City Council - Regular Meeting

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I will call the Kville City Council meeting for Thursday, April 2nd to order. May I have a roll call, please? Councilman Baji, here. Councilman Walker here. Mayor Wheaten here. Vice Mayor Eldridge here. Councilman Gilbert here. Vice President.

Thank you. At this time, I would like to ask those who wish to do so to stand for the invocation given tonight by Nia Williams from the president of the football high school prayer club followed by the pledge of allegiance. I just want to start off by saying thank you guys so much for this opportunity and you guys are all very appreciated and we appreciate your hard work and your dedication to our community. So, thank you. So, everybody would please just bow your heads in prayer, please. Dearly father, we come before you today with gratitude and humility. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to gather here in this place and for the leaders who have been called to serve this community. God, we thank you for our community and the freess we have to practice our faith. Lord, we ask for your wisdom to guide every decision made here today and for the days to come. We ask that you grant clarity of mind, unity of purpose, and a spirit of cooperation among all who are present. Lord, help each person here to lead with integrity, compassion, and a genuine desire to serve others. Lord, we lift our city up to you. Bless our homes, our schools, our workplaces, and every individual who calls this community home. Lord, strengthen us to care for one another, to seek justice, and to work together for the good of all. May everything discussed and be decided here, God, today reflect fairness, responsibility, and a community to what is right. We thank you for your guidance, and we ask for your continued presence in all that we do. And it's in your name that we pray. Amen.

Amen. to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Miss Williams. That was beautiful. Item three, consider approval of agenda as presented. Are there any changes? No changes. Mayor, do I have a motion? So move. Motion by Vice Mayor Elders. Do you have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Gilbert. Any discussion from the council? Think we'll vote on that.

All votes correct. Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. On to uh appointments and proclamations, presentations, and awards. We have our first one for a recognizing the Cutville High School Lady Cavs basketball team for their achievement at the TSAA state tournament. Um this is my name on it. So, I'll start off with saying uh we wanted to take a moment to recognize our high school girls basketball team because for the first time in school history, y'all made it to the championship game and were runners up at a very hard well-played game. Uh, I think we wanted to let y'all know as a city how proud we were of y'all. How proud we are of y'all, excuse me, because you're going to continue on uh playing next year. But wanted to take a moment and just say as a city we recognize all your hard work, all the dedication that y'all put into it. And um wanted to have y'all take your Thursday night and come up here because I know y'all wanted to do that. Um I'll let the rest of the council congratulate y'all as well. Yeah, I it goes without saying I've known some of y'all I've known since you were born and uh and my sister, one of the coaches just I don't know kind of find struggle to find the words to say how how much fun it was to watch you guys. Most of you I've watched you since you were in grade school and just you made us all so proud and and what a wonderful ride you gave us. I I I just can't you won't appreciate this until you get our age, but uh what you did, the memories you made, uh they will stick with you, they will stick with us, and uh just couldn't be more proud of all y'all, and it's it's the least we can do to say thank you for for all your work and effort.

Yeah, I wasn't able to be there to do it, so I had to text Chad and see how it was going. But, uh great job on getting to where you did. I'm a I I did root for you guys. I'm a Livingston Academy grad, so don't hold that against me. Um, but I was Yeah, we will. I appreciate it. But I I was rooting for you because uh great job on what you did. So, congratulations as a former Cavalier football player. We made it to the second round of our PA off. So, we didn't do as good as you guys. Very proud of y'all. But you remember that?

Oh, yeah. I remember it. You will remember it forever. And um it's just these are one of those moments in your life that I think you should just take a little bit of time and appreciate it. Um it was certainly in my life, it was one of those times that just really sticks with you and memories down the road. So keep that in mind. Um it's awesome to be in a team environment and uh you're going to do great life uh for having that experience. So thank you girls.

I'm gonna reiterate what they said. Super proud of y'all. y'all are going to do great things in your life because this uh experience didn't happen uh by accident. It shows each and every one of you that your character and your drive and your grit. So, congratulations. We're proud of you.

Yeah. I also want to say as the wife of a coach now, um I understand how much fun coaching is. And so to all the coaching staff, thank y'all for for taking care of these girls and these students and being an example for them because that is a lot of extra work that you do not get paid enough for. Uh so thank you all for taking time to to be a leader and example for them. So if girls, if you want to come up and we we have something for y'all. It's not here yet. Um but when we get it, we will get it to y'all. But, uh, we can go ahead and take a picture and recognize y'all.

We have some in spring sports. How dare them play. All right. One, two, three. That look good. One, two, three. Yeah. Thank y'all. Yeah, we did that first. So, y'all don't have to stay. Probably have some practice to go to, I'm sure. Or no, you don't have school tomorrow. You don't have homework. So, you probably got

All right, moving on to some more awards that we have. Uh 4B. The Koopa water system scores a 100% on state of Tennessee sanitary survey. Mr. Turner,

mayor and members of the council, TD deck conducts a sanitary survey for the water system approximately every 18 months. They took look at every part of the water system from the intake through the treatment plant to the customer meters. They look at the pumping records, lab work, engineering, mapping, cross connection, backflow prevention, water tanks, complaints, compl complaint logs, and monitor reports, construction, meter sets, flushing, really everything that we do. And I'm pleased to say that we received 100% score on this latest sanitary survey. With everything the state covers in inspection, it's not just one person that stands out. It's it's a team effort. It's um takes everyone in the department to get the job done. And I'm proud to recognize all employees of the department for the dedication and hard work that they put to achieve this score. I also want to thank the city manager and city council for working with us to have the equipment and tools that we need to get the job done. Um tonight have several employees here with our department. I wish you would stand up. Uh, we have uh Jeremiah Williams, Todd John, Matthew Phillips, Logan Phillips, Jeff Johnson, Jason Goodwin, and Roger Phillips. And while they're standing though, I I just want to ask you all to join me in showing appreciation for all the employees of the department that that made this 100% score possible.

Thank you. Oh yeah. Yeah. Y'all come up here. I've never seen Matthew that dressed up.

All right. One, two, three. One, two, three. Oh, hold on. Okay. One, two, three. Good job. Yeah. Great job. Thank y'all. Item 4 C, uh, we've got the Arbor Day proclamation for April 24th, 2026. Is I supposed to read that, James? You took it from me. No, you don't have to. Okay. I love it. Miss Elrod. Yes. Brag about how we Yes.

So, as part of the Arbor Day proclamation, the city of Koful is adopting the National Arbor Day uh as our Arbor Day as well. And part of that rec recognition, we want to invite everyone to a tree planting ceremony that we will hold on April 24th here at city hall. Uh it'll be at 9:00 am on city hall and we will be doing a tree planting dedication for Arbor Day. And so that's all we have on that. Thank you. And this is for us. We also are tree city. Yes. Yes. A great recognition and a great opportunity. So thank you. Um and then we've got well we'll move on to that and recognize the city of Cookville's 37 years as a Tree City USA. Miss Elrod.

Yes. As part of that award, we have been awarded the Tree City USA award for uh the 37th year. Our energy department electric division has also been awarded the tree line utility again for 2025 year. And then we've also gotten the growth award for the 15th year in a row. So what this um you have to do three criteria to get the the grow uh Tree City USA award every year and then you have a point scoring system for the growth award every year. Um but it mainly includes that we maintain a um active tree ordinance. We have a tree care community advocacy group. We celebrate Arbor Day yearly and we spend at least $2 per capita on growing and sustaining the urban and community forests. So in the 2025 fiscal year, we spent um $1.3 million and that included planting 168 trees here in the city limits. We pruned 3,518 trees and we removed 101 trees. And that is mainly in uh recognition of the energy department and all the tree trimming and pruning they do within our rideways and maintaining that. That's most of the tree pruning and the uh removals. Uh so that 1.3 million expenditure worked out to a $3553 per capita expenditure uh for tree care and planning for the city of Cookville, which easily got us the Tree City award again. So that's all we have on that. We want to just recognize our efforts uh in keeping our trees healthy and our rideways um clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Do you you do you want a standing ovation? in fact. Yes. Thank you'all for all that. That is that is a lot of extra work. So, thank you for that. We appreciate it. Um 5A, consider approval of minutes of council meeting held on March 19th, 2026. Do I have a motion? Motion. A motion from Vice Mayor Elders. Do I have a second? Second. Second from Councilman Walker. Any discussion from the public? Discussion from council. Yeah, go ahead and take a vote on that. All votes correct. Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. 6A. Consider extension of the WEX bank fuel card program agreement utilizing NASPO statewide bid contract authorized by the city council on November 17th, 2022. 6B, consider awarding a bid for 60 14 ft. Yes. Decorative poles. Uh 6 C, consider awarding bid for two 1,00 KVA pad transformers. 6 D, consider awarding bid for two 300 KVA pad transformers. 6E, consider awarding bid for 175 KVA pad transformer. I wish I knew what a KVA pad transformer was. Uh 6F, Huh? It's a green box.

Okay, I know what those are now. Um 6F, consider declaring surplus vehicles. 6G, consider approval to purchase one C. 6265 skid steer loading loader utilizing the statewide contract number 225 contract ID 72878. 6H consider awarding bid for 2026 South Jefferson Avenue utility casting adjustment project. 6 I consider approval of change order number three for the expansion of the energy department. And that is our consent agenda. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? So move. Motion made by Councilman Baji. Seconded by uh Vice Mayor Eldridge. Uh, any discussion from the public? Discussion from council. You will vote on the consent agenda.

All votes correct. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. New business 7 A. Hold a public hearing and consider on first reading ordinance 026304 reszoning property located on Boyd Ferris Road Tax Map 83 parcel 57 uh.00 00 from CI commercial industrial mixeduse and RS20 single family residential to RS5 single family residential. Mr. Ward,

thank you, Mayor and Council. Here's a general location of the requested resoning just off Highway 111. This is a site map of the subject parcel. We have an aerial view. Uh the subject parcel consists of approximately 16.18 acres. The resoning request, including street rideways along Boyd Ferris Road and Highway 111, brings the total resoning area to approximately 18.29 acres. This property is currently split zone CI commercial industrial mixed use and RS20 single family residential. It's bordered by CI to the southwest and north, uh LM light manufacturing to the east, and RS20 to the east and south. This parcel is currently vacant. Uh the resoning application uh stated resoning is being requested to develop a single family uh neighborhood that is fe simple for sale and contains onele ranch homes with attached garages. Our CI district is intended to accommodate a mixture of compatible commercial and light industrial developments. Uh the RS20 district is intended to provide a lowdensity single family residential environment in areas where public wastewater services are or are not available. Our RS5 district is intended to provide a moderate density single family residential environment in areas where public wastewater services are available. The developer has received approval from the water quality control department for up to 40 homes on this subject property. To exceed that number, approximately 2,200 linear feet of low pressure for sewer main would need to be upgraded. The developers have indicated that they plan to pursue upgrading that line to exceed that 40 unit capacity uh that's been provided by water quality control at this time. Um void Ferris Road is classified as a local street. Our 2026 traffic counts at the intersection of Highway 111 provide a ADT of 511 vehicles per day. Our future land use plan uh designates the subject property as best suited for

mixeduse commercial industrial and lower density residential uses. This proposal would be a down zone in intensity from commercial or industrial uses and the RS5 zoning designation has been interpreted as compliant uh with the future land use designation. Sewer was extended to the subject property in 2018. Um, as our plan states, it's uh appropriate to consider density increases in areas where sufficient sewer infrastructure has been extended. The planning division recognizes this area as a transition area between the existing commercial industrial uses on Boyd Ferris Road and Highway 111 where an increase in density would be appropriate. So, developers did provide uh a concept uh with the designed at the RS5 zoning designation where they had uh provided 74 lots. This is only a concept. Nothing has been formally submitted uh for any type of consideration at this time. I just wanted to give you guys a look at that since it was in their packet application. Here's some aerial views. You can see this is a transition area from some of the uh higher intensity uses that have been along Boyd, Ferris, and 111 for for several years. You can see up at the top right of your screen. Well, this is a look at our current RS5 districts in the in the um city limits. Um the planning commission usually wants to take a look at those when considering uh reszonings to these higher density areas. So, those are the areas where we have RS5 zonings currently. So, uh this resoning was unanimously approved by the planning commission as recommended by the planning division. I recommend approval. Happy to answer any questions from the council on this.

Thank you. Do I have a motion? Move. Motion made by Councilman Baji. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Eldridge. Uh this is a public hearing, so we will open up the floor for anyone who'd like to speak on this agenda item. Go ahead. Right here. If you'll state your name, uh city or county and three minute time. Yeah. Uh Steven Bell, Knox County. I'm just here on behalf of 1222 Development. Uh just to answer any questions that may come up. Anyone have any questions for the get off the hook? Yeah, don't pick anything. So, thank you for that. Yeah. Um, yeah. Anyone else who would like to speak?

Okay, seeing none, we'll close the public hearing portion. Uh, we've got a motion and a second. Any discussion from the council? All right. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote on it.

All's correct. Five. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. 7B. hold a public hearing and consider on first reading ordinance 0260305 amendments to the official street map. Mr. Ward.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is our annual amendments to the official street map. Uh these updates reflect six new streets constructed uh since our last updates. Uh this totals approximately 1.4 additional miles of streets to be added to the city street inventory. These are located in the reserve at the country club. Uh the Timberwalk subdivision and the Putnham County Fairgrounds. Uh the official street map identifies streets maintained by the city of Cookville and the and their official names. With these additions, total city street mileage is 253.94 miles that we're responsible for maintaining. Good job. This I recommend approval. Happy to answer any questions from the council on this. Thank you. Is there a motion? So move.

Motion made by Vice Mayor Eldrich. Is there a second? Second by council Bachi. Uh this is also a public hearing so we will open the floor to anyone who'd like to speak on this agenda item. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing portion. Any discussion from the council? All right, we'll go ahead and vote then.

All votes correct. Five. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Or 7 C. Consider approval of medical and dental insurance plan for fiscal year 2627. and Miss Nander.

Mayor and council, we are looking to renew medical, dental, and vision insurance with BlueC Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee for fiscal year 2027. We went fully insured in July 2023 and have been able to negotiate no increases in the years since. This year, Bluec Cross Blue Shield proposed a renewal with a 10% increase in medical, 7% increase in dental, and 4% increase in vision premiums. The city and our brokers at Marsh MMA pre previously McGriff were able to negotiate 3% premium increase for medical, 4% increase for dental and vision premiums. Um we have no changes to our current plans. And then just forformational purposes, we've offer voluntary benefits for employees. Those rates are staying the same with guaranteed rates for voluntary life, accidental death, death and dismemberment, cancer, disability, and employer paid life insuranceances until July of 2027 and accident critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance until July 2028. Those rates are locked. Open enrollment will be in May, but I recommend your approval for the insurance renewal.

Thank you. Is there a motion? So moved. Motion made by Vice Mayor Eldridge. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Baji. Uh any discussion from the public, discussion from council? Right. If I could, I want to recognize Jenny for all her hard work on this and also uh McGriff, where are they now? Jenny Marsh MMA always Marsh Mcllinen Agency. They provided a lot of advice and assistance in helping us keep this rate down. Nobody likes a rate increase, but as Jenny noted, this we went three years in a row without one. So that's pretty unprecedented. what was expected and I think we kept it at a minimum. Agreed.

Do we know what the impact is monthly per on the employees? Well, I think we talked about that Monday. I think it's um $78 a month for family coverage for vision. I have those numbers here actually. For vision for medical,

I'm sorry, medical. Yes, for medical. And I think it was around $2 a month for dental, and maybe a dollar a month for vision. But yeah, it'll be I mean, yeah, $76 for family coverage, $7.98 for employee plus one, $4 a month for employee only for medical. um for the PO plan $1.98 $4 350 for the high deductible health plan $210 for dental and 84 cents for family coverage for vision. So it will be an increase but

but when but when divided out rate of employ 3% increase 4% increases over three years is years it's well below the rate of so that's well done absolutely and the plans don't change at all to give up any of the benefits that employees currently receive. So that's lots of times you can negotiate and increase deductibles or uh other options which you know actually end up costing employee more. Right. So we really think we we've done the best we could on this. City manager was a big part of that. Kudos to you sir. All right. No it was not that. All right. We'll go ahead and take on that then.

Round of applause. Oh. I have pictures. Oh, already voted. We're voting. Y we're voting. Get on with it. Good. Vote here. Oh, that's correct. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. 7D. Consider approval of change order number four for the expansion of the energy department facility located on West Davis Road. Mr. Haney.

Mayor and council members. Uh this change order to our contract with Welo construction includes the plumbing, mechanical, uh electrical, and the fire protection for our energy facility project. Uh here's the summary that recommends M&D for plumbing, Kovville heated cooling for HVAC med mechanical, Lakeland electric for the electrical, and PI Barker for fire protection. And I'll go over those amounts in just a second where it's easier to read. Uh here, let's see. I had some pictures there. You can see the uh where we're at in the stage right now. We're in phase two of the new building where they're setting all the steel structures. Um and here's where the change order it consists of uh give me where I can read it. The public the plumbing which is M andD for $323,3272 cool heat and cooling for the mechanical for $983,2128. So the Lakeland Electric for the electrical for1,53,131.80 fire protections PI Barker $27,2.99. Uh we are proposing 5% contingency with this at $153,98369. Uh the contract allowances which includes all the permits, bonds, general conditions, is $140,35927. So this change order total is 3,374,16.85. Uh I will note this amount is $877,895.82 under budget.

So down to the recommend your approval for this change order number 40. Thank you. Is there a motion? So move. Motion made by Vice Mayor Elders. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Walker. Any discussion from the public? Discussion from council. I want to compliment the under budget part, but then also the three out of the four. or I see if they're a local, which I know we don't control, but that it's always nice to see. Yes, that's a good point. Any more comments? All right, all vote.

All votes correct. Yes, motion carries.

Thank you. And 7E, approval of emergency expenditure for the rental of horizontal grinder due to fire loss of the city-owned mulch grinder. Miss Elrod. Uh yes, mayor and council. Unfortunately, we did have a fire and we lost our tub grinder that we use at our mulch site and we partner with the county on that to we also have to go grind the mulch for the county as well at the landfill two or three times a year. So, this is a large loss for our mulch uh site for processing brush. We have gotten emergency um approval or emergency rent rate on a verier um horizontal grinder which is located in Nashville. Currently, it is in similar size. It's a different type of grinder. Uh it's a horizontal grinder instead of a tub grinder. It's similar size, larger motor, supposed to put the same output as our current grinder. So I would request your approval to rent this for one month uh to use and see if we want to proceed with purchasing that. And I am being told that uh if we proceed with purchasing uh that this rental rate should be applied to the purchase.

Thank you. Is there a motion? So moved. Motion made by Vice Mayor Eldridge. Is there a second? Second. Second by council botchi. Any discussion from the public? Discussion from council. Mayor, if I could clarify the it says city own. This is jointly owned between the city and the county and the lease payment would also be split with the county. So we'd be on the hook for 24,000 in the county and and the county mayor is aware of this and but again we jointly purchased this what 2019. 2019. Yeah. and um we'll continue that relationship on whatever we decide to go with in the future. Yeah, we appreciate the county being a part of that and appreciate you for scrambling to get all this

in such a short mostly the crew that runs it because they want to get up running quickly as well. Yes, we appreciate all that hard work. Thank you. Um any other comments? All right, I'll vote. All votes correct by yes. Motion carries. Thank you. That concludes the agenda portion of the meeting. Is there anyone who'd like to speak to the council on any non-aggenda items? Yes. Go ahead. If you will come up to the podium since Mayor Beth is holding that one,

you're come up to either podium if you'll just give us your name, where you're from, and uh what else is going on. Mayor Council, thank you for having me here today. My name is Rachel Hall. I'm here from here, Tennessee. Um I'm here to talk about Unique uh event I'm having next Saturday. Um Unique is a organization that focus on the special need community here in the city of Kofil that I want to provide um in services, resources, connection, awareness, and opportunities community. Sorry. Connections, communities. And um sorry I'm nervous. Oh, you're doing great. How are you? Yeah. Great.

Great. First time. Um so, and also I want to say that I am uh profoundly deaf and I have co implants to hear. Um so I long time ago I I mean growing up I didn't have a lot of resources and a lot of connections and everything and I wanted to be able to help that for our special need community today. And that's why I want to bring in something like a festival with a resource fair type of thing like a fall funfest but special it focus more on the special need community and that's why I want to bring that up to you guys. Thank you. Yes. And so what is the event? I'm sorry. What is the event?

Uh the event is uh next Saturday, April the 11th from 10 to 200 p.m. and it's open to public and it's free. Thank you. Thank you for letting us know about that. Oh yeah. Where is it? Um, it's here at across the street from Jane Pizza or across the street from the Cavville First Baptist Church. Um, yeah, in that parking lot. In the parking lot. Yeah. Yeah. Right there. Okay, great. Yes. Yes. Okay, quick question. How old are you? I'm 30. And you've been putting all this together and getting this. That is pretty impressive.

Yeah, I've been doing this since last April and um it's a very cool learning experience. I got to learn how to do marketing, Facebooking, and reaching out all these um people in the city of Kville and it I just I learned a lot on the way. So, I'm very grateful. Well, thank you for coming to speak with us. I could not tell it was your first time. You did a great job. Um so, yeah, thank you for coming and let us know about it. And I just connected the name with Tim. Is your dad, right? Uh yeah, that is my dad here. And then he and I worked together for over 20 years. Yes. and proud of you.

Thank you. Yeah. Um I not forgot to mention I do have a really great team. Um um um sorry key organizers. Um I have Captain um Anthony Leonard. Um I have Luke Outbridgeidge and I have Dom Fry. Um I have Heidi Clapton, Christy Kirby, Melissa Spalding, and Susan Mate from Healing Grow Healing Collective. And those are my um my key organizer for this unique. And I would not be able to do this without them. So, I'm very thankful. Well, we're really lucky to have you in our community putting things like this together. Thank you very much. Thanks for doing it. Yeah. Yeah. I'll just add like you've been working with her, like you said, since April. We're sorry. Yeah.

It's even more impressive what you're doing. Look it up with him. But what's amazing about what's amazing is that we just navigate. She just goes out, does it all. She has done a phenomenal job at how many vendors? 50. Right now we have 52. 52. And she's been the one reaching out doing all that. So I commend you for that work. Uh it's going to be cool. And then there is a rain date in case it rains. It'll be it'll be uh April the 18th. Okay. But she has done a great job. So thank you for coming and speak to us. Appreciate you letting us know about it. But thank you.

Anybody else who'd like to speak to the council? Oh yes. You'll go ahead and come up here to the podium. Same thing. Name where you're from. Good afternoon. Um, my name is Robert Bourne and I'm a resident Cookville and I live in the Rebecca Place subdivision. Um, specifically on Laura Place, that's the street of my residence. I'm here to address the city council regarding the sanitary sewer project that is now underway. Laura Place was the first street in Rebecca Place to undergo the excavation and construction associated with this project. The work on this street has not been completed after almost 10 weeks. The city's contractor has moved on to work on Bunker Hill Road heading north from Laura Place toward West Cemetery Road without completing the work on Laura Place. Um first upon initially starting on Laura Place the contractor broke the main water the water man supplying that whole street. So we were without water for I don't know four to six hours which was a bit of an inconvenience. Next, the contractor severed my fiber optic connection to my house, resulting in loss of internet service. And I do a lot of work from home. But the next most frustrating thing that happened is last week, my wife, who is a Punham County Schools employee, was coming home from work. She turned on to Laura Place and the contractor's employees were parking their privately owned vehicles on one side of the road blocking the lane. So essentially a choke point right maybe 50 75 ft from the intersection of Laura Place and Bunker Hill. So, as my wife pulls in, she sees a a large construction pickup truck backing down the wrong side of the street because of the blockage. So, she stopped immediately, honked her horn. They just

kept coming and backed into her trailer hitch, went through the grill, damaged the front bumper and the sensors associated with that. And uh yeah, it was a bit of a mess. So, Cookville Police Department came out and um they were going to do an investigation. I've yet to see the accident report, but I pulled in right after this happened and it was apparent to me that the contractors at fault because they were backing down on the wrong way. Now, most of the traffic, most of the contractors go down to their culde-sac, turn around, so they're at least coming out and they can see through their windshield. Well, when you're backing up, I don't know what the driver was looking at. So anyway, the reason I'm here is I like to respectfully ask the city council and city manager to investigate the project management with um in conjunction with the water quality department. It seems like the contractor has um been a bit negligent and uh and the delays. I mean, I've still got big holes in my yard because unfortunately my lot is a lot where the flush out valve is going and the air relief valve is going. So, I've got a big manhole that's partially I mean, it's in there, but yes,

you can finish. Okay. And that just I'd like somebody and I've actually talked to some of the folks from the water department, so I think this is going to start going in the right direction, but I before I talked to them, I just I wanted to make sure you guys were aware. So, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you for letting us know. And it sounds like Yeah, you've made connections with people you need to talk to and follow up on that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anyone else who'd like to speak to the council? Okay. Any comments from the council? We'll wish everyone a happy Easter. We're closed to Oh, I was trying to skip that. Yeah.

Sorry, Mayor Beth. Yes. The presentation of the tree canopy results and heat map information.

Yes. So, uh, we were selected one of 11 cities by the, um, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Urban and Community Forestry, and they, uh, had grant funding available. So, they selected 11 cities that have populations below 50,000. So they picked us and uh they um used UT Chattanooga Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science uh division and did some studies on the tree canopy here in Cookville and a heat map uh to see some places we could plant some trees. So the study initially did satellite imagery and took uh nape in uh imagery from 2023 and then they used AI to determine the tree canopy we had currently in the city of Cookville. And then the next thing they did is they took um satellite thermal infrared sensors and they determined the um average surface temperature over a 10-year period from 2014 to 2024. So they made a heat map of the largest the hottest areas we have in summertime. And then they also took the census block and they took from the census and the census block they pulled our vulnerable populations and that include uh elderly children uh people without AC and uh poverty. Um, and so they took those census blocks and all that data and put the tree canopy, the heat data, and the census blocks together and found hot spots where the city of Kofulk could focus future tree planting or couldopy redevelopment to help these areas and help these uh populations uh that could use some shade and some help on that. So they also have produced this uh back they've produced this um website. So anyone can go to this website. It's called the Tennessee Community Heat Risk Assessment 2025. They have all 11 cities loaded on it, including city of Cookville. Uh, and so you can go zoom in

and you can look through the data and you can sort through it and see where you are. You can search by your address and find where you fall within the map. And uh, so hopefully in the years to come as we focus our tree plantings and tree grant funding, we can use this map to decide where we need to focus tree plantings. Um, and it also helps us be more competitive in the grant funding to get more trees approved for us. Uh, so this is what they've provided for now and we should be getting another um communityfriendly report with maps that we can share to the community in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Yep.

Anything else? Is that all now? Are you done? Okay. Still wishing everyone a happy Easter and we're still closed tomorrow.