City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. All right. I'd like to call this night, Thursday, March 19th, 2026, uh, city council meeting to order. May I have a roll call, please? Councilman Baji, here. Councilman Walker, here. Mayor Wheaton. Mayor Eldridge here. Councilman Gilbert here. Four present. All right. And I would like to ask those who would like to do so to please stand for the invocation and followed by the pledge of allegiance. But tonight, brother Larry Self from the rescue mission will be giving the invocation.

Now y'all don't expect of a preacher and just not say nothing to you. But listen, I let me say this about the city of Copel. We've been had the mission for 50 a year. We're coming up soon and they might be a better or good community to support something like that, but it won't be one better than than the city of Cook. I appreciate that. And I know y'all are here as a sacrifice to on your your families and so forth and it doesn't go unnoticed. I really appreciate that. So let's pastor apparently. Lord God, thank you for the privilege of being here tonight. Lord God, we thank you for our city leaders and God, they need the direction just like I need direction. So we pray that you'll give them direction and they'll heed to that and we feel like that they will. So bless this meeting. Bless the days to follow, Lord God, in this great city we we live in. Uh may it always be a great city. Forgive our sins, our shortcomings, and our failures. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, brother Larry. All right, moving on. Um, uh, let's see. Do we have any changes to the agenda? Yes, Mr. Vice Mayor, we do. We need to pull item 7G which is the uh preliminary engineering agreement with RJ Corman but I'd ask it be pulled from the agenda. We got a vote on that. All right. Agenda as amended as well. Ended as amended. All right. Do I have a a motion? So move.

All right. So moved by Councilman Baji. Second. Second by Councilman Gilbert. We'll go ahead and vote. all votes correct or yes. Motion carries. Thank you. So, uh, number five, old business, consider approval of minutes of council meeting held on March 5th, 2026. Is there anybody from the public that'd like to say anything? I see nothing in the council. All right, we vote on that. Move to approve.

I have a second. I have a move to approve by Councilman Walker and I have a second by Councilman Gilbert. Go ahead and vote.

All that's correct or yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. Number six, consent agenda. Set a date of 5726 for a public hearing on ordinance 0260101 reszoning property located on North Willow Avenue from RM8 to CL. Uh that was 6 A 6B. Consider approval of ESR ESRI GIS enterprise license agreement all departments. Uh consider number that's not a number that's a letter. Letter C, consider purchasing one pickup truck utilizing statewide contract 209, contract ID 88764. Uh, letter D, consider approval to purchase one is that ZOX series monitor defibrill defibrillator soul source provider and E consider approving bid for three-phase fed thrust energy. That's for the energy department.

Fether feedthers. Thank you. Big words. Big words. All right. Do I have anybody from the uh public like to speak on that? No. Anybody from council? We take a vote. Move to approve the consent agenda. Approve. Second. Second. All right. All right. So, move to approve. I've got Councilman Eric Walker. I do that every time. And Councilman Gilbert. Have a new appreciation for what mayor does every time. every time. You know, you think you sit through here and you're like, "She does this." Like with preaching, too. You think you know the the order of service and you don't when you get up there. But that's all right. New business. A correct. All votes correct.

Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, ma'am. All right. 7 A. Consider approval for audit contract for fiscal year ending 2026. Uh, Miss Winker. Nine. Vice Mayor and Council. Blankenship CPA Group has performed our audit audit since fiscal year 2021. I'd like to request your permission to engage them for the FY26 audit. They have maintained the same fee structure as last year. The base audit fee is $58,600. Travel and out of pocket is $3,250. A single audit fee is $5,000 for the first major program and the comproller chart of accounts crosswalk fee is still $2,000. I am happy to answer any questions but recommend your approval.

I think do I have any comment from the public? Any comment from councel? Okay. And go ahead and do I have a motion to move. So moved by Mr. Gilbert, second by Mr. Baji. All right. Go ahead and vote. Button work. There we go. All those correct or yes, motion carries.

7B. Consider approval of statement of work with Patterson and DWIR Energies Engineers Incorporated for various projects. Uh, and I think you are going to be talking for Mr. Haney. Is that correct, Mr. Who are you?

Let's get Mr. Vice Mayor and council members. This agreement is for Patterson and Dwire to provide engineering services including design and preparation of construction documents for various projects uh needed in the uh electric division of the energy department. These include a new southeast substation and for transmission rebuilds between the south Kovville and the East Kville substations. The cost for these services is not to exceed $100,000. And on behalf of the energy department, I request your approval of the statement of work. Thank you, Mr. Mills. Is there any comment from the public? Any comment from the council? All right. Do I have a motion? So move. So moved by second

Mr. Baji. Councilman Baji and a second by Councilman Walker. Go ahead and vote. Well, that's correct or yes. Motion carries. All right. 7 C. Consider approval of outage manage outage management system for the energy department. Mr. Mills,

Mr. Very, council members. Uh the energy department request your approval of a service agreement with Hometown Grid for the provision of outage management system. Mr. Haney went through this in detail with us on Monday and the system will provide unlimited outage reporting notifications to all on call personnel and outage maps for customers to access. It also integrates with our advanced metering infrastructure and as you know we're well over 50% towards the installation of advanced meters to provide immediate feedback. In addition, it provides customers the ability to provide submit report submit and report gas issues. The cost for this service is is $2,000 upfront, $2,500 monthly, and 4.5 cents per message, call or voicemail. The agreement provides that we may cancel this service at any time without any penalties. And for comparison, we currently pay about $18,000 annually just for answering service. So you get a lot more bang for your buck under this. And on behalf of the energy department, I would request um your approval to enter into a service agreement with Hometown Grid.

Well, thank you, Mr. Mills. Do I have any comment from the public? Any comment from councelor? I just like to say for the public, this is kind of an invaluable tool as well. I mean, when you your power goes out, you're going to be able to hop on, you might already have this number saved. You might have it on your phone. You'll be able to jump on there, put in a request. It's going to get your name, your phone number. You can tell it to text you what the status is of this repair, and then there will be a map that pops up that shows that your repair has been recorded. they know about it and that they're they're on their way out to try to fix it. And so you can see, are other people in my neighborhood without power? Am I alone? You know, it's going to be a really important tool for the people who uh have utility services with us. And I think that that is an invaluable thing resource for us. You don't have to call in anymore and sit on the line and and wait and and wonder if they're coming and and you kind of know where you stand. In addition to that too, it frees up because a lot of times I will roll over to our police department and that frees them up so they're not having to field phone calls as well.

So yeah, which saves money. That's right. Thank you guys. Do I have a motion? So move. So moved by Councilman Baji by the second. Second. Second by Councilman Gilbert. And do I have any public comment on this one? Everybody seems to like this. This will be good. All right, we'll go ahead and take a vote. I get my button to work again. Motion. You got a motion. Second. Just can't get my button to work. Anybody working? You got to open it up.

Still verbal. I can. Yeah. Give her Give her a second.

There it goes. Try it again. Bingo. All correct or yes. Motion carries. Moving on. 7D. Consider resolution R uh R260306 authorizing acceptance of property from Highlands Residential Services and Property Exchange with McNab Family Partnership for the Tennessee Central Rail Trail. Mr. Ward.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor and members of the council. Uh the Tennessee Central uh trail authority has identified a proposed trail extension segment and railroad crossing connecting uh the terminus of Garrett Avenue to an existing trail shared use trail segment located on the southwestern boundary of West Jackson Street uh just south of Can Creek School. This trail extension would run through property currently owned by the city of Cookville that is utilized by the water quality control department for a pump pump station at Garrett Avenue and would ultimately provide a future trail connection along Garrett Avenue and West End Street uh to West End Park. To facilitate the development of this trail segment, the the Tennessee Central Trail Authority has coordinated a transfer of approximately 5.7 acres located on West Jackson Street from Highland Res Highlands Residential Services to the city of Cookville. The city would the city would subsequently exchange this 5.7 acre track with an adjacent 5.7 acre track owned by the McNab family partnership in order to obtain the property necessary to construct a future trail extension. The trail segment is planned to traverse the property where it will connect to the existing crossing on West Jackson Street and to the existing shared use path on the opposite side of the street. Um here are the surveys that have been submitted for this that identify the 5.70 acres. So the u the track two on the left side of your screen is currently owned by Highlands Residential and they would be transferring that to the city. Uh track one is owned by the McNab family partnership and the city would um uh authorize the acceptance of the property from Highlands Residential and an exchange with uh the McNab Partnership to obtain the property to extend the trail. Uh, Highlands Residential Services uh approved a resolution um earlier today to transfer the property to the city of Cookville. So, they had a board meeting. They have a lunch board meeting and they've approved the transfer. And we do have a copy of that

signed resolution. So, I I recommend approval of of the resolution. Happy to answer any questions from the council on this. All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Ward. Is there any comment from the uh public? I know we have a few here from the rail trail. I didn't know if you guys wanted to say anything. You don't have to, but don't mean to put you on the spot, but go ahead. Yeah, go. Yeah, go ahead and go to the p podium.

Mr. Vice Mayor, Councilman, uh first of all, thank you for your time. My name is Rafferty Clearary. I'm with the uh the chairman of the Tennessee Central Heritage Rail Trail Authority. I've been working on this project for some time. um think it is a really good connectivity project connecting a a neighborhood to a highly frequented um park in Can Creek Park and then eventually as you all continue to develop the the Broad Street project um would provide access from that point of depot across Willow to the West End neighborhood and then access to Can Creek Park. So I think it will tie in well with that ongoing project and um just appreciate you guys working with us. there's any questions that you all have, I'd be happy to try to answer them to the best of my ability. Question, any comment?

Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, Rafferty, I appreciate it. I know you and I have talked about this a lot. So, I'm excited for this. I was at Highlands Residentials today talking with them. They're excited about it. I think it really shows good open a good public a good relationship with what we're trying to do. And Highlands and Mr. McNab, we appreciate his help in this as well. So, this is going to be exciting. It's getting us one more step closer or one more bike trail closer to what we're trying to accomplish. So, I appreciate it. All right. Um, do I have Let's go ahead and do I have a motion. I'll pedal this motion forward.

I've got a pedal from Walker and I got a second pedal from Councilman Gilbert. All right, we'll go ahead and vote. I like what you did. That was pretty good. Oh, I got a vote. All votes correct or yes. Motion carries. All right. 7E. Hold a public hearing on proposed Dodson branch road annexation by referendum and annexation plan of service. Mr. Ward.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor and council members. Um, the community development department last year received a petition to annex a certain property on Dodson Branch Road located within the city's urban growth boundary. Uh the proposed annex stationary was expanded to include properties contiguous with the city limits and additional parcels to establish a logical and contiguous boundary for municipal service delivery. An annexation study was completed by the community development department to evaluate feasibility of extending the city limits and provide municipal services to the area. Uh the annexation territory has evolved quite a bit through our public hearing process. We've had several public hearings with the planning commission and council on this with folks that wanted to be included. Uh one parcel uh in this annexation area has been omitted. That's identified on your screen in green. That parcel is used primarily uh it's assessed in the green belt and properties that are uh agricultural properties uh are are required to have owner consent to annex. So, our final annexation area being considered consists of uh 258 1.5 acres and 55 total parcels. Uh the area is primary res primarily residential. It includes 37 single family homes and approximately 350 multif family dwelling units for a total of 387 dwelling units. Based on census household estimates, the area would contain approximately 871 residents. If annexed, the city would resume a uh responsibility for for municipal services including police protection, fire protection, refuge collection, planning and codes enforcement, and street maintenance. Um police services could be provided with existing patrol units. Uh fire department uh reported that protection would be provided by fire station 2 with minor anticipated additional personnel cost. Some additional cost were also anticipated for street maintenance and solid waste service uh by public works. The primary infrastructure improve imp improvement required for the area related to water

and sewer service. Uh the study estimated approximately $850,000 in water system improvements and a little over $6 million in sewer infrastructure including gravity sewer lines, force mains, and a pump station. The total estimated capital cost for providing services to the area was uh just over $7 million. In terms of revenue, uh, the annexation area is expected to generate approximately $183,000 annually in property tax revenue and about $155,000 annually in state shared taxes for an estimated total annual revenue of approximately $339,000. And that does not include any utility revenues. The plan of services addressing services uh for this uh proposed annexation area uh establishes the timing and manner in which the services would be provided and reads as follows. I'm going to go through these uh these items. So for police protection, patrolling, radio responses to calls and other routine police services using present personnel and equipment would be provided upon an effective date of annexation. Fire protection uh by present personnel and equipment of the firefighting force within the limit limitations of available water supply and distances from existing fire stations would be provided upon the effective date of annexation. Water service is currently provided to the annexation area by the city of Cookville and would be provided at city rates upon the completion of annexation. Improvements to provide fire uh hydrants necessary to provide fire protection to the area would be completed within five years after the effective date of annexation. Sanitary sewer would be provided to the annexation area by the uh city of Kuville Water Quality Control Department when economically feasible and based on the same criteria, standards and policies used to determine the expansion of sanitary sewer service in the unserved portions of the present corporate limits. Solid waste collection and disposal. The same regular refuge collection service

now provided within the city would be extended to the annexation area within 60 days after the effective date of annexation. Emergency maintenance of streets uh which would include repairs um of hazardous chuck holes, measures necessary for traffic flow, etc. would begin on the effective date of annexation. Routine maintenance on the same basis as the present city would begin in the annexation area on the effective date of annexation. Reconstruction and resurfacing of streets, installation of storm drainage facilities, construction of curbs and gutters and other major improvements would be accomplished under the current policies of the city. Traffic signals, traffic signs, street markings and other traffic control devices would be installed as the need is established by appropriate study and traffic standards. All inspection services now provided by the city codes division would begin on the effective date of annexation. Planning and Jon zoning jurisdiction of the city would extend to the annex area on the effective date of annexation. An ordinance would establishing zoning for the area uh would be adopted should the referendum on annexation be successful. The recreation facilities residents in the annexed area would be able to use all existing recreational facilities, parks, etc. on the effective date of annexation. The same standards and policies now used in the present city would be followed in expanding recreational pro programs and facilities in the enlarged city. Electric service for domestic commercial and industrial uses to the annexed area would continue to be provided by the upper Cumberland Electric Membership Cooperative. The city of Cookville would provide street lighting improvements within two years of annexation. Natural gas is provided to by the city of Cookville in in the annexation area and is available and would be extended based on customer demand and when economically feasible at uh inside the city rates. Well, that concludes a short summary of the annexation area and a review of the

plan of services. I'm happy to answer any questions from the council on this. Thank you, Mr. Ward. I will remind everybody this is a public hearing. So, if you would like to speak on this agenda item, you may come to the podium uh with your name and you get three minutes. Do I have anybody that would love to make a comment? Yes, ma'am. Come on up. Is this as far as this area is going right now? Yes, that's uh meant to answer.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, this is a proposed we received a request uh the city upon its own initiative include additional area and that's why it goes to a referendum for a decision on annexation but that's the current boundary as you see defined on the map. There's no other plans to annex anything else cuz I have 30 acre farm out there that's going to be affected. Farm properties are only allowed to be annexed by owner consent. So, you would have to consent to annexation in order to be annexed the way the current state law is written.

I understand that. But I've got other neighbors, too. They do not understand what all this entails. And I do understand about the electrical and everything. And I think it's a wonderful idea what you guys done with the other part of it. But Upper Cumberland doesn't offer that. And you've got a lot of people in the city of Kville that is on Upper Cumberland and they don't get this service from you guys. And I know you guys understand that. Yeah. We we'd love it. still not our hands are tied. Yeah, I know. Well, they're they're tied till 2032. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unless the legislature there's a bill going through the state right now that might put that into question, but otherwise and we've spoke with them about that fight that to try to fight that bill. We've we've talked to them.

Yeah, I understand. We understand. Our main concern was if this is just it right where you guys are going to stop at right now. Um what notification do we get when you guys try to NX further out? We started this process a little over almost a year ago. John

April of last year. Yes. When it started there's significant notice requirements. Um you know the city has two options for annexation. Uh the properties may be annexed by owner consent. So a property owner can petition the city and they can be annexed and it doesn't have to go to a referendum. If the city includes any additional properties, then it has to go to a referendum. You know, the notice requirements, we send out mailers. We sent mail letters to everybody in the territory. We've done it a couple times actually. And we also have to send out letters to all the adjacent properties. So if you were directly adjacent to the annexed area, you also received uh notification. We've been out of it.

Yeah. So, and we've we've published multiple notices in the newspaper. We've put signs up in the territory. There's several signs in the territory. We've we've posted copies of the resolution at multiple places in the city at the at the Putham County Planning uh department, the uh city of Cookville City Hall, obviously, and our library. So, we've we have a pretty extensive notification requirement before moving forward with anything like that. Is there anything online anywhere that we can go look online? Yes, absolutely. And it is also posted to our website. It's been in it's been in our news flash uh section since uh since we notifi this second round of notifications. Okay, that's what we wanted to know. Thank you. And ma'am, what was your name and are you city or county?

I am in the county and my name is Tracy Loftess. Thank you, ma'am. You're welcome. I'm a licensed electrician and inspector. It's the reason I know about

Yes, sir. Go right ahead. Please state your name and city or county. Gene Mullins just barely in the county. Um before I begin, I would like to make it clear that even though the proposed annexation area is a part of the county commission district I represent, my comments tonight express my personal opinions and do not reflect or imply in any way the opinions or actions of Putnham County government in general or the Putnham County Commission in particular. Is that good, Mr. Reer? So when I was in private industry and at Tennessee Tech, I was involved in several major projects. We had to provide timelines for the deliverables for those projects when certain major goals would be accomplished. And your plan of services does that with one major exception. Saying that sanitary sewers will be provided when economically feasible is a promise of service. It's not a plan of service. Now I recognize that there are innumerable variables with bond markets, construction schedules, material demands, all of that. But I think you owe it to the people who potentially will be affected by this annexation area and any future annexations to at least provide a target date for when sewers will be available. Thank you. Anyone else any word? Anything else, sir? No. Council, anything else? Any comments?

Um, yeah. I mean, we didn't just go out and initiate this randomly. This was a request that came in. Correct, Ray. Um, and then again, we don't, you know, we're not our vote here doesn't annex something or not. There's there's the opportunity for the the property owner to vote on this to decide whether they want to come into the city or not. And I think what we what we're trying to do is establish that opportunity, right?

Um and that's our goal. Um what it looks like for that opportunity to become available and whether we want to make it available or not. Um and so I think that uh Cook Bull's a growing city. I think a lot of these services, I know just trash collection alone for some people in the county. U I mean this is of course depending on your your your home value, your property tax, but um you know in some cases trash collection can get very close to what city taxes pay. So you get that trash collection in those taxes. Um you also get street lighting and a lot of other benefits. Um, I I'm certainly not trying to sell it to you, but those are opportunities that we're trying to make available to an area just outside the city who otherwise may want those opportunities for them. And they can vote on that. And we're not trying to push those things on you. We're not trying to um force those things on you. We're just trying to give you those opportunities to have those uh deliverables that are in these plan of services. Um, and they can help protect your property through zoning. that can help um improve your property values and and some would say can't guarantee that but um certainly uh properties in the city do really well and I think that overall um it it's it's very beneficial to look at being inside the city of Kville plus you get to vote in the city um in the future. So you'll get to vote on us in the future and I think it'll be a good thing. So

run for the council. That's right. You can run for city council. Um, so you get a lot of opportunity and we're just trying to make that opportunity available and that's our goal tonight. Thank you. Yes, sir. Anyone else?

Well, Mr. Boss May, I think Mr. Ward will be sending out to all the affected property owners a list of the benefits and costs for annexation. Um, but you know, one other thing to mention here, since I see Benton and Sean back there, one of the biggest things we hear is it's a full-time fire protection from a class two fire department. That's rare. We're one of the few in the state, class two. That's worth the money right there in my mind to have full-time fire protection, not to mention all the benefits from a federally accredited police department. So, there's a whole list of things that John will be sending out to the voters in this area to help them make their mind about whether they want to be a member of the city of Kville or not.

My insurance looks at that. We've we've done some of that thus far. You know, we we surveyed the area to try to gauge interest and, you know, we have you know, we had as much interest as we had opposition and that's why we're moving forward where we are now. So, I mean, it'll, you know, it was pretty much 50/50 and we'll see how a referendum were to go, but, you know, obviously the benefits are uh I mean, we've we've got justifications of the benefits and we'll we've sent that out and we'll continue to to inform the territory of what the benefits are of being a resident of the city. Awesome. Thank All right. Well, if that's it, do I have a motion to approve? There's no

no public hearing. Yes, Mr. Public. I'm sorry. Yes, it is. All right, we'll go on seven. We open that up and we go to 7F. Consider resolution R260305 calling for a referendum of annex annex certain territory as the Dawson branch road annexation area and approving the annexation plan of service. Mr. Ward.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor and councel. Um the the item before us now is resolution R260305. Uh this resolution is the next step in the annexation process. Uh this resolution would call for a referendum election for the proposed annexation of the Donsson Branch Road annexation area into the city of Cookville and would also approved the proposed plan of services for the area. Uh, this annexation process, as I said, began after the city received a petition from a property owner requesting annexation of the property located within the urban growth boundary on Dodson Branch Road. In order to establish a logical and contiguous boundary for municipal service delivery, the proposed annexation area was expanded to include adjoining properties. Our final annexation area proposed for the referendum is approximately 258 12 acres adjacent to the current city limits. If adopted, this resolution would request the Putham County Election Commission to conduct a referendum election for qualified uh voters within the proposed annexation territory. If voters approve annexation, the territory would be incorporated into the city of Cookville and the adopted plan of services would become effective 30 days after the certification of the election results. If the resolution is approved by council, um we want to inform the public the registration deadline to register to vote in the May 5th, 2026 county primary election is Monday, April 6, 2026. Uh this would apply to anybody who wanted to vote as a property owner uh residents uh have property had vote have voting rights as well, but for property owners to vote on this annexation, they need to contact the Putnham County Election uh Commission with voter registration questions. Uh the election commission has informed us that they would have to prov provide proof of ownership of the property. Uh would include a copy of a deed, a tax receipt showing the owner registering to vote for the property. So um I would recommend approval of the resolution. Happy to answer any questions from the

council on this. Do we have any public comment on this one? Seeing none, do we have any council comment? Anybody? Just reiterate, John said if you're a property owner, your address isn't going to be on your election card. So, you don't want any confusion at the polls. Make sure you register ahead of time. So, that's why they got to prove it ahead of time. When's early voting? 15. April 15th. We have our election commission coordinator here with us tonight, Mr. Murphy. It's April 15 through April 30th. April 15 through April 30th. Okay. All right. Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve it? So move.

So moved by Councilman Baji. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Council Walker. That's moved. So all those correct or yes, motion carries. Well, that concludes this agenda. Uh do I have any citizens here? Anybody that would love to speak on non-aggenda items? Seeing none, do I have any anything from council?

I want to congratulate our Cookville Lady Cavaliers basketball team and I have a open I'll declare an open bias. I've got several relatives on the team and nieces and sisters coaching. But just what a tremendous ride they gave us and I would I would like to ask if we could have them here at the at the earliest opportunity to to recognize them that that would be great. probably do next meeting. It works. Anyway, lot be invited for next meeting. Show up. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's on spring break this week, but uh but they they took us right to the to the last game. It was a lot of fun.

I just want to add real quick. I know brother Larry left, but we're they'll be celebrating 50 years of his hard work and what he's accomplished here as uh with the football rescue mission. They'll be celebrating that at lunch over at Steven Street Baptist. I know. I know it's been announced before with Herald Citizen and some others and I think Island Insider maybe, but just encourage if you haven't signed up for that, go to that. That was such a amazing um rescue mission. They have such a a great um community resourcing and uh and mission. So, it starts at 12:00, but it's March 21st at Steven Street Baptist.