City Council - Regular Meeting

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the blessings you save, Lord, and continue to do so. Lord, give this board and our elected officials knowledge to do the duties that they need to fulfill through the town. We thank you for all your glory, your honor, and your praise. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. If you'll face the flag.

Thanks, everyone, for coming today. As far as Mayor's comments go, it says there's a retirement recognition, but that's not going to happen this time. It's going to be done in our next meeting in July. I want to thank the Christina and Kathy and all of the town for the Juneteenth celebration and also the 4th of July celebration this weekend. Had a good turnout. The parade was good. The fireworks were outstanding. And I had somebody ask us, who takes care of the fireworks? Where do they come in from? I said, they come in from the fire hall because it is our assistant chief that does all the fireworks. So let's give Eric a hand. I don't know if some of you maybe saw that there was a partnership that was signed between the the park service in Greene County to do some work out at Horse Creek, and I went out and watched that signing. It's the first time it's ever been done in the United States, and so very proud of that activity that's going on, and I've never really been out there. Dang, it's pretty, and it's also 10 minutes away, and you're... Yes, I was working and playing golf. I didn't go out there on the creeks.

Don't tell that.

Well, I can because I was not a real good person. But anyway, it is very beautiful, and it's amazing that you can get just off the road and be in the wilderness. So I'm excited about that opportunity out there. We also had a group yesterday that asked questions elected officials to come, and they talked a little bit about faith in our country and in Tennessee, and the HJR, some number that was passed in the state Congress last year to recognize those kinds of activities. So it was a good get-together. And then I would like to remind you that on Thursday it is – lyrics on the lawn and it will be done the next couple of next three weeks and hope you'll be able to get down there maybe it'll be a little bit cooler than it was last week i couldn't go out in that yes and um what else was there we were talking coming up oh that's tomorrow night at five The Declaration of Independence is at 530 at the courthouse. And there will be people, a number of different people reading from that. So if you get a chance, come down. And I'd also, I'd like to ask Erin to come up and talk a little bit about some of the activities she's had going on at the library. I was down there Tuesday, the last couple of Tuesdays, and it is so cool.

Yeah, Mayor Doty asked me to come up and just talk a little bit about the activities we've had going on at the library recently. We just finished our summer reading program last Tuesday, which is something we do every year in June, every Tuesday in June. This year we had record attendance. We had over 320 children registered for the program, and then each week we had over 150. about 150 on average come and attend. We had activities. The theme this year was dinosaurs, which is a national program. We get materials through the regional library for free and access to the manual. And then we're free to do whatever we want. We had some really fun activities. We had scavenger hunts. We had a fossil dig. We had paleontologists come from the gray fossil site and then a archaeologist from Cherokee National Forest. They came, we partnered with Rural Resources. Sarah did some seed bombs with them to plant. What else did we do? I forgot.

You had some special visitors, didn't you, the last day?

Oh, and we had some of the actors and actresses, or actresses mainly, from 1776. They came in costume, and they actually had the kids talk about the Declaration of Independence and actually get to sign it. So the kids got to sign the Declaration of Independence, which was very cool. They loved that. So that was really busy. That was very successful. Our book sale this year, which you graciously allowed us to be at the George Clem facility this year, we... made over $32,000 to supplement our budget, which helps us make ends meet at the end of the year. So that was really successful. I do want to give a shout out to, I think we had over 45 individual volunteers for the book sale who give hundreds and hundreds of hours. And the book sale would not be possible without those volunteers, mainly Diane Strymer, Darlene Moore, Betsy Reed, Gosh, I'm going to forget somebody. Mary Alice Williams, and then Ron Smith and Jim McGinn. That's the core group. They organize everything. They make it happen. So we still do a lot of work at the library as far as receiving donations. I spend a lot of time organizing things, but without them, it wouldn't be possible. And I also wanted to mention that the summer reading program is... I have to raise money for that, so we got a... We got a grant from the Mary G.K. Fox Foundation, Trinity Methodist Church, the Buell and Mildred Fox, no, the Buell and Mildred Brooks Estate. They provide funding for children's programming in Greene County. And then the Greenville Women's Club and the Greenville or the Andrew Johnson Women's Club. The last thing is that we had a open house last week at the T. Elmer Cox Library to invite people to see the exhibit that Christopher Ghost put on, which is really interesting. It's actually about the founding of Greene County and the role that some of the Revolutionary War soldiers who fought on Kings Mountain played in developing Greene County and settling our area. So if you haven't been there, please come to the T. Elmer Cox Library when it's open. Look at the exhibit. It's fabulous.

How long will it be there about?

For the foreseeable future. Okay. At least for a few more months. And I also just want to thank everybody that works at the library. I have a really great staff at the moment. I couldn't do what we couldn't do what we do without them. We all work together very well. So thank you to Hillary, Chris. Gosh, Jonathan, Jessica, Grayson, Susie, Katie, June, and Cindy. Yeah, so I'm just really blessed. I love my job. I always tell you that I love my job. I have a great staff, and I'm really proud to serve the community of Greenville and Greene County. So thank you.

Thank you for all you do. And then just very quickly, there were – 70 sailors that came in? A little over 100 that were actually here with families. Okay. And they came down and worked at the Robie Center and did some other activities around the area and got to do a lot of different things and see a lot of the town and getting a chance to talk to those guys. There was... at least four of them that said we're ready to come move here so and that's on top of the four to six that have already come here so it's um it's a it's a good bond and they have all we're all very very appreciative of how greenville has adopted them because most of the communities that have a sub named after them do not participate like we do so thanks to all that group Anything else? Anything else? Okay. Public comments. Tracy Solomon would like to come up and say some words.

Mayor, Council, Tracy Solomon, just read a statement here. I grew up in Greenville, took my first flight from the airport when I was 13 years old, Civil Air Patrol, and that airport inspired me. Today it breaks my heart because what should be one of Greenville's greatest economic development assets has become one of its greatest disappointments. It's no longer just an airport issue, it's a jobs and investment issue, taxpayer issue, and tonight, a leadership issue. Several months ago, I met with Airport Authority Paul McAfee because I wanted to help. I wanted to discuss aviation. I wanted to discuss the future of our airport. Instead, the conversation quickly turned to Scott Neiswanger. Chairman McAfee referred to Scott as a narcissist and said he did not want to see another building.

Mr. Solomon, we can't understand. Can't understand.

Can you slow down just a little bit? I got a lot to read. I'm sorry? I can. Okay.

um okay let's i'll restart here uh it's uh in my conversation with mcafee he replied referred to scott as a narcissist and said he did not want another building in greenville with scott's name on it i said something very simple in response i don't care whose name is on the building i care that the building gets built You know, my opinion on the airport authority should not decide who gets credit. It should be creating opportunity in Greenville for everyone. Instead, Greenville has reportedly lost a major private aviation investment and the jobs that came with it. Public record shows that the airport adjacent property owned by Andrea Daniels WT Daniels wife was sold to the developer now suing the city over a project that threatened the future. Of the airport today WT Daniels sits on that airport authority that is supposed to protect that same airport at a minimum that creates questions that deserve independent review. I ALSO APPLIED TO THE TOWN'S, THROUGH THE TOWN'S OFFICIAL PROCESS FOR A BOARD OF POSITION. I RECEIVED NO PHONE CALL, NO EMAIL, NO INTERVIEW. I'M NOT ASKING WHY I WASN'T APPOINTED. I'M ASKING WHETHER THE PROCESS WAS TRANSPARENT, MERIT-BASED, AND FAIR. The applications were presented publicly, is my understanding. What not has been explained is the scoring, the weighting, and all of that, the metrics that were used in those criteria. If the process is merit-based, the scoring will prove it. I've also become deeply concerned by the pattern I am seeing, an authority seeking greater financial independence, less oversight, less accountability. Growing expenditures on outside service and lost private investment as you guys have witnessed questions surrounding appointments hiring governments and conflicts. Whether those appointments stem from poor judgment and adequate oversight or something else, the pattern is moving this airport in the wrong direction. Council, this is your airport authority. You appointed it, you oversee it. Tonight, I respectfully ask that you require production of the airport authority's governing documents, require written conflict disclosures, require production of the board selection and airport manager hiring records, and appoint an independent reviewer to examine governance of that authority. And I'll leave with you one final question. If the airport authority cannot attract investment, cannot earn public trust, and cannot become financially sustainable, then what? Because the airport authority doesn't ultimately pay the price the taxpayers of Greenville do. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Solomon.

Okay, we'll next go to unfinished business, and the one item is to consideration to approve the minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting held on June 16th, 2026. We got these last week, so do I hear a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion or changes? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Aye. Motion carries. Consent agenda item is consideration to approve a resolution for the town of Greenville to apply, accept, administer, and amend fiscal year 27 statewide school resource officer program grant for the Greenville Police Department.

I've asked Josh to come on up because he's next on the list too. But we've been working with the police department for several years now on this grant. It's a great opportunity for the town. And we have seven schools that we apply for in the amount of $75,000 per officer. And so that totals up to $525,000 that we're able to hopefully receive that funding again this year. So that grant just became available last Wednesday. and so we're asking for your approval to apply. There's no match with this grant, so it's a great opportunity for the police department and for our schools.

We have a motion to approve. Do I hear a second? Second. Is there any further discussion? This is tough, isn't it? Hearing nothing or none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against, like, sign. Motion carries. Item 8.1 is the announcement of the appointment of Mr. Josh Pierce as Chief of Police.

This announcement was made last Monday, well, maybe two Mondays ago, on June 22nd. And then after that, he took official office on the next day, or the next week, on June 30th. And then last Thursday, at the Greene County Courthouse, Judge Bailey officially sworn him into office. So we welcome him and his new role as the Chief of Police for the town of Greene. Thank you.

Josh will do a great job. He's done a great job up to this point.

He's served in many roles for over the years that he's been working for the police department.

And then do you maybe have something you'd like to say?

I do. Throughout the chief's process, the interview process, and then further interview process with myself, we have selected... Eddie Key as the assistant chief of the Greenville Police Department to be effective July the 12th. It'll be Sunday. He will officially take his role as assistant chief. The swearing-in ceremony will be with Judge Bailey on July the 17th. It'll be a Friday at 1.30. Officially, Eddie Key will be taking over as assistant chief.

Thank you.

I guess all I'll say is I was blessed in 2005 when Mac Jones hired me as an auxiliary officer. I was more blessed in 2011 when Terry Cannon hired me as a full-time officer. I've enjoyed my time and I have no desire to go anywhere else.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

All right, item 8.2 is consideration to approve a bid proposal for construction of phase one sidewalk improvements on Bernard Avenue. Mr. Broyles?

Good afternoon, everyone. This is the... Community Development Block Grant that we had received back in 2023 for improvements on Bernard Avenue. And if you remember, we had broken this up into a couple different phases. This is phase one, which is the area immediately around Eastview School. So we had solicited bids. We received five bids for this. And we have, myself and Scott went through these and we took a look at things. And this is one that's kind of unique. It's the For this community development block grant, there are specific protocols for procurement, and you must award this to the lowest bidder unless they're not qualified, and you're not allowed to negotiate with any of the bidders. The lowest bidder was Complete Construction Management. They're based out of Moorestown. I was not familiar with them, nor was Scott, so I did a little research. background check on them and checked around and found out they had done some projects for the city of morristown so i reached out to the city of morristown city manager talked to him about them they had a great review of them he also informed me that they had done a project for jefferson city so i reached out to jefferson city city administrator as well and they're doing a sidewalk project similar to what we're doing now in jefferson city So, those were all positive reviews, but in further, I wanted to see it firsthand, so I made a trip to Morristown and went to an active job site they're working on right now to see the quality of their work, and I think they're very qualified, and it would be my recommendation for them to be awarded this contract.

Okay, we have a recommendation. Do I hear a motion to approve?

Motion to approve. Second.

Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 8.3 is consideration to approve a resolution to increase garbage rates for the Municipal Solid Waste Fund. Mr. Keith.

Good afternoon.

I'm coming before you this afternoon to describe and propose a rate increase for our commercial municipal solid waste. This will affect our front load dumpster service and our roll-off trash service. The cost across the board for everything solid waste is going up and we've experienced some increase in cost for our transportation. Once we get it to the landfill. It's then transferred down to Morristown to that landfill and obviously the cost of everything has been increasing and thus our rates started to get a little behind. So the old rate was $47 a ton and it's going to $65 and again that reflects an increase in our transportation costs. So Generally speaking, just for the one day, the calculation I used was just a per ton increase. Turns out most of the containers are about half, three quarters to a ton, so just a simple calculation adds about $20 to each of the rates for the one days, and then that's just multiplied across for the multiple day pickups. That's basically it.

Okay, so that's your recommendation?

Recommendation is to increase the rates as reflected, yes.

Okay, so we have a recommendation. Do I hear a motion to approve?

Moved.

Is there a second?

The increase in the fee, is that going to be passed on to the customer, I'm assuming?

So is there no second?

Second. One of the things I'd like to add is that we have sat back for a number of years and not really covered all the cost, I think. It's close. And one of the things that we've talked about doing is trying to raise the fees that are paid for services. And Scott's been, the Public Works Department has been trying to address those. So I applaud you for that and thank you. So we have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 8.5 is consideration to approve a resolution to increase tipping fees for Class 1 commercial residential waste at the Greenville-Green County landfill. Come back. You can't get away yet.

This is the tipping fee from the 65.

It's essentially the same. It's the same increase just applied to. It really is the same thing.

Okay.

Do we need to... That's what drives the increase to 65 on the front load waste. It's when the front loaders go in and go up to the transfer station. That's what this is.

Can you take about two minutes and explain how our process works up there, down there, over there? We've got two different waste...

Yeah.

So there's the, there's the, and Tony, you might think this as well, but there's two sides to what goes on out there. There's the demolition side that we run. That's all the construction debris. And then there's the municipal solid waste portion, the transfer station that the county maintains and operates. So when our front load dumpster service trucks go in there, our automated trucks go in there to pick up the residential solid waste, they're weighed that goes up to the transfer station and it's dumped there and the county loads it up and hauls it down to Morristown. When the demo comes in, it goes up to the hill, up to our portion, and we handle it from there. So essentially that's where the separation is. And so right now the county is taking all of our municipal solid waste and hauling that down to Morristown. And then we're handling all of the Is there any? We do the brush as well. We have the brush pad, so it's a separate operation as well.

And one thing that we're looking at right now is the dump, the landfill. landfill, fill land, landfill, is filling up, and we're having to try to get more space. And the cost to get that permitted and built is going to be $3 million, $4 million, $5 million, somewhere.

We'll have to bid it out and see what different companies charge for that. First, we've got to get permitted to do that first through TDEC.

yes but that's a process that we're going through right now and part of the reason some of these changes are being made especially on the class four is because preparing for the expenses we're going to have to make this change if it happens so anyway okay now i'm sorry

go up because our transportation rates are going up on us.

We're in the process of standing up a temporary, because when the demo landfill gets full, we're going to have to transport, the demo is going to keep coming in, we're going to have to transport that to Morristown. So we're in the process now of standing up a temporary smaller scale transfer station inside the old building on our half, our side of it. We've got a permit in the works now for that and it should be issued any day now. Just it's a transfer permit, allows us to take the demo in there, dump it on the floor, load it back up and haul it to Morristown. We can't process it in any way. We can't keep it there for any length of time. It has to come in and go right back out. So we're in the process of going through there and getting that ready now. And Tony's gonna talk about some equipment That'll be required for that operation. And then as we move forward, the new cell will be constructed. And Sultan is currently projecting that in early 2029. So we're going to be all on demo for a little while. And we've got a process that we're planning for in order to do that. So about the equipment, that's, I think,

All right, so we voted to approve the garbage rates for the municipal solid waste. So next we're going is a consideration to approve a resolution to increase tipping fees for Class 1 commercial residential waste at the Greenville-Green County landfill, and that's where it's going. Okay, so we have a recommendation.

I do recommend implementing those rates to offset the transportation costs.

We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Item 8.5 is consideration to approve the purchase of equipment to transport Class III demolition waste not to exceed $700,000.

First, like he said, we're looking at different types of equipment where we're going to bring it in and dump it out on the floor, equipment to load that with, roll-off containers. The grapple truck will be our main piece that loads the roll-off trailers. and that'll make it way more efficient. And plus, we're looking at equipment that Public Works will be able to use when we're done with it there. So we're trying to utilize this stuff, but just get things that we can use in the future so it doesn't feel like a total waste of money. So we can use the roll-off containers, we can use the grapple truck for brush later on, or Public Works can, I'll put it that way, but. But for the time being, that's what we'll use. We'll get that grapple truck. All these will be a little bit cheaper, but this was high-end quotes to start with, and as I've been talking to the salespeople, we're working the prices down, so it's not going to reach the... 700,000 threshold. We'll work on that for sure. And we'll see what kind of used equipment we can get. This is just a figure with some quotes to get us, you know.

Where is it in the budget? It will come from? The landfill fund has the way it's set up. It has the cash to pay for this.

And one of the reasons we're getting started on it now is because we've got a guesstimate on when it's going to run out. But that's really kind of all that it is. It depends on how much stuff comes in.

And so we'll have a volume study done this month.

I think he said he could probably come next week, didn't he?

And that'll give us a better idea. But as it stands now, we're probably looking about a little over a year ahead. So, and we can get most of this equipment within five weeks. And then the grapple truck, it may take a few months, but we'll have it before we fill up. So we'll have to order that one.

And I think we'll be able to kind of almost have practice runs to figure out how best to do it.

Yeah. I mean, that's really the only solution we have at the time. The only thing that'll really work Versus hauling everything off. We just have to try different things. We've went up on the rates to try to cover all these costs. We're just getting prepared. That's about all I can say. I think we will be. I'm sure we have to be. It leaves town. That's just all there is to it. Whenever we fill up and then We'll get back on track when we get open and get established with the new landfill and we'll be back in business. So I don't think we'll suffer too much loss for a year or two.

Tony, is there a plan in place to mitigate this from happening in the future? I know our landfill, we don't just take Greenville and Green County solid waste. We also allow outsiders to come in and fill up our landfill. So is there a plan in place to address that so that we're not in this predicament sooner rather than later?

Yeah, with the rate increase to match surrounding counties, they won't be bringing that in here. They'd rather go, they wouldn't spend the extra expense to bring it from Washington County to us or Hamblin County if the rates are close to the same. But they've been bringing it here because it's cheaper. So that's one way we've addressed it. And yeah, we could look at that in the future about not accepting out of waste. And plus we bought the compactor because we've needed one for years and it'll save a landfill by 30%. So, I mean, they're very expensive, but they're worth their weight in gold as far as, saving space. So we've bought that, it was a used one, but I feel like it saved us now. So it's just steps like that we'll use to get there and make it last longer.

And we also had a kind of a double trippy whammy between COVID and people doing renovations and cleaning their yards out, houses out, and then And so the life of the landfill went from 10 years to three years and a year or two years or some, it's just big changes.

From 15,000 tons for a normal up to 26,000 during the floods and COVID and all it jumped up, it climbed towards the 20,000 tons. And then when the floods came, it jumped up to 26,000. even though we limited what we, you still got this other stuff that didn't come from the actual river, just storm damage. So we're seeing that it's gonna average out about 22,000 a ton after things have settled down, or 22,000 tons, not eight tons, I'm sorry. I believe that's gonna be the new normal for a while with the population growth and stuff. That make sense?

Yes. So we have a recommendation to buy some equipment to prepare for this change. And do I hear a motion? Is there a second?

Second.

Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those against like sign.

Forgot to vote, aye.

Aye, okay. Motion carries. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

You just don't like spending money.

Oh.

Item 8.6 is consideration to approve the Blue Cross Blue Shield Administrative Services Agreement.

Yes, the consideration to approve the Administrative Services Agreement and allow Kathy to sign off on that for us. We were looking at the agreement, Kathy and I were, and it looks like our increased on administrative costs is like, for 26 is like $1.25, and then for 2027, $1.29. But other than that, in our summary that we have here, most of it is just language.

Christina, 151.

Yeah, this is where the fees are listed.

175. Oh, but the COBRA...

is calculated for obviously we have 2026 but 2728 have already given us the rates that we'll have and most of the the changes in this agreement this is an annual agreement we bring before you and most of the whole changes every year is just clarification of some language and then they remove some language and update some language the only thing majorly different is just that increase from 125 per subscriber per month versus the new rate of 129, which is pretty standard, 3% to 4% increase. I mean, it's pretty standard each year of that.

And with them giving our rates, too, with the year in advance, then we know. So that's why I think sometimes we get our agreement sometime around April, late April, and then we're going to bring it in what may and then a lot of other things were going on so that put us to here but i i do why do we not get it before january we have never gotten the administrative services agreement we do receive our evidence of coverage for employees on the first if you're not getting it on until halfway through the year how do we budget for that

Well, they're giving it to us in advance. Each year.

This one starts on January.

I know it says that, but from the time she signs it, she'll be dating it after you all approve it. So it's still going to be from July to July.

I went back and looked at previous years before this meeting, and it always seems to be that we normally get it in the springtime, April, May, but we've never received it in an October timeframe. For some reason, it's always been in springtime when we receive it. It historically has came back before you all every year in the months of April, May, June.

Okay, so we've got a recommendation to approve an agreement. Do I hear a motion to approve? Second.

He can have it.

He can have it? All right, we'll let you have it next time. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Dang, this might be one of the best meetings I've ever had. Item 8.7 is consideration to accept a donation in the amount of $30,160 from the Greene County Tennis Association to fully fund the resurfacing of three courts on Hal Henard.

So Mr. Bailiff here, but I'm going to go ahead and kind of lead up to this. So a few months ago, you all approved, well, we finished up the agreement between the Division of Property on Hal Hennard Road. And with that signed agreement, that is one of the parts to that was that the county school or the Greene County was going to graciously donate $75,000 toward the tennis court repairs. And then so did the Greenville City Schools in the amount of $75,000. City Council approved a bit more than that because the town is going to exclusively own that property now. I think your amount, it was $96,000 or $98,000 because the grand total to reconstruct the three courts was 248, 657. I think that was the amount. And so that agreement has now been signed by baseline and they have got that contract and it's in the works to start that reconstruction of those three courts. in mid to late July. And then in the meantime, right after all of that happened, David Weems, who's not here today, came to me and said that the Tennis Association, which they had mentioned this early on to us months ago when we were talking about the reconstruction of the other three courts, that they would do what they could to help raise some funds as best as they could for the other three courts. And in that time frame in the last few months, they have had several different fundraising events and have been able to secure the full funding to resurface the other three courts once the reconstruction of the three courts happen in July. So the reconstruction of the three courts that you all approved, is happening like i said in late july and that process is supposed to take three to four weeks and then once they're complete with that project if approved today to accept their donation and then the next item is to approve that contract with baseline then they will follow up and work on the resurfacing of those three courts which that is anticipated to only take about a week so And I brought him up here today to see if he wanted to speak on how they raised $30,160 to fully fund the resurfacing of those three courts.

I was going to say, you took all the thunder out of my nose here.

Well, I don't know the fundraising efforts.

Last time we were here, we had our hand out. This time we're giving it to you. Thank you. You challenged us to raise the funds to take care of those other three courts, which we did. The biggest thing we did was we went up to corporates. And as I said, we wouldn't be ashamed to have our hands out, so that's what we did. And of the funds that we raised, 69% come from corporate, and then 31% come from individuals and grants that we obtained. One of the biggest events we had was, we called it the three Bs, bingo, balls, and bands. And people in Greene County love bingo. They showed up for it and showed out, contributed a lot, but we're glad to say that we have raised the funds. The board approved on June the 23rd make this contribution back to the city. So at your request, we have the funds available to give to you. Thank you, Nikki Pierce, for showing up. My support. Again, thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who wants to make this motion? So moved.

Second.

Are you, did it hurt your feelings? Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Item 8.8 is consideration to approve the proposal from baseline to resurface three courts on Howell Henry Road in the amount of $30,160.00. It's amazing how that works.

This was just the proposal for me to sign the contract so that they can start the work after they finish the other three courts.

Motion to approve. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Item 8.9 is consideration of approving the recommendation to appoint Mr. Chuck Whitfield to the Greenville Energy Authority for a five-year term. Dwayne, you want to come up for just a minute?

And I can kind of I'll start what I know and then you can fill in where I mess up here. So the Greenville Energy Authority met in earlier this in the month of June and at their meeting. And from what I gather, they took some resumes from some individuals and each of the board members was. called or interviewed those in those three on their own and then they submitted their recommendation originally to the attorney and then later it was said that they really just needed to vocalize that in a meeting with a recommendation and then go from there with who they who they approved to move forward in the process so if if i left anything out on that process you can

Yeah, they all individually got to sit with each one of the candidates they had there. So it took some time to talk to them. They had a little list of questions they could draw from to ask. And like you said, they just made their nominations in the open meeting. And they were unanimous with Chuck Whitfield in the end. That's their recommendation.

Is it public record who the other applicants were?

Yes, it would be public record. Yes, I guess it would be.

Yeah, so my only concern, and this is not knocking your process. Your process is your process, and you explained it, and that's fine. My concern was just, and I expressed this to Kathy earlier today, it's a consideration to approve a recommendation to appoint somebody. So we're making a decision to say, yes, we want this person. but we have no idea who the other applicants were. Similar to airport authority, we get their full applications, we're able to review those. So I find it difficult to approve a recommendation because I haven't seen the other applicants.

In our application, it doesn't require the energy authority or that board of directors to submit the resumes to be approved or disapproved. It requires them to submit a name to the city council, and the city council has the ability then to either approve it not approve it or take no action, and it becomes approved in 60 days as an affirmative response. So, I mean, there isn't really a requirement in the Articles of Incorporation to provide any other information other than just the name. I mean, that's all that's required. If you'd like to privately see those, that's fine, but it really doesn't have a place in the consideration for this council to actually debate between who those candidates were. I mean, that's not in the articles of incorporation of how that was set up.

Well, I guess from my standpoint, it doesn't really make sense that you would need our approval if the recommendation stands and we can't evaluate the other applicants as well. Again, I'm not knocking that process. That's your process, but I find it difficult to be able to in favor of approving somebody when I've not seen other applicants. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is I actually had one of the applicants approach me and say, hey, I've put my name in for this. And I just told them, I said, well, I'll review your application like I would any other application for a board. But in going through the agenda packet, it wasn't there. So that was why I had the question. And I've asked Kathy about that. So I don't know if in the future, We could just see all of the applicants on there still taking your recommendation into consideration, but it just seems kind of difficult for me to say, yes, I approve without actually knowing where that person stands in comparison to the other applicants or even who the other applicants were. It just seems not transparent from my point of view. And that's not a critique review or anything. Your process is your process, but I just find it difficult to approve.

Our board is charged within our articles of incorporation of recommending a name. It doesn't define a process for our board and how they arrive at that name. It only says that they produce a name within their board, and that comes to this town just for approval or disapproval. Like I said, it's not that this – group actually evaluates those decisions i guess you might say it's they only evaluate the recommendation that's made i don't know how it the town of greenville is not appointing or giving the name of that person to the to the green energy authority board the board is presenting that name to the city council for approval and that is that's really as far as it goes i mean like i said there's not a If someone gave you a resume for the Greenville Energy Authority Board, the proper thing would probably be to give that to one of our board members for consideration. I mean, that's not a consideration of the city council. That's not the way that the incorporation of the energy authority was set up.

But it is a consideration for us to approve the recommendation right now. And again, I'm not criticizing you, and I don't know the bylaws or how you all operate, but right here we have a consideration to make an approval And I just don't feel like we have enough information to exercise that discretion. That's my opinion. But you've got two other council members and a mayor that can cast their opinion. And again, that's not meant to be a personal attack or critique. That is genuine. I just find it difficult to approve a name whenever I've not seen anything else in comparison to approve. That's where I'm coming from.

We have a recommendation. Do I hear a motion to approve?

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those against like sign? No. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Item 810 is consideration of appointing two applicants for the town vacancies on Industrial Development Board of Greene County for a six-year term and I'm going to let Kathy talk a little bit, and then we'll ask the people that have signed up to come up and say a few words.

There are a total of nine applicants for these two spots on the IDB. And one of the requirements of serving on the IDB is that you either live in the city or that you own property to allow you to vote in a municipal election. So with that, out of the nine applicants, there are eight that either live in the city and and or own property obviously in the city and then there's a few that live in the county but still own property in the city which means that they're a duly qual qualified voter and so we've had two of those individuals that have served on the board for previous terms and they are also applicants in this process but then obviously we we took in some new ones this go around too so um This board is kind of unique, too. There are seven city appointees on this board and seven county appointees on this board, plus the city and the county mayor. So this one for the city appointee slots come directly to city council to make that decision, that recommendation of who they want those two individuals to be.

Okay. Did you... The qualifications to be on here, you have to either live in the city or own property.

Where you are a duly qualified elector, so you can vote in a municipal election on this one. And out of the nine, eight meet those requirements.

What I'd like to do is something we did similar last time. I'd like to divide this question so that we can address a reappointment and then an appointment. Okay. Okay. And if you agree to do that, then I'd like to nominate that Brian Click be reappointed.

Okay. Can we do this?

So there's two on there that have currently served in this position for quite some time, and that has been Chuck Whitfield and Brian Click. And so their positions, their term of office is up. They know that. I reached out to them to let them know that. And so out of those, Brian does qualify for that position. He lives in the county. Brian's here so he can speak to this. But he has property in the city. And then Chuck Whitfield is listed also on this as one of the applicants. He had previously lived in the city. I didn't know this at the time, but when he filled out the application, He now lives in the county and he's got it listed that he doesn't own property in the county. So he would be the one that wouldn't qualify based on the guidelines. Okay.

And I might say, as you do, I serve on this industrial board and Mr. Click, I can speak personally to his service on that board and Mr. Whitfield, but he doesn't meet those qualifications now. But Mr. Click, he's always there and participating. And I just feel like if folks want to continue to serve and are qualified active members, then on that basis, I would like to make a motion that he be reappointed.

Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Is there any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those against, like sign. Motion carries.

Okay.

So can you go back to, who was the first one? I think it was Courtney. Okay. Courtney, you want to come up and tell yourself? Thank you for...

You're welcome. Applying. Well, I appreciate the opportunity. I've lived in Greene County since 1990. My wife and I and three children and now have three grandchildren. I am a business owner in both the county and city for 30 years. I'm currently retired. The businesses were sold in 2021 and they offered me an opportunity to stay for a year and now I I have this opportunity to appear before you. My personal experience is I grew up on a farm outside of Roanoke, Virginia, 150 acres, 150 head of black Angus cattle. I know in the description of the requirements, it also lists agricultural as well as business. I was the CEO and managing member of seven companies in five states. I have an extensive amount of experience working with TDEC in all aspects of the environmental, air permitting, water permitting, stormwater permitting, as well as solid waste management and disposal. I have a strong background in leadership, problem solving, and working with a number of employees of various levels and responsibilities throughout my career. I have the ability to travel if travel is part of the requirement. I have a lot of experience growing businesses, developing buildings, work with contractors on construction sites, and I believe my skill set fits perfectly with the job description. I'm an excellent communicator, have tremendous computer skills, and would appreciate the opportunity to serve Greene County. I was a proud member of board of directors for Tuscaloosa College. I've been on the board at Boys and Girls Club. I've been on the board at the YMCA. My wife and I are proud to support the Humane Society as well as the Greene County Sheriff Department and Police Department, specifically K-9 units. I would be happy to... answer any questions or provide more thorough information. I know with eight candidates, you'd like to keep it moving, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have with specific areas of expertise or concern.

Does anyone have any questions? You did a great job. Thank you so much. Who's next? Mr. Jeff Idell, come on down. And thank you for applying.

Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I've lived here all my life. Been in business 39 years as Idell Construction and built several commercial and residential projects here. Been on various boards, different things here locally. Served with Young Life, Isaiah House, just the Hope Center, just different things involved in the community, involved in the church at First Baptist, and just extensive development on projects here locally, and just love the opportunity to serve.

Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Jeff.

We don't need to talk to him. Alice L. Blair III.

Thank you for your application.

Thank you for allowing me to come and speak. I appreciate being able to be here today. When I considered applying for this, I looked at the history of what I've done, and I'm a sole practitioner here, attorney here in Greenville, Tennessee. I've lived here since 1972, but for seven years when I went to the University of Tennessee and to Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, Alabama. My wife and I moved back here, raised three children, proud graduates of Greenville High School, and we have been proud citizens of Greenville and Greene County since that time. As a practicing attorney, the bulk of what I do is advising, creating, and advising businesses in operational plans and real estate development, working with contractors, working with taxing authorities to give them advice on how to lay to capital outlays. and to look for opportunities to develop and grow their businesses. That's what I've been doing primarily since I reopened my practice in 2010. Prior to that, I was a trust and investment banker with a major regional bank, started at Green County Bank. And so I've been on the other side of the fence working with financial institutions. I understand the impact. and how to allocate resources with respect to financing and banking and advising businesses. And the reason that I've applied for this job is because I believe I can leverage the experience that I've had with creating and helping business owners create jobs and looking at development and looking at it from a pragmatic standpoint and also from a legal standpoint. to analyze and break down complex issues, which is what I do every day when I advise businesses and how to expand. I'm very active here. Of course, as a practicing attorney, you have to be selective of what you can do. but I'm very involved with various nonprofit organizations providing them with low cost or complimentary legal services such as Habitat for Humanity. I'm also just rotated off as the president of the Congregation of Reformation Lutheran Church where I've served for eight years in that role. And I'm involved with other nonprofits here in the county and in the city. So I would look forward to the opportunity that I believe that I can bring to leverage my legal skills and my analytical skills to help the county grow and to help businesses to expand and to bring development opportunities for Greenville. So that is why I've applied.

Thank you, Dallas.

Any others?

Okay. Don Myers called me. He is at the beach and... If you don't know Don, he worked at Premium Waters for a number of years as a plant manager and has been involved in a number of different things around the community. So we'll move on to the next one. I don't think we'll do that. Alex took his name out. Chuck's not a part of it. Maggie Misterly?

Okay. Okay.

And then Joe Fillers. Thank you for your interest.

So I'm a native of Greene County. Grew up in the Cedar Creek community. Real estate license in 2003. Main focus of that has been commercial and industrial kind of stuff. Been involved in many site selection processes, convenience stores, farm equipment, retail, demographics and things for some major grocery stores here locally. several medical and dental offices, restaurants, accounting firms, barbershops, then leases for investment companies, medical and dental offices again. At several multifamily transactions, I have successfully completed the educational requirements to be a certified commercial investment member. What I can bring to the board is knowledge, experience, and dedication. I'd like to work with the rest of the board to create a higher standard of living and better quality of life for folks here in town.

Thank you, sir. All right. I'm glad y'all are going to have to make this decision and not me.

Can I just say, first, thank you to everybody for applying for this. I don't know when I've seen a better qualified group of people seeking to help this community in my life. And I say that as honestly as I can. This is terrible.

I was thinking the exact same thing, Council Member Ward.

Let's give these guys a hand for doing this. Thank you.

Everybody that has come up here has a different specialty that would be useful. And they all cross over. Jenny, you're on that board. You got any thoughts?

You're killing me. Believe it or not, I'm speechless.

Does anyone want to make a motion? put them all on well we could start all over with the new board i guess i and i i wanted mirror tim's comments this is the best this is the strongest group i think i've seen come in and and sign up for this do y'all want to do it each one once a one one every seven months or something we could take everybody's help

Well, also to make note, we're accepting applications now for the Planning Commission, too, so keep that in mind, and Parks and Rec, and the Roby Advisory Board as well. So those were just released yesterday, and they go, we take applications for those three until the 20th. Yeah.

It won't get any easier, Will, and

Mayor, don't you serve on the IDB as well?

I do.

Do you have any thoughts? You put Ms. Kidwell on the spot, so I'm going to put you on the spot.

Do we have an attorney on our board? I'm serious.

I can tell you who's on that board. Hold on just one second.

Yeah, Jerry Laughlin's staff said.

He is a staff, but he's a staff member. He's not on the party board.

He's not a city appointee. Let's see. So for the city, do you want me to list who serves on the city? Yep. So obviously the town mayor, Mr. Doty. And then Chuck Whitfield has previously served on the board. Brian Click has previously served on the board. Those are the two whose terms are up currently. And then Brandon Hull is on that board. Dougie DeBusk, Ms. Kidwell, and then John Loven and Kent Bewley. Those are the city appointees.

Yes.

out of the hat. It's a lot of mayors.

It's a lot of mayors. I'll just, I'll step out and y'all can take it over. Killing me. We can't make a bad decision. We don't really have We got John Levin that does kind of heavy duty construction, but we really don't, and Fortner, who hasn't always been there.

I'm just gonna go ahead and make a recommendation. Have mercy on my soul. Yeah, you laugh until the Facebook comments come around. I'm just kidding.

Just don't look. Just don't read them.

I'd like to make a motion for Mr. Jeff Idell to serve on the IDB.

I will second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Thank you, everyone. Let me say this one more time.

That is as razor thin as it gets, and I'm sorry. Please apply for something else. Y'all have more talents that need to be used, and unfortunately, we had one spot to do it. So my apologies, but thank you.

All right. And then we need to have a motion to... We took the vote on Brian, didn't we?

Yeah.

Oh, we did.

Okay. Item 811 is consideration to approve the appointment of Mr. Jason Horn as the school representative to the Greenville Grip Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. We got a motion.

Second.

And a second. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those against, like sign. Motion carries. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? So moved. Is there a second? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

We're adjourned.