CPA Pleased with Findings in City Audit Report (View City Audit Report Here)

February 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville gets good marks in its latest financial audit report for the year ended June 30, 2022.

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 $157,000 so we had a surplus and you certainly met the state’s threshold. From a financial standpoint your utility system is in good shape,” said Poole.

As for the general fund, Poole said the net change in the fund balance position is $9,000 for the year. “In the general fund we spent $877,000 for the police department. We did borrow the money for the police department (construction) the previous year but even with us having spent almost $900,000 for the police department (debt service) in this fiscal year the city still showed a surplus. The City of Smithville has a very strong economy right now and in my opinion from a financial standpoint the city is doing very well with almost $6 million dollars in cash in the general fund that the city can use for future projects. It would be hard to argue that the City of Smithville is not doing very well,” added Poole.

Audit Report

February 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Tigers were unable to complete a season sweep of Cumberland County Tuesday night as they lost to the Jets 56 to 49 at Crossville. Last month the Tigers grounded the Jets in Smithville 62 to 48.

Although the rematch for the Lady Tigers was much closer than the earlier meeting last month when they lost at home to Cumberland County 77 to 30, DC came up just short this time falling to the Lady Jets 54 to 50.

For the boys, DC trailed 8 to 6 after the 1st period, 24 to 19 at halftime, and 36 to 28 after the 3rd period before dropping a 56 to 49 decision to the Jets.

Conner Close scored 26 followed by Elisha Ramos with 14, Zack Birmingham 5, and Robert Wheeler 4.

The Lady Tigers were behind 14 to 8 after the 1st period and trailed 24 to 16 at halftime and 33 to 29 after the 3rd period before losing the game 54 to 50.

Ella VanVranken scored 20 followed by Avery Agee 13, Chloe VanVranken 8, Madison Martin 6, and Cam Branin 3.

The Tigers slip to 12-13 overall and 4-7 in the district. The Lady Tigers are now 14-13 on the season and 4-7 in district play.

DeKalb County will conclude the regular season at home with senior night Friday, February 10 hosting Upperman. Action begins with the girls game at 6 p.m. followed by the boys game and both will be broadcast LIVE on WJLE.

February 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

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

During Monday night’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.

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

Meanwhile, Tribble updated the Mayor and Aldermen on the sewer line rehab project that has just begun on Carter Street.

“The gravity sewer repair job is being done by John Hall Construction. The notice to proceed was issued Monday. They are starting on Carter Street with an estimated completion date of May or June depending upon weather,” said Tribble.

Although Carter Street will be closed to through traffic during the project, residents who live there will have access.

The work is the beginning of an almost one-million-dollar project to rehab sewer lines and manholes in certain parts of town including Earl Avenue and West Main Street in addition to Carter Street.

Last September, the aldermen voted to award a bid to the John T. Hall Construction Company of Sparta in the amount of $939,620 which was the least expensive of the three bids submitted.

Tribble said the project will be done in phases.

“Phase one of this project includes the open cut sewer replacement of approximately 2,700 feet of sewer line along Earl Avenue, West Main Street, and Carter Street. The second part of phase one of this job is the CCTV or closed-circuit television inspection of approximately 7,400 feet of sewer lines mostly in cross country areas that flow along creeks and not in roadways. Our plan is to review the CCTV footage and make a recommendation to the city as to the appropriate rehabilitation methods for these areas,” Tribble said.

Tribble also gave a progress report on the two grants the city will be using to do further sewer system rehab work.

“The city was awarded a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant in November. We had the project kickoff meeting with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Deveopment representative on January 25. This grant will be married to American Rescue Plan grant funds which total just over $1.5 million. The intent is to use both of those funds totaling $1.8 million to design a sewer system rehabilitation project that will meet the needs and requirements of both these grants. Both grants will be administered by the Upper Cumberland Development District.

The aldermen awarded a bid to Southern Sales Company in the amount of $148,000 to replace pumps at the wastewater treatment plant as recommended by Tribble.

“We made a site visit to your wastewater plant in late 2022 and noticed some equipment that needed to be replaced. Four proposals were received by vendors for the replacement of subject pumps including installation, startup, and testing,” said Tribble.

Southern Sales will install new recirculation pumps in the systems sequencing batch reactors and implement reuse pumps for the plant.

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