City Council - Regular Meeting

I will now call the Cookville City Council meeting for Thursday, September 3rd to order. May I have a roll call, please?

Councilman Baggi? Here. Councilman England?

Here.

Mayor Gilbert? Here. Vice Mayor Eldridge? Councilman Parkinson?

Here.

Board President?

Thank you. I'd like to ask everyone now to stand for the indication followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor Mark Goff of Washington Avenue will be leading us.

And we pray for just a moment. Lord, we thank you for your greatness and your glory. And we give you glory and praise for this day. Thank you for our council here tonight. And we pray that you'll guide and lead them as they make decisions for our city. Thank you for the wonderful city you've given us, the city of Cookville. We pray your continued blessings upon it. And we thank you most of all for Jesus who suffered and bled and died on that cross. Through him, we can have the gift of eternal life. In his wonderful name, the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

I pledge allegiance 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, Dr. Donald. Item three, consider approval of the agenda as presented. Any changes?

Yes, Mayor, we do have one change. We want to add under... Item 4, an announcement regarding the Childhood Cancer Awareness Fund. So we'd like to add that to the agenda. Okay.

Thank you. Do we have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve is amended.

Second. We have a motion to approve by Councilman Parkinson and a second by Councilman Boggi. Any discussion from public or council? Seeing none, all vote.

All votes correct. 4-yes, motion carries.

Thank you. Item 4-A. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and as the international symbol for this is a gold ribbon, we would like the public to know that the lights on City Hall will be illuminated as solid gold for the month of September. All right, moving on to Old Business. Item 5-A. Consider approval of minutes of council meeting held on August 20, 2026. Is there a motion? So moved. I have a motion by Councilman Baggi.

Second.

Second by Councilman England. Any discussion from public or council? Seeing none, all vote.

All vote's correct. Or yes, motion carries.

Thank you. Our consent agenda, item 6A, set a date for October 1st, 2026, for a public hearing on ordinance number 026-09-15, rezoning a portion of the property located at 79 Messenger Road, tax map parcel 83, a portion of parcel 80, from RS-10 single-family residential to CG... item 6b set a date october 1st 20 20 20 26 for a public hearing on ordinance number 026 0-09-16 rezoning a portion of property located on dogwood circle at forest road tax map 27 portion of parcel 127.00 from rs15 single family residential to rs10 single family residential Item 6C, consider declaring vehicles as surplus from the customer service department. Item 6D, consider declaring vehicles and equipment as surplus public works department. Item 6E, consider approval to purchase three Dell NASPO, acronym A-N-A-S-P-O, computers utilizing statewide contract number 3014, contract ID number 23026 slash 81354, water quality department. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Move to approve. Motion by Councilman Boddy.

Second.

Second by Councilman Parkerson. Any discussion from public or council? Seeing none, all vote.

All votes correct. Four yes, motion carries.

Thank you. New business, item 7A, consider resolution R26-09-17, authorizing the participation in the Public Entity Partners, Safety Partners Matching Grant, Human Resources Division, miscarriage.

Mayor and Council, the Safety Partners loss control matching grant through public entity partners provides 50% matching funds with a maximum reimbursement of $3,000 toward the purchase of an Atlas 301 large truck tire changer. The purchase of this equipment will enhance workplace safety for our public works mechanics by reducing the physical strain associated with manually breaking tire beads and prying heavy tires. I recommend your approval.

Thank you.

Is there a motion?

I have a motion from Councilman Clifton and a second from Councilman England. Any discussion from the public on this matter? Any discussion from Council? I have changed those tires myself, so I have an appreciation for that. You're welcome. All right. No discussion. Having no discussion, I'll vote.

All votes correct.

4 yes, motion carries. Thank you. Item 7B, consider authorization to apply for Tennessee Division of Forestry Community Tree Planting Grant to acquire trees for public properties. Community Development Department, Mr. Billings.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. The Public Works, Community Development, and Leisure Services Departments, in partnership with the Cookville Tree Board, request authorization to apply for funding through the Tennessee Department of Ag Forestry Division's Community Tree Planting Grant, also known as the TAPE Grant. If awarded, grant funds will be utilized to purchase and install trees across designated city properties to expand the city's tree canopy and improve aesthetic value. Key target areas include medians of city streets, municipal parks and recreation spaces, public right-of-way at the Willow Shopping Center, downtown parking at the lot on Church Street and Walnut Avenue, and Cookville City Cemetery. The city has used this program in past years to implement successful tree planning initiatives throughout many of our public spaces. The total project for this year's application will cost $11,931 and requires a 50% match from the community. The grant match will be comprised of $5,000 from the Tree Board Fund and $965 from Leisure Services. I'll note that our actual grant request comes in slightly lower than the total amount that we initially requested to authorize. So that's a little bit lower than the memo in there. The participating departments in the Cookville tree board recommend that City Council authorized the city applying for the community tree planning grant committing to the match funding of $5,965. Thank you. Is there a motion? Second.

We've got a motion from Councilman Bocci. Second from Councilman Eaglin. Any discussion from the public on this? Any discussion from Council? All vote.

All votes correct. Four yes, motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 7C, consider awarding bids for 2026 sanitary sewer manhole replacement project. Mr. Kerr.

Mayor and members of the council, this contract is to rehabilitate some sewer manholes throughout the city. I want to show these pictures here. The one on the lower left is probably the one taking on the most water there, but that's a type of manhole that I want to point out that we can fix ourselves, but this contract pretty much deals with the other types there. I think it'll start a little video here. Yeah, that's it. You can see water sort of running in all over that bottom of that manhole there. So this is the type of manholes that we're going to rehab in this project. We did only receive one bid. It was from CK Masonry for $172,400, but it's within our budget, and I recommend your approval.

Thank you, Mr. Moshe. Submission. Got a motion from Councilman Boggi, a second from Councilman England. Any discussion from the public? Any discussion from council? I'll vote.

All votes correct. Four yes, motion carries. Thank you.

This concludes the agenda portion of our meeting. Is there anyone from the audience or the public who would like to speak to the council on a non-agenda item? Yes, sir. Please come to the podium, state your name and address, and there'll be three minutes, and he'll set a timer.

Hello, good evening. My name is John Dodson. I'm a citizen of, or I live in Cookville, Tennessee. I just became a published author yesterday, and I'd like to read you a little bit about what was published in the Herald Citizen yesterday, and I'll read it to you. I have written and emailed this letter to the Cookville City Council members, local police chiefs, and others to open their eyes on the damage that they have done and continue to do in our communities through the unconstitutional use of surveillance programs. My name is not John Adams, a founding father and the second president of the United States, but I am an advocate for American independence and the Constitution of the United States. I have diligently been working to eliminate automated license plate readers throughout Putnam County and White County and eventually all of Tennessee and America. While White County has recently made the decision to discontinue their use within their jurisdiction and has removed all flock cameras. In large part, the citizens of White County have captained these to thank for hearing their concerns. I'm confident you're aware of the bad publicity and financial backlash that the flock safety is currently experiencing since Americans have become more educated about the truth behind the program. I find it appalling the cities, counties and municipalities across the United States have engaged in a total lack of transparency to get flock safety programs installed. These efforts often go beyond the level of transparency we both expect and deserve from our local government and instead border on manipulation and deceit. Excuse me. If flock cameras were so wonderful, why didn't you hold a highly publicized town hall to educate the people and take questions, or perhaps conduct a survey of your citizens before implementation? It's because you knew that this type of mass surveillance would never be accepted as it violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. And if you want to use the excuse that it was presented to you and voted on in a regular meeting of the Cookville City Council, I'll ask you to review just 45 seconds of the YouTube video that Glenn Beck produced entitled Flock Cameras Are Already Being Abused. This is what you can do about it. The clip that I'm referring to starts at approximately 0830 and ends at 0915. I respectfully ask that you hear the outcry from the citizens of our community who have entrusted you with the responsibility of leadership and choose to be responsive to our concerns for doing the right thing. I welcome the opportunity to engage with each of you to further a better understanding of this issue through the exchange of information. Thank you.

Anyone else? Any comments from council? We are adjourned.

Thank you.