at Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. White County (4th) advances to the semi-finals of the tournament to play the top seed Livingston Academy on Saturday at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville at 8:30 p.m.

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