Board of Mayor and Aldermen

November 21st, 2024

This month I was not in attendance for the meeting. The meeting was uploaded to YouTube where I was able to watch and take notes. I apologize for the lateness of this article.

All members of the board were in attendance for this meeting. Minutes and the agenda were approved. No one was signed up to speak at public comment or for any of the public hearings.

11. Communication from Mayor, Aldermen, City Attorney, and City Administrator

Linda Silver has returned to the board from being out. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in June. They removed the cancer and she did not need radiation or chemotherapy. She thanked people for the thoughts, prayers, and cards. As it is lung cancer awareness month, she encouraged everyone to get a scan, they run about $150. She is glad to be back as is the rest of the board.

Sam Matthews thanked Travis and his team for their quick response on Veteran’s day. There was a catastrophic lift failure. The employees were off. The call was made just after 7am, and Travis’s team were there immediately. Matthews appreciates their hard work.

Gerald Herman, city administrator stated that the city performed the alcohol compliance check. Out of 34 businesses checked, only two were found in violation. White House Market and Neal’s Pour House will be in front of the beer board next month. North Palmers Chapel project is under way, and one utility pole will need to be moved. Pleasant Grove and 76 traffic light project has begun and will be completed in April. TDOT has given the city permission to close the road to one lane between 8-3pm. Sage Road widening design is completed. It will require five areas of property for right of ways. Four of those are owned by developers and they are working with the city. One is owned by a resident and will need to be purchased. There is a utility pole on Tyree Springs and S. Palmers Chapel. This pole has been a traffic hazard for years. Wes Wynne, Sumner County commissioner got CEMC to put in a new pole. Most of the wires have been moved over and it should be removed soon.

Reports were acknowledged. All packet items can be found here.

13. Consideration of the Following Resolutions:

a. Resolution 24-13: Whereas, T.C.A. 6-51-102 as amended requires that a Plan of Service be adopted by the governing body of the city prior to passage of an ordinance annexing any area. This needs to be passed before any annexation. This is dealing with the Berean Baptist request for annexation. Approved

b. Resolution 24-14: A resolution to annex certain territories and incorporate the same within the corporate boundaries of the City of White House. Second Reading Discussed last month. Berean Baptist annexation request. Approved

c. Resolution 24-15: A resolution establishing the schedule of fees for the Recreation Center

Kevin Whitaker, parks director spoke to this. The non resident fees are double in all areas. If residents decide to pay the yearly versus the monthly fees, it gives them two months free as a single person and three months free as a family. Partial memberships are also included. Rental rates are different for residents versus non residents as well. This was presented and approved at the leisure board meeting. Wall asked if the city was ready for the blow black from citizens since the city is now charging for something that was previously free. People have complained for years that there was nothing for the kids to do, and now they will have to pay for it. Some of these kids just want to shoot hoops. The old center didn’t have a charge, and this one will. Wall stated he was just playing devil’s advocate. Whitaker added that the fees are pretty standard for a facility such as this and the rates are competitive and lower than some of the cities around us. These fees are not enough to maintain and upkeep the facility. This facility, like the old one, will operate at a loss. Spicer added that the new center offers things that were not offered before, and walking for seniors is still free. Before it was just a gym, now it has other amenities. Wall added, again, the tax dollars pay for this, citizens are going to wonder why they also have to pay the fee. Wall stated that the $5 for the kids just to come in and play ball, but Spicer added that they don’t want just those kids in there. Silver asked how they will know who has paid the $5 daily fee. (if that was answered, I could not hear it) Matthews noted that the senior fees were lower than a YMCA. He also asked if there would be a program for low income families. Would there be an option for families that receive free and reduced lunch. Whitaker stated that he would love to see something like that, but they have not yet pursued it. If the board wants parks to initiate that, they will. Matthews added that it is something they should explore for their citizens. He doesn’t want to see kids kept out over finances. Spicer said they could have a deeper conversation about that on the leisure services board. She was unsure how to qualify people. Matthews stated that if they qualify for free and reduced lunch, they should qualify. Whitaker added that they find the families for Shop with a Cop based on income. Silver agreed that a low income based fee be added. Matthews asked if a membership would be free for employees. Spicer stated that they had considered that, but there was not a discount for the city’s health insurance with a free membership. It didn’t benefit the insuracne to offer it for free, but they are offering a 50% discount to employees. Silver noted that employees will be paying less than seniors or active duty military. She also added that they are paid above market value and that for many of them, they will be getting a discount and they don’t live in the city. She states that they should pay non resident fees if they don’t live in the city, and regular resident fees if they do, the same as other citizens. Matthews said that it is a benefit that could help the city in insurance costs. Silver and Spicer went back and forth over the fact that employees would be paying less than seniors, and ultimatley Silver believes they should pay for their own. The 50% discount is just for the employee, not their family. Silver said that isn’t clear in the fees. She then asked what percentage of employees live in the city. No one knew the answer to that. Spicer added it was not a requirement to live in the city. All of the parks’ programs are based on resident/non resident fees. Silver asked if they get a discount on any other programs. The answer was no. Wall noted that the senior price was actually for the senior and their spouse. Silver added that not all seniors are married, and that makes employees paying less than seniors. Herman noted that this is a 70k square foot building. The overhead for this center will increase, hence the need for the fees. He also added that if the employee doesn’t live in the city, the likely hood of them paying for a membership is pretty low. Approved 4-1, Silver No

14. Consideration of the Following Ordinances:

a. Ordinance 24-16: An ordinance to amend the Zoning Map from Robertson County R-20, Low Density Residential, to C-4, Office Professional, at CCS Private Drive and Sage Road. Second Reading. Oncology office. Discussed at length in previous meeting. Approved

b. Ordinance 24-17: An ordinance to amend the Zoning Map from Sumner County Agricultural, AG, to R-20, Low Density Residential, at 268 Marlin Rd. Second Reading. Berean Baptist Church annexation. Discussed at length in previous meeting. Approved

c. Ordinance 24-18: An ordinance to delete the Municipal Code Title 4 Municipal Personnel Chapter 3 Occupational Safety and Health Program in its entirety. Second Reading Discussed at length in previous meeting. Approved

15. Purchasing:

a. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to sign an agreement with Civic Plus, LLC for website upgrade, hosting and maintenance on the GSA Contract GS-35F-0124U in the amount of $56,424. The Administrative Services Director recommends approval. Derek Watson, administrative assistant spoke to this. The city’s website is currently not like the other cities around the area. This new software will be more user friendly. The old web software is $10k annually to maintain and host. The new website will be $50k, but it will add parks and the library. Right now those two departments pay for and maintain their own sites. They will still have that autonomy, but it will tie into the city’s website. Mt. Juliet has this and if you look at their police department’s website, you’ll see just how nice it is. This is an all inclusive package, but there are still add ons that we can utitilize in the future if we decide to. It did go over budget by $6k though. It will also have features for citizens and employees. Wall and Spicer brought up how difficult the sewer payments are schedule. Watson stated that payments will not be part of this, but they can speak with the sewer department to remedy the problem. Wall asked if they could add payment services to this. Watson stated that they could, but not right now. Sewer bills go through a different program. Matthews asked if this would contain document management for meetings. Watson stated that they are changing to (CHIMPS?) and using their live streaming software. That comes out of the money from this room. It will include the software and will tie into the website. In the next couple of months the cameras will be replaced, the podium will be included in the videos, and the live stream will be running. New microphones will be put in so the audio quality is high enough for a live stream. Each station will have its own mic. Matthews asked about the contract with Civic Plus. It looks like they will need to pay the entire $56k up front. Watson stated that it is actually 25% up front and each milestone has a payment percentage associated with it. Matthews asked if that could be reflected in the contract. Spicer added that the board would like to have input on what is included on the website going forward. Approved

b. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to sign an agreement with SHI for OpenGov software for bid, vendor and contract management on the Sourcewell Cooperative Contract# 121923- SHI in the amount of $35,820.64. The Administrative Services Director recommends approval. This is for the bidding software for the city to receive contractor bids. Currently, the bidder registry only costs the city $2500/year. However, each vendor has to pay to look at and bid on projects for the city. This process hinders the amount of companies that will bid on projects. The city only receives 2-3 bids per project. They would like to see more bids. This software is pricey on the city side and will also have an annual fee. Contract managment comes with the software. It will notify vendors and departments when contracts are getting ready to expire. Right now everything is in Word Docs. This will be able to electronically pull up and look at old bids and specs for new bids. This will have a search function. The question was raised as to the cost for vendors. The city didn’t know. There was a fee for each city that the vendor wanted to place a bid with. Wall added that when he was running his business, often they would not bid on projects that had a fee to see the contract. If the city could get 20 bids vs the 2-3 it could potentially save the city $600k over the first year. Watson added that in the past, the city reaches out to companies to bid and they haven’t even used the system. Matthews added that he too is tired of the low number of bids that come in to the city. Mayor Corbitt agreed that this should help. Approved 4-1 Silver No

c. To approve or reject Roger’s Group change order in the amount of $107,800 for the North Palmers Chapel Road Widening project. The Public Services Director recommends approval. There has been a minor change that needs to be made to the storm water infrastructure before this can continue. There are two driveways that are being washed out when it rains. In one of them, there is almost a sinkhole forming. The city has tried to fix these repeatedly. The pipes at these properties need to be fixed. This is over the amount that Herman can approve so it needs to come before the board. This needs to be done and the city engineer has already worked it out. Matthews asked if the pipe for this could be changed. Manfredi, public works, stated that the new pipe added to the city ordinances would not work in this case. Matthews added the the newer pipe would be cheaper. Manfredi stated that the issue in this case is that they used concrete barrel sections for pipe which is not the intended use. The material in the new pipe needs to match that of the old pipe. If you put the poly pipes in, you will need to add another head wall and that will need design. The concrete pipe in the proposal is similar enough that more design is not needed. Matthews asked if this needed four headwalls. Manfredi stated that they will only need three, they will tie in and eliminate the need to take the fourth one uot. Herman added that this project came in $500k under budget. In one of the homes, the man is very unwell and needs to be able to get out of his driveway at all times. Wall added that the man has cancer. Wall lives up there and there is a lot of water when it rains. These will just keep washing out if it isn’t fixed. Herman added that these sections of driveway are in the right of way for the city and it is time they were fixed. There isn’t a sinkhole there quite yet, but it is on its way. Manfredi added that they had to make an immediate fix, for the driveway to function, but this needs to be addressed. Matthews asked if the company that makes the poly coupler ever replied to the city. Manfredi answered that they did not, but in his research, he found that the two plastics do best when connected to each other, they do not work as well with concrete. Matthews stated that the company he reached out to had a coupler that went from concrete to plastics. He added that Manfredi should look at that option to reduce costs. Approved.

d. To approve or reject the purchase of fitness equipment for the new Recreation Center on the Sourcewell Cooperative Contract# 081120-LFF in the amount of $229,329.49. The Parks and Recreation Director recommends approval. This is for the equipment for both the downstairs room and the upstairs rooms. The main room will have free weights, weight machines, treadmills and ellipticals. Upstairs will have items such as yoga mats and light weights for small group exercise classes. All of the equipment comes with a three year warranty. This is under budget by $20k. It was approved at the leisure board. Matthews is very happy with warranty. The person who fixes the equipment is out of Nolensville. Turn around time to fix any piece of equipment will be 48 hours. Approved

Ceagus Clark, planning director, spoke to these. All of these have been to the planning board. Everything in these subdivisions is functioning. There are no solar lights in The Fields at Oakwood either. All Approved.

Meeting was adjourned.

Side note- I’ll be honest, I did not follow a lot of the discussion about the pipes and connections in the N. Palmers Chapel project. There was more said, but it was hard for me to decipher it enough to write it out. Here is the link to the video if you are interested in watching it yourself. I tried to bring you the overall content of the conversation and hope that it was clear enough to follow. As always, thank you for your support.