City of Smithville and DUD Amend Water Purchase Agreement

May 13, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville and the DeKalb Utility District have amended a mutual aid agreement between the two utilities to sell water to each other during times of need.

Under the agreement, as amended, each utility will sell water to each other at the DUD’s established wholesale rate at the time of purchase since Smithville does not have a wholesale rate.  City officials say the DUD wholesale rate currently is $3.20 per 1,000 gallons but that could change over the life of the new five year agreement.

The Smithville Aldermen approved the new agreement as amended Tuesday night during a special meeting. The DUD board of commissioners have already adopted it.

The original agreement, approved in 2017, called for the city and DUD to sell water to each other at a rate of $2.67 per 1,000 gallons. The rate was later increased.

Last month attorneys for both sides proposed an amendment to the agreement which called for each utility to sell water to the other at a wholesale price but didn’t define an actual cost or how the wholesale rate was to be determined. The aldermen, though not opposed to the concept, asked for more specifics at that time before taking action.

For decades, the DeKalb Utility District had purchased water from the city to serve its customers but in 2017 the DUD opened its own water treatment plant. Since then the two utilities have operated independently of each other.

May 13, 2020
By:

In the DeKalb county community, many typical events have been postponed or canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the graduating class of 2020 feels an intense sense of loss. Graduates and those who have supported their efforts have grappled with the disappointments,
knowing things could be much worse.

In challenging times such as these, art can heal the hearts of the many affected. Thus, a mural project has begun as a community tribute to the graduating class of 2020.

Jessica Higgins and her graduating daughter, Karleigh Atnip, considered many ideas leading up to the
selection of a commemorative mural. This enduring display has the support of local graphics designer
Mary Ann Puckett, TN native artist Jody Johnson, and local Judge Bratten Cook. It will, however, need
the help of many more. Mary Ann, a former art teacher at DCHS, agreed to layout the design work (as
seen in the photo), artist Jody Johnson has agreed to bring much of the artwork to life, and Judge Cook
has lovingly (and without hesitation) donated the back of his building at 106 N 3rd St for the mural.

“This mural is history in the making. It recognizes one of life’s many milestones for those up and coming
in our community. This mural is about our community being the family that it is, especially in times like
these.” said Jessica Higgins.

“We need community members to help with the painting of all our seniors’ names. Each graduating
student will have their name painted on the mural as it would be read at a traditional graduation
ceremony.” Higgins adds, “We want these students to feel our respect for them through this mural. If
you enjoy painting and desire to be a part of this historical display, we want you to contact us!”
Please contact Higgins at jesshiggins2014@gmail.com for questions or to sign up to paint.

In addition to volunteers, monetary donations to cover costs and expenses are needed and most
appreciated. There will be an account set up at a local bank for such contributions. Once again, contact
Higgins at jesshiggins2014@gmail.com for more information on how to donate.

Lastly, there is a call to our community members that can donate materials. There will be a need for
paint, and paint related items (brushes, rollers, etc.). “We also want to do a small amount of landscaping
above the toe wall, with possibly a bench for families to sit with their graduates for pictures, ” said Higgins.

This will likely include some landscape gravel, and perhaps some potted plants. If you have the ability
and desire to help with materials contact Higgins at jesshiggins2014@gmail.com.

“I have been so anxious to tell the community about this project! The amount of excitement that I feel knowing that we have a great group of people already working behind the scenes makes me overly happy. Now, knowing that the community will be a part of this takes it to a new level of excitement! It’s high-five worthy,” said Higgins.

Congratulations to the DCHS graduating class of 2020!

May 12, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Board of Education is making preparations for the 2020-21 budget which includes pay raises for personnel.

During a work session last Thursday night, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and members of the Board announced plans to include in the budget a $2,000 pay raise (including the 2% state increase) per certified employee and a $1,000 increase (locally funded) for each non-certified support staff employee. The proposal is not yet official because the board has not formally adopted a new budget.

“We want to try to improve teacher pay because we (DeKalb County) still lag behind the state average in teacher salaries,” said Cripps.

The proposed spending plan for 2020-21 is basically the same as this year’s budget with few exceptions.

“We are looking at the same amount of money we had last year not counting step increases. Basically what we are asking for is the raises, increases in employee health care insurance, and funding to buy land for construction of a new school, “ said Director Cripps.

The school budget will have to account for a possible 7-8% increase in employee health insurance costs. “I think we budgeted to do 3-1/2% but we are going to have to put more into the insurance line with the economy like it is and people losing their jobs. We have had some employees already come in and pick up insurance with us because their spouse had lost their job. We’ll have to make sure we can offer insurance to those individuals because if more of them come to us we will have to offer it to them,” said Cripps.

Funds will also be included in the school budget for the purchase of 24.5 acres of property on North Congress Boulevard near Northside Elementary School for construction of a new pre-K to 2nd grade elementary school. The price is $18,000 per acre. The purchase is subject to favorable core drilling and a TDOT traffic study.

No new teaching positions will be created in 2020-21 and to help prevent a reduction in staff due to possible decreases in state BEP funding a few teachers already in the system may be reassigned to fill openings from retirements or to meet other needs.

“We are not asking for any new money for teaching positions but we are looking at adding a teacher in special education. It’s not a new position. Its one we already have but that person will be working with students and teachers in classrooms at every school,” said Cripps

“I would like to add two in-school suspension aides to share around the schools for another way to discipline students without suspending them or sending them off to the alternative school. We want to keep them in school and not lose them or their academics,” he said.

“Mrs. (Susan) Hinton is retiring (as adult high school coordinator). What I would like to do is move her position to the alternative school so we can add more students there. It also puts another teacher in the building. We would not be losing a teacher nor saving money. We would just be relocating that teacher and while we would keep the adult high school program it would be done online. That’s what a lot of districts are doing now. They are going to an online platform. We already have an online platform that we have been doing with our other students called Ingenuity and students can further their education through that,” Director Cripps continued.

“Mrs. Libby McCormick (Librarian) is also retiring at Northside. Their numbers have fallen at Northside and the Middle School numbers are high. That 6th, 7th, & 8th grade group is huge so we are going to move that teaching position to the middle school to save money. That’s how we are going to look at moving teachers around. We will make sure everybody(school) has enough teachers but we have to be diligent with how we work our personnel with the money being sent to us,” added Director Cripps.

Technology funding will be used to help cover increased costs of textbooks needed to meet the state curriculum.

“Books are going to be out the roof. We were looking at $400,000 to $500,000 for books this year. Digital is not saving us anything either because they are charging a yearly subscription for those. When it first came out you could buy digital cheaper. We were supposed to adopt new math textbooks for next year but the costs have gone up so much the state has postponed that in order for the district to have two years to pay them off. Those books are over $200 each. We are not seeking any additional funds for books. We have moved some money around from technology to books because the money coming from the Federal CARES ACT will be directed toward technology to buy computers, Wi-Fi, etc. so that if we do need to again teach remotely from home each student could have access to those things and WI-FI hot spots,” said Cripps.

Plans are to purchase at least one new school bus.

“We bought two buses last year and we will probably reduce it to one bus this year. It depends on how the money flows,” added Cripps.

The state will also be continuing funding for ACT testing next school year.

“With ACT the state sends us money to test our students but where they (students) didn’t get to take the ACT this year the state is now requiring that we double down and test seniors and juniors so that money sent this year for ACT which wasn’t used will have to be spent and next year they will send more money for ACT testing as well,” said Cripps.

Cripps said the proposed school budget for 2020-21 can be funded with available monies thanks to good management practices of recent years.

“We have done really well with our budgets the last few years keeping about a million dollars to the good,” he said.

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