Board of Mayor & Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting for the City of Hendersonville, Tennessee. This is May 26, 2026. We are right at 7 p.m. We are going to begin our meeting as we typically do. That's with a prayer followed by the pledge. Tonight providing our prayer is Jamie Mosley. He's the pastor of Redeemer Church. Jamie, we appreciate very much what you and your staff and your church have been doing for the community for a long, long time.

All right. Thank you, sir. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your service. And if you would, let's all pray together. Our great God, this evening, it's an honor to come before you. We come before you in the name of Jesus, your son, and we thank you that you are a giver of life. We thank you that you are a giver of many good things. In this particular meeting, Lord, we thank you for our community. We thank you for Hendersonville. We thank you for the many good things that are happening here. I want to thank you for these leaders that we have before us, and we don't take any of these very good gifts lightly. Lord, in particular, for the leaders this evening, for the decisions this evening, we pray that you would give them great wisdom, great insight, and great clarity about how to move forward in a way that is best for our community and best for the people of our community. Please guide them and please direct them. Lord, we ask that your hand of blessing would carry forward and we ask that you would continue to do good in your world and do good for your people. A particular request this evening, we pray for the family of Micah Hall, who has passed away in the last few days, we pray that you would give them comfort, that you would give them peace, and that you would give them hope. Lord, we pray that your presence would be with them and that you would be near to them and that you would comfort them. Please, Father, be at work with this family. Lord, we seek to glorify you in all that we do. We thank you for this time. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Again, that's Redeemer Church Pastor Jamie Mosley. You forgot to pray for your volunteers who are coming to Vacation Bible School in the next couple weeks.

That would be less than a week away.

Okay.

We're going to make a piece of Hendersonville into Rome. If anyone would like to come and observe, you'd be welcomed. Okay.

Thank you for joining us, Jamie. We appreciate what you all do for the community. Thank you, sir. Please join me for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance.

Thank you all. I'm going to entertain a motion that we accept the agenda that was sent to you. We have a motion from Alderman Goodwin, a second from Alderman Ward, Alderman Evans.

Yes. I'd like to make a couple of amendments to the agenda if we may, uh, with the absence of Alderman Bergdorf, I'd like to remove resolution 20, 26, 17 and 18 until he's able to be present to present those to BOMA. And then at the same time, I would like to add a proclamation. It's already written up there for Luke Terry, who is a deserving hero in our city. I'd like to have that tonight if you would vote for that. Okay.

I hear a second from Alderman Sasse. Alderman Evans, should we place the proclamation that you mentioned, should we place it as the next item? Yes. Okay. We will do that. Alderman Sasse, you agree with that one? Yep. Sounds good. So we are making a couple changes. One is the motion is to add a presentation. And then the second part of that is to remove item six. The third part of that is to remove item seven under ordinance and resolutions. Any discussion on that item? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes unanimously. Any other discussion or motions regarding the agenda? So we made one amendment to that. All those in favor of approving the agenda as it was sent out to you with that one amendment, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes unanimously. Thank you all. So we became aware of this through Alderman Mark Evans just the other day. Let me read something here. On April 8, 2026, at Bluegrass Country Club, a life-threatening emergency occurred when a man began to choke while dining with his family. And whereas amidst the panic and uncertainty, Luther Luke Terry, that's this guy right here, acted swiftly, selflessly, and without hesitation to render aid. And whereas through his decisive and courageous actions, Mr. Terry successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver and saved the man's life right in front of his family. preventing what could have been a tragic outcome. And whereas his actions to assist a fellow citizen in distress reflect the highest ideals of our community. In today's world, many people choose not to get involved in situations involving strangers. Had this gentleman been one of those people, the outcome could have been far worse. His willingness to act without hesitation made all the difference that evening and serves as a reminder of the importance of compassion, courage, and looking out for one another. Now, therefore, I, Jamie Clary, Mayor of the City of Hendersonville, Tennessee, do hereby recognize and commend Luke Terry for his extraordinary act of heroism and encourage the citizens of Hendersonville to recognize Mr. Terry for the impact of his actions for a member of our community.

Thank you so much.

So our next item on the agenda is presentations from Beautiful Hendersonville.

Thank you, Mayor and Alderman. It's good to be here tonight. Just a brief update on some of the things that Beautiful Hendersonville has been doing. While we haven't been before you here, we have been busy. So let me get you going. Okay.

They're looking. They're saying hold on a second.

Okay.

Okay.

There we go. Okay. Oh, wow. All that. Well, one of the things that we continue to do is to work with students as they need hours to get their service hours in. They help us to help them by coming out and doing litter cleanups. So we've been doing that. It seems like Sunday morning seems to be the time they like to do that. And then recently we partnered with Keller Williams for their Global Red Day. And that is the day that globally all of their people stop to, I believe it's, what is it, regenerate and energize and donate to give back to their communities. So I was contacted about any projects that we might have that they could work with us on. They helped us with the cleanup. We had participation from the community, from businesses that donated pizzas and had a great day, very beneficial. You can see the project. That was actually what was left over on that project. So there was a lot of need, and we helped them. They also helped us with decorating the gazebo down at the park. If you've seen that, I think there's a sign now that says Gazebo Park. And then we've also added the buntings along the Greenway at Lincolna. So that's been done. And then we have had a great response. And I want to thank all of the aldermen that I reached out to. Your response was terrific. And it helped us to get a lot of nominations for this particular time, for this month. Ward 6 came in real strong with that, so thank you very much. I appreciate that. But our business winner this month is Rally Point. They are not able to be here today. They are on vacation, as are a lot of our winners because of the holiday. But Carol and J.R. Ernst were very excited about being recognized. They said that they really appreciate that their final outcome of the project has been recognized. So if you get a chance to drive by there and see it, that is in Ward 5. Then in Ward 1 at 122 Riverwood is Jason Brumback. He was so excited about this award. They have moved here from another state. The home was previously had a fire, so there's been a lot of remodeling on the inside that we can't see, but there's been a lot of work done on the outside as well. the lawn, they've planted trees, and he has a flagpole that he was so excited about because he said the state where he came from, they couldn't plant trees and couldn't have a flagpole. So he's very happy, but he was traveling tonight and couldn't be with us. But in Ward 2, we have Mr. Ralph Morgan. Mr. Morgan has lived in this home since 1988. And this is your certificate, suitable for framing. He and his wife have lived there, as I said, since 1988. She was a school teacher at Beach High School and has just recently passed away. But he has continued to work in that lawn, and it's really a shame I don't have a video of it because one photograph doesn't do it justice. It just, he has so many little vignettes of different things, and he does absolutely all of it himself, continues to do that. And we appreciate you so much. So I encourage you all, if you get a chance, to drive by at 110 Tyne Bay Drive to go see what he's done. So thank you. Thank you very much. And at Ward 3 was Jose Onofre, I believe is the correct pronunciation. You can see a before and after there of what they've done at Alexandria Place, and they were very thrilled. And we have a new volunteer working with us in Ward 3, and she is just on fire for it. So we look for lots of good things from Ward 3 this coming next few months. And Ward 4 is Allison and Tony Parker at 409 Private Drive. And this is where really being nominated by your neighbors and Um, comes in because you can see the front's a beautiful home, a beautiful lawn, but look at the back. There's been so much done and we wouldn't know that from just driving by, but, uh, neighbors do, and they appreciate what they've done so much. And so we're happy to have presented them that award. And then in ward five, Kelly and Jessica Wilder at 132 river chase. You can see a difference there. They've been there for about two and a half years. They've done major work inside, but you can see the outside, how they've cleaned that up and have done a lot of landscaping there. And we're sorry they couldn't be with us tonight, but it looks great. And at Ward 6 is Anna Marsh at 109 Keystone. And you can tell a little bit there about how it was. Oops, sorry. Um, again, it's painted and, and quite a difference in the landscaping there as well. So, um, please, as you're out and about and you notice, you know, who knows better what's going on in their neighborhood than the people that live in the neighborhood. So we're looking forward to having a good year with having all the nominations come in. So, um, Again, that, I don't think I have that slide here, but that set beautiful. at hvltn.org, so you can send in the nominations to that, and we just look forward to seeing you again the next month. Thank you, Kathy. Wonderful work. Okay, thank you.

We now have a public hearing. This is a public hearing here to comment on annexation for request by Cornerstone Church, Hendersonville, and Tennessee District Council of the Assemblies of God to annex 22.38 acres into the city limits and to rezone the property into office The property is located on the north side of Route 386, east of Stop 30 Road, as identified on Sumner County Tax Map 145, parcel 044.00, space 000, parcel 044.00, space 001, and tax map 145, space 048.03. We have several people signed up for the public hearing. Let me read the rules for that. And these rules are the same for the public hearing as our for the citizen comments. which will follow in a few minutes. Speakers must identify themselves by name and address. Public comments shall be limited to five minutes per individual, which time is not transferable to other speakers. All comments are to be directed to the presiding officer, not to the alderman, city staff, or other members of the public. Comments must address issues, not individuals or personalities. Personal attacks shall not be tolerated. Comments may support or oppose particular issues or measures, but the motives of those with differing views shall not be questioned or attacked. Malicious comments will not be allowed. Speeches for or against particular candidates running for public office will not be allowed. David Krieger, Huntington Place. Hey, good evening.

Hi, David Krieger, 146 Huntington Place. Just wanted to address you this evening just talking about the annexation and rezoning. The annexation, again, we have no concerns with this. It's the rezoning that is the concern. Currently it's residential. Changing it over to commercial really doesn't seem to benefit anyone other than the property owner, which is seeking to sell the property at this point. Really, it seems to be more of a for profit venture. I know a lot has been made that it's a church selling, but ultimately it is a for profit venture for us. Making that commercial is just going to negatively affect our neighborhood. We're directly behind it. We're directly adjacent to what's going to take place. I understand that at the moment there's probably really good intentions that everyone thinks that something one level is going to go in some sort of a low traffic commercial entity. but what's going to happen five, 10 years down the road, all we've done is we've essentially opened the door. We know that rules can be changed. We know that zoning can be changed and we don't know what's going to happen in the future. And we don't know who's going to be on this board in the future either. So the decision we make tonight is going to set a precedence for what we're going to be dealing with potentially five, 10 years down the road. And we really don't want to set our neighborhood up for something like that. If you'd please just maintain it as residential, that'd be our biggest ask in this. And we'd certainly appreciate you just keeping that in mind.

Thank you, David. Thank you. Next is Duke Porter with the church. Well, I was hoping you'd give me time to figure out the signature of the next person. I believe it's Alan.

Jenkins.

Really?

Okay. Also with the church. Go ahead. Alan Jenkins, 1410 Kingdom Way. Just speaking on behalf of the church, we are making this position so that it's best benefit for the future in alignment with the city. It is kind of an odd pocket that is not in the city currently. Everything around us is in the city already. So we're just trying to line up, be good neighbors. We have no intention of selling the property currently. Who knows what the future could hold coming up, but that's not our plans at the moment. We are interested in being good neighbors, building a community, and doing what's best for that congregation that we're hoping grows in that facility. And until really we see some growth there and we know how that property is being utilized as it is currently designed, there's no way we could possibly plan for anything in the future. We're just trying to get it in alignment with what we think is best and what makes us a good neighbor to the city. As far as the zoning of office, that is a low-density commercial, which we believe aligns with what the city's plans are for that segment of the area there, and that keeps it from being anything that would be intrusive to the community. So it's something that we're looking forward to later on down the road of something that would be beneficial to everyone that's in the area.

Thank you. Alan, thank you. I think the next person's first name is Justin. It might be Oaks.

Justin Oaks, I'm at 1233 Sandy Valley Road in Hendersonville. I was actually on the committee for Cornerstone Church that proposed the annexation and the rezoning. I just want to let you know that we didn't come into this blindly. We had several meetings with... we had one meeting with Ms. Rachel and Jana before we proposed, we met with Mr. Keith. We didn't want to propose this to affect the community negatively. Um, we want to be good neighbors. Uh, we're looking out for the best interest of the church. And when we met with Rachel and Jenna, obviously they can't be opposed or unopposed to the meeting. They gave us direction. Um, The alternative is if we were to sell the property in the future, it would be high-density residential, which we know nobody in Hendersonville really wants that. We went with a plan that was in the future growth plan of Hendersonville, which actually met with their zoning of a low-density commercial zoning. And we proposed that after meeting with Keith. We had a meeting with the mayor. So we didn't come into this blindly. We have to be good stewards of the church's resources. So we didn't go for a high density commercial. We want to meet what the city wants and what is best for our congregants. So in saying that, we really wanted to meet both aspects, if you understand what I'm saying. So I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us. Justin, thank you.

The next one is Roy Hubbard? Ray?

Okay.

I'll pass. Okay. I think it's a Jeremy something. I'll pass. Okay. Gunnar Franks, I remember that one.

Gunnar Franks, 1002 Cross Creek Court. I'm the pastor of Cornerstone Hendersonville. I'll just double down on everything they said. We're definitely not trying to be – a negative impact to the community. This is the city I grew up in. My wife and I grew up here. And so we are obviously going to do what's best and most advantageous for the church, but we feel like this is the best plan for the city. We do also have the 250-yard plot of land that's owned by the Galloway family that actually butts up between us and the neighborhood. We chose this because of the zoning, because of Keith Free. We felt like this was going to be the most impactful for the city, bring the best impact. And while it's not necessarily a tax thing now, whenever we, if or when we decide to sell, it would definitely benefit the city in the long run and for future after that. And so, yeah.

Got to thank you. Zach Williams, Pin Oak Drive.

Zach Williams, live at 133 Pin Oak here in Hendersonville. Like Gunner, I was born and raised here in Hendersonville, went to school in Nannyberry, graduated Hendersonville High School, own a business here now, also live here. It's not a plan with the church. As a member of the church, there's any kind of evil, dastardly plans or something to Distract from one neighborhood. I think it comes back to again trying to be a part of the city, but also as a Community just being involved in the community that are in that gives this board power against this area Which is now out of this power currently where it's not in city limits but formerly the membership director with the Hendersville Chamber of Commerce was my role before I owned my business and I could tell you from that side as a business owner that Commercial space is, I think, as most people know in the area, is wildly dwindled in many different ways. You either have a 150-square-foot building or you have a 75,000-square-foot building. There's nowhere in between, so more commercial space. And as somebody who lives in Hendersfield would like more businesses in Hendersonville and less homes in Hendersonville to try to help against that traffic as well, and especially in a bottleneck road like Indian Lake Road is already for Hendersonville. So my two cents. Thank you.

Zach, thank you. The last person who signed up, I know the first name starts with an A and the last name starts with an M. Okay.

And nice to be here, see you all. Thank you for everything you're doing for us. My name is Annika Mantel, Hendersonville and Huntington Place 103 on the other side of Moon Valley. Okay, we have been before and at that time Roger and I, my husband, are opposing too much changing of zones in this town. It's a beautiful town. Do not let it be destroyed by commercial, by building, taking down trees, changing the whole ecosystem with pollution, with the wildlife, the water and everything. And I mean, we came to this town because it was beautiful with trees. It's a family town. And slowly we can see it's getting less for the residents in this country, in this town. So we oppose it, my husband and I, and we think that this buffers That was previous promise for Moon Valley. It's still not there. So promises has to be followed up. If you're going to change things, you have to follow up what is already here, what is on the paper, right? It's not only a decision. So I feel for these people in Huntington Place, the end. It's enough for this road. That should be a big buffer against that. You know, the road there is terrible. And now we have the beeping from Moon Valley and no buffer zone. And now you start on the other end. So I don't know. You had a plan. Was it 1980? Beautiful plan for Hendersonville, with pathways and families, schools and safety. But what is happening? Why is money talking, right? We are here for the residents. We want to keep our buildings, our houses, our properties for the value that we bought it, not tearing our environment down around us. We want to have a family town, business town, everything balanced. But there are many places where offices can be built, not where the residents are. I think we have enough of this, actually. You know, there are many places you can build offices, where you have your, you know, businesses, stores, and the train station, and TOA, or whatever. You know, there are places. They are a little more expensive for the businesses, right? They can pay it. And we just ask to consider this. Please keep. Windcrest, as it is, don't intrude on it anymore. Thank you.

Monica, thank you. I'm going to entertain a motion to approve the minutes that were provided to you for May 12th, 2026. So moved. We have a motion from Alderman Garza. Second. And a second from Alderman Robertson. Any discussion on that? All those in favor of approving the minutes from May 12th, 2026 that were provided to you in your packet, please say aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes. We have an abstention from Alderman Martin and an abstention from Alderman Dixon. That passes with a majority vote. Thank you all. Next we have citizen comments. We have two people signed up for that. First one is Robert Little.

Robert Little, 314 Raindrop. All of you got my little handout? So we can go. I'm here to formally document the ongoing issue with drainage work performed by the City of Hendersfield on my property. Two years ago, after many years of complaining, the City installed an underground drainage culvert through my yard. This installation does not conform to design approved by the Public Works Director. According to the approved plan, the drainage line should run 130 feet straight uninterrupted line from raindrop lane to a 90 degree turn at the rear of my property. Instead, install an above ground drainage attachment at the center of my yard as documented on the attached photograph. Additionally, the 90 degree turn at the rear of my property is also above ground. These deviations from approved design are unacceptable, create a safety and aesthetic concern and represent failure by the city to adhere to its own approved engineering plans. Also, comment there, when the rain is going 130 feet straight down, hits a brick wall, it splashes out of that culvert. It needs to be a 90-degree street elbow instead of a straight 90. A street elbow is a soft curve that moves the water efficiently. Moreover, the field dirt around the installation is substantial and contains rocks and debris. This is inconsistent with the original quality of soil in my property. which historically has been farm-quality soil with very few rocks. When I replaced my fence 30 years ago, there was no such rock-laden fill. I'm requesting that the above-ground drainage components be removed and properly filled dirt restored to accordance with the original conditions of my property. I also wish to note that this is the second issue of Pattern of Disregard by Alderman Robinson and Evans and even Mayor Clary. Two months ago, I presented an email from both of them, all of them, to BOMA, which they explicitly stated they care about Creekwood subdivision. Despite these assertions, they've ignored multiple concerns in what I refer to as stepchild areas of Hendersonville, including the current draining issue. Their action has forced me to escalate this pattern formally. The evidence I present tonight, combined with the city's failure to follow its own approved design, represents the start of a pre-suit record against the city of Hendersonville. I expect the city to take the immediate actions to remedy the deviations and restore my property properly.

Thank you. Mr. Little, thank you. Next, we have David Krieger. David, do you want to speak again?

Actually, no.

I double signed. Gotcha. Okay. We're now to our consent agenda. You see there's three items there. There's the resolution 2026-19. So the first item of consent agenda is Resolution 2026-19. This is the resolution authorizing the City to apply for the Public Entity Partners Safety Partners Grant. Then we have Resolution 2026-20, a resolution amending the job classification list and pay table. And then Resolution 2026-21, a resolution amending the personnel rules and regulations of the City of Hendersville. I need a motion, please. We have a motion from Alderman Collins to approve all three. And we have a second from Alderman Ward. Any discussion? All those in favor of approving resolution 2026-19, resolution 2026-20, and resolution 2026-21, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes unanimously. Next we have resolution 2026-14. This is a resolution to annex certain territory upon written consent of the owners and to incorporate that property located at 1402 and 1410 Kingdom Way FKA 1402 and 1410 Stop 30 Road, Hendersonville, Tennessee, north of Highway 386, Vietnam Veterans Boulevard. Alderman Martin. We have a motion from Alderman Martin and a second from Alderman Robertson. Any discussion? Oh, sure. Without objection, we're going to suspend the rules to ask questions of the applicant. We don't have to do it for Keith. Sure. We'll suspend the rules to hear from the applicant if we have some questions. Okay. And if we have questions for any of the residents, we'll do that as well. Okay. Thank you, Alderman Martin. Go ahead.

Hi, Alderman.

Hey. Good to see you. Can you walk us through the logistics? Sure.

Uh, yes. Uh, this is a, uh, uh, this is a combination of a, uh, annexation request, uh, by the, uh, the two properties and, uh, the requesting, uh, to be annexed in. And then also there's a straight, we call it straight zoning, uh, application request as well, so that it's an annexation and a rezoning, uh, to the property, to the office, uh, designation. Uh, this has been to the planning commission, been to the general and to the general committee. The Planning Commission, in addition to looking at considering the rezoning and then also considering the annexation and specifically the plan of services that was adopted by BOMA at its last meeting, had recommended approval of the rezoning request and the annexation request with the plan of services. And then that's what brings us here this evening to this is the final reading of the annexation that makes the final decision, uh, on the rezoning as well as, uh, the annexation.

Um, I'm going to ask a few questions because I wasn't here last summer. Yeah. Um, so it is in the urban growth boundary, right? Yes. This is urban growth. I guess boundary is actually surrounded by city. That's correct. How did that come about? I was just curious.

What the urban growth boundary is, you have the city limits, and so that's the defined boundary we're all pretty familiar with. Outside of that, there's an area that was designated many years ago as our urban growth boundary. Every Tennessee city has one of those. And basically what it is, like in Sumner County, all the different cities have their urban growth boundaries, and that's pretty much a defined line to where cities could annex to so that other cities couldn't annex into that area. For example, Gallatin has its own defined areas, so they couldn't annex this particular property. If anybody's going to annex it, it would be Hendersonville because it's in our urban growth boundary.

Okay. So one of the comments they said in the public or citizens' comments section, they said it could be high-density residential. Is that correct?

No, it can be high-density residential. One of the uses, and I think we discussed it, was one of the questions at the last meeting, there's several uses in office. Some of those uses are hotel, motel, and then also independent living at this point in time is a permitted use in there. But otherwise, just regular residential or multifamily residential wouldn't be allowed.

Okay. And then, um, they said that the recommendation based on the future growth would be commercial. And that was a recommendation that the planning you had recommended. What, what, what, what is the vision for that area?

Uh, what it is, uh, we have our future, uh, land use plan, uh, from 2000, 2009, uh, that lays out all the different areas and we've amended it a couple of times in specific areas, like, uh, not this portion of stop 30, but, Other portion of Stop 30, Westlake, the Westlake plan that we did, that was a piece of the future land use plan. And so basically what the future land use plan, it's not zoning, it's what goes before zoning and says, hey, this is our vision for the future of of this particular area. In this particular area, the future land use plan designated this area to be a regional activity center, but specifically had more specific stuff that didn't allow certain commercial activity, like pretty much straight commercial. Office was the only type of use that was allowed as far as office zoning, and then the uses that would be allowed within that. So with the with the future land use plan, this aligns with the city's future land use plan. That doesn't necessarily mean you gotta approve something just because it aligns with that, but it's certainly something to consider when we're making a decision about it. The only alternatives for the church in coming in and wanting to rezone it something different would be that they would, if they wanted to do something like commercial do something like a high density residential, for example, uh, then they would have had to, in addition to do all the things that we're doing tonight, they would have had to went before the planning commission for a change in the future land use plan, which could be, could be quite challenging, especially just the small area, uh, that it is, uh, might be difficult. Uh, sometimes in, in rezoning request, uh, the planning commission does approve, uh, changes to the future land use plan. But a lot of times that's right when it's on the edge of something, you know, it's right on the, already on the edge of residential or on the edge of another, another use.

Okay. And then, um, so what I'm hearing is that you think that use going to office does fit within the future, um, land use plans for that area. Uh, if we rezone it to office, does it become more valuable?

It's hard. It's hard to say, you know, potentially, yes, I would say that it that it would be because a lot of those different uses aren't currently allowed in the current zoning that's in the county. That's more of a rural residential zone.

Yeah, I've kind of flipped on, on, on this several times, but, um, I just find it disingenuous to say that we're not going, we have no plans to sell it or we're not going to sell it. Um, I think it's going to become more valuable in it. It'll be very sought after. Um, that's just my opinion. Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate that. All Martin. Any other questions for Keith?

Alderman Evans. Uh, just one clarification, if you would, director free. I've heard some comments about, uh, the property, uh, and I'm not against the annexation, but, um, the property is not currently surrounded by all city property. Yeah. It's primarily surrounded by city property. There are some pieces that are within the county. Is that correct?

Yes, that's, that's correct. I just want to make sure. Yeah. The new shell brothers, uh, neighborhood, I think it's Oak. Oh, something there, uh, that that's in the county. Okay.

I just want to make sure that that was clear because I think there's been miss communication that everything else around it is within the city and it's not, it is contiguous, but not completely surrounded.

Thank you.

Thank you all. Keith. Um, right now with outside the city limits, who, who has a final say on the land use on the future land use plan? Who has the final say on what the land can be used for?

This body right here.

Sorry, with it outside the city?

Oh, the county would be. The city would have no jurisdiction or weight in anything.

And the county has, I assume, the same opportunities to place zoning on it that the county might prefer that wouldn't fit our land use plan. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. So the county doesn't have to follow our land use plan?

No.

Okay. So the county could rezone it for anything under the sun?

Well, yeah, potentially it could.

Okay. If this is annexed by the city, who controls future rezonings?

then this body would ultimately control those future rezonings. Okay.

Okay. I appreciate that. Any other questions, any other questions or discussion? Uh, hold on. It's a good one.

Go ahead. Thank you, mayor. Uh, just a quick comment, uh, to the, uh, to the, um, after hearing that I want, that was gonna, was, uh, uh, that was a very good question to ask who would, If they went to the rezoning in the county, I just want to make sure this is right, they would go to the county zoning board, right, to their planning commission, I guess it would say, or their zoning. I don't know how that system sets up out there at the county.

It would be the same as here. The difference would be it would be the Sumner County Planning Commission, and then it would go to the Sumner County Commission. I see.

Okay, well, my only, in hearing that, Mayor, I would suggest, I mean, this is how I feel about it, and thank you, Keith, for setting that straight, but I would much rather have my hometown planning commission dictate to what is going to go in a land that is going to be zoned I mean, I'm sure I'm feel comfortable in saying that it's going to pass. Uh, I would much rather have, uh, them dictate, or at least this board come back and dictate what's going to be there. Uh, with, uh, if it ever becomes rezoned, uh, I would much rather have us tell them what they can and cannot do as opposed to the County commission. and I mean, or their county planning, and I mean no disrespect to them at all, and I'm sure they would probably understand because I think they would much rather have, I mean, I don't want someone from like, and again, I know this sounds as Hendersonville being stuck up, but it's not. But I would much rather have people that live in my hometown say, dictate than have someone, a mayor from Portland or Westmoreland, tell me what they're going to come to Hendersonville and what you're going to build. And so I think that we just need to go ahead and pass this and have all that authority come to Hendersonville instead of the county. And that's how I feel about it. And if you call that selfish, call it selfish because I am selfish. Cause I care about the town of our, our town. I don't, I mean, I'm not saying that I don't care about the county cause I do, but I don't want Portland and Gallatin, uh, Westmoreland, all these folks that live up there telling me what there's going to be zoned in my hometown. That's just how I feel about it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, and Alderman Skidmore, I don't think you're being selfish at all. We're here to do the good of Hendersonville and not the good of any other city or county that we may be a part of, right? So we're up here to represent the people of Hendersonville, and so I appreciate your words because they are spot on. I mentioned this last time. If you look at the city of Hendersonville map, this is like a dead zone for Hendersonville. It is completely surrounded by city. You can't get out of this area without going through city. So they're basically part of the city. If they're here, they're gonna be using city resources, whether it's residential or office or whatever it is, they're gonna be using city resources. In fact, they probably already do, and they're not paying for it. So I agree with you and some of the comments that have been up here, but especially Alderman Skidmore. We need to have control of this property. We need to be able to have a say in what goes here, because no matter what, something's going to go here. If we don't approve this, something's going to go here eventually. Someone said 10 20 years from now, but something will happen at this property. I want our citizens our Planning Commission who are Citizens of Hendersonville sit on the Planning Commission. They're not they're not elected They're appointed by the mayor, but they're citizens who have a vested interest in this city. This isn't like a you know, at the state or at the federal level where they don't know what's going on here. These people live in our community, and so they're going to do what's best for the community, just as we are up here doing as well, because we live here as well. So all that to say, I think annexing this property makes sense. I'll say it again. I think that whole area should be, because they're already part of Hendersonville. I wish it could be official. I do have one question, though, for Mayor, maybe it's you or Keith Free. If we pass this annexation, but we do not pass the rezoning, what happens? Oh, that's a Keith Free question.

Yeah. If that were to happen, then we'd have to check with the applicant because the applicant has requested that. You know, this is a voluntary annexation and it's part of the voluntary annexation they're requesting to be annexed in if they can get their rezoning. So if they're not getting that, then it wouldn't meet necessarily those requirements. for the voluntary annexation. That may be something the city attorney could clarify.

Let me follow up with that question, Keith. Every piece of land in Hendersonville has to have a zoning designation, correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Could we offer an alternative zoning for this property?

You could. I think we discussed this last time. If you wanted to do an alternative zoning, then it would just need to be kicked all the way back to the Planning Commission. because it's already went through that transparent process. The best thing I can give you is an example of let's just say it was being rezoned to residential, and then it got to this point, and then it was decided here at this very last meeting, let's make it industrial. And, uh, you know, that, that would be something where everybody that's been involved in the process, all the public notices and, and then the, uh, um, one of the things about zoning is you've got to have input from the planning commission and they haven't had input, uh, from anything, but this requested zoning. So if you wanted to change, if you wanted it to change, then it could, it, it would just need to kick back. And so if that was something that you wanted to do in the applicant, was agreeable to it, you could kick it back. You may wanna note if you're doing that, you may just wanna note that they wouldn't necessarily have to repay all the fees. It just would start over requesting a different zoning classification. Of course, understanding that that zoning classification, if it's not office, will not be in compliance with the future land use plan by the Planning Commission.

That was the key part there. This is part of our future land use plan to zone it as office, right? They're in line with our future land use plan with that zoning. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

Alderman Sasse, thank you.

Alderman Martin. I'd like to make a motion that we take up both the resolution and ordinance together. And I make a motion to approve.

Go ahead, Lance. You want to explain that? There's no objection to it or there's no issue with it. So a motion to vote on both of them together? That's what we did in the planning commission.

They go together. You really can't part and parcel them. So either they both go or they both don't go.

It makes sense. Um, Alderman ward, you press your button. I'll have a Martin. Can you hold on one second?

I'll award and see what he has to say. Go ahead. Alderman Martin is going the direction. I think we should be going in second, second.

Okay.

That's what I want to do.

Uh, Keith, any concerns?

It's a different way to do it than we've done in the past that it always mean that we can't do it that way. I think what would be very important in your, in your motion is to make sure that there was clarity. as to the superiority nature of which part of the element is primary and which part is secondary. So just noting that, that the, the first you're, you're, you're approving both with the clear understanding, uh, that, that the annexation is occurring first with the, uh, zoning to follow if that's acceptable.

So possibly the most sensible thing to do would be for Alderman Martin to withdraw his motion for this resolution that we started with, Alderman Robertson to withdraw his second, and then make a motion to group the two and pass them both. But let's go to Alderman Collins. She pressed her button here, and then we'll come back to that.

I'm not on the motion.

Go ahead. I appreciate that.

Okay. I do have some questions. My question is, The reason I push my button is because if we are going to do it together, I have questions about the rezoning. I do not have questions about the annexation.

Okay.

Are you sure you want me to go ahead?

Let's go ahead and withdraw. Okay, so let's do this. So I'll come back to you in just a second, okay? So you're going to withdraw your motion on grouping them. Alderman Ward, you're going to withdraw your second. Alderman Martin, Alderman Robertson, are you all willing to withdraw your motion to approve Resolution 2026-14? and then make a motion that we group resolution 2026-14 and ordinance 2026-06.

Well, point of order. I thought Alderman Martin withdrew his motion to combine.

He did. Now we're back to the motion that he made and you seconded.

Yeah.

And that was to approve the annexation. Yeah. I don't want to withdraw that. Okay. If you, if you withdrew it, then the next question I would ask, if you withdrew it, the next question I would ask is, would you like to combine that with the re the zoning designation?

Well, I guess I have a question, uh, Lance, uh, if we approve the annexation, I think both motions will be approved myself, but if we approve the annexation and the rezoning is denied, the applicant then has the ability to withdraw, right?

Yes.

So he has a remedy. He's not locked in. Okay. That's right.

Alderman Martin said that's fine. Yeah. So go ahead and dispose of the first one.

Yeah, I think we go like it's on the list here. Okay.

So we have a motion and a second properly for Resolution 2026-14, a resolution to annex certain territory upon written consent of the owners, and you see the rest of it there. Alderman Collins, you want to speak when we get to the next item. Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

Okay. So Jason's ready for it. So all those in favor of Resolution 2026-14, please press the green button. Those opposed, press the red one. So that passes unanimously. Thank y'all. Now we're on second reading of ordinance 2026-06, an ordinance rezoning 22.38 acres of property located at 1402 and 1410 Kingdom Way, formerly known as 1402 and 1410 Stop 30 Road, Hendersonville, Tennessee, north of Highway 386, Vietnam Veterans Boulevard. Alderman Martin, would you like to make a motion? We have a motion from Alderman Martin and a second from Alderman Sasse. Alderman Collins.

Thank you. I do have some questions for Director Free. So I think that initially, especially after learning that this was not going to connect to Windcrest Way or Lawrence Way, I was quite pleased with this. But it's straight zoning. There's not a PUD, which I completely understand why the church doesn't. That's not where you are. You're not ready to commit to the level of detail that's in a PUD. I understand that. But the straight zoning allows for a lot of uses that, in my opinion, would be a little too close to Windcrest. Does straight zoning for office allow hotel?

Yes.

And that would be up to three stories? And you know we have the rules about the line of sight.

Right. Yeah, up to 45 foot tall. So it could be four stories.

We've already been down this road with Windcrest with the attempt to put a hotel in the front of the neighborhood. And while this does have that 250-foot width property at Huntington, it's 250 feet, and then it gets wider. The Galloway Farm, that is in the city, yes?

Yes, it is.

And it is zoned...

SR1, just like Windcrest.

And that coordinates with our future land use?

Yes.

So if this is approved and the Cornerstone Church property is office, and at some point in the future the Galloway Farm had a request to change to office, would we have justification for denying that?

Yes. Yes.

You because of the land use.

Uh, yeah. Well, not just the land use, just any item that comes for rezoning to Boma. Uh, it ultimately it's just up to Boma. It'd be good to have just calls to do that. You know, if you were going to deny something, it would be appropriate. Uh, if you're making a motion to deny, to give reasons, you know, for denial, uh, but, uh, on any rezoning, uh, that's before Boma, uh, Boma could choose, uh, to, to deny.

Um, I know that the owners of that Galloway property are not interested at this time. And, um, so I am definitely not throwing them under the bus. They, this, they do not want the land to be developed, but things will change generation to generation with that. Um, And the way that this is coming to us with straight zoning, we do not have the ability to limit any land use. It's just any of the use. We can't say no hotel, for example.

No.

It's just all yes or all no.

That's correct.

And that is the reason that I'm going to be no. And I understand that given the land use criteria, plan this is the lowest impact and that it coordinates with our land use and we have to establish zoning it's not even a rezoning it's establishing we don't have a zone for it so it has to be established but currently it is residential and I think that's what the people in Windcrest anticipate it would the land would be used as it is being used by that neighborhood that's inside the County. I can't remember the name that's currently being constructed. Yes. Creek Creek. And I think the people in the neighborhood anticipated homes between their neighborhood and stop 30. And, um, this changes that obviously. And if we could have a little bit more control, if it wasn't straight zoning, I could feel more comfortable with it, but I don't. So I hope that the other people on the board will take that into consideration and understand that Windcrest is different because, one, they bear the brunt of the traffic issues at Exit 8 more than any other neighborhood on Saundersville Road, certainly. More than anybody, they bear that brunt. And they have commercial in the front, which depending on who you ask, there's mixed feelings about that. And then they're bordered on one side by the bypass, which is pretty unique. And of course the bypass was there. Um, I think the bypass was there all along. I'm not a hundred percent sure that it was though. And then to have potentially a change where there's going to be commercial and potentially a hotel. 250 feet off their backyards plus our buffer and parking and all of that. It's understandable that there would be concerns about that. I wish this would come to us or was coming to us as a PUD. I completely understand that the church isn't there yet. I'm not trying to villainize anybody. I just wish that this was coming in a way that we could have more control over it Thank you.

Alderman Collins, thank you. Alderman Evans.

Yeah, thank you, Alderman Collins. Some of the concerns you've shared are concerns I have. And first I want to say thank you to Cornerstone Church for the work you do. And my comments are I'm glad that for the – for the work you do and for the service to the community and what you're doing there. Um, but my thing is, uh, you know, you've got a lot of people here who are supportive of, of the work and have, have shared with us tonight. Um, you know, your feelings, but I have to look at this as also have to consider the residents of, of the city. They're the ones who, um, they live here too. And I think we have to consider them as well. And for me, I'm looking at the people who this butts up to. And I think what Alderman Collins said states it well is the fact that they had this thought right or wrong that these were going to be homes, that there would be homes back there and much like what's already at Oak Creek. And so we're at a problem here where you have different thoughts about what the land should be used for. The thought about what Director Free has shared about the fact that there could be a hotel motel there that That is what concerns me as well. I mean, if I thought that it was just going to be office suites, much like what's across the road there on Saundersville Road, I probably wouldn't have as much of a problem there. But as I said last time in the meeting, the fact that we don't really know what's going to go there, the fact now that it's been shared that it could be a hotel or motel there, I do have a concern with that. And that being a site issue and that being a business, that would be at the backside of these residents. So I'm going to vote no, too, in support of the residents back there. Alderman Evans, thank you. Alderman Robertson.

Since we've allowed people to speak, I wondered if the pastor would like to make maybe some final remarks based upon what he's heard today, tonight, and address any concerns or just kind of make a closing statement.

Okay. So I may have a question for him. Do you have any specific question you have for him? Okay, go ahead. Go ahead.

Do you want your question first or do you want me to?

No, go ahead. Okay. But don't go far.

Yeah, I won't. Yeah, we currently do not have any offers, anything on the table to sell the land as of right now. As the pastor, I would love that we never sell the land. It's great land. My father-in-law was a part of the original purchase, so it's special to my wife and I. But we will do what's most advantageous for the people of our church and the community and the area. My dream as the pastor is that we would have a community playground on our land as well, and that can be obtained with selling or not selling the land because we've got plenty of land that we can still put a playground on now. That would benefit all the neighborhoods around us. I think the concern with budding up against Windcrest, I hear that, I understand that, but in the last meeting it was discussed pretty openly about potential of that not being as big of a deal if there was a buffer, and it sounds as if If the Galloways have no plans to develop their land, then there would be a pretty significant buffer between the end of Windcrest and the beginning of our property. I don't know if it's 250 feet or 250 yards, one of those. Both are pretty significant. One's a football field, one's almost three. And so that's, I feel like, a good buffer as a citizen of Hendersonville as well. But we are going to do what's most advantageous for the church and our people, but I also live here. I'm in Ward 6, and I love this city. I love this town. And so personally, wouldn't want to see a bunch of houses built there. I drive Stop 30 Road every day of my life. And if you drive it, it's a disaster most days. And so putting residential there isn't going to help us at all with that. If we put commercial on the property, it's also not going to impact traffic going towards Windcrest as well. It would keep it all on our side and push it all towards Saundersville Road, which is already pretty wide enough to handle everything it's got.

Appreciate that. You answered my question. Perfect. Okay, thank you. All right. But a couple things I want to mention is that you sort of hit on this a little bit about the number of future houses we have in that area. I live in the next subdivision over. It's getting harder and harder to pull out Stonecrest Subdivision, and we still don't have, Keith, what's the name of the subdivision down that's getting ready? Forest Park. Forest Park. We still don't have their 600 houses there. I've been working for 10 years as mayor to have fewer residential lots available. We are better off as a city if we grow at a slower pace. If this land were If any land out there were zoned residential, probably tomorrow we would have the planning staff with an application to build more houses. We don't need more houses out in that area, and I honestly don't think that there are many folks out there that want more houses, whether it's on Stop 30, Saundersville, either one of those roads nearby there. I've been working for 10 years to have fewer available lots in Hendersonville, Offices is what I've been seeking. I feel like we need more offices in Hendersonville. The way I put it is we need more jobs in Hendersonville for the people who live in Hendersonville, and offices is where a lot of people in Hendersonville work. A great example is Rocky McElhaney's office. Five, six years ago, he had two offices here in Nashville, and he consolidated those offices and decided to build in Hendersonville. He built his own office right there on Saundersville Road. He had people in the legal profession asking to be hired at a lower rate that he was hiring in his Nashville office. The reason was they wanted to work close to home. And so it makes sense that we should continue to pursue office. However, these guys didn't pursue office. They wanted to be annexed in the city of Hendersonville. Because every piece of land in Hendersonville has to be zoned, has to be a zoning designation to it, Keith and his staff looked up to our long use plan and that was designed in 2009 that we have used many, many times to assign zonings and to give us direction. He looked that up and it said these are the uses, office makes the most sense. I would love if offices, if it was designated for offices and this is why. Office isn't going to happen anytime soon there. If we go ahead and pass this, that land is probably going to remain very much the same way it is now for many, many years. We all pass on our way home. Anywhere we go, many houses being built, we don't often pass where offices are being built. To me, that's an unfortunate thing in Hendersonville. I wish we had more offices being built. I wish we had fewer houses being built in order to allow us to catch up on our infrastructure. I think this is an excellent way to go. I think it's going to be advantageous for people like me who live out there and for other people who live out there that we're probably not going to see much change for a long, long time if we approve this zoning designation as it is. Alderman Garden.

I think one thing that just to make note of, and I don't know if this board knows, that the county is actually working right now on their 2050 comp plan. So we could see changes there. If we decide as a body not to pass this tonight, then we could see changes and then the county will have control over that area and we won't have any say.

So just thank you.

Something else to think about.

Jason, you ready for us? Oh, there we go. Okay. So we are in resolution 2026. I'm sorry. Ordinance 2026 dash Oh six. Those in favor, press the green button. Those opposed press the red. One more. Here we go. Okay. So that passes with a majority, nine to three. Hold on there, Jason, for just a second. In favor, Alderman Skidmore, Ward, Sasse, Garza, myself, Alderman Dixon, Goodwin, Garten, and Robertson. Opposed, Alderman Martin, Alderman Collins, and Alderman Evans. Keith, what is the next step for this?

This is it as far as the annexation and the rezoning. Okay. So that's complete. When it's published and signed off on, then officially be in the city. We have seven or eight different folks that we've got to notify throughout the state to let them know that our city has just expanded. So we'll be doing that as soon as we, as soon as we, this ordinance that you approved this evening, that has to be recorded. And once that's recorded, then we'll start sending off the notifications and then we'll change all of our, all of our city maps as well.

Have we finalized the plan of services?

Yes, that was done at the last meeting. Okay, okay, appreciate that. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Item six and seven, we took off the agenda when we set the agenda a little while ago. Now we're on to item eight, and this is first reading ordinance 2026-07. This is an ordinance that the City of Hendersonville, Tennessee adopt the annual budget and tax rate for this fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Who would like to make a motion? Okay, we have a motion from Alderman Sasse, a second from Alderman Robertson. Alderman Sasse, you have an amendment, don't you? I'm sorry? You have an amendment, don't you?

I do. Okay, go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. Jesse, if you could, if you would be so kind, come on up. I want to make an amendment and ask you, can you explain the RTA requirements

fee subscription fee that we currently are paying out of the city budget so there's a bus that runs between here in Nashville and RTA or we go operates that bus and there's two components that the city pays there is a membership fee and then there's like an annual due as well and so the city has a built up reserve with RTA and of over $200,000. So a few years ago in the budget, we decided not to continue paying our, it's about $30,000 that we pay a year for a part of our fee. But we've been paying the membership or the subscription part of the fee, which is about $6,000. So it's broken up into two parts. We do have a surplus of approximately $215,000. And for a couple years, we have not been paying Part two of the fee, we'll call it part two, which is over $30,000. We have been paying the $6,000 for the membership fee.

And how long will that $215,000, how long will that keep us paying our membership dues, the $30,000 approximately per year, how long will that last?

For just if we don't pay part two? Yeah, part two. It'll probably be similar because it's $6,000 a year. Um, it doesn't make a terrible amount of difference if we add that on, but we're probably five years without paying anything from our reserves. Now they revise their prices and in total they do it year over year in total. The city pays about a 17% subsidy to operate that, um, bus because it's federally subsidized. And there's some other subsidies that come in through ride share, like to pay, to get on it. So we pay about 17%, but it could run for about five years with the city contributing nothing, just running off the reserves.

Yeah. So right now we're contributing, we're contributing 6,000 a year, right? Uh, great. Thank you very much. So, uh, yes, mayor, I would like to make an amendment that we, um, we pay for that $6,000 out of the reserves that we have with RTA, um, and, uh, remove it from our fiscal budget.

Okay. Do we have a second? Yes. Okay. Uh, Tamara, where's the best place to do that? And is there just one place to do that?

So if you remove it from the central services budget, That will give me the information I need to know to remove it from the appropriate line item.

If anybody finds a page number, that would be wonderful.

Page 131.

Thank you. I already passed. I'm glad you said that then. So Lance, here's a question for you. Do we need to change all the totals at this point or because that's going to change the total on central services or maybe it's Tamara?

I was going to say we don't need to update all of the totals at this point in time. That will all happen before the last reading or after the last reading, all of the ordinance and all of the final numbers will change.

Okay. I'm on page 131.

It would be under subscriptions and dues. It's line 12.

There we go. Okay. So reduce that, Alderman Sasse, by how much, $6,000? $6,000, yes. Okay. So that takes us from $7,500 to $1,500. Am I math correct?

Yes.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Anybody else wish to speak on that? All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes unanimously. Alderman Sasse.

Yes, I do have one more thing, and it's actually, I'm not even sure if we can do this. Can we go to page 117? And on here, so after the storm, we hired a third-party company to come in and help us with the cleanup. That depleted our rainy day reserve, as I understand it, from the $2.4 million to $400,000. I would like to see that. I know that we're expecting a reimbursement of those funds, but it could take a couple years in order to do so. So my request, and I'd pass it to you and Mr. Ray, if this is even possible, that we take $1.75 million from the infrastructure reserve and move it to the rainy day fund. So we have it in there available in case we get hit with another storm or like natural disaster.

That's a good idea.

I'm seeing a lot of confused faces. Yeah, 1.75 to make infrastructure reserve an even $2 million, and that would make rainy day reserve of just a little over $2 million.

We're trying to figure out why we couldn't do that. Lance and I aren't coming up with a...

I mean, we do have our fund balance policy that directs how we're supposed to be adding funds into these reserves.

Do we have staff in either one of those reserves?

No, those funds are sitting there for, you know, a need down the road.

Do we have any obligations in either one of those reserves? Outstanding obligations?

Okay. So the motion is... Okay, so... Oh, okay, do we have a second? Do we have a second on that? Oh, we haven't. Let's just answer the question. Okay, so...

So I would, I'd say that's not necessarily a, an amendment to the, to the budget. That would be something. And I, I think we need to look at how the, um, fund balance policy is written because I do believe that myself and the mayor, um, with, with the approval have the ability to move funds, um, within, you know, from within and out of those reserves. So that may not be something that needs to be done as a budget amendment. It would be done as part of our closing of the fiscal year.

Alderman Robertson, do you want to weigh in on that?

Yes. I'm afraid at looking at some of the projects, capital projects, that we may need a chunk of that infrastructure reserve for those projects. So I would kind of hate to, I mean, we can always, if an emergency comes up, we can always have a special meeting to move it over or if y'all can move it over. So I would hate to touch the reserve, the infrastructure, because I'm afraid that we may need it in some of the projects that are going to run over budget, like Stop 30 and Drake's Creek.

Go ahead, Tim.

I would say another option is we could move funds from the unassigned fund balance into that reserve as well to set them aside as an alternative to moving from one reserve to another.

Alderman Sasse, what if we did this? What if when we get to the end of the fiscal year, we see what our surplus is and what we're going to have in unassigned reserve balance? I get with the Finance Committee and I get with the Capital Projects Committee, and we look at seeing if these numbers should be tweaked. I'm with you. That $400,000 scares me a little bit. I feel like that's a little bit low. But I think I should consult you all on what our fund balance policy is and on where you all think the numbers should be and then come back to the Board.

Since Tamara's indicating it doesn't necessarily require a budget amendment, I think that makes sense to me. I would be amenable to that.

Okay. So, Alderman Evans, did you want to speak on this?

I was just going to say that I was going to agree with the COO and with Director Ingersoll, you know, why not take it out of the unassigned? So, I was just going to say that, but, you know, taking something out of there, but I agree the fact that all this is general fund, um, fund balances and taking out of the unassigned still leaves us well within the, the minimum requirements there. So that that's a thought I had. Okay. I appreciate that. Autumn and Collins on this.

Yes. I have a question as far as, um, in practice, if we did have another weather event hit right now and we didn't have adequate funding for it, we would just go to the unassigned. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

That's what we would do. Um, so that one could argue that it doesn't matter because as long as the money's there, the money's there. But I do think, um, that Alderman Sassy has a point because just as if you don't do this, you should annually, you rebalance your investment portfolio. one has gained more, one has not gained, and you rebalance that to keep your ratios so your risk level is the same. We didn't have that in the policy, the reserve fund policy, but perhaps we should have an automatic rebalancing every year where we maintain the ratios that we originally intended. I think it's worth a discussion. It's probably a different discussion than outside of the budget, but I do think it's worth giving it some thought. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Collins. I did have one more thing. Go ahead. Hold on one second. Alderman Collins, I'm sorry I skipped you a second ago. Go ahead, Alderman Sasse.

Oh, thank you. One little thing that we were talking about, pulling from the unassigned, I have a problem with that. It's very easy to... It's very easy to pull things out of the unassigned. It's not so easy to put things back into the unassigned. Not as easy. Once we put it somewhere, the chances are we're not going to put it back. But if we are assigning it in a specific spot, then we're planning for the future. It doesn't require us to even talk about it. If something happens, the staff could just do it. And I think this plans for the future better and plans for another catastrophe, let's face it. It was a catastrophe. We went through two of them in our city with a tornado and then the ice storm. I would rather be prepared for the future, but I look forward to discussing it in finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Sasse. Any other discussion on this item? Any other proposals for the first reading of the budget? I will let you know that like I've done every year, we get to the second reading, I'll probably ask for a couple tweaks here and there just because just tonight we had some updated information on some revenue and probably have some updated expenses. It's probably just two or three items, not with significant amount, but just to give you a heads up, that will definitely come when we get to second reading. And I'll give you a heads up before the meeting. Any other discussion on this? All those in favor of ordinance 2026-07 first reading, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say no. That passes unanimously. Thank you. Next round of other agenda items, reports. Brief committee reports. Chairman Skidmore, Public Works. You gave no report last time.

Well, I'll try to be as brief as possible, I'll tell you that. But we had a real good meeting tonight for our public. But thank you, Mayor, for the opportunity. We had a couple of things that need to bring the whole board's attention to light. Our storm debris removal update, this will be the final update that I give since the third party that came in and helped us remove a lot of the trees from the storm we had. They've gone now, and I think the whole bill on that whole thing was $2.5 million, which about 75% of that we're going to get back from the federal government. I'm hoping within the next couple of years we'll get it. Honestly, it's not one of these things that they just write a check and say how much. They don't do that. So it'll go through the process and then we'll get it and then we'll put it back into the budget. Um, but I wanted to let everybody know about that. Um, also the Drake's Creek, uh, stop 30 intersection project. Um, we just want to let everybody know that that construction is going to be probably the first of next year. Um, I'm real excited about that. Um, We're having some environmental issues to be reviewed by the state. And so along with the mayor's office, along with public works, we're trying to see what we can do, especially the mayor's office, because he's our spokesperson for the city of Hendersonville. And we're trying to see how he can work with the state to alleviate a lot of the problems a lot of the steps that we've got to get through for our projects. Like, I don't know if you see this, I think we're gonna probably talk about this under Capital Projects Committee, but if everybody will look on your desk, and this I hope the city constituents that we represent can see this too, But you see all these boxes right here on this page right here? Exactly, thank you. Those are all the steps that we as a city have to go through once a project is voted on and passed by this board. That's unbelievable. But that is the reality that we have to go through. You know, when I go on social media, you know, and I see the problems and the frustration that our constituents have within the city, and they, you know, rightfully so, sometimes we should be blamed on some of it. But a lot of it is we've got to jump through all these steps. They've got to be checked off each time a project goes through. And sometimes that's a problem. And so I'm really pleased that the mayor's office is working with the state to try to alleviate some of these boxes maybe that not only us in the city of Hendersonville, but for all the other local municipalities in the state of Tennessee, they go through the same process too. So I appreciate you bringing that up and showing that. And I hope that our constituency can realize now that, you know, we're just not sitting, you know, on our feet doing nothing. We're in the process of going through all these items that we go through. And so, uh, we're working diligently on that every day that we go through. So, um, but anyway, that's where we are on state, uh, Drake's Creek and stop 30 intersection. We're looking at the construction. We'll start on that the first of next year. On our light synchronization project, we're looking at the synchronization. We'll start. We're looking construction for that, which I'm very, very happy to tell you guys this month in June. I'm real excited about that. and uh we'll really start on a start date we'll probably be next week at the first solid week of june i know we're on the fringe of may and june right now but uh when this gets uh shown on tv but by the time people get the opportunity to look at this we we should be already have a construction started on that um Our LED street light conversion, I want to let the board know that we're about 45% through with the whole city reconstruction, or not necessarily construction, but conversion of the lights. So if you do have some complaints, please call. No disrespect to the alderman, but you can call me or your alderman. It doesn't matter. uh, affect me. I mean, it does affect me, but I don't have a problem with phone calls and I know they don't either. So just pick up the phone, give us a shout. We'd be glad to listen to you about it. Um, and see if we can't help you. Um, old, uh, Drake's Creek and new shackle Island road. That is a, uh, it is a County, um, project, but we're still working with them. to try to get that project on board and on time. So I wanted to let the folks out in that area that use it because it's very dangerous out there. And, um, I just hope we get, can get that completed until somebody, you know, where people won't get hurt or having a wreck out there, but we're, we're diligently trying to do that. Um, One thing I do want to say on the tree branches out in your front yard by the street, we're on regular time now. So we're starting that process as a city, not with third-party help, but just us going out as a city picking it up. So I wanted to let you know that. So let's see here. And then the last thing is, I do want to let the folks over on Riverchase Drive, 140 Riverchase Drive, to be exact. We've got a drainage ditch over there that really needs to be looked at. It was referred to by Alderman Collins, who's doing outstanding work over there, and we appreciate. She called me, and she and I have to go over there and look at it. But Public Works has already been notified. And knowing Public Works the way that I do, they'll probably be out there before we do because they'll probably be out there tomorrow morning. Or sometimes they have their staff be looking at it before we even get to it. But Alderman Collins, I appreciate you letting me know. I do want to get with you and us and go over there in River Chase and take a look at it. She sent me some pictures. And there's some stormwater drainage issues there that I need to take a look at as well, and then we put it on the agenda for our next meeting in the end of June to discuss. But, you know, there's a tree down over there, and it's a lot of erosion that's taking place, and it's not only at one point. 40 river chase uh it's some of the other neighbors over there as well so i just want to let those folks that let them know rachel's doing her job and and i'm trying to do my job too so um let's see i think i had one more thing um no that's it uh because the rest of that i want to put on hold until next time but mayor that's it on public works and i thank you thank you chairman skidmore chairman sassy finance committee

Thank you, Mayor. We had a great meeting, not just a good meeting. It was only 10 minutes long, so that's what made it so great. Yeah. You started and ended yours, or we started and ended ours before you got out of yours. Today, the main thing that we discussed was, I haven't mentioned this yet, but it was an ongoing discussion about a... All was the alternative facilities tax adequate adequate. Thank you. I could not think of that word the adequate facilities tax that is implemented by the county or Assigned by the county they imposed by the county. Thank you words are hard today And there was a miscommunication in that I The applicants within the city were not paying these taxes that were imposed by the city or by the county. And we've been having these ongoing conversations because the county was trying to come after us for it, even though the city did not owe these fees or these taxes any stretch of the word whatsoever. And that was clear to the letter of the law as well Well, I'm happy to say that through the work of our codes department and Greg and our NJ in our economic development department They've been working out. We did not have to do this by the way Our staff did this because they wanted to be good stewards and good neighbors to the county they contacted these developers and and informed them of their, uh, fees that they were responsible for. And why I'm not going to say the totals, but over almost 90% of that has now been, uh, paid or, uh, removed because there was miscalculation, uh, at the county's part. So I just wanted to thank Jay and Greg for putting so much time and effort into that. That was our number one topic. Uh, as far as I'm concerned, It's done and it's no longer a topic of conversation at the Finance Committee. We're going to move on. The rest of our meeting comprised, goodness, of our sales tax reports and hotel motel reports, investment earnings, stormwater report, and the PIP fund. And I'll tell you all of them were positive. So, uh, we're, we're looking good. And, uh, I imagine that it will be funding some of those amendments that the mayor mentioned earlier. Uh, and that's my report. Thank you. Chairman Sassy.

Thank you. Chairman Robertson, Chairman Robertson capital projects committee.

Yes. Uh, and I want to thank, uh, Alderman Skidmore for teeing up, uh, my report, this, this diagram that you're looking, uh, uh, I'll be honest with you, it's easier to read the book of Leviticus than it is to read this diagram. So I think it is important for citizens to understand that on locally managed projects, when they are funded through GNRC, this is the process that the state requires us to go through. And so you can see why it takes so long to go through these projects, because there's back and forth, our staff and the state, and it's just But the reason that we go through this is so that we can get funding through the GNRC, which brings me – pull up the other slide, the flow diagram, please. Yeah. So this is – I asked the staff to come up, and thank you, Stephen, to come up with an easy explanation of the RTP and TIP process. This is the process to try to get 80%, 20% funding. from the state. And so this is the process. The first step in order to qualify for this 80-20 split funding is we developed and this board approved the Transportation Capital Improvement Plan. And that is a big plus when we go to the GNRC for our projects because we've already justified, we already have a plan. And so we have met that step. The second step is we took all 32 projects in the capital improvement plan. We took all 32 projects to the GNRC to be included in the 25-year wish list, which is the RTP process. And so all of our projects, all of our 32 that we approved, are in the 25-year wish list. But then the next step is, all right, we prioritized what are the projects that we would like approved for the next four years, a four-year action plan. And that's the tip of the GNRC. And in that, you can go to the next slide, which shows the eight projects. These are the eight projects. If you go to the next slide, please. There you go. These are the eight projects that we have recommended to the GNRC to fund for the next four years. And as you can see, that total of those projects is $86 million. Twenty percent of that would be the city's share would be $17 million. Now, one of the things that's included in that is the second item at Stop 30. Really, we're not requesting $12.3 million. We're really only amending our original request of around $8 million to $12 million because of the extra cost associated with that project just as it has matured over time. So these are the projects that will be presented to the GNRC policy board. And go back to the flow diagram slide, please. Sorry to be, yeah, there you go. So the next step is step four. And the GNRC has a policy board. And that policy board, the mayor sits on that policy board. Correct, Mayor? It is true. And so that policy board will look at all of the projects that all of the regional transportation area have submitted and come up with a final list. We're hoping that the eight that we have submitted will be approved for that. And then if they are, then the next is project delivery, and then we'll have to go through the process of doing design studies and coming up with the funding. So Stephen, would you come up and just now go back to the actual eight projects, please? So I don't know that we need to go through each of these projects. It's getting late in the evening. But if any of you have questions regarding these projects, I wish you would please direct them to Stephen. He's the expert on these and has done an excellent job in arranging these and teeing these up to the GNRC for approval. So would you like to say anything, Steve, just regarding the projects?

I can't take all the credit. I mean, our planning staff is involved as well. Sure. Keith and Zachary have been an asset on this. Certainly, so what I'll do, I guess I'll just go down the list. Our first project there is the West Main Access Management Project. It's roughly a one-mile stretch of road from Imperial to Walton Ferry. It would involve medians, landscaping, sidewalks, and underground utilities. It corresponds roughly to project number two on the city's transportation capital improvement plan. The next one down would be the Stop 30 Drake's Creek intersection improvements. That is a project that's been under development for quite some time, and we're hoping to get that into construction here in the next year. Then the following project is the Indian lakes road school zone improvements. Uh, this affects, uh, multiple schools and it's essentially from main street to Nanny Berry elementary school. It's a project to add turn lanes, sidewalks, and make other schools own safety improvements. Below that we have the Innsbruck and Saundersville intersection improvements that this would affect the Myrtlewood lane and Innsbruck intersections, as well as, uh, extend up to a day flower. The proposal with this project is to construct a roundabout and widen the roadway. Below that, we have the Sounders Ferry Road Improvements Phase 1. That is a project from Main Street to Imperial Boulevard. It also includes some widening out on Main Street to create dual left turn lanes to the southbound direction on Sounders Ferry. We have the Rockland Road and Imperial improvements. The project here is to construct a roundabout at Rockland Road and Imperial just below Main Street. Saunders Ferry Road improvements phase two and three is from Imperial Boulevard to Spadeleaf and this is looking at potential intersection upgrades and roadway widening in the vicinity of Imperial Boulevard. Last we have center point improvements. This is a roadway widening and curve correction project from Mansker Farm to Hunts Lane.

Thank you. Any questions for Stephen or Keith? I think Keith serves on the staff, technical staff for GNRC. Yes. So I'm sorry I overlooked that. Okay, if there are no questions, the one other item that the Capital Projects Committee took up is we took up the need for traffic improvement in front of Durham Farms. And we had a second consultant that gave us a recommendation, and the second consultant actually did a traffic study. And so the committee voted four to one to approve the consultant recommendation for traffic improvement in front of Durham Farms. That's the five points there in front of Durham Farms. Now, there is no money in the budget for that. So I'm sure it's a way off, but the capital uh, projects, uh, committee did vote four to one to move forward on both the recommendations of both consultants for improvements at that, at that, uh, busy intersection. So with that mayor, that's, that's all I have. Chairman Robertson.

Thank you. Thank you, Steven. Jesse.

The BOMO report starts on page 206, but I'm not going to go over it because it's static from the first meeting in May. But I do want to remind everyone, if you look under the parks events, there is Touch a Truck, which is this Friday. So it's at Drake's Creek Park from 9 to 11. It's free. It's kind of a fun event. It's going to be open, rain or shine. So that's this Friday at Drake's Creek Park from 9 to 11. I do want to mention some good news. Tamara got word that from our 2024 flood event, we are going to get a FEMA reimbursement of about $400,000. That should be in either June or July, so we'll be on the lookout for that. And I do also, I want to kind of echo what Alderman Roberson said about the tip list. I think it's significant. We've submitted those projects. The application period closes tomorrow, but that's $90 million worth of projects. I mean, this is a huge, huge undertaking. Besides the list that was up there, Stephen and his team have a number of other plans that are in the design phase. So if these are approved through the TIP, some of them are already in the design phase. So it will be much quicker if they are approved and we do have a funding source for them. But when we look at a $90 million list of projects and the city's portion is 20%, that's a significant amount. So it's over $17 million just for the city's portion, which is only 20%. So I made these before the comments tonight about switching money from infrastructure reserve and the rainy day reserve. But I do want to say it is, I think it was prudent of this board to adopt that financial reserve policy because we have 3.75 million in that infrastructure reserve. If a lot of these projects come on board, that is going to pay for some of it, but it will not pay obviously for 17 million of it. So it's just something that we need to keep in mind. We need to keep upping that infrastructure reserve policy, or we know that we're going to have to issue some debt to go into these projects because it's a significant amount of money that we're taking on. But, you know, thankfully we're on a really good start. So that's all my remarks for this evening.

Jesse, thank you.

Take any questions if you have them.

Alderman Garza. Motion to adjourn. We have a motion to adjourn. A second from Alderman Ward.

Is there any, any all in favor, please say aye. Aye.

Those opposed, please say no. That passed unanimously. Thank y'all.