Smithville Mayor and Aldermen Preparing 2024-25 Budget

April 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen are in the midst of putting together the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Mayor Josh Miller wants residents to know that there will be no city property tax increase this year and he is cautioning the aldermen to be as conservative with spending as possible. “We must have a year of savings,” said Mayor Miller.

During a city council workshop Monday night, Police Chief Mark Collins and Public Works Supervisor Josh Hawkins made their budget requests for the new year.

Chief Collins said his department needs a new patrol car, four- three channel dash cameras, and six touch screen laptop computers for police cars.

“I need one new car to replace a 2014 Dodge Charger with a little over 120,000 miles that has been wrecked twice already. This is the last of the 2014’s we have,” said Chief Collins. “The quote they gave me as long as they are still on the lot is $36, 451 and the ballpark cost for equipment and installation is $15,000 for a total price of $51,451,” he said.

As for the dash cams, Chief Collins said he would like to purchase four of them in the new budget year and equip the rest of the patrol cars later.

“The sheriff’s department has purchased some of these and I really like them. They are inexpensive. The old ones we had were about $2,000 each but they didn’t work that great. These Pruveeos are a three channel dash camera with cameras facing forward, toward the officer, and the back seat so if we have someone in custody we can keep an eye on them. Its all videoed. These are $237 each (total cost $950 for four) and I would like to get four of them. I know that’s just four out of a force of fifteen but before I go all in I want to try them for myself to make sure they are what we need,” said Chief Collins.

New Toughbook laptop computers for the patrol cars are also needed, according to Collins.

“These are computers that will go in an officer’s patrol car especially on night shift. The computers we have now are not made for what we are using them for,” said Chief Collins. “We have already had two of them go down. They are about $1200 computers. Imagine trying to drive and operate a mouse on a computer at the same time. In order to communicate with dispatch and click on the proper things, that’s what my officers have to do right now. The touch screens will make it safer for our guys and they are faster. They are just better computers. If we order them directly from Dell, the quote is $2,464 (total cost $14,788 for six). A guy from DTC said he could get them cheaper, plus they will come with a year of maintenance. I’d like to get six of those,” he said.

Chief Collins also asked that he be given direct authority to spend money from the drug fund for drug investigation purposes when needed without having to request action by the mayor and aldermen.

Meanwhile, Public Works Supervisor Hawkins renewed a request made last year for the city to purchase a new F550 crew cab style dump truck to replace a 2002 F350 model.

“We have two dump trucks. These are small trucks with a dump bed on them. One is an F550 but it’s a two wheel drive and we use it six months out of the year (during winter). It stays with the salt spreader and snow plow so we are not able to use it at all for six months unless it snows. The other truck only has an eight foot bed and it is a 2002 F350 and it has 282,000 miles on it. The truck I am asking for is bigger than the 2002. It has a bigger bed with a hydraulic lift. In return for having a bigger truck is less wear and tear and less mileage driving back and forth to dump sites and less fuel costs. All around its cheaper in the long run to have a bigger truck. If I can get the F550 (Cost $85,000) I am asking for, we can always sell the F350 and get money back,” said Hawkins.

The public works department is also in need of a new F150 pickup truck and two new lawnmowers.

“The new F150 four wheel drive super crew I am asking for (Cost $46,000) is a regular pickup truck. We have three trucks down there right now that are right at 20 years old. I am trying to replace one of them,” said Hawkins.

“We also need two new lawnmowers (Total cost $24,000 for two mowers),” Hawkins explained. “Right now we have a 2016 Bad Boy mower and a 2004 John Deere mower which has a rebuilt motor on it from this year. Our guys like the 2004 better than the Bad Boy. It mows better and it holds the hill better. I would like to keep the 2004 as a back up and sell the Bad Boy,” said Hawkins.

The city further needs a new means of substituting refrigerants in the A/C system of city owned vehicles according to Hawkins. Total cost $6,600.

“In 2021 the EPA mandated that every vehicle be switched from an R134A to an R1234YF refrigerant. Right now on any newer city vehicle, if it needs maintenance on the A/C system we have no way to charge it back up. We have four or five vehicles that have this and if something happened to them we would have to take them somewhere. We have the machine for the older vehicles from 2020 down (older),” explained Hawkins.

In other discussions Monday night, the mayor and aldermen are considering again budgeting at least. $150,000 for street paving and creating a new part time codes enforcement officer to oversee the enforcement of city property maintenance regulations. This person would not enforce building codes because the city already has an inspector for that need.

The city is considering increasing water and sewer rates possibly by at least 2% in the new budget year. Although the water and sewer funds are reflecting surpluses, city officials believe its wiser to implement smaller rate increases yearly rather than larger hikes later to keep incoming revenues ahead of expenses which is also the recommendation of the state comptroller.

Also under consideration is the city joining the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System to provide better retirement benefits for city employees.

In a previous city budget workshop, Fire Chief Charlie Parker, among other requests, asked the city to consider the purchase of a new fire truck to replace the oldest one in the fleet and to add up to six new full time city firefighters. The city currently has four full timers.

The city is also planning to upgrade its radio communication technology for emergency services which could be as much as $400,000 either this year or over the next couple of years. That’s in addition to the $115,000 purchase the city authorized in December for a total of 25 Harris XL 400 Extreme fire rated portable radios for the Smithville Fire Department.

The city’s next budget workshop is set for Monday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.

April 9, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS and Warren Co co-op track and field team competed at Cookeville High School on Thursday, April 4th. Nine teams competed in the meet: Cookeville, Warren, Stone Memorial, Tullahoma, Upperman, White County, Macon Co, Gordonsville and Cumberland Co.

The Warren Co girls finished 3rd overall as a team and the boys finished 4th. Several top performances were given from the DCHS athletes.

Kaleb Spears: 1st place 400 meter dash, 1st place 4 x400 meter relay
Ella Van Vranken : 1st place 300 meter hurdles, 1st place 4 x 400 meter relay
Chloe Van Vranken: 3rd place 400 meter dash, 1st place 4 x 400 meter relay
Ella Hendrixson : 1st place 4 x 400 meter relay, 2nd place 4 x 200 meter relay
Ethan Spears: 4th place 4 x 200, 5th place triple jump
Leah Trapp: Personal Best in the 100 dash
Tytianna Fisk: Personal Best in the 200 dash

April 9, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

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, the DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission has amended the county’s subdivision regulations with new provisions for developers.

The action was taken during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the planning commission and will apply immediately to any new developments going forward. According to Tommy Lee, Deputy Director of the Upper Cumberland Development District, who serves as UCDD staff planner and advisor to DeKalb County, these new regulations will not apply to any development over the last five years that has already received at least preliminary plat approval by the planning commission.

“This will be effective immediately and it will apply to any development going forward,” said Lee. “The state of Tennessee does have a state law that has vesting rights for previously approved preliminary subdivision plats and that’s five years so anything submitted five years previously from tonight that has not yet received final approval will not be subject to this amendment,” said Lee.

The new regulations 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 have 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.

The amendment to the county subdivision regulations approved by the planning commission Monday night seeks to help solve potential problems in any residential development going forward prior to final subdivision plat approval.

The new regulations state as follows:

“The following conditions shall apply to developments containing five (5) lots or more:

1.All lots must be served by a public water source.

2. All lots must be located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant installed on at least a 6″ water line, or a credited alternate water supply site (per ISO standards)

3.All roads public, private, or county owned must provide access to the proposed development from the nearest state route with a surface of at least double surface (chip and shoot) paving. These access roads shall have a surface width of at least nineteen (19) feet, and none shall have a grade of more than ten (10) percent. Any access road that does not meet these requirements shall be brought up to these standards at the cost of the developer. Plat shall not be approved until these standards have been achieved and the DeKalb County Road Supervisor has inspected and approved access roads and the roads of the development.

4. The DeKalb County Fire Chief shall give a recommendation for each plat by signatory line on the final plat, before Planning Commission approval, acknowledging proper access for emergency vehicles and adequate water supply is available for fire suppression for each new development.

5. A common mailbox area must be approved by the United States Postal services for all proposed roads within the development”.

County Fire Chief Donny Green first addressed both the planning commission and the county commission last fall with concerns.

According to Chief Green, DeKalb County has grown in recent years with new residential developments, especially around the lake but with it has come rising worries about adequate infrastructure access to these subdivisions.

Among the issues is fire truck and ambulance access to developments in the event of a fire or some other emergency because of many narrow and steep county roads leading to them. Water line infrastructure is also an issue in some places causing concerns about sufficient water pressure to fight a fire.

Chief Green said his intention in raising this matter was not to point fingers at anyone, any developer, or any public official but to merely bring awareness to what appears to be a growing public service and public safety concern and to find ways to mitigate it going forward working with the planning commission and county commission.

“I would like to see the Planning Commission, the Health, Education, and Public Safety Committee, and the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) collaborate to work towards a plan to address the critical infrastructure needs that must take place prior to continued development of such areas,” said Chief Green during last October’s County Commission meeting.

County Mayor Matt Adcock commended the planning commission for this action taken Monday night but urged them to strengthen the surety instrument requirements for new developers.

“I would like to commend this planning commission. Tonight, we have made a big step in the right direction in trying to hold the developer more accountable for what he is doing in the community and that is what this planning commission is for. We’re not here for the developer. We are here for the community and the people buying those lots to make sure they have sufficient roads, water, and fire suppression and that’s our goal,” said County Mayor Adcock.

“We have three different surety instruments that we can accept with this planning commission,” said Lee. “We have letter of credit, cashier’s check, and joint escrow account. We have done a joint escrow account (prior with a developer), and it worked really well. Typically, cashier’s checks that we have had didn’t have expiration dates on them and we have also done letters of credit which is basically the bank guaranteeing that funds are there for someone who is going to put up a surety. I agree with County Mayor Adcock that we need to re-look at the types of sureties that we take and especially to make sure we have plain language that surety instruments cannot have an expiration date,” said Lee.

The planning commission will re-evaluate the surety instrument requirements of a developer and possibly adopt new subdivision regulations accordingly following a public hearing to be held in June.

Members of the Planning Commission: Rick Cantrell (citizen member), Danny Pirtle (citizen member), Harold Bain (citizen member), Alan Webb (citizen member), Jack Barton (citizen member), Beth Pafford (County Commissioner), Greg Matthews (County Commissioner), Andy Pack (County Commissioner), and Jeff Barnes (County Commissioner).  Pafford and Cantrell were absent at Monday night’s meeting.

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