Board of Mayor and Alderman

Thursday, May 15th, 2025

All board members were present at the May meeting. The agenda was adopted with amendments. Two items were added to the agenda. After the amendments were added, the agenda was adopted and the minutes from the study sessions and April’s meeting were approved.

Visitors were welcomed and a proclamation was made recognizing the students from White House Heritage High that had signed up for military service after high school graduation. There were three students, one was in attendance.

One citizen was signed up to speak under public comment. Mark Jackson, of Calista Road, asked to get Wilkinson and Calista paved. If you look at the side streets off of Wilkinson, they are bad too. He asked that paving get done on these road.

10.Communication from Mayor, Aldermen, City Attorney, and City Administrator- City attorney Valerie Webb was asked by Alderman Matthews to read the sunshine laws to to the board. It was a reminder that all meetings need to be public. City administrator Herman updated that the girls’ volleyball teams were using the new gym in the rec center. They have new nets, scoreboards, and equipment. He added that it was really exciting. The bleacher company wanted to shut down the gym for two weeks in order to install the bleachers. They worked with the city and are installing half at a time. The track covering has been poured but was still wet when they went to tour. The aux gym floor is done and is beautiful. They are working very hard to hit the June 30^th opening. The city is in the process of hiring instructors, and the children’s room is great. No other updates from any other member of the board.

Reports were acknowledged.

12.Consideration of the Following Resolutions:

a. Resolution 25-05: A resolution authorizing the disposal of certain paper records. Finance director Barnes spoke to this. The city has 30 years of physical papers, copies of citations, etc. They have spent six years scanning these papers into digital form. Very few are left to be scanned. Most of these are now paid and if they are not, there is a digital copy. They are looking to destroy the physical copies. Approved

b. Resolution 25-06: A resolution approving certain amendments and revisions to the Personnel Manual

Amanda Brewton, HR director, spoke to this. This policy has been in practice for years, but not written into policy. This just puts it into written form. Approved

c. Resolution 25-07: A resolution amending the schedule of fees for the Recreation Center

Kevin Whitaker, parks director, spoke to this. The fees for the rec center are in the policy, but they needed to make a change to the definition of a household. They included all members in the household in a membership. Alderman Wall asked if seniors will still walk for free until 10 am, and if a senior works full time, why should she have to pay if she works from 8-5. Whitaker said they went back and forth on that. The 8:30-10 walking free has been grandfathered in. At this point they can’t make a bunch of exceptions as that will get confusing. It has been a struggle deciding on the senior fee. Wall said he brought it up months ago. Whitaker said that the parks dept are up for suggestions. Alderman Matthews doesn’t like the language in the household rule. If there is a house with 8 roommates they could all be on one membership. He looked at the YMCA, and they define a household as two adults over 18 and any children. That is if they are married or not. Alderman Spicer asked what if Grandma lived with them too. Matthews stated then Grandma would need her own membership. Wall said there seems to be many issues with it. Whitaker stated that there will always be people looking for loopholes, and they are doing the best they can to cover everything. They are not trying to make money on this. Matthews added that they are just trying to offset costs. Herman stated that this has been difficult for the leisure services board and if it is abused, it can be changed. Approved.

13.Consideration of the Following Ordinances:

a. Ordinance 25-04: An ordinance amending the Municipal Codes Title 18, Chapter 3 Sewer Rates, Fees, and Charges, Sections 18-301 and 18-302. First Reading.

Sewer and user fees are looked at each year. Travis Garmon, wastewater director, spoke to this. This is a 3% rate increase to cover inflation, work load increase, and growth. The sewer permit fees for new construction are at $2705 currently. That is paid by the builder or developer. The last time these were adjusted were in 2012 or 2014. He looked over rates around the area, and they were all over the place. Some were much lower and some were much higher. The fees are not even structured the same from city to city. What he opted for was to look at the long term financial need of the city with what is left to be built out. They decided to double the cost for new sewer permit fees in order to keep up with capital projects. This is based on what is left to be built and capital projects over the next six years. Growth is what is driving these. Currently it is $55 for a new sewer connection and $30 if you are moving from an existing city address to another city address. The increase was only added for new construction. The fees on page three were adjusted the same as the planning department. This was raised by $100. Herman added that waste water is the only area in the city that will see a rate increase. Approved

b. Ordinance 25-05: An ordinance adopting the annual budget and tax rate exceeding the 2024 certified property tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. First Reading.

Matthews started this by bringing up the budget study session where he looked at the funding in Ward 1 for road resurfacing. They have been waiting a long time in Ward 1 and the road resurfacing was put in the budget. Wilkinson has been on the list for two years. Now they won’t be repaving Wilkinson this year, it seems the rules have changed. Out of the $1 million budget, only $450k is going toward Ward 1, and $600k is going to the Pleasant Grove Boyles Road resurfacing. (he discussed the length of Boyles and the cost, but I could not keep up with what exactly he said) The roads in his ward, are in bad shape. He wants to add extra funding to resurface Wilkinson and the side roads. He said that the sales tax was raised ½ % in 2008 and they could look to that for the funding. Spicer stated that if they were to do that it would take money from parks and grant projects. Matthews stated that it would be $600k out of the $1.9 million and the city would still be over its goal to have money left in the budget. They have three years to complete grant projects and the money would be returned. There are windows that could be worked in, and it would not delay any projects. Ward 1 was next and it’s not fair that it’s not being done. TDOT says that there are 8500 cars on Wilkinson a day. That is close to Tyree Srpings and Raymond Hirsch numbers. The holes are a safety concern with both the young drivers and the elderly drivers. Not fixing Wilkinson is a safety hazard. Patching the road isn’t the best fix. We need to spend the money and fix the road. Spicer stated that there was a compromise made in the budget meeting and she takes it personally that he would insinuate that one ward is getting more attention over another. Matthews said that’s the truth. Spicer said it’s not. They spoke about clusters and pitting one ward against another is not fair. Wall add that they planned a temporary fix on Wilkinson until most of the development is done on Calista. If we repave Calista now, we will have to do it again in five years. There are road that are worse and in fact Wall’s road hasn’t been done in 29 years. The side roads off of Wilkinson will get paved, but we can’t go back and force devlopers to pay for the roads to be paved now. We need to work together because there are a lot of problems to fix. We might need to wait longer, but we are trying to get things done. Matthews stated that construction traffic isn’t an issue. Sage Road was paved and the widening is going forward even though there is still building over there. The newer roads hold up better and there are only a few 100 left to be finished out on Calista. That won’t have that much impact. There are costs associcated with milling and patching. Matthews motioned approval with an amendment to add funding to repave Wilkinson Road. No one seconded. Ordinance Approved as is with Matthews No.

14.Purchasing

a. To approve or reject the proposal from Black Lion Technology and allow City Administrator Gerald Herman to sign a five-year agreement for I.T. services. The Human Resources Director recommends approval

The city received eight bids for the IT agreement. The current company came in with the highest score. They are looking to renew this contract. Alderman Sisk asked if this estimate was based on last year’s budget. HR added that she budgeted $20k which was an estimate, but this will be hourly. Matthews asked if the typical contract was five years. HR said yes, and this is the third time the contract will be renewed. They handle the city’s cyber security. Approved.

b. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to sign a five-year agreement with Willis, Towers, and Watson for health insurance broker services. The Human Resources Director recommends approval. The city has been with Willis, Towers, and Watson since 2020. They have negotiated the health insurance rates for the city. They have helped keep the increases at 3% and 5%. They are good and negotiating with the insurance companies. Spicer asked if we bid this out. HR stated that we don’t need to because we don’t actually pay them. They are paid by the insurance companies not the city. Approved

c. To approve or reject the sole source purchase of a Pioneer Prime Diesel-Driven Centrifugal Pump Trailer from Wascon Sales in the amount of $60,379.80. The Public Services Director recommends approval.

Isiah Manfredi, public works director, spoke to this. The city has seen massive flooding in the last 1.5 years. The Calista pond has had a pump that the city rents. It stays at that pond right now. The city is in the process of expanding that pond. This purchase is for a pump that would stay on the pond for now. The cost is $60k. The department budgeted $70k for (stream maintenance)(I think that’s what he said), that came in at $19k. They also decided not to use the monies allocated in a line item for a (study). They will redirect the funds for this pump. Spicer asked what the cost of renting this pump was. Manfredi answered that they spend $6100/month to rent this equipment and the purchase will be cost saving in the long run. Herman added that they can move the pump as needed. Manfredi said that they have the trucks to move this equipment. Approved

d. (added as agenda amendment) Wikinson Property Acquisition Wilkinson Road needs a lift station. The city needs to purchase land to build this station. Webb stated that three are liens on the property fo $55k. It needs to be condemned so that the city can purchase a part of this land. The address is 407 Wilkinson and the city only needs 1/6 of the acre to build this lift station. The cost for the station will come in around $1.1 million. Approved

e. (added as agenda amendment) Oakdale Property Acquisition This is the Oakdale retention pond project. There are two property owners that the city is working with to purchase a small part of their property. There are revisions to the pond that need to be made. One of the owners has already negotiated with the city, the other is currently deployed. It has been difficult to get a hold of him. They are hoping to put this into the next fiscal year’s budget. Approved

15.Other Business

a. To approve or reject the Library Board Chair to enter into the Tennessee State Library and Public Library Service Agreement. The Interim Library Director recommends approval. The interim librarian spoke to this. She is asking that they continue their contract with the state. The state offers tech assistance. They have repaired and reinstalled computer software. All of the library employees are offered free training, there is state and federal funding, and inter library loans. Matthews asked if this was the same as last year. The answer was yes. Approved.

b. To approve or reject scheduling a Joint Study Session with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and Planning Commission on June 9th, 2025, at 5:30 pm to discuss the updates to the land use regulations Approved

c. To approve or reject one of the following three applicants for a Retail Package Liquor Store Permit.

1. a) Red Carpet Liquors - Binjal K. Patel -- Umiya Retail, LLC

2. 2. b) Cider Grove Wine and Spirits, LLC -- Grishma H. Patel

3. 3. c) Super Stop Market, Inc. -- Kalpesh Patel and Nilesh Patel

Spicer asked if Red Carpet cleaned up their paperwork issues. Webb stated they did. Spicer said that she was partial to Cider Grove because they will be bringing additional things to their business such as tastings and she liked that it was woman owned. Cider Grove was Approved. Wall voted No

16.Adjournment

Meeting can be found here. If you click on the meeting, you will be able to watch it. Every item is time stamped. The link to the packet where I have taken screenshots, is there as well.