Randy Boyd to Present Smithville with $25,000 Dog Park Grant Friday Morning

September 10, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville has been awarded a $25,000 grant for the development of a dog park thanks to the Boyd Foundation and the efforts of Alderman Gayla Hendrix in making application for the funding.

Randy Boyd will be in Smithville Friday morning to make the presentation and everyone is encouraged to be at city hall for the occasion at 8 a.m. and if you have pet friendly dogs bring them along for the photo opportunity.

Smithville was among more than two dozen communities across Tennessee awarded grants this year totaling $900,000 for dog parks.

The Tennessee Dog Park Dash is a multi-year initiative aimed at making Tennessee the most pet-friendly state in the country.

“Jenny and I are amazed at the hard work and dedication of the people in our state to make life better for their pets and their neighbors. We are proud to support them in their work,” said Randy Boyd, founder of PetSafe and co-founder of The Boyd Foundation. “We are passionate about bringing people and pets together to create stronger communities, and we’ve found one of the best ways to do that is at a local dog park. We cannot wait to see how these communities use their grants to create local parks for Tennesseans and their pets to enjoy for decades to come.”

Plans are for the dog park to be located on property owned by the City of Smithville near the animal shelter behind Tenneco Automotive.

September 10, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Animal Shelter has a new employee.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the aldermen voted to hire Emmaly Bennett as a full time employee to replace James Wilkerson who recently resigned to take another job.

Bennett comes to the shelter from the DeKalb Animal Clinic where she has been employed.

“Last Thursday I went to the DeKalb Animal Coalition meeting and there were 134 applicants who had applied for this job. The director, Megan Moore and the Coalition narrowed the applicants down to three and the recommendation they have given to the Council is Emmaly Bennett,” said Mayor Josh Miller.

The city funds two full time positions at the shelter held by Bennett and Director Moore. Another part time position, held by Laura Parsley is funded by the Coalition.

In other business the city’s building codes inspector Lewis Bryant addressed the mayor and aldermen asking that they consider establishing fees for a plans review of any commercial development before building permits are issued. Such fees would be separate from the standard building permit fees.

Bryant said other cities in the Upper Cumberland including Algood and Cookeville require a plans review fee and Smithville should too as part of the city’s planning process.

“I recommend instituting some kind of plans review fee. The idea is to make sure a building is built according to code and done properly and to eliminate any problems or headaches before the building is already constructed,” said Bryant.

“In the building code book part of the process is for a developer or contractor of commercial projects to submit those documents with the application for a commercial building permit and they are to get reviewed to make sure they comply with the code requirements before a permit is issued,” Bryant continued.

According to Bryant, a plans review fee would only be required for commercial development including churches and schools but would not apply to residential construction.

Plans for some commercial developments can also be quite detailed and complex requiring a lot of time and effort to ensure their compliance which is another reason for implementing the fee.

“Whether it be a gymnastics building, restaurants, or any commercial project, I have to review the plans and after I do the inspections, I need those plans to look at to make sure the contractor is building according to the way the plans were drawn and engineered. It takes a lot of work and several hours to review some of those plans to make sure they meet the code requirements but it also helps the contractor or owner of the property by having a review process to catch any potential problems on the front end. If there is no plans review process and they get the building framed up and something doesn’t meet the code and hasn’t been done right there would be a lot more costs involved to fix it,” added Bryant.

Fees for building permits are based on square footage, and Bryant said new fees for a plans review could be half the cost of a building permit or whatever the city chooses.

The aldermen took no action Monday night.

The city has taken the next step in the process toward qualifying for a Multi Modal Access Grant.

This program is a 95/5% match for construction of up to $1 million for proposed sidewalk projects on East Broad and South Congress Boulevard.

“We sent a letter of intent into the state for a Multi Modal Access Grant and they have come back and asked for a full application. We have to get that submitted by October 15,” said Mayor Miller.

September 10, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

For several years the DeKalb County School District has maintained a closed door policy to any students from other counties wishing to enroll in either of the five schools here except for those whose parents are employed by the school system

But that closed door policy may soon change.

During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, the Board of Education is expected to adopt on second and final reading an amendment to the existing policy to allow non-resident students to apply for admission to DeKalb County Schools subject to approval of the Director of Schools and payment of a $750 per semester tuition per student. The board approved the amendment on first reading in August.

Under the policy amendment out-of-district students with parents who are employees of the system would still be allowed to attend DeKalb County Schools without having to pay the tuition.

Students who transfer to another school district or who become residents of the school system shall be refunded any unused portion of the tuition on a pro-rata basis.

When payment is not made on all or any part of the required tuition for a previous year, the student(s) shall be excluded from future attendance until all prior and current tuition is paid.

The Board of Education will meet Thursday, September 12 at 7 p.m. at the Ernest Ray Education Center. A work session will be held prior to the regular meeting at 6 p.m.

The agenda for the regular meeting is as follows:

*Re-organization of the Board, electing a chairman, vice chairman, and assistant secretary.
*Consider and act on 2nd reading of School Board Policy (above)
*Consider and act on Surplus Property
*School updates and or Committee Reports
*Personnel Report from the Director of Schools
*Any other business that may properly come before the Board

The consent agenda is as follows:
*Approval to utilize the electronic check signing and present signatures until update
*Approval of the Contract for Audit of Activity and Cafeteria Funds for the Fiscal Year ending June 30,2019
*Consider and act on 2019-20 21st Century Grant/LEAPs approved funding
*Consider and act on 2019-20 budget amendments to the Federal Programs Consolidated Funding Applications
*Consider and act on DCHS Band trip to Foothills Classic Marching Band Competition, Seymour, TN October 26-27
*Consider and act on a General Purpose budget amendment
*Consider and act on a request from DeKalb Middle School to participate in two (2) day 12 noon) basketball games with Warren County.
*Consider and act on a request from DeKalb West School to attend the Annual Junior Beta State Convention, Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville
*Consider and act on approval of a Northside Elementary School fundraiser request
Consider and act on approval of a DCHS fundraiser request
*Consider and act on DeKalb County School Board members attending the 2019 Leadership Conference and Annual Convention, Gaylord Opryland Resort, November 14-17

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