Residents speak out against rock quarry and seek regulatory action from County

August 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Could local regulations be established for a quarry operation under development in DeKalb County?

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the DeKalb County Commission heard from residents in the Snow Hill area and others in the second district with complaints about the Smyrna Ready Mix concrete company’s presence on North Driver Road off Highway 70 at the foot of Snow Hill.

Almost a month ago the state fire marshal’s office opened an investigation after receiving complaints from residents who were shaken by a big blast from the company who was doing prep work for a quarry. State investigators just over two weeks ago halted SRM’s operations after finding that the company had not yet applied for a required waste and discharge permit to ensure that the facility does not pollute water.

“If the county government wished it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application,” said Michael Antoniak, a resident of Snow Hill Road who addressed the county commission during the public comment period at Monday night’s meeting.

Antoniak and others are concerned that SRM was able to move into the neighborhood without their knowledge and that the county currently has no regulations of any kind to stop or oversee development of such operations.

A year ago, the county commission considered but failed to adopt a “County Powers Act” resolution as well as one to establish and enforce regulatory standards regarding health and safety conditions of residential and non-residential properties within the confines of DeKalb County outside the boundaries of the municipalities which already have codes and ordinances.

The idea was to prevent or eliminate dangerous and or unsanitary conditions resulting from overgrown vegetation, accumulation of debris, trash, litter, and garbage, or the presence of vacant dilapidated buildings or structures. Although DeKalb County currently has no zoning regulations in place, the “County Powers Act” gives counties, without establishing zoning, the authority to set and enforce standards for county property owners with respect to nuisances and other practices deemed detrimental to their neighbors.

“My wife Liz and I have been residents of Snow Hill for 47 years,” said Antoniak. “We chose DeKalb County as our home for its beauty, its serenity, and unspoiled nature of a life in the country. Now we find ourselves in a fight for our lifestyle. The dynamite blast which jolted our area and shook homes for miles around earlier this month woke us to two things. Plans for a large rock quarry and DeKalb County has nothing to know of, let alone regulate how outsiders exploit our county’s land and resources,” Antoniak explained.

“Two months ago this commission approved the largest tax increase in county history. What are you doing to preserve the land values of landowners you expect to pay that tax? Over the last year this commission wrangled over measures to adequately serve criminals and courts. How about the needs of these law-abiding citizens who have invested our lifetimes in our homes and community? Those who don’t know the work already underway at the quarry was halted by Tennessee state investigators two weeks ago. Why? Smyrna Ready Mix had not yet even applied for the waste and discharge permit Tennessee requires to ensure such facilities do not pollute our water. Is this the kind of responsible corporate citizen we want to invite into our community,” Antoniak asked.

“If the county government wished it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application. Once submitted the quarry will only be subject to oversights in place on that date. Most would agree property owners should be free to use and enjoy their property as they wish up to the point where what they do impinges on the rights and the ability of neighboring landowners to enjoy theirs. Our water, air, serenity and quality of life are all threatened by Smyrna Ready Mix’s planned quarry. If county government doesn’t yet have the will to embrace zoning, I urge you to reconsider the County Powers Act as a means of establishing and enforcing standards to protect residents in this county and against exploitation and nuisances in the future. In my discussions with officials from Tennessee and the Sierra Club all stressed the critical importance of counties taking the proactive stance and implementing protections today against what could happen tomorrow or as is the case now we are left vulnerable and forced to react without local powers to defend our homes, way of living, and county. Again, I believe adopting the County Powers Act would be a good and necessary first step and I urge you on behalf of all my neighbors to revisit this,” said Antoniak.

Michael’s son Lucas Antoniak, who also lives on Snow Hill Road, asked the commission to take some action.

“I felt the blast and it was extremely violent and came out of nowhere. We had no warning, and we saw rocks in the road from the blast,” said Lucas. “Quarries are very destructive to the environment and very detrimental to the quality of life for the people who live in the vicinity of the quarry. Water, land, and air pollution are a threat to the people who live nearby and no one in the Snow Hill community knew about this quarry going in and I wonder why? This carpet bagging company is only here to exploit our community and enrich themselves and their business partners and their interests. In my research I discovered that SRM has a history of inaccurate reporting and noncompliance with government inspectors and regulations. Is this who we want in our community? Why were we citizens not informed and given a chance to speak out? This county owes it to us to protect the interest and environment of this county and its citizens who have dedicated their lives and families to this area,” said Antoniak.

VE Garner of South Driver Road, Dowelltown said she is having to close her goat farm business because of the quarry. “I have a goat farm directly across the highway from the SRM quarry that announced itself with an explosion,” said Garner. “My animals ran and the ground shook and I heard a huge rockslide in the distance. We found out from our neighbors that our new neighbors (SRM) were a quarry on a 110-acre farm right across from us. We were forced to research on our own how to protect our farm and our water from an extractive and destructive billion-dollar mining industry,” Garner explained. “We didn’t find much support from legal, TDEC, all the places that we sought support and now we are being forced to close our goat services business which provides goat landscaping, and we do painting with goats and goat cuddles. The business is called Shenanigoats. We are being forced into closure because we can no longer raise our animals on the farm directly across from a quarry with the carcinogenic dust and threat to our water supply. We don’t have any other source of water other than our springs and those are directly across from this mine. SRM will or already has drilled a new well for its mining operation. We are seeking protection from our local government rather than having to do this as citizens to find out how to protect ourselves from a billion-dollar mining industry,” said Garner.

Max Knudsen then addressed the commission. “I live on South Driver Road which is being poisoned right now by the small silica dust particles. If you were living in a space that had carcinogens potentially poisoning your land, water, and animals would you stay there? These toxins that can never be removed again and are being released. You can make the decision to stop that,” said Knudsen.

“I live 1,500 feet from the quarry,” said Doug Walter of Nashville Highway, Dowelltown in his remarks to the commission. “The blast shook everything with dusty flying. Did anybody here know this before it opened? Has anybody yet contacted the state other than citizens who contacted the state with the state saying there’s no permit that’s been issued? I don’t know how something like a quarry could open in the county without somebody on the county commission having some knowledge of it. I challenge the commission to look at zoning regulations for the county,” said Walter. “This wave is coming from Nashville. I have lived in several other areas of the country and I have never seen a county that I have lived in that you could just go in and open a business without some kind of minimal regulations put in by the county commission. Right now, its pretty much open to anything you want it seems like. I’d like to see that addressed. I’d like to see the quarry issue addressed. If it ends up going forward there’s a lot of things they (SRM) need to do to control the dust. Right now its just blowing up rock and sending dust up into the air. You are talking about floating a bond for a prison and a school. How about floating $100,000 for a zoning regulator to come into the county as a job and set up something to protect the citizens of the county and their property values”.

Nora Harvey of Dry Creek Road, Dowelltown added “I’m a nurse at Vanderbilt for 24 years and silica is a big deal. It is very dangerous. It will definitely cause cancer. My daughter is an advanced nurse practitioner, and she works in lung transplants. Its no joke,” she said.

Pam Charles of Dowelltown said “Although I am not directly affected by the blast because I live a little bit further away, I don’t like allowing something like this to come into our county without anyone knowing. Thank God the state shut them down and has kept them from moving forward. Now I think its time for you as our elected officials to come together and help these citizens that are affected and preclude something like this from happening in the future”.

Curtis Bevins of Dale Ridge Road, Dowelltown then spoke to the commission. “We can’t put the milk back into the cow. I think our opportunity is going forward because big money will keep coming. This board has to be able to protect our property values. The County Powers Act needs to be fully reconsidered by this board or this is going to keep happening. I don’t think that’s what you want your county to look like”.

Later in the meeting, County Commissioner Tony Luna made a motion to have the Health, Education and Public Welfare Committee revisit the County Powers Act for discussion. Commissioner Myron Rhody offered a second to the motion. Although the vote was 13-0 a few commissioners raised concerns.

“I have talked to people in Crossville and it’s a total mess there (County Powers Act enforcement). I don’t know what to do about it (here) but it’s a total mess in Crossville,” said Commissioner Glynn Merriman.

“I remember when we had the discussion about this before, the issue was that once you passed the County Powers Act you have opened the door and once you have opened the door then anything is fair game from determining how tall somebody’s grass should be, what they can have parked in their front yard, etc.” said Commissioner Tom Chandler.

“That’s part of it but you could draft it however you like. It could be as specific or vague as you would like it to be,” replied County Mayor Matt Adcock.

“We really need to write something that fits our county,” said Commissioner Luna.

“This might be something related to zoning that we could discuss with the county planning commission,” added Commissioner Beth Pafford.

August 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County voters will have even more reason to make it to the polls in November.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission voted 13-0 to adopt a resolution to authorize a public referendum on the November 5, 2024 State and Federal General Election ballot asking voters whether the county should borrow up to $65 million to fund the eventual construction of a judicial center/jail.

The only member of the commission absent Monday night was Greg Matthews. All the others including Commissioners Tom Chandler, Daniel Cripps, Sabrina Farler, Myron Rhody, Tony Luna, Susannah Cripps, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Larry Green, Glynn Merriman, Jeff Barnes, Andy Pack, Beth Pafford, and Mathias Anderson voted in favor of the resolution to send the question to the ballot.

In June the county commission adopted an initial and detailed bond resolution not to exceed $65 million through issuance of General Obligation Bonds to build a judicial center/jail as well as a 51-cent property tax increase for debt service to fund it. Less than a month later a petition signed by more than 10% of registered voters protesting the move was submitted to and certified by the election commission clearing the way for a referendum subject to action by the county commission calling for a public vote.

While the referendum will gauge the public’s approval or disapproval of the issuance of bonds, it will not force a repeal of the 51-cent tax increase. The total county property tax levy for the year 2024-25 is now set at $2.51 per $100 of assessed value which is up from the tax levy of $2.00 per $100 of assessed value a year ago.

In addition to the referendum on the bond question for a judicial center/jail, local voters will get to decide whether or not the county should establish a $50 wheel tax in November.

In June, the county commission adopted an amended resolution to have a public referendum placed on the November 5 ballot for an up or down vote on a $50 wheel tax to support the debt service fund.

If approved by the voters, County Mayor Adcock said the revenue raised from the wheel tax would offset somewhat the 51-cent tax increase for debt service for the jail/judicial center and bring the property tax hike for debt service next year (2025-26) down from 51 cents to 33 cents.

The Presidential election is November 5th and voters in Tennessee will elect candidates for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Tennessee Senate (even-numbered districts), and Tennessee House of Representatives.

August 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Alexandria Police Department has no officers!

Both Police Chief Travis Bryant and K-9 Officer Brandon Deffendoll resigned earlier this month only a couple of weeks after the municipal election that brought a change in the city administration and in recent days the only remaining officer, Jackson Franks has quit.

Does the town have any law enforcement protection?

Sheriff Patrick Ray said although the sheriff’s department does not function as a police department for the town, it will continue to do routine patrols and answer calls in Alexandria just as it has always done, but isn’t in a position to attend city meetings, etc.

Without a police chief in place, there are issues regarding the Alexandria police department in obtaining information from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) according to Brad Mullinax, DeKalb 911 Director.

“We are handling it basically the way we have always handled it when they did not have a police officer there. We just dispatch the sheriff’s department,” said Mullinax.

“The Alexandria Police Department has to have an agreement with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in order to get information from the NCIC computer such as criminal history information, driver license tags, etc. When Chief Bryant resigned that nullified that agreement that we had with TBI. When that happened I talked with the mayor (Beth Tripp) and explained what is happening. I said we are still dispatching for you but you can’t get any information off NCIC because you don’t have anybody with a user agreement with us and the TBI. She asked if she could sign the agreement and I said no it has to be a police officer. I said you could name an interim Chief and we can do that agreement and she said ok, I think I’ll do that,” said Mullinax.

WJLE tried to contact Mayor Beth Tripp at the Alexandria City Hall Monday morning but she was not available at the time.

In addition to the police department, the new administration at the Town of Alexandria has had other issues on its plate since taking office earlier this month.

During a special called meeting last Monday evening, August 19 the aldermen, on a 3-1 vote, terminated the city recorder, Pat Houser who had been placed on suspension by the mayor the previous week. Until a replacement is hired, Jeff McMillen has been named to fill the role as temporary recorder.

Two new clerks were hired to fill vacancies, Rhonda Conatser and Jessica Howard.

In other business, the aldermen voted 3-1 to hire Rich Potter of Utility Management Services, LLC as manager of the town’s water and sewer plant operations. Potter’s quote of $142,000 was the least expensive of the three submitted but not the one recommended by the town’s consulting engineer, Jerry Warren of Warren & Associates.

“At the request of the board, we had gotten quotes from operators and received one from Clayton Anderson who was formerly the manager of the water and sewer operations for the City of Lebanon for several years,” said Warren. “He gave us quotes on water distribution and sewer collection. We recommended his quotes in a meeting to the previous council. The previous mayor was to sign his contract but he didn’t have a chance to come by my office and sign it prior to the election. He was not comfortable signing it after the election. We brought it to the new mayor for discussion and then to the council last week in a workshop,” Warren said.

“In addition to Clayton, we talked to Penny Sutherland who is a well qualified waste water plant operator in Hartsville. She has another young man that works with her. She would take care of paperwork and reporting and he would do the day to day things such as samples, etc. at the wastewater plant,”

“We recommend they (Anderson and Sutherland) be hired”, said Warren.

One of the aldermen pointed out that the quotes of Anderson and Sutherland were almost double that of Potter’s and did not include water and sewer repairs and maintenance.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation has ordered the Town of Alexandria to be placed under an administrative review based on a number of complaints as to the entity (town). The Commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation’s designee to the Board advised that TDEC has also received several complaints raising concerns as to the financial, technical, and managerial competence of the entity, and warranting further investigation by Board staff.

According to Greg Moody, Chair of the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation, the order requires the entity (town) to comply with Board staff requests for interviews and information. Board staff shall update the Board as to its findings at the Board’s next regular meeting. Should the entity fail to comply with any directive in this order or Board staff requests, Board staff and Counsel may issue subpoenas for the entity’s governing body and manager to appear in person before the Board during its next meeting following non-compliance with this order.

Mayor Tripp was quick to point out last week that this review by the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation began on July 18, 2024 prior to her election.

“The previous board (mayor and aldermen) had calls from people who had complaints about their water quality but the board did nothing. The old board had over a month to get someone to run the water and sewer operations but failed to get anybody in here”, said Mayor Tripp.

Getting someone on board to begin overseeing the town’s water and sewer departments was one of the reasons for the special meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen last week.

Among the complaints raised by residents is the quality of their drinking water and the high bills they have had to pay.

Sherry Tubbs of High Street said for months, she has had cloudy and brown water coming out of her faucets forcing her to have to boil the water or in most cases buy bottled water for household use. Tubbs said she has also had to deal with extremely high monthly water bills, in some cases double and triple what they should be. According to Tubbs her highest bill last year was $424 and the year before it went to $700 in one month. “They almost shut me off. I needed some help with the bill and asked for them to give me some time. They gave me a $75 one day late fee and another $250 for being more than seven days late and then they charged me $50 to rehook it. It cost me over $1,000 to get my water back,” she said

Whether it’s a leak or a faulty meter, the source causing Tubbs’ high water bills has apparently not yet been identified.

However a remedy for the cloudy and brown water may be in sight within a period of months according to Rich Potter of Utility Management Services, LLC, a former manager of Alexandria’s water and sewer plant operations, who has just been hired by the aldermen to take it over again. Potter is also affiliated with the Smith Utility District, the entity which supplies water to the town of Alexandria. The source of the water is the Caney Fork River.

“In 2009 we had from Caney Fork about 4 parts per million of iron in the raw water. We now have about 17-19 parts per million. If iron comes into solubility you are going to see it. If you see brown, cloudy water its iron. I had to get my board to authorize a chemical polyphosphate treatment that I put in play two months ago and what it does is it sequesters the iron. It doesn’t get rid of it but it hides it. You won’t see it but its working. Polyphosphates sequester iron and manganese to prevent discolored water,” said Potter.

The Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen are scheduled to meet in regular monthly session tonight (Tuesday, August 27) at 7 p.m. at the Alexandria City Hall.

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