Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Hello. I'd like to welcome everybody to the regular scheduled Thursday, March 5th city commission meeting held at the Municipal and Safety Building in Johnson City, Tennessee. I'd like to open the meeting called to order. First, I'd like to welcome Pastor T. Runnership for the pledge and um for the invocation. If you want to come on up, pray. Let us pray. Father, we're so grateful for yet another day, a day we've never seen before. You told us to rejoice and be glad in that day. God, we realize that some people trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but God, we will trust in you. God, it's at this time that we come to you because our nation's at a standstill of what's going on. There's so much happening in our nation, Lord. And God, we pray for our leaders of our nation. We pray for the ones that are out there in combat and the ones that are just don't know which way to go. And God, that comes down to our own city government. Lord, we're praying for each and every commissioner that's here and represented tonight. God, that you would order their steps. God, we pray that you would lead and guide them into all things about you. Let them let them know who you are so that you will lead them. You will guide them. Let there be unity in this place tonight. God, we pray today, God, we come against anything that would try to come and disrupt or come against this meeting. God, this is ordained by you.

And God, I just pray that you would give our city the unity that it needs. No matter what, Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever, God, we need you because we know you are in control of it all. And God, we just thank you and we bless you tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor Dunn.

Yes, Mayor. Uh, commissioners, the first order of business is to consider approval of the minutes for the regularly scheduled city commission meeting held on Thursday, February 19th, 2026. Move approval. Second. Get the bill. We call the role. Commissioner Fowler, yes. Commissioner Gets, yes. Commissioner Wise, yes. Vice Mayor Brock, yes. Mayor Cox,

yes. And mayor, the next items uh for consideration are presentations and proclamations. And as you make your way down, I will read the first one. The first one is a presentation of proclamation for the Big South Commissioner. Uh if you will come forward, Shereekica Montgomery. Thank you for being here. How are you? I'm doing well.

Thank you for being in our community. We're so glad to have you. And um I'd love to read this proclamation to you. So whereas for more than 40 years, the Big South Conference has been an exemplary leader in college athletics, dedicated to developing student athletes through the pursuit of excellence in the classroom, community, and field of play. And the Big S's remarkable history of achievement is character characterized by the league's 19 championship sports and the profound academic and life success of its more than 3,200 student athletes. And whereas the league's growing presence as an NCAA Division 1 Athletic Conference is made evident by its multitude of athletic accomplishments, innovative marketing and media partnerships, increased television packages, and most importantly, its commitment to fostering the academic, personal, social, athletic, and leadership development of its students athletes. And whereas the league's nine member institutions, which share a common geographic region and similar academic values and purposes, have chosen Johnson City to host both its men and women's championships in 2025 and 2026. And whereas the championship events have created significant economic impacts to our city and our region. Now therefore, I, Greg Cox, mayor of the city of Johnson City, Tennessee, do hereby proclaim March 5th, 2026 Big South Championship Appreciation Day and in Johnson City, Tennessee, and encourage all citizens to join me in this worthy observance. Um, so so glad you're here, and would you mind telling us a little bit about the tournament um hours and what's what's going on and when the finals is?

Absolutely. First and foremost, thank you all so much just for this opportunity, not only to be here joined with the leaders of this great city, but for how this city has welcomed the Big South Conference, its nine member institutions, its student athletes, as well as its fans from all over this country. We have felt welcome from the day we landed here, and we're so excited about what we have in store for this weekend and hopefully many years to come. As it relates to this, I'm sorry, as [laughter] it relates to the upcoming weekend, we are over at the Freedom Hall Civic Center. We encourage you all to come over and join us. We have two remaining games today. We'll have four men's basketball games coming up on tomorrow. On Saturday, we'll have our semi-finals on both the men and the women. And then we will have our finals on Sunday. While you can come out and join us, both will be broadcast, the men on ESPN plus, I'm sorry, ESPNU as well as the women also on ESPNU. So, we look forward to being able to celebrate our phenomenal student athletes and their achievement and hard work all year. Thank you. [applause]

I don't say that. [cheering] Thank you. Thank you, mayor. The next proclamation uh presentation of proclamations for Tennessee Day of Hope. How are you doing? I'm doing very well.

I'd love to read this proclamation to you. Whereas in Johnson City, where 82% of residents rates our community as an excellent place to live, we recognize that our collective strength lies in how we uplift our most vulnerable neighbors. And whereas hope is a central concept in East Tennessee's belief system with over 200 faith-based communities in Johnson City actively serving as the first line of support for those reaching out for help. And whereas hope for healing is critical in Johnson City where a number of organizations and services work to ensure that suffering does not lead to isolation or suicidal thoughts. And whereas those living with substance use disorders are in dire need of hope in a region that has historically faced the state's highest opioid consumption rates, including the 65 neighbors lost to overdose in Washington County in 2024, reminding us that stigma must be replaced by support and community-based programs such as Johnson City Recovery Center, Insight Alliance, families free and recovery resources creatively meet needs while instilling hope through peer-led recover. recovery and evidence-based approach. And the power of hope for a better tomorrow is changing lives across Johnson City. From the halls of ETSU's Addiction Science Center to local recovery meetings, renewing our community one person at a time. Now therefore, I, Greg Cox, mayor of the city of Johnson City, Tennessee, do hereby proclaim March 10th, 2026 as Tennessee Days of Hope in Johnson City, Tennessee, encourage all citizens to join me in this worthy observance. So, thank for everything you do and I'd love for you to say a few things about your organization.

Thank you. Hi, I'm Jennifer Berin. I'm with Inside Alliance. We are the substance abuse prevention coalition for Washington County. Um, I think that hope is something that all of us could use. Um, but there's some of us among us that need it more than others. Um we encourage you as individuals what or in your place of work depending on what you do um to reflect on March 10th. Well reflect every day but um the governor designated the day of hope back in 2020 so that we would take a specific moment to pause and recognize um both what we do as individuals and organizations and what others do in the community to help create hope. Um, you know, I see people from the schools, um, law enforcement, um, even, you know, folks with the city. No matter what you do, you have an opportunity to inspire hope and to give it to those who need it. Um, so next, um, next week on the 10th, we hope that you'll take a moment to, um, reflect on what hope means to you. [snorts]

Thanks so much, Jennifer, for being here. [applause] Commission. The next order of business is um public comment on the agenda. We have one person signed up to speak and that's Dave Adams. Dave has signed up to speak on item number 8.1. Mr. Adams, can you come up to the podium and state your name?

Howdy. Uh Dave Adams, three Coventry Court. Uh Mayor Cox and Commission, uh thanks for the opportunity to speak on this tonight. I'm speaking neutral today on this specific reasonzoning request, but I believe this is the right moment to raise a yellow flag on transparency and direction of development in this corridor as it pertains to Horizon 2045. It's very likely that there's context I've missed along the way. Uh but that presents a learning opportunity. I hope this encourages increased discussion and alignment regarding implementation and understanding of our plans here and elsewhere. On our future land use map, the entire collection of undeveloped lots and the rectangle between uh Aanlay and the interstate are designated as compact residential to encourage housing and walkable business. To the south is fully developed compact residential sandwiched on both directions of People Streets. The land is mixed use. These lots were marked compact residential for a reason and I'm concerned that we may have slowly boiled a frog with a material shift towards commercial losing that reason along the way. The first reasonzoning request approved in January reszone one lot for a hotel. The Horizon plans compact residential designation was acknowledged and we kind of made hotel fit using a lodgingish definition to justify the change without modifying the map. The second reasoning request before you today is for a restaurant on the side of the road that's not walkable. The third and fourth remaining lots are already zoned as planned business. I'm not here to argue if a restaurant on this lot is a good or bad idea in absence of the flum. It makes sense incrementally with the actions we've already taken. However, in aggregate, the compact residential designation has seemed intended to address housing pressures and I believe there was public input in support of that designation during the planning process just last year. Uh I'm concerned that we're meaningfully deviating from this plan. and the flum has not been modified, but we seem to have silently erased an entire node from compact residential planning. Uh I believe if the intent was for this to be fully commercial, those lots would have been designated under mixed use like the other ones in the sections around it.

With that said, I bring two broad questions to the commission tonight as you consider this zoning request and uh others going forward. Number one, are we keeping housing needs at the forefront of these discussions? And number two, are we following the intent of the Horizon 2045 plan in considering this series of requests in this area? And if not, should we modify the Horizon plan to accurately depict the intent for this area? I want to make sure that the public can rely on the long-term planning vision that was articulated last year. And so I thank you for your time and deliberations. Thanks, Mr. Adams. And as that item comes up for discussion, we may have some of those questions. So, thank you,

Commission. The next order of business is consideration of the consent agenda. Start to my right. See if there's anything that anyone would like to pull. Dr. Fowler. I don't have anything. Thanks. Vice Mayor Brock, go on the other side. Come back to me. That's good. Um, Commissioner, uh, 6.3.2, please.

6.3.2. I would ask for 6.1.2 just to talk about that arrangement generally. Yeah, I think that sounds great. And I don't know if we need a motion if somebody'd like to make a motion. Um I think I might be open to a motion to remove 6.1.3 from the agenda. Um if anybody wants to make that motion, I think they're making some adjustments to their memorandum understanding. I would make a motion to remove 6.1.3 from the consent agenda. I'll second. Miss Bill, will you call the role? Commissioner Fowler, yes. Commissioner Gats, yes. Commissioner Wise, yes. Vice Mayor Brock, yes. And Mayor Cox, yes.

Okay, that passes and I'll come back to you, Vice Mayor Brock. Thanks. I am ready. 6.1.1 and uh 6.1.4. All right. Yes. The first item requested to for additional information is item 6.1.1 which is to consider approval of materials reimbursement for the Landy Midway development in the amount of 60 approximately $68,000. John Lane is not present. Thank you.

My question is not real in depth about the project itself. I'm very familiar with materials reimbursement, but um I I noticed that sales tax is backed off from the materials uh purchased by the builder. Is that because it's public um because it goes in public rightway at some point in time, but I just didn't know why we didn't charge the sales tax. It was on the invoice backed out. I don't know the answer to that. I think that's the case. I know we don't pay sales tax on materials that we purchase and I think that's why, but I don't know the exact answer to that.

We're happy to get you that information, but it's always been under our understanding that we've never reimbured sales tax because the city doesn't pay sales tax, right, in the state of Tennessee. And yeah, I don't think they're allowed to. I I think the developer potentially can even go back to the manufacturer and deal with it at that time, but Thank you. That's good. The next item um [clears throat] requested uh additional information on is to consider approval of the memorandum of understanding and payment installation agreement with Boyd Sports LLC for improvements at the city-owned TVA credit union ballpark.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, Miss Small. I'm Steve Willis, deputy city manager. Thisou before you this evening is an agreement with Boyd Sports to replace the netting at TVA Ballpark as well as some of the uh pole structures that actually hold the netting up. We began discussions with Boyd about this project actually last year but for a variety of reasons we weren't able to get it accomplished. So we moved it forward into this uh this calendar year. Boyd will be paying the full amount of the project which is $117,665. The city will then contribute half of that project which is 58,832 over two payment installments. The first of which will be December of 2026 and the second will be in December of 2027. The netting is in disrepair and is in need of replacement from a safety perspective. So, we feel like this is a good arrangement. Boyd has been a great partner to work with and obviously with them paying all the cost upfront, it it works out really well for us from a budgetary standpoint.

And this is not the first time Boyd Sports has made an investment in the facility there. Could you kind of detail some other historic examples? Sure. The turf is another example. That's the most recent one whereby the city contributed half of the project, Boyd contributed half of the project, but they paid the entire amount up front and then we paid back over time. And that's actually happened on two different occasions. Obviously, the Science Hill team plays there. So, this will be an enhancement to the park for all users, not just for the Doughboys during the summer. Will will the netting be higher? It will. It will actually meet the standard.

Okay. Uh, Vice Mayor, as you probably are well aware, it currently does not and it will actually extend further down the first and third baselines. Boy Sports has been a great partner, you know, in the ballpark and it has gone from a kind of a neighborhood ballpark almost to uh really bestin-class around here. And um so we thank them for their investment because they've made other investments in areas that you know a lot of people wouldn't even see like the fieldhouse and uh the the concessions and all that. So it's it's very nice. It's a beautiful place in there. Be happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Thank you. The next item for some additional followup on is item 6.1.4 four, which is to consider approval to apply for a local parks and recreation fund grant through the Tennessee Department of Outdoor Recreation for the replacement of field lighting at a neighborhood park at Arowwood Mashurnfield. And just before Dr. Darden starts um with answering questions, I would just say this is one that we identified as a capital need at your retreat. And so this was a project that we knew that the parts were no longer available for and I think Dr. Darden has found some grant money that has the potential to help pay for that. So, thank you for

that. Really was behind my question here knowing the answer to this. But, um uh just thanks for y'all finding other sources of of of funding because the lights over there needed to be replaced for quite some time, haven't they?

Yes. Um they are um at the end of their lifespan. Um so the lights that are currently installed um were we to the best of our knowledge were installed in the 70s when the field was established. Um so they are no longer in manufacture. The light bulbs are hard to find. Um and they are hard to replace and they don't have a very long life. Um so we want to continue to support the field play. Um that's a Johnson City National Major Little League field. Um one of four. They see a lot of field play in the spring. a lot of evening and nighttime play. So, we want to continue that legacy and this is an amazing grant um through the office of outdoor recreation at the state that allows us to really leverage our dollars and and make an impact.

Now, would these be replaced by LED lights and those lights that shine straight down and will kind of help the neighborhood as well? Yes, Vice Mayor Brock, I have learned about baseball field lighting. Um not not an area I had any knowledge in. Um, and I learned how important it is for um, just play that the players can see the ball. Um, I know we're talking little kids, but that experience matters. It's uh, so the parents in the stands can see their kid uh, hit a home run. Um, it's it's just to have a really well um, well-run program there. Right. Well, thank you very much for the extra effort that you put in on this. And when when will it be completed?

Um, great question. So the LPRF grant timelines are a two to threeyear timeline from the project the grant ex the grant completion to finalizing out the project. Um we want to minimize the impact to their season. Um baseball has a very generous season. Um so we don't have a construction timeline identified. Um, we do know that if the if we are awarded the grant that the earliest construction could start would be in quarter 2 or quarter three of the following year. Um, and we have community input coming up too um for folks to to talk about. So, we have a bit of a projected timeline that can be viewed at that point.

Will this include the polls? New poles? It would include new poles. We currently have wood poles and the standard for LED is metal. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. Thanks Dr. Darden so much. The next item for um for some questions on is uh item 6.3.2. Um commissioners, did I miss any item? 6.3.2. Is that one? So this is the open gov services the ERP tax and revenue software renewal. Yeah, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you. Um I just wanted to know a little bit about our relations.

I know that we have utilized them before. Are we pleased? Is uh have we done measures of security? Just would love to know a little bit more as we enter um another partnership with them. Yes. So sorry about that. Um we we will be migrating away from them in a couple years. uh we have to do the utility billing software first and then we'll be migrating to that solution for our property tax and our our business licenses but that's about 18 months out hence the renewal. So so we're pleased with that relationship currently it's um

it's meeting our needs right now it's meeting our needs right now um but yeah there are plans to replace them in a couple years. Okay. Yeah. Does that help? And just for the record, this is David Eisen, our IT director. Yeah. So, he's answering the questions about it. Well, is that it? Anybody else?

Thanks for everything you do. And just um I learned a concept a couple weeks ago with Cooper at a meeting with some mayors of our technology debt. And that's kind of the debt, the technology that we have available that we're not taking advantage of. And I know the building department's looking at um some different software portals. I know we had one today that came up in budget and so as these things get renewed sure it would be nice if these things could live under one umbrella at the city. So

yeah, let me make a correction on open gov. So I I wonder if that's pertaining to the city view project. So open gov bought iggov and that's the that's their particular business that we're going to be moving to uh into utility billing. Does that help? So, so they're they purchased or acquired this product. We are going to be they're another acquisition by by OpenGV. Okay. Yeah. Y and that would talk to these additional um programs. Um

yeah, OpenGV has a whole suite of different a whole ERP suite of things. The only things we use are their property tax and their their uh uh business licenses. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Anything else? Anything else? Entertain a motion. I'd make a motion to approve. Second. Miss Bell, will you call the role? Commissioner Fowler? Yes. Commissioner Gats? Yes. Commissioner Wise? Yes. Vice Mayor Brock? Yes. And Mayor Cox? Yes.

Commissioners, the next item on the agenda for your consideration is item 7.1. This is to consider the approval of a resolution delegating authority to the industrial development board to enter into a pilot agreement that's payment in lie of taxes agreement with DGA Lakewood for a lite-ch housing rehabilitation project. Good evening, mayor, commissioners. I'm Alicia Summers, assistant city manager. Uh we have tonight a uh request coming in from the Industrial Development Board of Johnson City uh to delegate authority to enter into this pilot agreement. And I'm going to provide you some information about what that pilot looks like. So, this is a section 8 housing project that uh was purchased by a new developer and [clears throat] they'll be investing about $30 million and renovating 105 units. Uh it's located on Swadley Road uh off of South Ran. It was originally built in 1978 and again it's a section 108 or section 8 low-income housing project. It's a reservate uh a renovation uh and will include some additional handicap accessible units uh and also three of those units will be audio or visually impaired uh provided for. They anticipate construction to be complete in April of 2027. There's also some additional amenities for this project. Those include uh free laundry facilities, free internet, uh a new child's playground, covered mailboxes, bike racks, a gazebo, and they're uh redoing their uh basketball

court as well. So, the developer is new to Johnson City. It's DGA residential. They're out of Knoxville. They've done about 42 projects in the southeast. Eight of those are section 8 housing. So they're very familiar with this type of project. So the terms of the pilot is they'll freeze the property taxes at the 2025 rate. Uh those will um the term will be for 15 years. They'll have a 3% increase annually and 2% um will go to the IDB as a fee for review and monitoring their annual reports. Again, here's some property tax information based off of the 2023 cards with the land value, improvement value, and the assessed value. And this is a snapshot of what this pilot will look like and what those increases will look like each year for the term, the 15-year term. And of course, like all of our other pilots, there is a reporting requirement. This one's a little more detailed in that it is a section 8. So, they'll be required to provide to us annually uh proof of their compliance with HUD and the low-income housing tax credit programs. In the event they fail to provide us with that annual report for that particular year, they'll be required to pay 100% of the property taxes. And then of course, we've talked about the benefit benefits before of supporting these types of housing

programs. They have a so a positive social impact on the residents, improved quality of life. They promote good physical and mental health and they foster greater self-esteem with the residents. This also falls in line with your 2026 strategic plan with quality of place and economic vitality and it also is in alignment with the horizon 2045 plan. It supports chapter 5 strong neighborhoods and two of those policies within that section. So again, for your consideration this evening uh is a request to delegate authority to the Industrial Development Board of Johnson City to enter into a pilot agreement. And just as a note, the IDB met yesterday and they approved this pilot pending um approval by this board. This summer is just for the public. Would you mind describing what the IDB board is, who it's made up of and the role that that they actually play in a in a project like this?

Certainly. So the IDB is the industrial development board and their role is to facilitate programs for uh pilot programs. So incentive type programs. pilot is a payment in lie of tax and they also can provide uh can be the the mechanism for doing tax increment financing. Uh that board meets once a quarter. Uh it is made up of uh I believe there's uh someone in the real estate field. Uh there's people in construction just a variety. It's a 10 member board and it requires um seven is the mandate from the state for that board, but there is 10 on that board

and it's a statutory board that that has authority from the state of Tennessee. It certainly is. Okay. And this project is really to improve um these apartments to a better standard so that people who will be living in them will will have um you know almost new um kind of accommodations with them. As you said, these were built in the early a lot of things were built in the early 70s around here, you know. Um but um a lot of the property in that area has kind of run down and all and this will this I think will be a real lift to that area that other units may follow suit.

Yeah, I hope that as well. Um yes, they'll be investing about 30 million. They were built in 1978 and as we've experienced in the past with other type projects like this, they completely gut those units and put energy efficient uh windows and appliances and you know HBAC units, all of that in there. Uh it's also just kind of as a side note not that far away from Tapestry on Rome. So, and we can see that from the interstate and I'm sure we've all been by there. It's a beautiful, beautiful um housing and residential units as well.

I'd make a motion to approve. Second. Miss Bell, will you call the role? Commissioner Fowler, yes. Commissioner Gets, yes. Commissioner Wise, yes. Vice Mayor Brock, yes. And Mayor Cox,

yes. Commissioners, the next order of business is item 8.1, ordinance number 4937-26. This is the first reading of this ordinance. It's ordinance for the resoning of 2590 People Street, R3 to MS1. Good evening, mayor, commissioners. My name is Whitney Hodes. I'm the planning manager um in the planning division. And tonight you are seeing a resoning that looks very similar to a resoning that we did just a few months ago. The owner and um an agent decided that they wanted to kind of also have the same kind of zoning designation. Where we are in the timeline is first reading. The public hearing for this will be April 2nd um followed by the third and final reading um in April 16th. We had a neighborhood meeting where no one um came to the neighborhood meeting, but we did have some public hearing comment at planning commission. I'll talk about that a little bit later. Just to orient yourself to People's Street. This is some images from street view of where we are on People's Street. And then looking at the property, this is what it looks like. It's right next to the interstate. So, you can see the interstate here and the site is here. It's a relatively flat site. um what they would like to do is accommodate at the moment accommodate a restaurant or anything in the MS1 district any of those uses in MS1 and as it's has been mentioned before there's planned planned business to the east and MS1 to the west and there is R3 around it the site plan the concept plan does meet the requirements um it is a 4200T building with 87 parking spaces. It has a joint use entrance here that was

approved by the planning commission with with the preliminary plat of these two lots. They there is a condition so with approval we do need this condition with this because they haven't changed their plan um just to make allowances for that sewer easement with their storm water so that they're not in conflict. The um it is vacant. uh the there is water and sewer available and the the developer will be extending that. A traffic study will be required at the time of building permit. So if there is additional measures needed that will be taken care of at that time. And there's a traffic stop about a half a mile away. The and I think this will help the um as far as the map the this is zoned or for the future land use plan as community residential. Um, one of the reasons being is that because it is so close to or it's compact residential, sorry, because it's so close to some neighborhoods, this sliver right here, we wanted to maintain some of the decisions that we talked about were maintaining kind of a compact just a a small scale um through here because there is a more a regional around it. So regional u mixed use around it. So we wanted to kind of because what's across the road, we didn't want regional mixeduse creep so to speak that would creep into this area potentially from having this a different zone. But with that because as we were thinking through that this does allow for some retail as well. It's it's not a very high use. It's not something to be very common but it is allowable. And so for that reason staff would re the horizon 2045 this reasons to support this would be that it does it's a kind of still in that commercial corridor because existing commercial does ex is there as well as um it can facilitate um

just some some uses along that corridor being People's Street. staff recommends approval with conditions that the um storm water management area be adjusted and planning commission recommended approval. There was um a gentleman who spoke against the resoning at planning commission due to um site and traffic were his concerns. at the meeting. Um, engineering did say that the where they where that shared entrance is where they think the site distance is best and I am here for any questions that you may have from Could you go back a slide?

I certainly can. The the comments at the public hearing, do you have a sense of from what direction that person was viewing this project? like are they coming out of town acres or coming up? I think that just that hill in general is hard to see out of because I think they actually talked about getting out of the dental office.

Okay. And the the current compact residential in the 2045, what what are some examples of what that actually looks like in a built environment? I don't have the pictures of those. So the compact residential is intended to is intended for housing. I do I do understand that it does have some limit and so therefore it has very limitations when it comes to commercial activity. And so with these parcels, let me show this in the map. With these parcels being constrained by the interstate and People's Street, it and what was already developed there, it would be very hard to continue a residential development um along that interstate of where the property is. And so with the limited amount as far as pictures, I can bring this back for public hearing.

That might be helpful. I guess my question is when you think of compact residential, are you thinking like side by side town homes or you think about apartments? It can be um it's higher density than a single family. Um it is it's leaning more residential than non-residential. It will allow for multif family. So it can allow it. So that's where if it's a towered condo, town homes, but it it allows for some more um smaller lots and some compactness. It's in the word, but it it would allow for additional density. Okay. Is the is the hotel adjacent to this property? Okay. Mhm.

So then going back to the east, I guess toward Kroger, that other way. Does the property kind of widen out there? So there is more room away from the interstate. We go back to the map that if house someone had a housing project or this is right ofway I believe right here. It's not a good map. Okay. This is right ofway. The property is the same. The property adjacent is the same. Yeah. But the but the lots then going back toward Kroger there that they widen out a bit away from the interstate. So if there somebody wanted to do a housing project there, those lots might be better suited on this side.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And that's one of the reasons because I'll bring a for the public hearing. I'm going to bring a larger map so you can see how the n how the regional mixed use kind of has these two sides and there was a compact um residential in the middle and we wanted to preserve kind of that a small if if there was going to be any type of commercial development it had some sort of smallcale nature and with this side being adjoining the interstate we thought that if there was any type of resident or any type of commercial that would be the side that it would be on

well and I'll just make a comment that back when I was on the planning commission we there was a lot more boxes that you filled in and the land use plan now has your weighted averages and an ability to kind of say all right what's more appropriate because this would never be an appropriate spot for it's not the best spot for housing when you're on a busy road and a busy corridor between an interstate and so it gives the ability to weight what's responsible in a area So, um, I love that tool that you put together and I'm glad that you have it and we can use that to make these decisions. So, with that, is there any I'd make a motion to approve? Second. Any discussion? Mrs. Bell, you call the role.

Commissioner Fowler, yes. Commissioner Gats, yes. Commissioner Wise, yes. Vice Mayor Brock, yes. And Mayor Cox, yes. Mayor, we have no other formal business on the agenda.

Well, I'll just start with my right and see if anybody has anything that they want to talk about. Dr. Fowler, I I've noticed we might have some swimming people in the audience with the head coach and some of the school board members and some others here. So, there's a long discussion that we have had and we're going to have more about swimming pools and Johnson City. So, the closing of the Freedom Hall pool is a safety thing right now with the way things are underneath the edge of the pool. So, it's not that we want to close Freedom Hall Pool safety wise. And the first estimate was from engineering that was $747,000 to kind of go in and and correct some of what was gone to put a band-aid on it for a little while. That was an estimate, not actually digging out and seeing what is down there. It could be $1.5 million. We don't know. So, we're going to look into some other things further. I appreciate you being here. I was a swimmer. I've known coach for 30 years probably, maybe more. Shh, you don't have to tell everybody. It's [laughter] seems like. But anyway, um I am a I'm the team physician for Science Hill. So, I kind of want us to keep having a swimming team and a swimming pool for us. We're a large Yeah. almost 80,000 people in this town. We need a competitive swimming pool. So, it's not that we don't want one. It's not that we're against swimming. It's not that we want to close this. It's just getting to the end of its life right now and we're trying to figure out what to do. So don't be mad at us. We're trying to help. I promise. And I didn't know that this was going to be in the paper. I hadn't heard a whole lot about it. We talked about it back in August some and it's come up a couple times. Then all of a sudden it's like boom, we're closing at April something. I was like well that's a surprise to me too. So don't

feel like we blindsided you because we were sort of blindsided too. So we're working on it. Um, we got a big basketball thing going on at Freedom Hall with the the tournament that I'm taking care of that too. So, the doctor over there. So, I haven't been here for a lot of the day. I'm here and I got to go back over to cover the end of one game and the last part for the Big South tournament. So, um, if you can go, it's going to be on TV. Yes. On Sunday, but it'd be nice to have some of our local people come and watch this really good basketball tournament this weekend. So, if you can do that, that would be great. So, thank you for coming. And we are interested. You didn't come for nothing. I know it wasn't on our agenda. I'm bringing it up because I can and not that it was something we were going to formally talk about tonight, but I want to let you know we are talking about it. It's not a done deal with nothing else. So, thank you for coming. So, that's all.

Mayor, mayor, if I may address the commission, please. We'll love that. Um, we have for months been discussing the Freedom Hall pool.

Yes, we have. And I'm very sorry that we have now gotten to the point where our employees lives are in danger from going down and putting chemicals in that pool and flushing it out. And there was a decision made that we have discussed with the school district over the past several months about that pool. And I am a ch am a parent of an athlete and I regret this but I am not going to endanger an employes's life in order to be able to do this and I will support the commission in whatever direction that you want to go and you will have you will have a staff that supports the direction that you want to go moving forward. But when I learned that there was imminent threat and we're happy to show you those pictures underneath the pool that are available. we're happy to make those available to you. We waited till the end of the season in order to do that. So, I I want to say to the community, to you all that I take full responsibility and I I still stand behind that and believe it was the right thing to do. So, thank you for letting me speak, mayor.

And if I may, just on that thread, um we have been talking about it for quite a while um throughout 2025. Um, I would encourage anyone who'd like to see the pictures of what is involved in getting to service that pool. You need to picture a metal ladder and a little hatch in the floor. And you send an employee down on that metal ladder underneath a pool that has been identified as substandard. And so every time that employee is down there flushing that pump or introducing chemicals into that system, there is a risk that if that pool were to fail, we would be pulling a body out from underneath that pool. And so that is a consideration that weighs very heavily. I I will echo what Commissioner Fowler said in terms of the aquatic facilities or insufficiency of aquatic facilities, but I've spent the last three years playing about a game of what about and could have been and would have been and should have been. And the last thing I want to do is come to a time where we're having to explain why we're having a funeral for an employee because we turned a blind eye to a thing we knew to be a real risk. And so it is not something that anybody up here is taking any particular joy in. Um I've read all your emails and I intend to respond to them when I get an opportunity. Um but but know this is not something that anybody here is arriving at with a a cavalier disregard for its con consequence on our community.

And I'll I'll echo that. I do think I mean I I go back to graduating in 2001 from Science Seal. I'm remember hearing lots of discussion that the pool was not in great shape back then. And from my engineering background, if you don't um aren't familiar with it, but there's been chlorine waters moving through that concrete plate for 50 years now. And the concrete is laced with steel and steel rust if you don't keep water off of it. And so I think it's just got to the point where the whole structure that is invisible underneath the concrete has completely hit its useful life and um it is a big unknown and it makes the fix a big unknown. So even though there's a budget number out there that has a lot of variables um and I know I was understood that there was some conversations with the school board and and you know those still can happen on the schoolboard side. I appreciate you guys being here too. And um if if you have an avenue that you can see fit, works. It's from us as a commission standpoint. We have an aquatic study that has some wants. Understand the school system had some wants. I I was always under the impression to the Freedom Hall didn't have adequate facilities for diving. And so is there an endless amount of money you want to put in a pool that still might be some standard? So, um, if you guys have any ideas for that, too, we'd be happy to to listen. But right now, as Kathy said, I think it's an it's a safety issue. And no matter what, the decision to fund stuff later doesn't affect the immediate need to u keep keep people safe that are in there working. So, um, but I I'm glad that you I wanted to acknowledge everybody for being here. We appreciate you coming and we do hear everything. It's not anything that we want to talk about or do. This isn't a decision that has to do with anything other than there's an immediate need to get people out of the hole and

there's not a great solution for a facility that takes that long to put together. So anyways, but um I'll go ahead and make a couple comments on this and something else as well. Sometimes we're faced with things where there's no good answer, you know, and versus what we want to do versus what the data is showing us. Um, for me, I don't want to close this pool. It's been a part of this community for such a long time. But again, it was one of those things was built in the early 70s. So, as mayor says, the wear and tear, the chemicals, the everything that's down below, and I'm not sure how many swimming pools are built like that. So, you've got a cavern underneath it. Um, I think there were a couple others in the in the in the city, like over at ETSU, and they closed that pool and and and filled it in. And then the one at Muny for some of you here who wouldn't remember that one, and I certainly swam in that one as well. So, it's it's one of those things that um I I didn't realize the urgency of it from a safety standpoint until just recently. So, um I've kind of been grappling with that myself and and so certainly we have to defer to safety for sure. On the other hand, um Freedom Hall is full of guests from out of town. So, I don't know if you've had education day yet. Uh, that's coming on campus. You did have it. So, you had a lot of the athletes come in uh to visit um the schools and they're very impressed with this area for sure. So, um thank y'all for u hosting them and hope you can make some of the games. It's um it's kind of an exciting place. We need to get more spectators over there as well. the more

we get into the weekend, the more uh crowds are going to show up there. But it's exciting that a conference like this has chosen Johnson City to be its, um, it it's tournament conference championships. And so, um, it brings a lot of people into Johnson City and we're glad about that. So, thank y'all for making them feel welcome.

And, uh, in addition to the comments that have been made, I want to welcome our young people. For some of you, this may be your very first opportunity to come to a city commission meeting. Um, but I'm glad you were able to see, you know, some of the items that, uh, we address here at the city. Um, but I commend your parents for involving you in our, uh, process of government. When I was a young person, uh, uh, my parents, uh, introduced me and, uh, I fell in love with the process. So, welcome. Um, and thank you all for sharing your thoughts and your input um, as we make tough decisions.

And, um, we do have, uh, St. Patty's Day Festival downtown next sat, two Saturdays from now on the 14th. Um, and I, I guess I would like to add a comment. Um, over the last couple weeks, it's come to be announced that the Blue Plum organization was not going to host a a Blue Plum Festival this year. And they've they've put that festival on for two decades. And uh had a moment in their history where it wasn't real clear that they were even going to survive a a trying time after a period of of fraud. I've been a little disappointed in the comment section, which I have typically not been one to read, um that that has been sort of vilifying the volunteer boards that put on our Christmas parade and have put on 20 years of Blue Plum. Um I applaud them. I applaud that committee in what it did in the wake of the embezzlement that left them bankrupt. They they paid all their bills. They fulfilled all their obligations and they turned around and they had another event the next year. And that's incredible. And I'm not sure that any of us thought that was going to happen in the wake of what happened back in 2015 or 16, whenever that was. And so I applaud their their volunteerism and uh just just hope that each of you will take that in mind. um if you have an opportunity to say an affirming word of those people who but for them we would not have a Christmas parade or we would not have these things. Um we don't want to create a community where the people who are doing are the people who are the bad guys or uh we won't have much of a community left and it's a tremendous amount of work to put those on and the volunteer hours couldn't be paid for um as much work as it goes into them. So I appreciate you saying that. Let me just add one comment to that. Um,

probably over half the events that occur in this city are put on by volunteer organizations and it is it's a huge endeavor and particularly for something like Blue Plum, it lasted for days and and so the amount of volunteers that were required was was uh huge. I think some of the same people who started the Blue Plum 20 years ago were still a part of the committee that ran it. I can say that for the turkey trot as well. We've 20 years and it's the same people who started it and it takes a lot of hours. So, um if if we kind of uh if we didn't have our volunteer events, we'd probably have, you know, half of the kind of activities that we have in the city. And people people love the the festivals and everything that goes on in downtown Johnson City. We did a storm water project several years ago and we didn't realize we were building a gathering place for the region and people love to come and and be in downtown for the concerts and for the festivals and for uh the races, the road races and and all the the Christmas trees and all the different things that we that we have. So, I agree with you, Joe. It's we need to we need to thank these volunteer groups and we don't always do everything exactly the way somebody else would want to do it but we would invite those people to come and volunteer with us.

That's that's right. And with that I will adjourn the meeting.