City Council - Regular Meeting

Oh yeah.

Yeah. Let me understand.

Not now.

Updating packet. Okay, this is clock time tonight council meeting. Uh before I call a meeting to order and do need to bring attention to the council of a revision or number 267402. uh 267402 that's number two under old business uh that has been revised. Um I believe there's something in front of you on your desk but um also we can discuss that when we get to that portion of the agenda. There's ordinance 267402. And with that I will call the meeting to order. Ask Lee Clark to lead your invocation.

Let us pray. Our dear most gracious heavenly father we just thank you for this day. Just thank you for our health and thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. I ask you to be with this council as we conduct business the city tonight that what we do will be pleasing to you. Just watch over us and protect us. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Camille Berdine here.

Chris Cra. Tick Brian here. Phil Morehead here. Mayor Bell, you have a quum. Thank you. Make a motion to suspend the rules. Second. We have a motion. Second spin the rules. Um, anybody have any discussion on that? That's a non debatable by Robert's rules. So, we can't talk about it. Okay, go ahead.

Could you give me a number for a resolution, please? Okay, this resolution number 262841 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Lebanon, Tennessee to remove the canaster pro property parcel 0954539 000026 from consideration for a wastewater treatment plant and to prohibit the use of imminent domain for said property.

Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Andy, you did have a statement there for me as well. I just want to double check with Kristen. That is indeed a resolution number, not an ordinance number. Okay. Load. All right. Uh, any discussion of that? I I think I'd probably like to discuss this during the regular portion of the business agenda for the city. Anyone else? Okay. Uh, with no further discussion, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Uh, do we need a motion to go back in session? I make a motion to presume. That motion carried.

That motion passed. Um, I make a motion to go back into session. Pass that toy. Second. Okay. Pass that to. All right. Uh so next we have the approval of the minutes for the April 7th meeting. So moved. Second. Have motion by councelor Cra, second by councelor Carmarmac. Discussion. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Thank you. Okay. Now it's time communication with citizens. If anyone would like to speak tonight, uh now is the time to do that and you can step to the podium and uh please state your name and address. Uh before you do though, uh just remember there's a light system up there that gives you an opportunity to uh to know what your time limit is. We do ask uh that uh treat each speaker respect. Uh no clapping, no booing, anything like that. And also we ask that you not form a line. Uh so if someone uh speaks and sits down, then you can go up there and everyone will have a chance to speak. So thank you. You can go ahead now. Charles Smith Cleveland. Um, that was interesting. Um, that kind of changes things a little bit, but not really. So, it's nice that you took the canister farm off the chopping block, but what are we going to do about continuously violating TDEC? and we had a system in place to work for the best part of 50 plus years. And instead of saying, "Hey, we're going to bring a lot of more people to tax the system and putting a system in place," we kind of went raid with bringing people in and completely ignoring infrastructure, which is something that I've spoken about every time I've ever been at this stand, period. So, what are we going to do about this? Are we going to start cancelling contracts, which is what should be done, particularly the one on Maple Hill Road, which is done blatantly, fraudulently? Um, I mean, somebody who thinks that you simply divide square feet by houses and that that's not the way it works. There's a lot of thing other things that go into that. Um

so when TDC said and it was a strongly worded suggestion to do a moratorum in house what did we do? Kids who didn't like what mama said no no no we're going to keep on approving things.

What's going on with this thing? Uh it it's really frustrating to see the little town that I grew up in destroyed bit by bit, piece by piece. You know, this used to be a far apartment town. When I when I grew up, there's a little sign at the corner of Bador Parkway in West Main that said population is around 4,700 people. We've blown past that by a long shot. We're still using the same 60-y old infrastructure. to aband uh so what are we actually going to do? I I I'm really curious and I like some answers about that on the council website pro within the next week. Does that seem like a reasonable amount of time? Seems to me as though it would. Um I'm not against growth responsibly. Well, actually I am. I hate that it's grown past 5,000 people. I'll be honest. Everybody I knew was farmers or you know own own businesses but uh be stewards of the city and representatives of the people and we failed really badly on that and I'd like to see some alternate measures brought up. Let's get it together. Thank you. You

anyone else? Good evening. My name is Muel Qualls, 29 venue circle. I'm here yet again to urge you to vote to vote to dissolve the flock safety contract and cease the use of the AI powered surveillance cameras. We must stop pretending this is just a digital witness to crimes. It is a searchable AIdriven dragnet search that tracks the movement of every citizen in Lebanon. Per the police chief's email, this data is held for at least 30 days here and up to a year in neighboring cities. To understand the depth of this intrusion, we only need to look at the Lebanon PD's own official policy. I quote, "Location data is used to identify where a detection occurs to help investigators understand the time and place context of a vehicle red. The policy confirms that every time you drive, Flock captures the exact time, your location, your plate, and even special identifiers identifiers of your vehicle stored in a cloud database. This is exactly what the Supreme Court warned us about. In a landmark case, Carpenter v. United States, the court ruled that we do not surrender all Fourth Amendment protections just because we venture into public or into the public sphere. Justice uh Justice Roberts stated that this level of location tracking provides an intimate window into a person's life, revealing their familial, political, professional, and religious associations. When Lebanon PD tracks our time and place context, they aren't just looking at your car. They are looking at our private lives. The the policy claims this is for auditability and is used on a need to- know basis. But in the United States versus Jones, Justice Sodom, Mayor warned that unrestrained power to assemble data fundamentally alters the

relationship between citizen and government. When any officer on patrol can log into a website and reconstruct the movements of a law-abiding resident without a warrant, that relationship is broken, which you can do. They can look they can look at where your vehicle or what camera your vehicle passes by and, you know, basically uh put that together. We are essentially placing every citizen of Lebanon in a digital lineup every single day. As a community, we must decide is this convenience of a searchable database worth the 1984 reality of constant uh surveillance. If this data is tr truly supposed to be public data and I hear the argument consistently that your license plate is public, why is it that I cannot f foyer request my own flock data or any of your data? It's illegal in Tennessee. Uh that does not make any sense to me. If the license plates are public, why can I not foyer request any one of yours your data that the license plate collects or the the license plate reader collects? Which if it's public, it should be public. It should be foyer requestable. Driving through Mount Juliet, I've counted seven to eight flock AI LPR cameras in one intersection and a AI powered flock condor camera, which quite literally uses AI to zoom in on you and follow you while you walk or bike down the road. And I can't finish my speech because I'm out, but I appreciate it. Thank you guys.

Respect your oath to the Constitution. You took it. So did I.

Anyone else like to speak? Good evening, Alons Raspberry Lane. Um, I didn't come here to complain. I'm going to try to break up the momentum here a little bit. I'm here on two capacities. First, on behalf of uh Wilson United, where I have the distinct pleasure of serving as the president of the board. On behalf of my exec board, on behalf of our staff, the families, and over 2500 kids, we wanted to say thank you. Um, we've been in there almost a year now. Our staff has been working with Porter and his team. Uh, they've been great helping us move goals, figuring out how to best schedule that so that we don't destroy that that beautiful setup that you guys gave us. So, we wanted to come say thank you. We'd like to see perhaps two of you guys could come out, join us this weekend on Saturday, kind of come partake in 2,000 screaming kids trying to play soccer. Um, in that same regard, I also have a check here for our uh second payment for this season. Puts our contribution to all's maintenance fund at about 75K on behalf of the club. I'll leave that with you, Miss Lindsay, at the end of this. Uh, the other capacity in which I'm here is the owner and developer for the 109 South Cumberland building. You may know it as the Lyric Hotel or possibly the Marquee Restaurant. Um it's been a long arduous process. Um the mayor, Miss Camille, um members of your staff have been working with us for going on three years now trying to uh revitalize that building, get some infrastructure there. We know it's been a long process. We just wanted my wife and I to come here and say thank you to you all for believing in us, believing in the project, believing in the square. Um, we really believe in what's going on down there and y'all's help getting us closer to that finish line to help hopefully bring some more energy to that square really means a lot to us. So, we just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Hello, my name is Christy Chastain. I reside at 4464 Klesberry Pike. Um, I'm here again tonight. Uh, just asked a few questions of the city council. I appreciate being given the opportunity to speak and that y'all allow us to speak, so I will keep it short. The last meeting, I brought attention to the fact that Regina stated in the January 20th meeting that the sewer was at a 70% capacity. And that was where it was not near its threshold. It was only 70%. And then she stated after I said that that no, she said 75. And I find offense to that because

so our plant is a 10 million gallon a day permitted plant and we're running at 70% on average which is 7 million gallons per day. I just wanted to clear that up just because uh so there's no small difference in 70 and 75% when you're closing towards 85% which is when TEX says you may have to do a mortorium. So how did we go from 70 to 75 in two months and then you have state reports that say you're already way over? I mean, I just don't understand how the city council did not know where we were with these percentages. I mean, are you not told? Are you, you know, is it not common knowledge for you to have this information? Because this is a major infrastructure. This is nothing minor. I mean, sewer is a major thing. And um my question to you is considering in light of the statements that she made that it was 70%, they were doing something about the storm water, you know, never implied any dire straits that were in. Would you have voted yes for that Maple Hill development knowing in those situations? And also knowing that, you know, the state has now said you're not going to be allowed any more pump stations, new pump stations on this line. You're not going to be allowed any more lines to be added until you take care of this. And now I, you know, thank goodness you took the canastra farm off of your imminent domain, but somebody's going to lose property. I mean, that's that's a fact. Um, you know, and here's another thing I don't know if you're aware of. They have not closed on the property on Maple Hill. So, the developer is out nothing

at this point. And according to the state, you can deanex that land based on a fiscal responsibility to the city. So, what I'm asking you is deanex the land on Maple Hill and cancel that one development and help save this system before it gets worse off than it already is. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

Patrick Critter, 1273 Tric Road. Um, just as Christie said, many citizens, multiple councilmen like Mr. Moorehead, Mr. Krauss stood against the Maple Hill development. There, you did not make a decision based on facts. As Christie just uh played the recording for you, I'll remind you that 58 days, a mere 58 days after the Maple Hill development was approved in this room on January 20th, on March 19th, I believe you were left scrambling trying to figure out what to do about a sewer plant per the work minutes. Um, makes me wonder what else you haven't been briefed on and what decisions you've made based on bad information. Time will tell about all these. Some other folks have facts, I'm sure, about all the sewer issues. I'm not going to get into all the particulars about TD Deck. I've read them, too. Though, I will say that I applaud you for taking the Canater Farm off the the radar, the radar for imminent domain. I would ask you to take all the properties off the radar for imminent domain for this sewer plant. You have willing sellers. You have multiple possible sites for this. There's case law. There's a 1977 North Carolina Supreme Court case, Apex versus Reuben. if you'd like to look it up, where a government entity recklessly tried to take land from people for private um enhancement. And I say this is private enhancement. You wouldn't need this had you not approved all of these developments such as Maple Hill, Carver Lane. You clearly didn't need it on January 20th when we sat here and it was approved. Um there's also a lot of Tennessee case law about governments cannot act arbitrarily, unreasonably or in bad faith. The government decision cannot be driven by convenience. Convenience to me would be imminent domain for you. You need to seek out just like a private citizen has to. If I want to go buy a house, I can't just say, "I kind of like your house. I want to go buy it." The government shouldn't be able to do that either. You

have the Rockwood plant. It may not be a 50 or 60-year plan as described in the January, I'm sorry, the March 19th minutes, but it's it's multiple years. I think it was 20 or 30 years of runway you would get by getting the Rockwood plant. Maybe that's good enough for this council to approve. I'm not saying kick the can to another, but I would take 20 to 30 years before I would rip land away from somebody. So again, I would ask you to propose another res resolution to take imminent domain completely off the table for this sewer um enhancement project. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay, seeing none, uh it's time for my comments. Uh Kristen, uh there's going to be some work done on 231 South. You want to talk about that?

Yes, sir. R.J. Corman is part of a T dot safety project. Uh we'll be replacing the railroad tracks on 231 South near Newbie Street. Um the dates for those are May 1st, which is Friday night, 8:00 p.m. through uh Tuesday, May 5th at 5:00 a.m. Hopefully they'll get through sooner than that. Um but the road will be closed. There'll be detours, traffic control in place. Um still got a couple weeks, but we're starting to get the the word out on on that that the road will be closed during that long weekend.

Okay. Thank you. And also I want to talk about the uh the sewer plant. Um you know the sewer plant we we currently have um was built in 1963. John F. Kennedy was president. Um that's been a long time ago. And is now 2026. We're a quarter way into the 21st century. And um I really have a hard time thinking that there's a debate that we need to continue at a at a facility that's since 1963. Um you know I know that um there's a lot of discussion out there about about that facility um about building a new facility and how difficult that is and it is difficult uh but it is necessary um I can't speak to the early days of the current plant uh what happened there as far as what they built and what they did to it as far as improvements and expanding it. um when it was built, I weren't born yet. And um you know, it was u a lot of things happened years ago that um you know, we we we just don't know exactly what they did back then. At least I don't. But I do know what happened 15 years ago. Uh 15 years ago, uh engineers for this city began exploring the idea of a new plant. They didn't explore that idea because the plant could not operate. Uh they explored the idea because it's a aging facility. Um

and they had ideas. Um they they had a lot of ideas they looked at, but obviously none of them came to fruition. Now, why they didn't um I can't conjecture. I know they I know they upgraded the facility. Uh they did that. uh they did make some changes to it, try to make some improvements to it. Um maybe they didn't see the urgency for the future. Um maybe it was um the monetary aspect of it. Um maybe it was a controversial aspect of it. You know, since 1963, uh people here in town have grown accustomed to that facility being where it is. And um as as we know um you know moving it somewhere else is controversial. Um it's something that um that is different. It is something that um you know people look at and say you know it's it's been that location for a long time. Um you know why move it somewhere else? Um also don't think they sense the urgency of a new facility. uh maybe they felt like that should be something somebody else should deal with. Maybe they felt like that it just wasn't the right time, but the urgency simply wasn't there to build a new facility. Um and so, you know, the question is, you know, and the question's been asked here. Um you know, why keep developing? Um, and you know, if you look at at this facility, which does continue to operate, um, you know, I compare it to to other things. Uh, they get older over time. Other machines, other facilities get older over time. Um, they continue to work, but after a while, uh, it takes a lot to up to keep them up. You start putting more money into it

and not getting much out of it. until it comes to the point to where the better financial decision is build something new. Um that happens with people every day. Uh it happens in our personal lives. It happens uh with things that we own. It happens for cities too. Um when I became mayor, uh Jeff Baines, who was he's retired now at the time he was commissioner of per services, um you know, we he he updated me on what was going on with the city and one of the things he said was what I just told you. Uh the facility is aging. Um and he said, "Soon, it's going to be time to build a new facility." Um he said that will be the most important thing you and the city council will do for the future of this city. He also said it'll be the most controversial and it is. Now when he talked about building that new facility, he talked about new technologies. He talked about the age of the facility. Um there's so many technological advances out there since since this thing was first built and and again it has been upgraded through the years but still it's ancient facility um that you can't just keep pouring money into. You you have to come up with something else. There are new technologies out there. We all know that. Um again in our day-to-day lives we understand that businesses use new technologies. Everyone does and we need to do that as well. So, we need to face this issue head on and we can do it for the future. But there is one thing I want to say about this because um you know this didn't just drop out of the sky. One of the things that we've done over the past four years if we is we have continued to upgrade that facility. Um, one longtime employee who's worked

over there for for decades said, "Over the past four years, we have made more improvements to the current facility than was done in the previous 20 years. It's operational, but also during that time, we plan on the next step for something new that didn't start on March 19th. It started four years ago. So 2022 budget, it was approved and passed by city council. In that budget, it was included to start design on a new facility. And so engineers have been working on this for four years now. That takes time. This is not something simple to design. It's not something you can do overnight. It takes years to design one of these. It takes years to build it. So, one of the first things they did was they analyzed the current facility, the current location, I was talking to a lady a couple weeks ago, um after the last meeting, uh she called and we talked for about 45 minutes to an hour and she said, "What about the current site? Why can you not build on the current site?" She said, "Remove all those solar panels and put it there." Well, even if we remove the solar panels and the gasification plant that you guys know are there is there, there's not enough room and it would cost more to build it there than it would to start somewhere else from scratch. So, financially it's better to go go brand new. Um, now when they start at design four years ago, one of the things I should say is they they have not designed it specific to a property. they it's been systematic designs uh for a new facility how it would work the technologies that would go into it how the system would would function

also um in this process uh they visited other sites in other cities um I visit two of them myself Murphy'sboro and Smyrna um Murphy'sboro uh actually was interesting um we were driving to it and we drove through a subdivision through a neighborhood made a left turn on street like a neighborhood street and there was an entrance to a sewer plant and so uh so we pulled into it. It was on a piece of property and there was trees all around it and once we got in there we couldn't see the houses. They couldn't see the facility but uh we walked through it um looked at the way they operated, how they functioned, all the things that they designed into it. What's interesting is is that uh if you look at that facility, on three sides of it are houses. On the north side is some pretty large houses. As a matter of fact, um in Smyrna, uh we went and looked at that one. Smyrna actually sits next to Lee Victory Park. That's a place with baseball and softball kids for or fields for youth. Some soccer fields there as well. There's a walking trail. There's one baseball field that it sits right behind that the outfield fence. You probably couldn't hit a home run into it, but it's close. On the other side of that facility, it's neighborhood. The houses back right up to it. So, they've analyzed the current site, they've toured sites, um continued to work, and also this has been discussed. Uh we have a public infrastructure committee uh that uh has citizens who serve on that as well as a couple of counselors. Uh it's been discussed in those meetings through time. Uh it's been discussed with the council through time as well. Uh just told you it was in the budget. So um and as we've gone through those meetings and and I won't speak for everyone, but as gone through these meetings, the the

consensus seem to be that this needed to happen uh that we need a new facility. The issue at hand and the issue that um is controversial is the location. Um and there are a few things about this that when you when you look at it um are are are sort of established and the one thing it's established is it needs to be along the pipeline that carries treated water from the current plant to the river engineering it needs to be there needs to be close that line um preferably it'd be on land is 50 plus acres uh so there's a buffer created did around it and also preferably be flat uh and that's for uh cost effectiveness as far as the construction of it also for efficient operations. Uh so it'd be along the pipeline over 50 acres and flats. So over time um um that's sort of what the engineers are looking for. And um one of the properties that identified as that was the Canater property. Um you know on August 15th last year um the Canacher family received or were given a letter of intent and um I have a copy here and I just I just want to I won't read it all but I want to bring out some passages. Uh it says expresses express expresses interest in purchasing. Uh gives a proposed total of $5.2 million. Uh mutually agreeable. Um look forward to the opportunity to work with you. Um you know those are not words that uh would indicate taking. Um in fact words taking condemnation

immain. They're not in that letter. Um and so uh so sent that letter and then uh on October 28th um uh a gentleman named Paul Blackburn who's real estate agent uh came to meet um with Sarah Hian. She's economic development and um in that meeting he I have some emails that that express this. He um said the family received a letter and and he would like to meet with Virginia and myself to discuss um he said he was a friend of the Canaters um and he would like to discuss scheduled meeting for November 7th that was cancelled due to weather. Um and then February 3rd he emailed back um on February 19th we met and uh discussed the property and um he stated that he advised the family to sell. So, uh, so with this letter and him saying that, you know, we thought it'd be appropriate to just reach out to them and just ask just ask the question, would you be interested to sell? Uh, but I didn't want to do that before talking to city council. Uh, so March 19th, we had a work session. At that work session, three properties were discussed in that area. um perma pipe, rockwood, and u and and and the conachal property. Um and went over all three of them um and and and talked about each one, some of the pluses and minuses and advantages, disadvantages of each and so um as you know the minutes um you know there was a mention of eminent domain. Um I don't think the minutes reflected someone asked I don't know I I really don't know who it was. someone asked and and Regina answered the question. Um, you know, the really the plan was was to talk to council, talk to them about these

properties before moving forward, contact the Canestra family, sitting across the table and just asking them, would you like to sell? Um, there is no intent for domain, no intent for a taking. In fact, I feel like what we're doing is just the opposite of taking. uh offering them offering to buy their property. Um if they said no, we move on to something else. Um yesterday, um their attorney, uh Tom White, he and I had a phone conversation and and um he's not here tonight, but he, you know, he asked me, he said, "Hey, you know, tell me what's going on." I I told him what I told you. I said, "Tom, you know, we just wanted to talk to him, sit in a room with him, ask him, hey, are you interested in selling? would you'd like to negotiate a price? If they said no, we'd move on. So, obviously the answer is no. Uh the plan was to move on. The council tonight made it official and that's exactly what we're going to do. Um that's what we were planning on doing. So, so that leads me to other properties um uh that we discussed that night. Um we did discuss Perma Pipe, which sits right across the road from the current facility. Um, as you guys know, that is operating business. Uh, it probably will cost a lot to get that property. I'm sure that reclo reclo relocating them to another u location would probably be, you know, part of that process. Uh, Rockwood, uh, we have talked to Lincoln Young. Um, you know, he he he has reached out to us about his property. Uh, there are some flood plane issues over there that sort of limits uh what you're able to do. Uh but you know so that's not exactly perfect when it comes to to those issues but uh you know obviously that is a possibility. Um through the conversations this past couple weeks um

you know I I did have one person reach out to me and uh ask about the TRW property that we just purchased. Well, it has flood plane issues too. Um that grassy area that's that's that's all flood plane. Um, and really that spot is that property is too small uh for what uh for what we need to do. And really as we talked to the engineers about that property, one of the things that they said was that yes, you you could put some stuff there, but you'd have to build part of it on the current location. So essentially, we'd have one ser plant that'd be separated, which means you have to have double the amount of employees. Um and you know that's not a really good op way to operate it either. And then also as well um you know just as the neighbors around the uh Canatler property um you know people may not realize that the TRW property sits adjacent to a residential area as well West Heights and so those people probably um you'll probably be um you know be in this room too. Um and also there's Don Fox Park. Now, I know that there's all these facilities that are connected to parks just as one in Smyrna across the country, but you Don Fox Park is very popular. Um, and um, you know, I sort of sense if we put one close to it, you know, there there'd be some people upset about that as well. Um, also last last at last meeting someone mentioned building at the at the landfill, the county landfill, the city dump. Um, that's really not on that pipeline. uh it would cost more money to put it out there and um you know it is a landfill so really not sure about how that works as far as you know environmental aspects of it. So um there really is no perfect place. Um you know where the location is um um you know

somebody's going to be in here upset about it. That's just a fact that we have to face sitting behind this desk. But here are some other facts. One is this um and and I I will I will never back down from this. A new plant has to be built. It simply does. Not necessarily for us, but for the future. It has to be on that pipeline. There's no no doubt about that. It has to be on that pipeline. And this council is going to have to pick a site that it will not be the Canatra site, but at some point in the future, there will be a piece of property that we'll have to we'll have to consider. Um and again there'll be people in this room and the choice really is you know um do we build it or do we forfeit the future of the city? That's what this is about for the 20 30 40 50 100 years down the road that that this gentleman mentioned. That's what this is about. And I know that, you know, there's we we we talk about growth all the time. We talk about we work on growth all the time. Over the past 5 years, we place almost 40 new regulations on developers. regulations we put here to make sure that what comes here is nice, it's attractive, it's something that'll bring uh bring something good to the city. And you know, we all live here, too. We all work to make a nice place. We want this place to be great. We were, you know, some of us from here, some of

us are not, but we all love this place. We all live here. We want to be great going into the future. this city needs this facility. Um, you know, we we you know, people talk to us all the time, whether it's up here, out in the grocery store, out in a restaurant, wherever it is. You know, people talk about, hey, you know, the the the things we face living in a thriving city. There are issues that people face living in a thriving city, but I contend the issues are worse if you live in a dying city. And if we don't build a new facility, that's exactly what's going to happen. Um, now there have been some questions about T deck and operations. Um, I've asked Jeremiah Exom, he's the manager of our facility to to come to the podium and and talk about some of those things. Um, when he gets up, I'm asking him one question though before he before he talks because um I do feel like that some of those um statements on social media, some of the things you may have seen in the media, I feel like they are misleading, maybe misguided. So Jeremiah or Jeremiah, I'm going ask you one question first because I know somebody told me this was out there on social media. Is this facility when built going to be a regional collector?

No sir. Thank you. Now would you talk about the operations and some of the issues people have brought up? Yes sir.

Good evening mayor and council members and I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My role as the man is to manage operations at the city wastewater treatment plant. Our staff works round the clock every day to treat wastewater, protect public health, protect the environment, and maintain compliance with state permit requirements. I understand that there have been recent concerns regarding regulatory matters, odor odors, future capacity, long-term planning, and I'd like to briefly address those items from an operational standpoint. First, regarding media reports and actions involving the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation, the city takes all regulatory matters seriously. When issued when issues are identified, our responsibility is to respond promptly, make corrections, strengthen operations, and prevent uh recurrence. Many corrective actions have been completed or already underway prior to recent correspondence regarding effluent water quality exceedences and sanitary sewer overflows and we have continued improving communication reporting transparency and coordination with state. Our focus remains on operational reliability and compliance. It's also to understand it's also important to understand how regulatory findings are communicated and interpreted. These matters often involve treatment operations and the broader system conditions. Our focus has been to address each item responsibly, improve performance and ensure the system operates within regulatory expectations. We've done so through targeted improvements at the existing facility and the sewer system itself to address treatment performance, odor control, and sewer overflows. This includes this has include and is including equipment maintenance and repairs, process

optimization, rehabilitation efforts, operational adjustments, uh, and focusing on odor generation and improving overall treatment stability. In addition, in addition to our sewer system rehabilitation, these efforts are ongoing. We continue to evaluate additional improvements. Secondly, regarding odors, wastewater treatment facilities can occasionally create odors due to weather conditions, sludge handling activities, industrial waste strengths, and changing flows in the system. We understand that odors odor concerns directly affect nearby cit citizens, residents and businesses. However, the plant has made significant progress in reducing wastewater related odor complaints from the existing facility through a combination of infrastructure repairs, operational improvements, and proactive community measures. One of the first major fixes was repairing our bioolids loading area, which now allows daily hauling of solids instead of storing materials on site for extended periods. This has greatly reduced exposure time and odors. We also launched a public odor complaint tracking system in 2023, allowing staff to respond directly to residents, identify patterns, and prioritize corrective actions. Since 2024, no new odor complaints have been received via the complaint tracking system, indicating that these mitigation efforts are working. Additional improvements, including rehabilitation of aging sludge processing reactors, restoration of our BOF filter odor control system, and repairs that now these repairs now capture and treat nuisance odors before they're released. These projects addressed some of the plant's largest historic odor sources.

The city has also supported the sewer system odor control through installation of air release valves with activated carbon filters, helping neutralize gases in key points and neighborhoods. Operational changes at the plant to mitigate grease related issues and the effects of which to the wastewater treatment biological process have further improved conditions. Overall odor reduction strategy has focused on fixing long-standing assets, improving treatment processes, and responding directly to citizen concerns with measurable results for our community. Third, regarding growth in future wastewater capacity, Lebanon continues to expand. Wastewater infrastructure requires long planning horizons. Like our MO mayor was talking about, facilities of this type was take years to study, permit, design, fund, and construct. Planning for future wastewater capacity was already underway when I came into this role and moved to this state in 2022. and we have continued building on that work to help ensure the city stays ahead of growth and regulatory requirements. It's also important to distinguish the uh the difference between annual average daily flow normal dry weather conditions. The approximate 75% capacity figure that has been discussed publicly reflects annual average daily influent received at the plant over time which includes sanitary waste water along with weather wet weather inflow and infiltration entering the collection system that's reported to the state. Under dry weather conditions, day-to-day wastewater flow is generally lower than that average. During significant storm events, our

flows can increase substantially due to infiltration and inflow entering our collection system. Those wet weather conditions create separate hydraulic challenges which the city has been addressing through ongoing infrastructure projects. In the simplest terms, the plant can manage day-to-day normal flows while portions of its aging infrastructure continue to require upgrades and reinvestments. However, extreme weather events can introduce additional water into the system that has to be managed. Any discussion related to development, pacing, or capacity management should be viewed in that broader context. This is not simply a growth issue. It's about managing both normal wastewater demand and stormdriven flows while planning infrastructure that can support both. It's about ensuring the entire system, including treatment and collections, can reliably serve the community under normal conditions and extreme events. Evaluating future options including land expansion opportunities or other alternatives is responsible utility planning. It does not mean the current plant is not operating. The plant is operating. Improvements are underway and we've been planning to stay in front of growth. Any future facility could also allow the city to evaluate modern odor control technologies and enclosed process designs intended to reduce further impacts by on nearby properties. I also want to note that wastewater service involves multiple components including treatment, sewer collections, pump stations, engineers, uh engineering and long range planning. My direct responsibility is the treatment plant operations, but all departments work

together towards the same goal of reliable service to the community. Most importantly, the men and women working at the wastewater treatment plant are dedicated public servants. They operate a complex facility 24 hours a day under all weather conditions to serve the city, and I personally am proud of all their efforts. We know there's still work ahead. Our focus remains clear. Improve compliance, reduce impacts to the public, maintain reliability, and prepare the system for Lebanon's future growth. Thank you. And I have I'm free to answer questions. But before I go to answer questions from any of the council, I'd like you to take a look at the handout that I gave you. And I want to I want to address some of the issues regarding our overflows and I want to address some of the issues of concern regarding our violations and exceedences. But I think first things first, it's kind of important to understand plant capacity and what that really means. Plant capa c plant plant capacity is influent flow coming into our treatment plant. That's a combination of rain and groundwater and intrusion into the collection system plus normal sewage meaning commercial, industrial and residential discharges from a three-year average rainfall and influent flow to the wastewater treatment plant reported to the state. This is DMRS and MS that we report to EPA and the state. These flow these numbers are not pulled out of the air. They are reported. You can look them up. 2025 average daily flow 7.57 million gallons a day. That is 75.7% capacity. Now, if I looked at the three years, which I give you guys the information, a

three-year average rainfall and influent flow, the wet season in Tennessee runs December through May. And the the average of the last three years reported, our million gallons a day a uh annual daily flow for that season was 8.16 million gallons a day wet weather. That is almost that's 81.6 six or roughly 82% capacity. Those years were average rainfall of 28.13 in. During dry season running from June through November, 5.93 million gallons a day or 59.3% capacity runs through dry season. That is 19.30 inches of rain during dry season on average for the last three years. Now we understand ini, we understand capacity and where we stand with that. We also can understand at this point how the numbers can fluctuate a little bit year to year depending on extreme events. I want to touch base on the chronic overflow point and the sanitary sewer overflow violations of which the state suggested in a self-imposed moratorum on development. 2025 rainfall totals double were double that of 23 and 24. 2023 rainfall totals that we measured and reported to the state were 23.03 03 in. 2024 rainfall totals were 21.87 in 2025 rainfall total was 3950 in that's almost double. I'm not going to say double exactly, but you quote me on it. Three declarations of local and regional uh three declarations of state of emergencies local and regional

happened during those course of the last three years. 2024 Helen came through 2025 regional flooding in April and an ice storm in January of 26. The thing that put us into the what the state was requiring or suggesting should I say as a self-imposed moratorum was one single point in the collection system that received over uh over six overflows on that chronic point within a 12-ear period. Out of those six overflows on that particular point, three of the those overflows were due to state of emergency declarations. We cannot design a plant or a system to accommodate for acts of God. One overflow was due to a power outage at the wastewater treatment plant while our ultraviolet disinfection system was at half capacity while we are waiting on lead times for replacement parts. One overflow came during the ice storm event. Believe it or not, we did have high flows as all the slurry came through as well as our UV system was still down waiting on replacement parts. That has been since corrected. One overflow occurred uh one overflow occurred during high flows when influent pumps our influent pumps are a raw pump station that brings the waste water in through the plant where it diminished capacity needing repairs rain and groundwater mitigation efforts. So the majority of the overflows that they're suggesting on this uh self-imposed moratorum are more from storm water events than it is from growth or anything going on in the city. That being said, rain and groundwater mitigation efforts is where we stand next to want to look at that capacity issue.

current currently well in 2022 a hydraulic study was conducted by a third party engineering service uh manhole since then manholes collection lines in the sewer system and pump station rehabs have been ongoing if Regina would like to speak to any of those uh I know that they're doing a lot I don't I manage the plant but I know that they're doing a lot of the rehab projects out there in particular one is a new equalization basin that will be going into the system that's funded and underway right now. Then another one that is funded for this fiscal year is our equal uh our in on on our wastewater treatment plant. We have a 20 million gallon equalization basin. I've got half a million dollars earmarked to rehab that and look at any type of studies that need to be be done on that to collect that rainwater as well. At the wastewater treatment plant in association with that equalization basin that collects rainwater, there is a pump station. In the last three and a half years that I've been here, we've rehabbed that whole pump station with brand new pumps, motors, and control systems to effectively transfer and convey the weight uh the water over to our EQ. In regards to effluent water quality violations, most of the water quality violations, well, all of them maybe settleability, but CBOD or carbonatious biological oxygen demand, E.coli, coli effluent total suspended solids and ammonia were listed in numerous times. I want to give you a timeline. So, a lot of the things that came from the state order and the director order also transferred over to what we had as notice of violations that further mention the director's order as well as

an inspection that occurs generally at wastewater plants every two to three years that they also reference the order in January of 2025 through March of 2025. The high flow events that came through the plant diminished our biomass. So you have to understand the plant and how this thing works. It's not a conventional plant. Okay. The modifications with that were done in 2008 in my opinion are of poor design. Um so the way that you run this plant is the plant design is 10 million gallons a day. So anything up to 10 million gallons a day, you run it in what's called a conventional extended aation process. That conventional extended aation process has a certain residency time for our microorganisms to do their job with the waste water that comes into the system. Anything over 10 million gallons a day goes into what's called a contact stabilization method which is complete opposite end of the spectrum of the way that you would operate an extended arration conventional plant. Everything from residency time and hydraulics in the plant. So it stresses your microorganisms and your biomass out. So in January of 2025, we've already established there was high flow events, especially in 2025 with double the amount of rainfall. We also had freezing conditions. A lot another thing that you have to realize about wastewater treatment is inside of the aation basins where that biomass is at, there's also bacteria that's called nitroamonus and nitroacttor bacteria. Nitroamonus bacteria. You give it air, you give it food, you give it the right environment and its job is to convert ammonia into nitrite. Right? So what happened when we had high flows

come through there? It diminished our biomass. Those nitroamonus bacteria are very very slow growing bacteria. So once that happened once the nitroamonus was u u I'm sorry excuse me was diminished we have the freezing conditions those are slow growers so what we started doing we started calling other plants in the area bringing in seed sludge as well as other nitrifying bacteria that you can purchase into the uh irerration basin. Furthermore, after we started doing that, we continued with February uh and March higher flows and freezing conditions. In February 2025, we actually re we knew we had a problem coming after January. So, we actually called Tekk, Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation, and requested a technical assistance visit from our state regulars to help assess the situation. They came out. They provided us a big long sheet of everything that we could do of which we completed. Those issues continued through March. Again, freezing conditions, you're trying to get all this stuff going back. So, finally, it got under w under control. June 10th of 2025, the state issued a notice of violation from the previous months. Here's the thing. When it comes to notice of violation, if you go through a situation like that, it doesn't matter if you requested technical assistance or not, you violated your permit. So, even though all the conditions were corrected, we still are going to receive a notice of violation on it. They're not going to say, "Hey, no, no problem, no violations." June 16th of 2025, we responded that the

city had taken all corrective actions to bring the plant back under control. September of 2025, the state issues a director's order for non-compliance, effluent water quality violations, and overflows due to previous violations. $35,000 penalty was cited. that $35,000 penalty. There is no money that has been paid on that. We are in the appeal process because we do not believe that we deserve a $35,000 penalty with all the corrective actions that we have taken at the facility as well as the collection system. October of 2025, city appeals stayed order. No response. We have received no response from the state since December of 2025. October uh hold on so I'm sorry March of 2026 we received our state inspection or compliance inspection that happens every three two to three years at every plant that you you go to corrective actions were already completed or in progress self-imposed moratorum was suggested from the state response is still in progress uh due to the chronic over point flow point at the that we previously discussed and it's in question due to the emergency declarations as well as downed equipment. So we do not believe that we have a chronic overflow point if it's acts of God. Is there any questions? I don't have a question, but I would like to say thank you very much for all that. And it just leads me to believe that I think our wastewater treatment

plant is doing everything within its power to protect all the citizens as well as follow the rules and regulations by the state. And half of the things that have gotten people stirred up is just paying attention to social media instead of going deeper asking a question about what's really going on. and I want to thank you very much for your time and all the effort you put into that and all the people that work for you and Regina at the facility. Thank you. Anyone else with Jeremiah? They may ask as they go through uh their comments. So you going to have to hang around, but uh but just just stay in the room. Uh so uh that's the end of my comments. Councelor Carmarmac.

Um I just got a few things. I just want to say the people out here, your voice was heard as far as the caner etherly forum. Um, it's now been removed. The only question I have for maybe Virginia or Jeremiah is um, I don't know how the process works, but when I was called last Friday and made aware of violations, I didn't know anything about it until the news had contacted me. Is that something y'all typically would tell us because I have never got noticed in the past.

So, there was, excuse me, there was no intent to keep anything from council. We received the order back in September. We we were surprised by it. we strongly disagreed with it and we immediately filed an appeal through our legal department. Um our focus was resolving the matter through the appropriate channels which is what we did. Um my role is to respond operationally. Um and to support that process which we did at this point. Um there's been no council action that's needed. There's been no fine paid penalty. We've paid nothing. There's been no final settlement. Um what Jeremiah mentioned as far as contact from the state based on our appeal from December was they our legal department had to file the appeal. That's the way that it works. And so when they filed it, they reached out to Stephen who works with Andy who's the assistant city attorney. They reached out to him and asked for um if we wanted to have a meeting or um I forget what the other thing was or both. And we said we wanted both. and that person with the state was going on vacation and they were going to get back to us in January and we confirmed um with Stephen I think this weekend that we've not heard back from the state since then. So, it's in it's in their hands. Um but the to answer your question, the reason we didn't bring it to council was there was no action needed. There was nothing that we felt like um we again we strongly disagreed with what was in the order and we filed the appeal accordingly. We have, just to go down memory lane a little bit, we had an order for the landfill back several years ago um not related to the sewer system. Um that order we didn't appeal. There was there had been um a lot of a lot of things that had happened and the powers that be at the time didn't really address things the way that should have been addressed as quickly as it should have been addressed. And we felt like the order

that we received was fair and there was no reason to appeal it. And so that came to you guys and that sewer pump station in force main that we completed last year out of the landfill was take care of that. And uh the comment was made that we are no longer allowed to add pump stations, but we're about to. We still can add pump stations to our system.

Oh yeah, we can still Yes, we do. Um we can add there's been nothing that says we can't add pump stations on our end. Um over the last four years we have had a calculated effort to reduce the number of pump stations that we have and to not allow them except if it's a last resort. If there's a development coming in and the gravity sewer isn't just sitting there at their property, but it's what I would term reasonably available, we're going to make them build the gravity line to go to it and not have that pump station. And we have developments that come in that are at the point where if they build and do the gravity line, we can take pump stations offline. We've had a lot of that the past four years as well, but we're trying to remove them. Even the one for the Maple Hill Road property, that one will eliminate two pump stations.

So, all the comments in reference to Maple Hill Road, I was going to go to that. Um, and Jeremiah, you might kind of dovetail in on this as well. Maple Hill Road, the development that was annexed in can handle the plant can handle it right now. Correct. Because I know they keep beating that in the ground, but I think the information is getting misleading. That property can be handled and it's actually going to benefit the plant. Is it not? That's getting

that's going to more than the plant because the collection system which is consists of all of your pump stations, forest mans, your gravity lines, everything without into the system is what gets to the plant. And so as far as benefiting, it's really more benefiting Loe's World, who is our water and sewer manager as far as that pump station goes because it eliminates two pump stations. And the reason that that's important, pump stations are very expensive to maintain. Um there, you know, there's ongoing electric bills that go with them. They don't function like the gravity sewer does. We do have to do maintenance and rehab on gravity sewer, but it's much fewer and far between and much cheaper to maintain over the life of the the lines than a pump station is.

And I probably misspoke. I didn't mean to say it would benefit the sewer plant. It would benefit the city getting rid city as a whole. City as a whole. Okay. Our rate our rate payers. So to all the comments about Maple Hill, the plant can handle that and probably can handle even more. Right now it's not at capacity. It's at 70 to 75, whichever one you want to go by. Um, and thank you for that too, Jeremiah. Thank you for everything you did. That was very detailed. I really appreciate it. Um, more than I knew was going on out there in a long time, and it seems like everything is running well, and I know in 2025, um, we did a lot of repairs to the sewer plant and I appreciate with everything you do and Regina and all the staff out there as well. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Ashley.

Um, yeah, I just have a couple of comments. Um, I wanted to say that I agree. Um, I I mean, I've only been in office for a short time, but certainly I understand um in terms of how I've been educated that we definitely need a new sewer plant, that a new sewer plant is necessary. Uh, I do believe though that we have failed somewhat and how we have communicated. Um, I was not aware that the city had made an offer to the family a year ago for $5.4 million or that there had been any contact with the family. And uh I I don't know the details of exactly what happened, but from my understanding, the family uh perhaps objected a year ago that they weren't interested in selling the property. And that's something that I would have liked to have known. Um uh but again, I'm recognizing that we do need a new sewer plant and obviously somebody's not going to be happy because it's going to be somewhere near someone's home. Um the other comment that I wanted to make is I appreciate you coming, Jeremiah, and that was um um I I don't want to say it was interesting. It was way over my head, but it was, you know, clearly you um you guys are working hard. Um you're doing everything that you can to make that plant work functionably. Um I do I am bothered that there's a fine, a potential fine that was levied against the city that was found on a public site that was available to the public. it was available to the press and the council was not made aware of that and I I think that's another issue

that we failed in properly communicating and whether we ultimately win the appeal and have to pay nothing. I think that it's always important that the city council know about things like that. But I appreciate everything you guys are doing and obviously you got your hands full and you're doing a great job. Thank you so much. Thank you, Counc.

I'd like to say thank you, Jeremiah. Um I've had the pleasure, um somebody asked me the other day, what have you learned the most um with being on the council? And I said, I've learned the most about infrastructure from our public infrastructure meeting. And um it has been even though it's a lot of it's over my head, we do have a great group of people there that um in our community that we all know and trust. Um they are not paid to be on this committee. uh they were asked to be on this committee and um even though like I said some of these things are over my head but I have learned a lot and I do know um that about six years ago um in this committee we have talked a lot about the um wastewater treatment plan um I know that they've done and we have as a council approved a lot of improvements for the one that we have so I do believe that we take care of what we have and that we are staying on top of that. Um I I'd like to kind of go back and then we'll double back. Um and by the way um all those meetings are open to the public. There is a meeting next Tuesday at 300 p.m. here in these chambers. Uh we used to meet monthly at the mayor's request. We're now meeting quarterly. But they are pretty fascinating. They do go through utilities, wastewater treatment plant, the water department, and then Kristen's um area of engineering. So, um it it might sound like what what Jeremiah said today, but eventually you'll get it. And it is very interesting and very important to our community. And there are unbiased people there um you know, within our community. So, um there's always opportunities to

come and listen to to um about infrastructure at those meetings. Uh but I do want to circle back. I I've got more to say. Um first of all, I appreciate everybody being here today. Um as I say every time, it makes it worth our while to come here and to speak to you. I am not one that's going to politics on social media. Don't care anything about it. Um, but I do want to talk to people one-on-one and I do want to have conversations. So, please reach out anytime on that. But we love it when you're here. Um, I want to be and I've got notes, so forgive me if I kind of read them today. It's been a rough couple weeks. Um, and I want to be begin to by addressing how the city has conducted business over the past several weeks and frankly months. It has fallen short of the transparency and professionalism our citizens deserve. I also want to extend a sincere apology to the Canaster family. To my knowledge, I am the only member of this council who has spoke directly with the family. I have learned more from those conversations than from my own administration and I feel that is unacceptable. And let me be clear, this council was elected to make hard and sometimes unpopular decisions. And wastewater treatment plant is going to be one of those decisions. No one wants in their backyard. They don't want it in their front yard. They don't want their near their home. They do not want it close to their business. But we will have to make those decisions. And I think this council can make hard decisions. And we understand it's necessary. and and we understand that it needs to be addressed sooner than later. But that said, no one can make good decisions without having all the information. Like I said, we've known for six years a new wastewater

treatment plan would be needed. This has been discussed again in the infrastructure meetings. The city council approved funding for design work. We were told a consultant would be identifying potential per properties and we relied on that process. However, the council was not informed of specific properties being considered until the work session just a few weeks away or few weeks ago. Even more concerning, we were not told that in August 2025, a realer at the director of the director of the mayor approached the Canaster family with a letter of intent and an appraisal to purchase their property. The family made it very clear at that time that their property was not for sale. Like many other in the public, I first learned about that through the news. That should never happen to a city council person. That information was later confirmed by the family. And in addition, in February, the Canasters family realtor was invited to a meeting by Sarah Hastings, our ECD director, and the mayor was sitting in it in that um under the understanding it was to connect with them about a potential buyer for an unrelated piece of property, not the one we're talking about for a wastewater treatment plant. During that meeting, the property was again brought up and the realtor clearly stated he did not represent the property for snail nor with the family sale. That has been confirmed again by Sarah. I have serious concerns about this process. I do not understand how a realtor could be sent with a letter of intent and an appraisal to purchase a

property without the knowledge or consent of this council. I don't you know at this point there are simple questions that deserve a clear answer. So Regina, how many appraisals have been done for this wa wastewater treatment plant? Back in um August or whenever you said that letter was sent with the real estate agent, there had been no appraisal. that wasn't done until um earlier this year that we had appraisals done. We pray we have a how did we have a price on that? Just

the real the real estate agent looked at it and told us something we could start with to throw out there. But there was no appraisal at that point. Okay.

The appraisal was done I think earlier this year or late last year. And when the real estate person met with the Canaders, I think that that person met with them or three siblings met with them separately. Um, they were upset with the school system who had bought property from them previously. And when he talked to them, I think we felt like they were confusing us with that school system, but we dropped it back then. And then earlier this year, that real estate person or late last year, their real estate person tried to meet with us about the property that's diagonal from it. There's two lots right there. Um because of the weather, it got cancelled. It got rescheduled for earlier this year. And when he came to talk to us, he's the one that brought up that other tract that he had talked to them. He they had mentioned that um about the real estate person talking to them and he told us that he had told them that um you know that they should talk to us but we didn't he wasn't represent he made it clear that he was not representing them for that property and at that time he said that you know they they didn't want to sell but nobody has contacted them one on- one to have a sit down with the family right

I mean before we tonight right before we did that we were having we were going to have the work session which we did and then I was going to reach out to them but I had a conference that I was going to okay Regina I asked you I'll finish here how many property owners have been contact either directly or through a realtor we've talked to the Rock Rockdale property or the Rock Rockwood property and to um the Canater property Rockwood came to us. Okay. And and that has been just since March 16th.

Ma'am, he's talked to us and some I can't remember an exact date, but he talked to us sometime last year. The realtor that at the mayor's request that you sent out um last August, did they talk to the other properties during that time, too? No, ma'am. Okay. So, why did we send out somebody just to talk to the Canaster property? were putting out what I'll call feelers to see if they were interested in selling it. But we offered them our price of money. We didn't off if you read the letter of intent, it had on there that it was subject to an appraisal, subject to city of council approval.

Okay. Well, I also know that, you know, another letter of intent was sent out to a property owner based on a pump station and we had no knowledge of that either. So, we have also learned about letters from the state through the news, not from our own administration. When a council member asked, we were not informed. We were told it did not have to be shared and it had been sent to legal for appeal. I have since asked why this was not discussed in our legal meetings. We have had several legal meetings and it has not been on the list. Um, I still haven't received an answer on that. as elected officials. Andy, answer that.

It would be illegal to discuss those in an illegal meeting. What you call a legal meeting is more formerly known as executive session. They have two purposes. For your attorney to discuss the active lawsuits against you and any threatened lawsuits against you. Tde administrative actions are not part of that discussion. And that was so hard to let us know by an email. You could ask.

Well, I did ask. You did not reply. Um, as elected officials, including the mayor, we are responsible for serving this city with transparency, with professionalism, and with respect. While the council members serve part-time, the mayor and administrative sa staff serve full-time and are responsible for managing operations and keeping both the council and the public informed. We do not serve the administration. We serve the people. The continued lack of communication along with what appears to be withheld information for both the council and the public even after repeated requests for answers, additional meetings and legal discuss discussions is deeply concerning. Despite the seriousness of this issue, including potential legal implications, no additional meetings have been scheduled, and this was not addressed during our last night's uh budget work session at all. At this point, I do have serious lack of co confidence in our leadership, our communication as a team, and I feel like we're supposed to be a team and work together. transparency and coming, you know, and transparency coming from the mayor, from the utilities director, and our legal team. That's all I have.

Thank you. Um I um I will not address all those. I think Jeremiah and Regina and I, we've all addressed these issues tonight. Um, Andy did as well. I will say this though, um, I do think it's interesting, Council Berdine, that you thanked everyone for being here and speaking. You've done that several times because, uh, a few months ago, um, you insisted I not allow anybody to speak for things that weren't on the agenda and that people who don't live in the city of limits should not speak. And I argued with you about that. and you call me a terrible leader for saying people to be able to speak. So when you start throwing rocks

window panes first councelor Cra.

Thank you mayor. Um also want to thank you Jeremiah for uh for your detailed explanation there. And I you know that I I'm not an engineer and so uh there there was a fair amount of that that went over my head too. But I did pick out the 10 million gallons a day. And uh and you know, I guess just from a common sense standpoint, this this plant is going to be a lot more efficient. Even if we didn't build a bigger plant, the fact that we're going to build a new plant is going to be a lot more efficient. If I'm That's just a common sense observation. I would imagine 2026 or 27 or 28 or whenever we get it built versus 1963. Can you touch on that just a second?

I have to, but I just I figured you might have a comment.

I didn't know if this thing was back on or not. Uh, yes, it would be a more efficient plant. Again, you got to look at the way that the plant is designed currently and there's a lot of limitations with the current design as well as the operational standpoint of it. The plant itself is largely manually operated and I want again people to understand what manually operated. We operate it like we live in the 60s there. Okay. You're counting clicks and turns to get certain return activated sludge adjustments back to your aeration basin and get the right numbers that you need to do to have the plant operating properly. Um a new facility would bring further automation as well as better hydraulics. Again, the plant setup itself, aside aside from process design, is hodgepodgeed over the years between 1963 as well as upgrades in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. So, it's not a linear flowing plant and it's not gravity feed through the plant at all. So, systematically throughout the throughout the facility is hydraulically not sound. We have a clarifier that was installed for capacity and the return activated sludge line actually goes uphill underground. You cannot gravity feed return activated sludge for your biological process uphill with head pressure. So to answer your qu question, I don't mind what kind of facility it is. Anything is better than what we're currently dealing with. Well, I mean, that's going to be fantastic for the city and uh you know, I if if I'm not mistaken, I don't have the numbers in front of me, I believe we're going to get a little bit of art money uh in there, too, if we're able to come to some sort of agreement as a council on uh on how to do all this. And that's that's anytime we can get some federal help on on a project, that's that's

always uh beneficial. That's that much less as local taxpayers, we have to we have to chip into it. Then I also heard your comment about impossible to build for an act of God. And it sounded like at least some of this was related to that uh if not if not all of it. And so you know I don't think anybody in this room if we put the pencil to it would want to build a plant to accommodate all acts of God because we'd be building one bigger than Nashville and everybody else probably. So there's a degree of common sense that we have to employ here I think in terms of in terms of what we're doing. I hope as a council we can, you know, we can use some common sense here um on that. And um and you know, I I will say from my standpoint, you know, I've been on the council a few years ago, a few years now, and um you know, all my interactions with staff, department heads, uh Regina, um Jeff before, um and and everybody else, I'm not going to say I always agreed with them on 100% of what we talked about, but I found them to be uh uh competent and uh and and forthright and transparent. I mean, I I you know, it's one thing to have a disagreement with somebody. It's another thing to accuse them of of hiding something and I' I've not experienced any of that. Uh now, again, we may agree, we may disagree. We may, you know, the numbers are what they are, but um but but how we see them can be different. But I've always uh had professional interactions and um you know, even even when I disagreed and I will say to the Canasterasser family, I was involved, my family was involved with a u with a public taking, if you will. And so I've been on that side of the table. I understand what that's like. Uh sometimes we try to do things for the public good and uh you know that the those uh um exchanges if you will

weren't didn't have this kind of public exchange with an hour and a half of of discussion. Maybe it should have. Um I you know I think it's I think we're trying to be fair to all concerned while still trying to take care of the public good. uh you know, every minute of council discussions and workshops and work sessions, you know, can't move at a snail's pace. We have a lot going on in the city, even if we weren't growing, to be frank with you. Um, but I do appreciate everyone coming out tonight. Uh, it is good to hear from people about what's going on. Again, whether we agree or disagree or or whatever, but I appreciate everyone coming out tonight expressing their opinion. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you, Councelor Bryant. Well, I want to compliment Jeremiah and all the folks that work for you. I've lived in Weston Heights, if everybody knows where that is. Everybody know where Western Heights is? Okay. I've seen some of you drive by my house um for the last 21 years. And I know for a fact that the uh as far as the odors go has improved greatly. I rarely ever ever have any odor problem. And I live, if you know where Weston Heights is, I live less than a mile from the uh wastewater treatment facility. Drive by it often. So um I just want to congratulate you on what you're doing and also the fact that new technology has uh improved that sort of system over the years and we can't u be able to use that new technology unless a new facility is built. I believe that everybody would agree that a new facility, we need a new facility and a lot of that new technology will be implemented in that and uh a lot of the issues that you currently see or hear or invent or make up or whatever will be eliminated, you know, at that point. You know, they're a lot better now um than they were. you know, a 1962 Chevrolet pickup truck is uh old technology compared to a 2026. You know, that's that's the way I look at it. Uh the technology has improved uh many times over and I appreciate what you're doing, but that's all I have. Thank you.

Can I make a quick comment? Sure. I just want to I just want to let everybody know it doesn't matter if you went into a moratorum and stopped growth right now, you still need a new wastewater plant. Just letting you everybody know that. council.

Um, yeah, again want to thank Jeremiah and the only couple things I wanted to say are really um I do believe that the city's on top of everything that's going on uh dealing with TDAC everything, but I too I sit on that in uh industrial the infrastructure committee with Camille. I rarely ever miss a meeting. Uh, and I do think there are some things would be a little better if they're brought to our attention maybe a little sooner because I as a counselor, this is my first term, but you never want to get that phone call and somebody's read something in a paper or heard it on the news and you look like you have egg on your face just because you don't have a clue what's going on. Uh, and it's not really that I'm really all that stupid, but you know, sometimes I just don't know till somebody tells me. So, I would ask that maybe we be little better kept informed on on some of those type of items. Not to throw anybody under the bus tonight. And and just to kind of touch on what Tick said, I think I know a lot of people that were talking about the sewer treatment plant about smell and all this kind of stuff. I really have to believe this new technology uh being that they're closed systems. I can't imagine I can't guarantee it, but odor could hardly be a problem at all anymore with 2026 technology versus the early 60s technology. So, uh realizing that nobody will be happy wherever it lands, uh I think it's going to be such a vast improvement, you can't compare what's coming ahead tomorrow versus what everybody in the city's had to deal with since the 60s. Uh, and to the Canaster family, I would never be imposed of asking somebody to sell me something that they don't want to. If you don't want to sell it, then it's just not for sale, period, as far as I'm concerned. But, uh, there are other properties and when we had that work session in Mark March, my understanding was these were

just different places that we were looking at that there, you know, we were going to see if there was some interest in selling or not. and one had come to us, I guess, previous even to our work session, but to see what was available to all of us. Uh, and don't be heavy-handed, big brother, trying to take it away from you. And with that, thanks again for everybody coming out tonight. And there'll be a quiz. You can pick it up at the door over everything that Jeremiah went over. Be consent agenda has seven items on it. I'll read each one of those. Orders number 267394. Second reading to approve the 11 NISL airport commercial operator lease agreement with R3 Aviation Services LLC by RT Bowwin assistant public works director 267395 second reading to approve budget amendments for the fire department to cover expenses for the remainder of the fiscal year by Jason Barry fire chief 267396 second reading to approve a budget amendment for the water department relative to the locker room renovation project CL20413 Santana utilities director 267 7399 second reading to authorize the transfer of funds pursuant to the public private partnership agreement approved by ordinance number 257218 by Lindsay Wolfenberger finance director 267400 second reading to authorize the transfer of funds pursuant to the public private partnership agreement approved by ordinance number 236764 by Lindsey Wolfenberger finance director 267401 second reading to approve budget amendments for the highway and streets department to cover expenses for the remainder of fiscal year by Lee Cart, public works director. Horse number 267403, second reading to approve a memorandum of understanding with Wilson County Road Commission, superintendent regarding the installation of a sewer line in Lone Oak Road by Virginia Santana Utilities Director.

Motion to approve. Second. Motion by councelor Morehead. Second by councelor Crow. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Old business number 267398. Second read amend titles 11 and 12 of the 11 municipal code to delete section 114014D and to amend section 12104 by Christian Rice executive director of engineering and planning and Mike Justice police chief motion to approve and motion to approve. Second motion by councelor Carmarmac, second by councelor Crow. Discussion Andy, this is the revised version, right? The packet didn't have the revision in it. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Thank you. Uh this number two has been revised. Orange number 267402, second reading to approve the public private partnership agreement with the Marquee LLC for utility improvements in and around the historic town square by Rick Belme. Motion to approve. Second. Motion by councelor Berdine. Second by councelor Ashley. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Now we need to do the original, right? We did the revised. Have to do the original on number two. No, because they they passed that on first revis. No, number two. They didn't last. We revised it since then. So they they need to revise the second. They need to make a motion on the original as well. Do you accept the revision? I

I accept the revision. So So we you made a motion on the revision. Now we did do the original. Motion to approve on the original. Yeah. Yeah. Motion by councelor Carmarmac. Second. Second by councelor Ashley. Any discussion on the original? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Now do business. Council approval of certificate of compliance for retail package store um at 1150 Sparta Pike Sweet BC and D. Change of ownership by Lindsay Wolfenberger. Finance director. Motion to approve. Motion by councelor Carmarmac. Second by councelor Cra. discussion. I just wanted to clarify this is not a new liquor store. This is just a change in ownership. That's correct.

It seems like we these all our liquor stores change ownerships every month. Is that right? It seems that way. Huh. Since we've passed the moratorium on any more liquor stores. Yeah. The state allows any current permit holders to sell. Understood. But it seems like they've also four times this year for changing ownership. Okay. All right. Huh? They're making a lot of money selling them. They can sell the permits for a lot of money. Okay. Yeah. Uh, any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. First 267404, first reading to authorize budget amendments for the Lebanon Senior Assistance Center by Heather Gallagher, director. Motion to approve. Second.

Second by councelor Ashley. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. from 267405. First reading to approve a budget amendment for the sir department to purchase a replacement truck by Gina Santana utilities director. Second by councelor Carmarmac second by councelor crow discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. March 267406 first read authorized budget amendments for the water treatment plant by Regina Santana utilities director. Motion approved by councelor Morhead. Second by councelor Cra. Discussion. All in favor say I. I.

Any oppose? Thank you. 267407 first read to authorize the purchase of replacement HVAC unit and related budget amendments for the Jimmy Ford Center by Alex Major director. Second motion by councelor Morehead. Second by councelor Berine. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Thank you. Resolution number 26 2838 to approve recycle coach software as a service agreement with the municipal media corps for the sanitation department by Mitch Griffin sanitation department manager and Lindsay Wolfenberger finance director. Motion to approve. Motion by councelor Carmarmac. Second by councelor Cra. Discussion. All in favor say I. I.

Thank you. Resolution number 26 2839 in support of the Tennessee Highway Safety Office grant application by Mike Justice. Please chief. Motion to approve. Motion by councelor Carmarmac. Second by councelor Crow. Discussion. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Thank you. We are journ.