August 1 FSA County Committee Nomination Deadline

July 17, 2024
By:

Donny Green, County Executive Director for the DeKalb-Cannon County Farm Service Agency, reminds DeKalb County and Cannon County farmers that the deadline to nominate candidates for the 2024 Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee Election is August 1.

“The election of knowledgeable agricultural producers to FSA county committees is important to all farmers and ranchers with large or small operations. It is crucial that every eligible producer take part in this election because county committees are a direct link between the farm community and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Farm Service Agency is unique because we have a grassroots farmer-elected committee that oversees and delivers farm programs at the local level,” says Green.

DeKalb County Local Administrative Area (LAA) # 1 will elect a representative in this year’s election. Nominees must reside in LAA # 1, which generally covers the central portion of DeKalb County including the Blue Springs, Jacob’s Pillar, Pisgah, Whorton Springs, Short Mountain, New Home, Cross Roads, Dry Creek, Snow Hill, Holmes Creek, Smithville, Midway, and Phillipi communities.

Cannon County Local Administrative Area (LAA) # 5 will elect a representative in this year’s election. Nominees must reside in LAA # 5, which covers all areas west of Highway 53 in Cannon County.

Individuals may nominate themselves, or others, as a candidate. In addition, eligible candidates can be nominated by community-based and other organizations, especially groups representing socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers, in the county where the election is being held before the close of the nomination period. Nominations and elections are open to all eligible candidates and voters without regard to race, color, religion, nation origin, age, sex, marital status, or disability. The nomination form (FSA-669A) is available at USDA Service Centers and online at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/elections.

Producers should remember the following dates regarding the upcoming county committee elections. Producers can request, complete, and submit nomination forms through August 1. Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters by November 4. The deadline to return voted ballots is December 2. The elected committee members and alternates take office on January 1, 2025.

July 17, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

What type of surety instrument, if any, should a developer secure to ensure infrastructure installation on a site before obtaining final plat approval by the county for a subdivision?

The DeKalb County Planning Commission again discussed the issue last Monday night, July 8 during its regular monthly meeting and was poised to make a move but postponed action to give Tommy Lee, Director of the Upper Cumberland Development District, who serves as UCDD staff planner and advisor to DeKalb County, more time to prepare specifics in writing for the commission to consider next month.

In June, the planning commission held a public hearing regarding the types of surety instruments the county should accept going forward in lieu of installed public improvements. No one showed up for the public hearing to express any comment.

“Currently we allow for final plat approval without infrastructure being fully installed if a surety is submitted to guarantee its installation. Currently we accept three types of surety instruments and those are as follows: We do accept the establishment of an escrow account in the full amount of the estimated cost of the required improvements plus 10%. We also currently accept a certified check in the full amount of the estimated cost of the required improvements plus 10%. Finally, we do accept an irrevocable letter of credit for the full amount of the estimated cost of the required improvements plus 10% from an approved bank. We also have forms that need to be filled out when we accept those surety instruments,” Lee explained.

The surety instrument issue stems from action taken by the planning commission in April to amend the county’s subdivision regulations with new provisions for developers. The aim is to better ensure that adequate road access for emergency vehicles and sufficient water supply for fire suppression are provided in new county residential developments with five or more lots prior to final plat approval by the planning commission. No new development over the last five years that has already received at least preliminary plat approval by the planning commission can be held to the new standards.

The new regulations, as amended, were primarily prompted as the result of a plat already approved for a subdivision called Silver Point Shores on Aunt Helen Road in DeKalb County near Silver Point which has been in development for at least two years. Concerns are that this subdivision has poor (narrow) road access into and through it especially for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances and that there is no water source (wells) or fire suppression system in place for the 31 lots in the subdivision which have already been sold by the developer collectively for more than $3.5 million. Members of the planning commission also had concerns about whether the surety instrument of the developer in this case, a cashier’s check (good for up to 180 days but reportedly now expired) in the amount of $40,000 was sufficient.

County Mayor Matt Adcock initially asked Monday night that the planning commission  going forward provide for no security instruments to ensure that developers have all subdivision infrastructure in place before final plat approval to guard against another Aunt Helen Road situation.

“If you go to that development on Aunt Helen Road right now and look, its all grown up,” said County Mayor Adcock. “They had a nice sign out there but its now gone. There are no wells. There is electricity but all the lots are grown up. He (developer) has made over three million dollars in sales so his surety instrument of $40,000 was just his cost of doing business. My recommendation is that we don’t do any sureties and that they (developers) do the complete and total project before we do anything (final plat approval) ,” he said.

County Mayor Adcock later modified his request about sureties after Lee raised a concern.

“If you don’t accept any surety instruments and make them (developers) build to county specs without any homes being built there, then when the county takes over the (subdivision) roads, the concrete trucks will start coming in (during housing construction) and those roads could be mashed to pieces,” said Lee.

The commission is considering amending the regulations similar to White County where no surety instruments are required except for the top coating (surfacing) of roads developed within a subdivision. That would force a developer to ensure that all other infrastructure work is done before the planning commission can give final plat approval. Under White County’s regulations, Lee explained “the only type of surety they accept now is a letter of credit from a bank 60 miles from their courthouse with automatic renewals and new approved costs estimates”.

“I’d like to make a motion that we only accept it (surety instruments) on roads and that it be at costs plus 100%,” said Planning Commission member Jack Barton.

Lee later asked that the motion be withdrawn and that action be postponed until next month to give him time to reduce the proposal in writing for clarity on the issue.

July 16, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Burger King is coming to Smithville!

The location is 200 East Broad Street at the former site of Kent’s Texaco and later DeKalb Tire & Service at the corner of Highway 70 & 56.

“The Smithville Planning Commission met last Monday, July 8 and unanimously approved a site plan review as required by our zoning ordinance. They have completed and turned in their building permit, but we have not received word yet on when construction will begin,” said City of Smithville Administrator Hunter Hendrixson.

The proposed development by GPS Hometown Hospitality, based in Atlanta Georgia, consists of constructing a new Burger King restaurant with associated drives and utilities. The site lies on the northeast corner of East Broad Street and Congress Boulevard and is bound by Smithville Town Cemetery to the north, Bright Street to the east, East Broad Street to the south, and Congress Boulevard to the west. The parcel was previously developed with an auto repair shop and a house on-site.

The engineer for the project is Integrity Engineering & Development Services, Inc, based in Dacula Georgia.

GPS Hospitality operates more than 400 Burger King restaurants in 13 states, has remodeled nearly 200 and built almost 50 new restaurants over the past 11 years.

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