County Commission - Regular Meeting

like to call the uh county commission work session to order. U Sheriff, would you leave us some prayer? If you're having problems, we uh thank you for another day. We thank you for yesterday Easter and the love you have for us and the sacrifice you did for us. Thank you for Dixon County and all the residents there in. What a great community we serve. uh be with us elected and appointed leaders as we come together to do the business for the taxpayers of Dixon County that we always be good stewards with their money and Christ. Amen.

Amen. Everyone stand for the pledge. I aliance 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. Madam cler call, please. Yes, sir. Mr. Simkins here. Mr. Ledger here. Mr. McAw here. Mr. Batty here. Mr. Dawson here. Miss Spicer. Mr. Buckner here. Mr. Britt here. Mr. Petty here. Mr. Williams here. Mr. Grove. Miss Gray.

Do we have a quorum? It's good to see you all here tonight. First order of business is the approval of the minutes of the March 2nd, 2026 work session. Open the floor. Commissioner Buckner, second by Commissioner Gray. Any questions or discussion hearing? None. All in favor vote by stating I.

Opposed. Thank you. Item number two is committee reports. Any committees to report? Showing none. The next item is appointments. The first is appointments are for the planning commission. On this, they're all reappointments. Uh first is Miss Amanda Barry, second is Miss Tina Ferris, and third is Mr. Todd Lindseay. They now serve. Now, this is to reappoint them for four-year terms. Open the floor for a motion. Motion by Batty. Second by M Wayne. Any questions or discussion hearing? None. All in favor stating I.

Opposed. Thank you. Item number two is audit committee. Uh this is the committee that's run by uh Mr. Don Hall. It's required by the controllers office. We have one. Uh these are also all reappoints. Uh Miss Fane Miller, Mr. Tim Span, Miss Mary Stacy. These are two-year terms. Open floor for a motion. Motion by Commissioner Petty, second by Commissioner Gray. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of vote is stating I.

Opposed? Thank you. Item number three, uh, equalization board, as you know, they meet every year in June to take a look at your taxes if you're not happy with them. These are all reappoints. Also on this board is, uh, Miss Anita Nicholson, Mr. Henry Frasier, Miss Doris Griggsby, and Miss Rhonda Burgess. uh open the floor for a motion. Motion by Commissioner Ledger, second by Commissioner Spicer. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of vote by stating I. Opposed. Thank you. Item number four is new business budget amendments. All school funds board of education representative Mr. Haley.

Thank you. uh going over all the amendments is almost crossing the line from the financial director, but this is largely due to what we presented last month. It's largely for the um capital outlay fund. Um I want to go over a summary sheet. You have a folder in front of you that actually has the line items for the entire budget. Just set that aside and we'll use a summary sheet that's in there. We left here last month talking about um having $17 million transfer to our capital outlay to start some construction on some of the middle schools, not counting the Charlotte project, which the design team's working on now. And also mentioned then that we had some regular uh end of the year budget items that would probably be brought forward at the same time. I wanted to back up just for a minute and and tell you where that money comes from and why the request is at 195. Uh when we first started talking about this capital improvement program, uh we talked about uh joint venture between the county funds and our funds. And at that point, we want to keep our reserve funds at a certain dollar amount. We discussed that before. I think my target was 18 million, some was 15. And the the difference in those two largely is the um restricted fund balance. As of this afternoon, the restricted fund balance was right at 3.3 million, meaning that that money is restricted for certain items. Some of those things are on this list tonight. I'll set that aside. And after we discussed that as a board, our audit came in in January and as predicted and as expected, our revenues exceeded uh what was budgeted about $4 million. and a past board had decided that that we didn't put that money into our capital outlay like we should or didn't ask for it every year. So, we had decided then that we put half that uh money coming in every year back in the capital outlay and the other half to the one-time expenses that we uh project every year will come through from the

buses and in this case some curriculum, some new textbooks and things like that that weren't in the budget for the year. Uh when that money came back at roughly $4 million, we divided that put two million into the 15 already airmarked for the capital outlay and that's where the 17 came from. You've been hearing for the last two months the 17 on top of the 30. Um, last month you chose to have us split that up into a uh capital outlay reserve money, use our money for some repairs, and I mentioned then that this month is when we would do our onetime expenses. Also, as some of you know, we're at a critical state of getting our buses ordered, and that was the biggest part of this extra money from the year. So, we decided as a board at the last board meeting last week to go ahead and put the one-time expenses in the request and in the amendment request. So, on the summary sheet, you're going to see where it shows $17 million for capital outlay. And it also shows 1.314 642. That is for buses, seven new buses. We rotate buses every year based on state guidelines. we have to buy so many every year to keep up um take so many off the road and we've had some taken off the road this year for us that wasn't projected. One of which you recall being a fire. Then we've had a couple of accidents also that took some buses off the road. The other 1.185 358 is for curriculum and our science curriculum changed last year. That will take care of our science curriculum for all of our schools at one time. Um, tied in with that under the revenue fund balance is the restricted under 34660 is half a million dollars. That half a million dollars is allocated from a

donation back in 2021. It must be for instruction. Uh, that will also go towards curriculum and some Chromebooks too. All those combined together, the 17 plus the uh 2 million that we projected we'd have onetime expenses and the half million from the restricted fund balance comes to 195. Again, 17 of that goes into the capital outlay. So that's going to be the request that will be coming to you for your approval this month. Questions for Mr. Haley? Motion approved. Motion by Commissioner Grove to move this on a regular second session. I have a second. Second by Commissioner Ledger, Batty and everyone else. Any question or discussion?

Question. Question. Commissioner Batty. My question on the 17 million. Mhm.

Our other meeting, we went back, we talking about these roofs. In my mind that night, I was thinking, I'm for it, but I want to do these roofs first. Now, somewhere along the line, I heard 12 million. Just throw it out there. I I know we don't know. I'm still wanting to do the roofs first and then all because you you've gi us a list here with uh Dixon Middle School. You've got administration office expanded expansions or renovations, auditorium renovations. I'm all for that if we do the roofs first and then all of that stuff. Is that kind of the plan of the board to do the roofs first? Those three roofs first and then if everything if there's 5 million left to do this other stuff. Is that kind of the plan? That's an excellent question and and I want to add a little bit more to it to tell you how we got to where we are. Originally with the 47 million, it had the roof, it had the Charlotte project. It also had a lot of work at Dixon Middle School. Those two buildings really Dixon Middle School needs as much as Charlotte did. But we chose to go in and do Charlotte because their population ratio was much higher than Dixon and knowing that Dixon Middle needs some work more in the common areas. So we set a budgetary dollar figure in our meeting that we would put towards Dixon Middle. So Charlotte was the biggest bulk of the money. Dixon Middle was the second biggest bulk and then the roofs and the transportation were with that. So to answer your question, yes, roofs will be a priority. It will be roofs at William James, Dixon Middle, and Dixon High School. The Charlotte roof will go in with a Charlotte project. Uh we we knew the whole time and I saw some uh questions in the public. How do we guarantee we have enough money for everything? Well,

we don't. But we have a good architect firm that's doing a great job. Our last roof jobs that we did came in under what we budgeted uh under what we thought they would be. That money was used towards those schools in the area where the roof was done to fix some things that may have gotten damaged because of the roof work. and the rest was moved on in that $15 million project. The same will be here. There's not an exact scope of every item that would be covered under the 47 million which when we had it based on the 47 Dixon Middle would been for lack of better words the shock absorber. we would get all we could out of that money. But the roofs are something that will be completed with this money. And there are several projects at Dixon Middle School that'll be completed also. Uh largely the public areas like the auditorium. The administrative area is not as much for the administration. It's as much to make that building a center point for entry. It's really more of a security aspect than it is giving them a a newer office and their areas will turn into areas for the kids. So, it's that's the direction for that. The gyms, just like Short, needs to be redone. Uh there's some special needs uh space in the back that'll have to be addressed, too. So, that plan won't even be completed until we bring you a Charlotte rendering hopefully in the next 60 days. Then they will work on what we're going to do at Dixon. The roofs we have already started the uh planning and design on those.

Does that help any? Thank you. Okay. Also keep in mind with these amendments, uh, this doesn't include our money in, money out amendments that our financial director and school director will bring towards the end of the budget year coming up. But there are several projects, money in, money out that you'll see show up as a new amendment that aren't part of this project. Things like the ice storm did some damage. We have some insurance coming in. We have to expend that ahead of time, get that completed. So there'll be some other amendments, but it will largely be money in, money out. This is the bulk of what we're asking to spend of our reserve funds.

Any qu other question, Mr. Haley? Hearing? None. We have a proper motion and second. All in favor of move on a regular session vote by stating I. Opposed. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Item number two is Pittney Bose's U postage meter contract, the Dix County Administration building. That's our mail machine that we all share inside this building. We bring it to you because it's a five-year lease on that to get it renewed. Open the floor for motion. Motion by Commissioner Petty, second by Commissioner Gray. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of vote by stating I.

Opposed. Thank you. Item number three, speed limit old stage roads. Commissioner Simpkins. Uh thank you, mayor. Uh mayor, I think uh the sheriff has been working on this for us. I think he's got some information he can pass along to us. Yes, sir. Hey, I had to borrow some glasses, so they're a little sparkly, so just just work with me. All right. Explain it away like that to

uh So, we did a we did a 7-day study. Um those of you familiar, believe it or not, 2,299 vehicles. So, we've got a lot of vehicle traffic on on that road. Uh the current speed limit is 35 miles an hour. Uh the total number of speeders out out of that 2200 was 815 vehicles. Uh the maximum speed is 59. Uh and y'all probably I sound like a broken record, but going with the 85th percentile, uh one directions was 30 miles an hour, the other was 31. So based on the 85th, I'd recommend a a uh 30 mph speed limit.

Commissioner Sipin, is that your motion? I'll accept that and make that motion. Thank you to have a second. Second by Commissioner Mane. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor with stating I oppose. Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff. Item number two is speed study on Merl Road. I think they had to fight out in the parking lot determine this. It was in the second or seventh district, but nobody looks too bruised up. But Commissioner Buckner, is that inside your district? As far as I know, unless they change the district. Not Not this week. Is this your Would you like a study done on that? Your motion? That'd be fine. Thank you. Motion by Commissioner Bucker. Commissioner Ledger, you like to make the second on that? Second.

All right. If there are questions, all in favor with stating I opposed. Thank you. Item number five is interlocal agreement with Ignot Broadband. Uh Mr. Reagan, I'd let you handle this one.

So, the ask of the commission is, as you know, Ignite is offering internet services throughout the county, and the county right now is using that to some degree already, but we are using Comcast in several other places, including phones and equipment provided by Comcast. Uh there are grant funds that uh Miss Malone has obtained that are going to help pay for some upgrades to equipment and she wants to use that uh with Ignite to provide the services and equipment that the grant pays for. And then Mr. Bayer who really oversees the rest of the county in terms of internet and phone service wants to also switch all of that over as well. And so because uh Ignite is part of Dixon Electric System, then the ask is to do this through the form of an interlocal agreement with them for them to provide that service to us and we would pay just like any other payer would for that service.

Any questions, Mr. Reagan? Excuse me. Yes. When I swapped over at the city, we saved money. It was half price. That's the issue with this. It'll be a greater savings. Open the floor for a motion. Motion by Commissioner Mane, second by Commissioner Brett. Any other question or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of visating I.

Opposed? Thank you. Item number six is DA office funding. There I'm going to ask we'll push this until May. Uh there was a bill that was going through the legislature that uh apparently is stalled that's going to affect what this bill can and can't do. So I don't think we can properly explain it right now. until the legislature shuts their doors at the end of month. So, we're going to move that to May if there's no objection. Uh the item number seven is ratify the county growth plan. This is the growth boundaries that we've been discussing that the se the six cities in the county have been working on. Uh we will what we need to do is go to every legislative body in the county that's affected which actually that's uh four cities in Dixon County that's chose to be a part of this. Charlotte White Bluff Burns and Dixon along with Dixon County. U this is to it has to be voted on each one of those legislative bodies. We all have to agree on it. Uh has Mr. Mills sent out the copy? Have y'all received a copy on that? Okay.

I have the final countywide map and at the next meeting he'll also have the supporting municipal maps that give you a little more detail. It's a little more granular than the countywide map. and he'll be here to answer any questions that you may have about it. But I'll have these after the meeting if anybody wants to pick one up here.

We'll get you those and we'll get you a digital copy because I know when you print and color there sometime it's not the best. But uh we we were very pleased with the work that was done on that. It was complete agreement with all the cities and the county involved. Maybe the other maybe other than a change or two commissioner. Uh but other than that it worked out fine. Uh the the ask tonight is is to move this on to regular session. It's open floor for a motion. Motion by Commissioner Butner, second by Commissioner Simpkins. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of stating I. Opposed? Thank you. Any other business, then we'll move to announcements. Commissioner Buckner, do you have an announcement?

Thursday. You better announce it tonight because you know what's going to happen. Yeah, I know. And and I'm just going to keep my mouth shut. Y'all can sing to me because this will be my last time over here at my birthday. No, I had them do that at my birthday and it wasn't very good. But hey, okay. Well, we'll take care of your birthday in

we'll take care of your birthday in two weeks then. I in between time. I hope it's a good one. Uh another you you probably received an email today from Starmore on uh the state of the county address. Uh we've been doing that annually for almost I guess as long as I've been in office. This will be my final one. It is on April 14th. That's a week from tomorrow. It is at 7:30 a.m. which I really don't know what goes on that time of day, but we're going to drink some coffee and get up and do that. But it's at the Methodist church. uh is put on by the chambers and for food purposes they need to RSVP from you by end of business tomorrow. If any of you a little tight on the 20 bucks, I'll be glad to pay y'all's way on that. I I see some of you kind of checking your bill phone. I brought that up. So, but I I can cover you feeling tight. But, uh I I usually try not to beat on y'all about coming to extra things because I know you got regular jobs and have to put in a lot of work on that. But, uh, if if you do if you're available, uh, y'all can get to listen to me one more time and then you won't have to listen to me for ever after that. But, uh, if you do want to go and have some interest in that, just let Star know tomorrow and we'll get you on the list and we'll take care of that for you on that.

Tuesday, April 14th, and it's at 7:30 in the morning. Uh, they showed 9:00, but I talk fast. Uh, so we'll get you out of there by 8:30 so you can get on something fun. They do feed you. It's not the best breakfast ever, but they do feed you. So, you'll be tearyeyed, crying, everything wailing like a baby.

Well, I'll get you off on the side about the rest of that. I've got several comments that we don't need to run on all night. Any other announcements? We'll be having a barbecue this Saturday. We're going to do chickens and pork and start serving at noon. There's going to be a really nice Trager smoker grill up for grabs that somebody will take home with them.

I want a Trager not long ago from a bank I did business with and I just finally figure out how to operate. It's pretty nice. It only took me about six months with all that computer stuff on there. So, but but it's nice. But we're going to start serving at noon and we're going to have plates with all the fixings and told chickens to go. And if we run out of chickens, we're going to blame Rob. Rob's here to defend himself tonight. That's why That's why we're going to blame him. That's good. Any other announcements? Yes, Commissioner Simpkins. They're on the amendments on some zoning. Is that something that we'll vote on later or That's coming up for public hearing on April 20th. 20th. Thank you.

This is what uh give you ahead of time so you can study up. The hearing will be on April 20th and then then we have the 30 days and come back on the May meeting to vote for it. Uh if you if y'all so choose to to approve it. So if you do have any questions in the meantime, certainly reach out to Mr. Hayes over there and we'll let him answer those for you. That was it. That was it. Okay, good. Any other announcements? If there are no other announcements, the final one will be the next work session meeting will be on Monday, May 4th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the Beaverdale Booty Reed Junior County Commission Chamber of the Dicks County Administration Building for Court Square short, Tennessee. I have a motion second adjourn. Thank you.