Good Citizens Applauded by Mayor and Aldermen for Doing a Good Deed (View video here)

December 6, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Good citizens doing a good deed!

Eddie Ramos and Tara Hunt, operators of Kayaking Adventures of Tennessee were in town Saturday for the Smithville Christmas Parade. The next day they took it upon themselves to help clean up streets in the downtown square area from the leftover candy and debris.

The effort was part of the couple’s KAT Challenge urging communities to keep waterways clean.

Ramos and Hunt were at the city council meeting Monday night where Mayor Josh Miller and the aldermen thanked and applauded them for their work in bagging the garbage for city workers to easily pickup Monday morning.

Kayaking Adventures of Tennessee offers guided kayak trips to Burgess Falls in Sparta.

From that guides tours experience Ramos and Hunt came up with the idea for a KAT Challenge giving participants on the trips the option to carry along a bag provided by KAT to pick up as much trash as possible. The person who collects the most on the trip gets a shiny new KAT Challenge Button and their picture on the KAT website and on the KAT Challenge Page. All who participate also get a special shout-out on the KAT FB and Instagram pages for being protectors of our beautiful Tennessee waterways.

During Monday night’s meeting, Hunt said another KAT challenge is made during the fall and winter season.

“Right now we have the KAT Trash Challenge going on and what we are asking people to do is wherever they are in the United States, if they are in their towns, out hiking, or even paddling in the water to clean up all the trash they see around, bag it up, take a picture of it, post it to our social media and we will recognize them for their good work,” said Hunt.

Ramos said the downtown cleanup effort was not something he and Tara had planned.

“We didn’t know we were going to clean up the public square, “said Ramos. “We participated in the parade, and we threw out candy along with the rest of the people but that was littering for us, and we didn’t feel so good about it although I know the kids enjoyed it. The next day we drove through and saw the candy still on the sides of the streets with a chance of rain and we didn’t want it to get into the wastewater system and go into Center Hill Lake. We knew it wasn’t safe enough for us to stand on the sides of the streets and sweep it all up without someone helping us out because we didn’t have brooms and all that. When we drove through the public square and saw the trash there along with candy on the ground, we knew that was a safer place for us to do something so that is how cleaning the public square came about for us,” said Ramos.

December 6, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Property on Smith Road is being annexed into the City of Smithville.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the aldermen adopted a resolution to annex a large portion of property belonging to the Smith Road Properties Group Partners. The site is located on Smith Road between Estes Street, and Shay Street and across from Creekside Drive.

City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson said the Smithville Planning Commission recently met and voted to recommend to the city council that the property be annexed with a Plan of Services. “At some point they (owners) are probably looking at developing that, but I don’t know when. It’s near the county garage (county highway department) on what is known as the old Colvert farm,” said Hendrixson. A portion of the site belonging to the landowners is already in the city.

State law requires that all annexations include a Plan of Services (POS). The POS outlines those services, such as sewer, that will be made available to the land being annexed and the timeframe within which services and/or amenities will be provided.

The annexation resolution was adopted following a public hearing, but no one showed up to speak out either for or against.

In other business, the aldermen adopted a rezoning ordinance on first reading changing from residential to commercial property belonging to Jerry Hutchins at the corner of South College Street and East Bryant Street. Second and final reading will follow a public hearing at the next city council meeting on January 2.

City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson said the Smithville Planning Commission recently met and voted to recommend approval of the rezoning to the city council. “This property has been subdivided into two parcels and meets all the criteria to be commercial. What is going in there if anything, I have no idea but as far as the city is concerned it meets everything,” said Hendrixson.

The aldermen adopted on second and final reading budget amendments.

In the general fund, the city needs an extra $31,783 to cover costs of replacing the city hall roof for which the aldermen had budgeted $100,000; $14,000 for repairs or reconstruction of a used backhoe; and $27,151 to repair or replace an arm on a city sanitation truck. The total amount of the budget amendment for these projects comes to $72,934 to be taken from the unreserved general fund balance.

In the water and sewer fund, the budget amendment ordinance includes $50,000 needed for a sewer pump station upgrade on Jennings Lane. The money will be taken from the water and sewer funds retained earnings or reserves.

The aldermen postponed action until next month on the purchase of surveillance cameras at Green Brook Park.

Mayor Josh Miller said Green Brook Park has come under attack by vandals in recent years and surveillance cameras are needed there to monitor activity of that kind. He also commended Smithville Electric System for adding more streetlights in the park.

“A lot of people use that park especially in the spring and summer and people need to feel safe when they are there. I know the park needed more lighting and I thank Smithville Electric for doing that at my request,” said Mayor Miller.

Quotes have been obtained from two companies interested in selling a surveillance camera package to the city.

The aldermen also appointed Josh Williams, a pilot and airport hangar tenant, to fill a vacancy on the city’s airport advisory board.

December 6, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A female inmate at the DeKalb County Jail found with drugs hidden in her body cavity is facing several charges.

30-year-old Natalie Gail Barrett of Cookeville is charged with bringing contraband into a penal institution (jail); possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver; and three counts of possession for sale or delivery of a controlled substance. Her bond totals $167,500 and she will be in court December 15.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on November 28 a cell search was conducted in the female pod of the jail and when a female correctional officer began strip searching the women inmates Barrett admitted to having drugs on her person (body cavity). After being unable to produce them at the jail, Barrett was transported to the emergency room of the hospital where a doctor retrieved from Barrett two clear baggies containing 20 grams of a crystal-like substance (methamphetamine), 5 grams of a brown powdery substance (heroin), 18 grams of a green leafy substance (marijuana), and one whole pill and two other half pills (6 grams of Fentanyl).

47-year-old George Edward Taylor of Eckles Heights, Liberty is charged with driving on a revoked license. His bond is$3,500 and he will be in court December 15.

Sheriff Ray said that on December 1 a deputy spotted Taylor driving on Nashville Highway knowing that his driver license was revoked. The officer pulled over Taylor and confirmed that his license was still revoked. Taylor had been cited for the same offense on November 26.

34-year-old Randall Christopher Evans of Highland Drive, Smithville is charged with being a fugitive from justice. His bond is $75,000 and he will make a court appearance on December 15.

Sheriff Ray said after he was arrested here authorities in Simpson County, Kentucky placed a hold on Evans stating they planned to extradite him to face charges there.

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