City Council - Regular Meeting

The location is 14 and everything. Get ready to do what they're gonna do.

It's 5 55 and we have a public hearing tonight.

There are seven items on our public hearing. If you'd like to speak on one of these items, please step the podium and state your name and address and you have three minutes to speak. There's a light system there that will help you know how much time you have left. But again, this is the public hearing for the specific items that I'll read already number one request by jamie carvey for rezoning approval for about 0.32 acres at 222 cumberland drive from rd9 to rxh in ward 3. plant commission recommend approval by vote of 7-0 through july 28th meeting this reference order number 26-74-57 when you would like to speak on this Okay, seeing none, I'll move down to the next one. Actually, the next three items are the same property, so I'll read each one of those. Request by Larry Branza for plan of services approval for about 4.84 acres at 6829 Lebanon Road near Ward 6. Planning Commission recommend approval by vote of 7-0 through July 28th meeting. This is resolution number 262891. Request by Larry Bransler for annexation approval for about 4.84 acres at 6829 Lebanon Road to be added towards 6. Planning Commission recommended approval by a vote of 7-0 through July 28 meeting. This represents resolution number 262892. Request by Larry Branson for zoning approval for about 4.84 acres of 6829 Lebanon Road to 6829 Lebanon Road, Texas SP in Ward 6. Planning Commission recommend approval by vote of 7-0 through July 28th meeting. Disruption is order number 267458. Would anyone like to speak on this property? OK. Thank you. I'll move on to number five, request by staff for zoning code amendment approval for 14.303 and 14.304 to specify garage setback applies only when garage doors are on a primary facade. Planning Commission recommend approval by a vote of 7-0 through July 28th meeting. This references ordinance number 267459. Anyone like to speak on this? OK, seeing none, I'll move number six, request by staff for a zoning code amendment approval for 14.512.28.2II to permit requests for a single family and two family lots established prior to September 5, 2017, wishing to expand existing driveways beyond 18 feet wide at the property line to be reviewed and approved administratively. Planning Commission recommend approval by a vote of 7-0 at the July 28th meeting. This represents order number 267460. Anyone like to speak on this? And the last one, number seven, request by staff for zoning code amendment approval to add 14.514 data centers and computer and data processing services to establish minimum requirements specific to these uses. Planning Commission recommend approval by a vote of 7-0 through July 28th meeting. Reference is ordinance number 267461. Would anyone like to speak on this? Okay, seeing none, I will declare the public hearing closed, and we will begin the city council meeting in just a few minutes. Thank you.

It's not really a long agenda. I've learned that. And I'm never saying the meeting will be short. That's the kiss of death. That's the kiss of death.

I got a gun. I got a gun. I got a gun. Want me to. That's what I was looking for.

OK, it's 6 o'clock, time for tonight's city council meeting. Before I call the meeting to order, however, there is one item being taken off the agenda. That's resolution 262912. That's the last item under due business. Resolution 262912 is being taken off the agenda. And with that announcement, I will call the meeting to order. And I ask Alex Major to come up and lead our invocation.

Please bow your heads with me. Lord, we thank you for giving us this great city. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. I thank you for a room full of people here to serve the city. Lord, I ask that you would be with the decision makers tonight. Lord, help them to honor your name. Be with the citizens as they come up tonight. Lord, help them to do the same. We love you in Christ's name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Jerry Ashley, Camille Burdine, Chris Crow, Chick Bryan, Phil Moorhead, Mayor Beall you have a quorum.

We also have the minutes in the August 18th meeting. Motion by Councilor Carmack, second by Councilor Moorhead. Any discussion on those minutes? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Now it's time for communication with citizens. So if you'd like to speak, now's the time to do that. And as I said before, you have three minutes to speak. There is a light system up there to help you with your timer. We ask that you state your name and address for the record. Also, we ask that you not form a line that as soon as, if you want to speak, whenever someone sits down, just step up at that point. We also ask that you treat every speaker with respect, no applause, no booing, and those sorts of things. So that being said, go ahead.

Name is Chad Conley, I live at 437 Carver Lane. I've decided not to dwell on the sewer site selection process today. I'm imagining you're going to hear a lot of that from the crowd here today. Rather, I'd like to focus my three minutes on your words and a clear action plan that will quell at least two thirds of this room and many more of your constituents. In an article posted on WKRN on April 14th, Mr. Bell summarized the need for a plan expansion. Based on the fines that we paid as taxpayers, I don't think that's up for debate. In the same article, Mr. Carmack was quoted in the statement he sent news to, it's my goal to ensure Ward 1 does not have to deal with the issues associated with the sewer plant. Mr. Carmack, I know you weren't speaking about the current sites under consideration, but your statement still stands. Ward 1 should not have to deal with the issues associated with the sewer plant. In recent weeks, Mr. Carmack has documented his objection to Site 22 and how it was added at the 11th hour. We've also seen his documented support to calling Site 13 back to the original Rockwell proposal. Mr. Bell echoed the same sentiment in a radio interview on August 19th, saying he would veto any related selections to this matter. Our ask today is to put your words into action. A veto or a single council vote is symbolic at best if the rest of this council isn't behind you. This council has dictated the selection process and has the power to modify it. Like you, we would like to act responsibly with city tax dollars and not press process sites unnecessarily. Mr. Carmack, please make a motion or whatever you need to do tonight to remove site 22 and shrink site 13 to the original Rockwell site. This will allow the city to focus resources on viable sites or newly discovered industrial zone sites. If not today, let us know what it's going to take. How much more public commentary do you need to hear from us? How many more constituent letters and phone calls do you need to receive? How much press do you want diverting attention from the good work that you do for this city? How much county, state, and federal scrutiny do you want? How much litigation do you want to process? We are here tonight and every single, single council meeting moving forward to support you in doing the right thing. Thank you.

What else? Eric Dyson, 106 Chapman Drive. I have an appreciation for the metal boxes around town that are wrapped with local history scenes. I wish I knew whose brilliance conceived my favorite, which is at the corner of Coles Ferry Pike and Hartman Drive. That wrapped box depicts the bygone days of the wonders of Coles Ferry Recreation Club. Someone from my family was there most summer days for 15 years, right across the creek from the sewer plant. The Coles Ferry rec site and next door, the Hancock Farm, both to the east of the current sewer plant across the creek, served as large buffer spaces for the current sewer plant. In selecting a new site for a sewer plant, a dual key consideration that y'all must make regards also acquiring a large amount of surrounding buffer slash park space. And a total package of only 60 acres would not be wise long-term decision making. Last city council meeting on August the 18th, the first hour and a half was about potential sewer plant site locations. Mayor Bell was batting 1,000 until the ninth inning of that when he made two verbal missteps, one of which was perhaps justified. Right now I'm addressing only that one verbal misstep, which was when Mayor Bell stated that a sewer plant should not be sited at 409 Carver Lane. The originally proposed Rockwood site on Hartman included no large buffer land space. Thereby, I propose 409 Carver Lane as a buffer slash park space at the July 21st Sewer Site Task Force meeting, the 409 Carver Lane site evolved into a potential sewer plant site location instead of the Rockwood site, perhaps because the Rockwood site is very problematic. A theme of citizens speaking at this mic on August the 18th was to select an industrial site rather than a residential site. Beyond the disaster of the Rockwood site, an industrial site, the affluent pipeline is near residential areas in Ward 1 also, which means y'all are also going to need large space buffer land slash park land. You'll be selecting a sewer site, but also future park land. When y'all understand that, then you're on the right track. I have one more thing to say, which can come at a later time, but I will say this one last thing. Back in August, I studied the membrane bioreactor technology, and I'm satisfied that it will not hunt.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Good evening, Council. Mikel Qualls, 29 venue circle. Come here again to speak on the obvious unconstitutional Fourth Amendment violation that FLOC and other AI surveillance systems bring to our country. Council, I know that you understand that these cameras do not just capture license plates. If they just capture license plates, how are there now over 100 public cases of police stalking partners and others using this system? The Constitution is clear, the Fourth Amendment reads, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by an oath or affirmation particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized allowing systems such as flock axon motorola solutions or other others to monitor every citizen regardless of crime is violating your sacred oath to the constitution i know many of you council members and mayors or and mayor are christian are Christian and I assume you put your hand over that Bible when swearing to defend our constitutions from enemies foreign and domestic. You have failed in my opinion and a lot of other people's opinions at protecting that oath and defending us from this enemy called warrantless surveillance. There's no question about it, the flock system is warrantless surveillance. You can be forgiven for this egregious, careless neglect of this oath by publicly denouncing warrantless surveillance, ending the contract with any Fourth Amendment-violating surveillance company, and bagging the cameras until they are removed permanently. We demand this. And many other people do. They're just too scared to get up here and say anything. We know that this system is leading to more erosion of liberty. All of the same rights our grandparents enjoyed are slowly but surely being stripped from us by men and women such as yourselves. We as the governed did not consent to warrantless surveillance. You guys put these cameras up so quickly and without anyone noticing until last year. It is a slap in the face to all of us as Americans. You all should know better than this. Any person of age or wisdom will tell you that we do not partake in the same liberties as past generations did. We know that while your intentions may be good now, we remember the COVID lockdowns and the absolute tyranny that was handed down from our federal government. The state, local, and county governments around the US did nothing to protect individual liberty. I lived this in real time and was coerced and threatened to take an experimental vaccine during my time of service in the Marine Corps. We know that next time something like a lockdown happens, technology like this will be used to crush any idea of not following unconstitutional orders. End the contract now, or if you can't, end it now, bag the cameras, and remove them. This is the CEO of Flock saying this. When people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they're prioritizing the wrong thing. And what we have to prioritize as a country is compromise.

Your time is up. Thank you.

Jay Hill, 2209 Hardspun Court. The entire nation knows about this flock stuff now. It's perfectly obvious. I don't think any of y'all really care to do the right thing. I know that you won't. But the longer that you go leaving this stuff in place as the whole nation starts to overturn it, it makes you look increasingly cowardly. It's the truth. That's a fact of the matter, okay? Get rid of the crap.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Hi, Shaquita Dobson, 2118 Flatwood Road. I am just really here to thank City Council on behalf of my nonprofit group. So I have a nonprofit that is called GGME, which stands for Growth, Gratitude, Motivation, and Empowering. And I just wanted to come out and thank the entire City Council staff for awarding our nonprofit award. This year with a grant that helped our youth engagement program that was newly launched here in Wilson County. And that's all I have to say. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

James Lovelady, 201 Sugarberry Court in Lebanon. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is James Lovelady, and I live in the neighborhood approximately two-tenths of a mile from the proposed sewer facility on Carver Lane. I want to be upfront. This is my first time coming before the Council to speak about this proposal. I haven't attended the previous meetings, and I'm not here tonight to pretend that I know everything that has already been discussed. But I am here to make one thing very clear. The residents of my neighborhood do not support putting a sewer treatment facility in this location. And I felt it was important for this council to hear that directly from someone who actually lives there. I understand that Lebanon is growing. I understand that the city needs to plan for that growth and that infrastructure is a necessary part of a growing community. We're not against progress. We're not even against Lebanon. And we're certainly not against the city addressing its future sewer needs. But we believe there is a difference between supporting the city's need for infrastructure and supporting this particular location. The proposed facility would be approximately 0.2 miles from our neighborhood. That's roughly 1,000 feet. For the people who live there, this isn't an abstract issue on a planning map. It's our homes. It's our property. It's our neighborhood. And it's something we will have to live with every day. We don't know everything about the proposed facility yet. That's exactly why we're speaking up now. Before a decision is made, we want our concerns heard and we want the alternatives considered and we want the city to recognize that the people who live closest to this proposed facility are telling you that we do not want it in our neighborhood. I believe the people who will be most directly affected deserve more than simply being told that this is what the city has decided is best. We elected our leaders to make decisions for this community, but we also expect those decisions to take the voices. of the residents into account. So tonight, I'm not asking you to take my word for it. I'm asking you to understand that there is a neighborhood of homeowners behind me who are concerned about this proposal and who do not approve of the Carver Lane location. Please do not look at this as one resident standing at the microphone. Look at it as a neighborhood asking you to listen. We want Lebanon to grow. We want Lebanon to prosper. We want to be part of that growth. We also want to protect the neighbors and the investments of the people who already live here. So I respectfully ask this council to hear our position reconsider the Carver Lane location and make sure the voice of the neighborhood is part of this decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Ron Black, 823 Brook Trail, Farmington Woods allotment. I've had a family emergency, so I haven't been able to review everything about this sewer plant. The only thing is I do know where that carver site is, and that's definitely not acceptable to have it there. I grew up in Ohio. I lived in a few cities there. And none of these cities, like Akron, I worked for the city of Akron Police Department for 33 years. And they had their water treatment plant way out in the boondocks by nothing. There was a park in woods. And then there was the compost facility. they would definitely not put it in a residential area. When you go by that treatment facility on Hartman that night, I mean, it stinks. I just bought a house in Farmington Woods, and that's one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Lebanon, and you all know it. The thing is, our property values will not increase with this water treatment plant right down the street. I mean, who wants to live by that? Nobody. Does any of you live by any of these sites that are being suggested? You know, probably not. Because you wouldn't want to live by that. Nobody would. And it's the truth. You know, like I said, check with a lot of other cities. They don't put them in residential neighborhoods. There is a reason for that because they don't help property values. And the thing is, if our property values drop, especially in Farmington Woods, there's houses there that are over a million. The thing is, that's your tax base. If our property values decline, well, then your tax base declines. And I mean, that's the truth. I mean, it's not going to increase with that there, especially because who wants to live by it? You know, check other cities what they did. Like I said, you can check Akron, Ohio, for example. They have it way out in the boondocks by nothing. And their compost facility is out there too because of the stench. You know, it's just like I said, I don't normally attend these because I just feel that, you know, most of the time is it's going to do no good anyways. But this here, my neighbors feel strongly about this, too. All the whole Farmington Woods and that Carver Creek right there. Oh, they're all up in arms. And the only reason I found out about this is because on Facebook. They put a thing on Farmington Woods, you know, people to show up here. Like I said, I had a family emergency to deal with or I'd have been here before. Like I said, I don't know about all the other sites, whatever. Put it in an industrial site. Put it way out in the boondocks where nobody has to deal with it or smell it. You know, because I guarantee you, probably none of you live in any of these sites that are near your houses. And it's the truth. You know, I mean, think about it. Would any of you want this by your house? I mean, honestly, nobody would. And I'm telling you, the residents of Farmington Woods don't want it there either. So just think about it, especially.

Thank you.

my name is mark coble 1695 horn springs road i've got a couple of uh handouts that i'd like admitted into the minutes one is an mbbr versus the cas environmental concerns comparison as well as a side-by-side technological comparison on rockwood only and no need for the carver lane property Thank you so much. Last meeting, without being on the agenda and after hearing numerous community members speak, the mayor and council were prepared with a consultant, Steve Jones, who I had the pleasure of talking to, to provide the room with some information, which was supposed to be transparent a long time ago. We got a little bit of information regarding the testing sites that have been selected, how long it's gonna take, 90 days, and before you can make any decisions on any properties. Mr. Jones told us that the MBR technology was too expensive and shouldn't be considered. We're not proposing that. We're looking at a different technology, an MBBR plant, which is on this form that I gave you. They're completely different. You talked about reliability. This has a 30-year life, and it's similar to the traditional cost with great advantages to smaller footprint. The process for this city should have been very simple. The problem is we need a new sewer plant. Thank you so much. What facility and location do we already have? Can that current site be used? Does the technology exist to expand and upgrade the current location? The people that I'm talking to say yes. Apparently that hasn't gotten to Mr. Jones and hopefully we can make that happen. but we need to explore the solutions financially, logistically, and can it be made to work? What other engineers have been consulted? There's a plant in Batesville, Arkansas, sewage treatment facility that uses MMBR. I actually called and talked to the plant manager. Part of the facility has a pond on it that they have to kick people off because they're fishing on it. They think it's a fish hatchery. I KNOW IT'S ARKANSAS BUT ODOR ISN'T A PROBLEM. SO I'M JUST SAYING I THINK THAT THERE'S A WAY TO EXPLORE FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE LOGISTICALLY FEASIBLE ENVIRONMENTALLY PLEASING OPTIONS AND I LOOK FORWARD TO TRYING TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU.

ANYONE ELSE?

Herman Kello, 1425 Burford Road. I came here last month and spoke before you about the flock camera systems. Mayor Bell, you spoke to us outside briefly for a moment, and you assured us that you would look into this topic. And I don't doubt that you've seen some controversy on Newsmax, Fox, CNN. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has recently come out and said he's taken down all of the plot cameras in the state, on the state right of way. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, same thing. You have Representative Tim Burchett introducing legislation to deal with this. Senator Rand Paul recently stated as he was making an announcement to bring legislation to deal with flock camera systems. He stated that if our rights are not safe, we're not safe. And I agree, officers, that these Flock camera systems make your jobs easier. But so would Soviet-style checkpoints. And I recently read that on Flock's website, there are more than 120,000 of these cameras across our country. That's enough to put one every 86 feet across our southern border with Mexico. Yet we have these cameras pointing inward at us, innocent people. Now, camera's not a problem. It's not a problem at all. I don't have a problem with cameras. There's a camera up here. I'm on it right now. I don't have a problem with the cameras recording and keeping the record. I have a problem with artificial intelligence, an electronic brain that documents everything, that creates a searchable database, That can, you know, it poses the problem with what is known as the mosaic theory. You can tell where people are, where they're coming from, where they're going, where they're at, and where they're likely to go. That is illegal. You're all breaking the law. It's not what our country should be made of. It's not what we should be doing. We're better than that. I believe every one of you is better than that. And I'm disappointed right now. We can do better. You know, I'm just asking you not to be the laughingstock of this country. We can't be last. But what I'm saying right now is you can either continue showing us who you are or you can show us what you're made of.

Cancel the contract. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you all for having me. I'm here to speak about the flock cameras, particularly the CEO of Flock, Garrett Langley. He said that we need to make a choice between privacy and safety, that safety overrides privacy. and his address was recently leaked on the internet and he was able to blur it out and so he wants us to compromise our privacy but he's not willing to compromise his privacy and that's the person that you have invited into our town the ceo of flock peter teal is mentioned in the epstein files over 2 000 times and that gentleman has been invited into our town not only I don't have any problem with law enforcement. The gentlemen out there seem like great people, but it's not just the city of Lebanon who has access to the flock cameras. It is the federal government. And seeing as what has been happening in the federal government, they're not releasing the Epstein files. They are in our town now. The flock cameras consistently violate our Fourth and Fifth Amendment right. Our right to a fair trial, well, maybe not that, but our right of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Our right from unlawful search and seizure. A while ago, I let my friend borrow my car, and he ran a red light. And who got the ticket? I did. If there was a police officer there, he would have seen that it was my friend driving the car, and he would have gotten the ticket, not me. But I got the ticket in the mail, and I was told that if I wanted to dispute it, I had to go to court and prove my innocence. Not only that, the flock systems have been abused. Officers have been repeatedly caught stalking women, stalking their exes. And not only that, the flock cameras are notorious for being incorrect. They consistently read the license plates incorrectly. A single mother was dragged out of her car at gunpoint and handcuffed with her children and forced to lay down on the hot sidewalk while they searched her car. Why did that happen? Because the flock camera misread her license plate. Thank you all for letting me speak. I hope you have a wonderful night.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Stephanie Wilson and I live at 429 Bellwood Road. I'm a former Mount Juliet resident. Don't hold it against me. I left Mount Juliet to come to Lebanon way out next to the Smith County line because I wanted it to be country. I wanted the growth in Mount Juliet is crazy. You all have to manage the growth here now. Traffic is awful. Schools are filled. We're opening schools without sewer connections. We're doing all these crazy things. And meanwhile, here go cameras everywhere. Flock, flock, flock, right? Who's managing this? You have a lot on your plate, a lot of sewer discussions here, a lot of things to manage. And now you add flock. You had these cameras that are washing us everywhere. I mean, it's bad enough that I go on Google maps and I see my house. I have someone in my past that is violent. I don't want him knowing where I live. I don't want him accessing cameras. I don't want him knowing somebody that can access cameras and follow me everywhere. It's a real safety concern. And it's a violation of our fourth amendment rights. And you would do this town really a service to get rid of them cover them until you can look at the details of the contracts and see who's accessing this information it's not just Lebanon PD here they're doing a great job keeping us safe it's everybody else that can access this data and that's hidden in these legalese of these contracts please consider getting rid of them thank you thank you

Scott Kitchen, 432 Huntington Drive. Mayor Beall, City Council, I'm asking you tonight to not accept the Site Selection Committee's recommendation of sites 22, 13 plus, and seven plus as the basis for the final decision until critical questions have been answered. Let me be very clear, I'm not asking Lebanon to stop solving its wastewater problem. The city clearly needs additional capacity, as already spoken to tonight, and doing nothing is not an option. But neither is making a permanent generational decision based upon incomplete information. The committee has ranked the three remaining sites, Site 22 scored 61, Site 13 scored 60, and Site 7 scored 57. But there's something extremely important in the committee's own August 4 agenda. The committee specifically acknowledged that its matrix scores did not include property acquisition costs, site development costs, or associated project costs in any of the other sites considered. Think about that for a minute. We are now being asked to move towards selecting a site that could become one of the most LARGEST INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS IN LEBANON'S HISTORY, YET THE RANKING USED TO NARROW THESE SITES DID NOT INCLUDE COMPLETE COSTING OF ACQUIRING, DEVELOPING OR MAINTAINING THEM. That should be a concern for every council member. The score 61 versus 60 versus 57 may create the appearance of precision, but the numbers are only meaningful as the information behind them. Before selecting a site, we need a true apples to apples comparison of all the sites considered that include land acquisition, site development, infrastructure, force mains, pumping, environmental mitigation, community impact, construction, operation, and future expansion costs. Newer technology requires far less land, yet we failed to consider any sites under 60 acres. We also still have legitimate questions about Site 13 and the addition of the apartment property, Site 22 and infrastructure assumptions, and Site 7 with the complete long-term costs required to make that site work. And there's another issue that during the 18th of August meeting, public statements were made by elected officials regarding how they would vote on certain sites. I'm not accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, but before the council can make a final decision, the city should be clear on the establishment of procedural standards and apply that to the decision, including whether there are requirements regarding impartiality, prejudgment, evidence, or participation. This council, not the committee, will ultimately own the decision. And the authority comes to you. And so tonight I'm asking something very simple. Do not accept a ranking, require the complete information behind the decision, require full lifecycle cost comparison, require independent verification and engineering assumptions and alternative treatment policies or technologies, and resolve the outstanding procedural and legal questions. and then evaluate whether or not the three sites are truly the best option for everyone in Lebanon. We only have one chance to get it right. The wastewater problem is urgent, but urgency does not make incomplete information complete, and it should not lower the standard for a decision that will affect Lebanon for the next 50 years. Let's slow down long enough to get the facts right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Candy Rucker, 414 Huntington, Farmington Woods. I respectfully request the council notify citizens residing within a two mile radius of these possible wastewater treatment plant locations. Surprisingly, many folks do not realize this project could be very near their homes. I also request a public hearing be held to allow questions and concerns from taxpayers. I take issue that adequate notice has been given to your constituents and residents of our city. Posting an agenda on the city website is not adequate or fair notice of this issue. A project of this magnitude involves high level of public expenditures and significant long-term consequences for our citizen. I also request that relevant documents, cost estimate, traffic studies, and environmental information be made available available to the public. This is especially important because these roads are used by school buses carrying our children, pedestrians, families and cyclists. Commercial vehicles traveling these roads raise concerns about safety, noise and quality of life. I invite you to drive Maple Hill Road Turn left and right at every road to see for yourself the neighborhoods in this area. Also invite you to drive Carter Lane and do the same. Please notify all the citizens and have a meeting for everyone. The citizens ultimately will be the ones that this project need to be informed and they need to be heard. Thank you.

Amanda Winfrey, I reside at 412 Huntington. I want to echo what my neighbors said today and I won't repeat much of what has already been said tonight as well as a month ago. We're not asking you to choose between Lebanon's growth and the people that live here. We think good planning should include both. Don't view the people here as simple opposition. will lose interest. We are taxpayers, we're family members, homeowners, voters, and we've invested in Lebanon. And we intend to stay engaged because this decision could affect our community for generations. I think we have an opportunity to get it right. Thank you.

Thank you.

lawyer, 202 Sagamore Drive in Farmington Woods. I came here tonight to speak for any of my residents, and there are several of them who were not able to attend these meetings for whatever reason. And I just have a few questions. How many sites were actually visited and not just looked at on a map? Because that will not tell you the story of where they are. If site access hasn't been secured as yet, how were these evaluations done? How then was it determined which sites would be eliminated? Why were sites selected before impact studies are done? Health, economic, cost, protected wetlands, accessibility, et cetera. Why weren't the council members who were on the committee voting on these sites. If I presented a thing, I'd sure vote on it. So that doesn't seem fair. I wasn't an independent consultant that would have unbiased recommendations because they have no vested interest in the outcome. Also, Were there any examination of studies done in other places where waste treatment plants were put in near neighborhoods to find out what effect that had on health? Because I will tell you, when we moved here two and a half years ago, six months later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Never had a problem before that. I'm concerned about health. And I would like to know, What happened to, it's all about the people, the attitude and words that were spoken by Mayor Bell and Camille Burdine in a WKRN interview last year. Things sure have turned around. They were promoting Lebanon as a great place to live, where there are neighborhoods, trees, small town culture and history. Seems like that went out the window.

Thank you.

Hello, Council, Mayor. Michael Hershey, 2598 Horn Springs Road. I have three topics, so we'll run through the three minutes quickly. Number one, at the last City Council meeting two weeks ago, the consultant mentioned the two most important factors when he was engaging with Mayor Bell in a Q&A back and forth, as his most important priorities were cost and reliability. And that certainly from his perspective may be true. but those may or may not be the most important factors to the sixth and seventh of y'all. Because what is cost? Cost is not just a check you write, otherwise we'd all be driving Yugos, right? Look out in the parking lot here, there's all manner of vehicles out there. People have made various trade-off decisions relating to cost and value. And I think that value piece may be missing from the evaluation process. And I wanna speak about that because that is super important in any decision any of us make in our lives as citizens, as business people, as public officials. So what I'd like to propose is a specific item request for tonight's vote. So I'm actually gonna ask you about something that's actually happening tonight that you could take action on. Agenda item number 10, which is resolution 26-2900, which is the access request for site evaluation purposes. I'm just summarizing it, but hopefully you all know what I'm talking about here. I would request that on section number two, the eighth bullet, we're getting real specific here, where it says, such other investigations and studies as may be reasonably necessary to evaluate the suitability of the property for a wastewater treatment plant-related facilities. I would ask, and one of y'all can decide who wants to first it and one of you wants to be the seconder, but after the word wastewater facility, that you add including, but not limited to, CAS, MBR, and MBBR. That way you're actually being specific to ask for the evaluation of the various technology types. This document is very unspecific about a wastewater treatment facility. So wouldn't you want to know the suitability of a site relating to the various options that are potentially on the table? I would think you would. So that's my ask is that you add to the eighth bullet, the specificity of including, but not limited to CAS, which stands for conventional activated sludge. I never thought in my life that I have to know anything about sewer plants, MBBR and MBR, which are two different things. And I think sometimes people get confused about the two from the little research that I've done. They're apparently two different types of technologies. So with that, I'll leave my last seven seconds to also add that once, wherever you select this new site, you're going to have the old site. And no one's talking about what to do with that.

Your time is up.

Think about that. Thank you all.

want to come up here and give y'all a little reality check y'all are the one y'all are not in charge just so you know that and we are so if we put it to a vote i'm sure a lot of these old people in here will probably say that fly cameras are great because they catch the bad guys right but y'all never put it to a vote so what you need to realize is you're not in charge the people are So let me ask you this. If we put it to a vote right now, would everybody say that flock cameras are okay? Everybody wants flock cameras? See, that's the thing. Y'all didn't put it to a vote. You decided to just implement it because you probably get a kickback or something like that from flock. Who knows? But it's just a reality check. You need to know y'all are not in charge.

Judge, give your name and address. Thank you. Anyone else? Hi.

My name is Stephanie Watkins. I live at 212 Oriole Drive. And just like all these people here on the three sites that are left, All we are asking, I pulled, actually I did pull the original sites that were all out there. And I understand some of them did not line up. But with the technology that these people are presenting to you, they do line up. And all of us on all these three sites, all we are asking you to do is to take that new technology and review again. I know you don't want to, but please, please, we do not want this in our backyards. Just listen to everybody here and take into consideration these other sites, again, with new technology. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. So one of the major problems with these flock cameras is that it inverts the investigative model when it comes to the, you know, actually the police have gone from investigating crimes to backlogging data from searches that took place before a crime ever took place. So the main reason why this is dangerous is that it creates a constitutionally unlawful search before a crime has happened. This is called investigative inversion. Do you mind if I present you with some infographics? Thank you. Constitutionality establishes a floor, not whether a municipality should construct a capability. The government didn't ask us whether they should construct this capability. They just did it anyway. The Fourth Amendment says the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. However, the government's counter argument is pretty straightforward. You're driving on a public road. Your plate is visible. Police can observe it. Photographing the plate is in a search. There's a substantial precedent that is supporting that starting point, but the people aren't particularly concerned about a single observation. The people are concerned about the collection of all of that information into a giant searchable database. That's where some of these Supreme Court cases such as Carpenter versus the United States and Beautiful Struggle versus Baltimore Police Department and the United States versus Jones. Many of the Supreme Court justices described United States versus Jones, which is when police attached a GPS tracker to somebody's vehicle for 28 days as it created a problem with that particular technology because investigations of most offensive impinges on the expectations of privacy. The GPS monitoring generates a precise, comprehensive record of a person's public movements. Additionally, some of the justices were concerned about it was cheap in comparison to conventional surveillance techniques. In the Carpenter versus United States case, they had some things to say. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the court. A majority of this court has already recognized that.

Your time is up. Thank you. Leave your name and address, please.

My name is James McGonigal. I live at 2038 Deerwood Avenue, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Thank you.

Jason Denton, 5051 Coast Ferry Pike. I'm going to be as brief as I probably ever have been as an attorney. Go Rockwood.

Thank you.

2096 Horn Springs Road. I'd like to let everybody know that I had the opportunity to speak to over probably 100 different people over the past couple of months. And in that time, I made sure that the people I was speaking to didn't have any association with the new and future location of the sewer plant. Why do I bring that up? Because believe it or not, 100%, every single person had the same answer. That answer was that it needed to go to the Rockwood site. How did that happen? I don't know, but that's what did happen. So where do we go from here? I don't know how many of you remember, but back in the day, the Dewar Parkway was atrocious with traffic. And how did we overcome that? The community leaders at that time said, you know what, we need to make this a place away so all of the local industry could have the room to grow instead of being hindered by Badour Parkway. It was so bad that I remember times when the traffic would back up all the way to the Lebanon Democrat. And you'd go, oh my goodness, how am I going to get to work on time? It was horrible. So what did the community leaders come up with at that time? It was tremendous, so simple, so elementary, and yet it was genius. And what was that? That was the introduction of the Hartman Drive exit off of Interstate 40. Why do I bring that up? Because it was a monumental task. I can't imagine how difficult it was to put that program together. That being said, it changed all the traffic patterns located in this town. It was monumental, the difference that it made. All that industrial truck traffic was diverted from Badoo Parkway onto Hartman Drive. And where did it take that? It took it directly to the industrial park. It was amazing, the difference. And the leaders at that time had the foresight to even say, you know what, let's extend that onto around to 231 North and see what that will do for all the incoming traffic that was coming from the north side of town and could... that would divert the traffic, the truck traffic, from town and onto the bypass, so to speak, and bring it right past the industrial park. That being said, we also, on the opposite side, they were smart enough to say, you know, well, let's go from Hartman Drive southward and tie into Maddox Simpson. Now you have a continual flow of traffic. And what did that do? The point is, bottom line, It focuses the ability that the community is going to be able to do, all of you are going to be able to do, to make the right decision. And that's to, of course, locate the new site in an industrial park because that's where it belongs. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

Pat Nolnir, 2968 Horn Springs Road. Are we allowed just to ask questions? I don't really have a lot of comments. Is that OK to ask you all some questions? Let's start out with capacity. Where are we at percentage-wise or whatever on the old plant? What is to date? Does anybody have an answer for that?

We've talked about that before, but if you ask all your questions, we'll cover those here in a little while. So go ahead and ask everything.

You'll address them later. Just go ahead and ask. OK. At the end of the year is what I'm concerned about. How many extra residents do we have occupancy certificates given to? How much bigger are we expecting Lebanon to be by the end of the year? Do we have any numbers? OK. We'll answer that later. I guess what is the estimate date of when we are supposed to have max capacity for the old plant? And I'm just making sure TDAC didn't come knocking on our door. But I guess what I'm trying to find out is just how big is our new plant needing to be? Have we estimated how the population growth is supposed to be? How far out are we reaching? Are we going for 30 years, 60 years? Are we going to be like some other plants that have been around for 100 years, like Chicago? I'm just curious, because we need to be open with each other in what we're wanting. What's going to be best for this town? What's going to be best for the community out beyond this town? Basically, that's what I want to know. And once we're done with it, everybody likes to repurpose things nowadays. What are we going to do with the old plant? So we'll talk about this later, right? Got your word on it, right?

Thank you. Anyone else?

Patrick Ritter, 1273 Trice Road, basically on the east side of Site 7, just across the creek there from Brian and Jessica Montgomery, the willing sellers of Site 7. I'm part of the Protect Horn Springs group. We've joined forces with them, the Holt and Trice group has joined forces with them since we're all so close. We want Rockwood, just like Mr. Denton said, go Rockwood. It makes a lot of sense. Mr. Coble's outlined, he's put in the record of all the technologies that have been researched. Mr. Hershey's requested to specify those technology reviews as part of Mr. Jones' charter to evaluate all these sites over the next 90 to 120 days. I think that is very important that it's comprehensive. This site committee did a wonderful job. Unfortunately, I either sat here and watched them or watched them from office. I think the council, you've been through a lot in the mayor. Y'all have listened to all of us yell about this for months now. I just hope Mr. Jones is giving clear direction because, unfortunately, the site committee had to sit there and be like, okay, well, what do we do in this situation? And when I give a project in my business, I like to spec out here's what I want somebody to do. And I just hope for Mr. Jones and his firm's sake, y'all are specking it out, as Mr. Hershey said, to evaluate all the technology so this doesn't go on for years and years. So go Rockwood. Thank you.

Thank you.

else come on up hi good evening alexandra luckhart i'm at 415 huntington drive and I live in the Farmington Woods. As I stated a couple of weeks ago, we moved here from California and we chose Tennessee. We have family here, but we chose the Lebanon area because we fell in love with it. We bought our house, and we actually took a year for us to get out here, but we made it, and we've been here a year now. And we just love the area, and we would hate to move from a beautiful home, a beautiful neighborhood, and a wonderful city that we've fell in love with. As a veteran, both my husband and I, I'm Navy, my husband Army, Hello? Okay. We have been exposed to quite a bit. And I didn't realize driving by that plant last week multiple times, the smell. And if somebody were to say that they cannot smell it as they drive by, then there's something wrong with their sinuses. And the VA, I work for the VA, and I can tell you there is many claims for people due to what I would call, if you're familiar with the military, they have the poop ponds, and that's where they dump all the waste. And there have been a lot of claims because of people having respiratory issues or And something doesn't happen overnight to people necessarily with their health. It can take a long time to develop cancer, breathing issues. And I want to say that you just can't turn that off if it's in your backyard. You can't walk around wearing a mask, a respirator all the time. And that's what we don't want. So I say no to site 13, no to site 22. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hello?

Mr. Dunn.

Mr. Dunn's been dying to get up.

You want to come up?

Good evening. My name is Tim Freeman of 403 Huntington Drive. And Mayor Bell, you are our mayor, you are our spokesperson, and you have let us know that I believe it was last weekend in the radio interview that you are against site 22. You believe site 22 should not have been added to the list. You also made a comment that you believe the plus on 13 should not have been added. And we thank you for acknowledging that. And you also said that you would veto that if that came across your desk. And council person, Mr. Carmack, you have publicly stated that you also are against site 22. So our question is, I know it was brought up by the gentleman that spoke first, is that site 22 came on here because there was a willing seller and a motion by Mr. Carmack to add site 22. And Mayor Bell, we're asking you, you don't have to get this, wait for this to be a veto vote for you. If you truly believe, and we have nothing but you're our mayor to believe in your word that you don't believe site 22 should be on the list and that site 13 plus should be on the list, then why don't we just take care of business and take site 22 off the list and site 13 plus off the list by making a motion It could be the same motion that you did when you motioned to put Site 22 in, make the similar motion now to take Site 22 out, just as you, Mr. Carmack, have publicly stated that you would also vote against Site 22. So I know it's kind of like making it a little bit easier if we start to take care of business, we start to narrow down some of the choices, and there's been other people who have spoken about what other choice it could be, but we trust in your word. We understand also though that your veto is mute if you are, if there's a majority vote against you and therefore your veto means technically means nothing. So we're asking you to take action because we believe in you and what you say as our mayor of city of Lebanon, which we love and which we all want to be the best city that there is, is to simply take action and go ahead and take 22 off the list and take 13 plus off the list and we can move forward. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We're also against site seven or any site in a residential area.

Thank you. Mr. Dunn, you want to come up?

Is it okay?

Well, you guys know me.

If I'm upset with someone, I'm going to tell you about it. I think we pretty much beat this out of all the pieces. If the city council don't know what we want now, they ain't never going to know. So I think we'll have to leave it to them, and I think they're capable of getting out there and getting to work and solving this problem that we all are worried about. And don't warn in our neighborhood, which you can't put in mine anyway. So the cameras, I was quite surprised. to see the demonstrations out here. A camera is a tool, and I wouldn't compare what we would do with a camera with what those people in D.C. would do. I ain't no damn telling what they would do, but we have done a good job here, and I'll say our police department's one of the best in the country, and a camera is a tool. And two, that they look at a license plate, they don't keep three million license plates around down in the office down there, I don't think. But if you came from Nashville in a stolen car and drive it up here in Lebanon, you're going to get caught. And I believe that, and I keep up with these guys pretty closely. But if it's used for two and used properly, I don't think there's a problem with it. Myself, that's just my own personal opinion. It's no different than a policeman sitting in a car on the side of a road watching your license plate as you go by and calling it in or something. Now, what are you going to do, take his radio away from him? No, you're not. And I think as long as... people are using their tools correctly, then they're worthwhile. So I don't have a problem with the camera. And you can look at my laser plate all you want to. And the thing that I'm upset about is somebody that works for the city has redone our website on the cameras. I mean, not Facebook, but on your internet. When you click on the city of Lebanon, you get a great big old word out there on the top. It goes through all them words, and you finally come down to where it says meetings. So I click on meetings, And they gave me April the 7th. I'm looking for September the 1st. You know, and that's what it was always there. When you go on looking, you can copy the agenda.

Mr. Dunn, your time is up.

My time is up. And I'll sit down and shut up. Thank you.

Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to my comments. I do have a couple of comments. A couple of announcements. When you walked in tonight, if you walked in this way, you may have seen a sign by the tree there and some ribbons on the tree. That is for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. And that's something that we do every year along with the other mayors of Wilson County. And it's something to remember those who are lost to suicide. And so this is a month for suicide prevention. And so we're honored to be part of that, be part of that program. So if tonight as you leave, there's someone you want to remember, please place a ribbon on the tree out there. But it is... It is something we take very seriously and it's something that, again, we're honored to be part of. And I thank everyone who leads that remembrance for the month of September. Also, this month, the 11th marks the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. And we're going to have a special remembrance here at City Hall at 9 o'clock that morning. So I ask everyone to come out for that and to take part in that remembrance. That's something that, you know, Watertown, I know, has done this every year since 9-11. This is something historically the city hasn't done, but on the 25th of November, 25th anniversary, we feel like that this is something that we need to do to honor what happened. A day that most people don't necessarily remember, but I can tell you there's a lot of people out there who have graduated from college or are going into the workforce who don't remember it because they weren't born yet. And so this is something that we need to make sure that we don't forget and that we remind them it happened as well. So we do ask that anyone who can come out to that 9 o'clock on 9-11 in front of the building out here. Regina, there was a couple of questions that were asked at the podium. And I know you probably weren't prepared to answer this, but I'm going to ask you anyway. So what is our current capacity at Cerro Blanc?

The existing capacity or how much we have available?

How much we have available.

So we are at about 75% of the 10 million gallons per day.

Okay. And so another question asks about full capacity, but TDEC looks at it a little differently, right, about what full capacity is?

Yes.

Okay. So what number is that?

So as far as when they expect us to start designing a new plant, when we get to that 80% mark, which we didn't wait for that mark. We've already started. We've been talking about it and looking at it and planning for it for a few years now.

Okay.

And I know, Steve, as I answered this before, and maybe Steve can answer this, maybe you can too, Regina, but so the plant design we're looking at, what's the capacity of it?

We are looking at doubling it so that would make it a 20 MGD plant, but we want to have look to the future, which we don't have now, which is space for those that come after us to have room to expand it further than that.

Okay. And so, so from 10 million to 20 million? Yes. Okay. And then, Josh, I know you weren't prepared to answer this question, but I'm going to ask anyway. So what, what's the expected build out at the end of the year in Lebanon? How many people are going to add by the end of the year?

Honestly, I don't think we could give you an estimate. It depends on the speed of building permits, which fluctuates month to month. So it would be really hard to give you an estimate on that.

Okay. All right. I appreciate that. So I think that's all the questions that were asked. But if anyone remembers any other ones, please ask as we go through. That's all I have. Councilor Carmack?

I WANT TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR COMING OUT AGAIN. I KNOW THERE'S BEEN COMMENTS MADE ON FACEBOOK AND SUCH AS THAT AS TO MAKING MOTIONS TO REMOVE ITEMS AND THE COMMITTEE WAS RAN DIFFERENTLY THAN THE CITY COUNCIL IS. WE RUN ON ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER AND WE'RE IN SESSION CURRENTLY SO WE TYPICALLY CANNOT MAKE MOTIONS TO REMOVE ITEMS. IN THE NEAR FUTURE, AFTER SOME RESEARCH IS DONE, I MAY BRING FORWARD A RESOLUTION TO REMOVE SITE 22 AND 15a but i have still got to get with regina and the engineering and mr jones to see what we need to do to do that and that was all i was going to have thank you thank you counselor ashley

I don't have anything this evening.

I have several things. First, I hope we've gotten our website worked out for Mr. Dunn and for many others. I think the last meeting that we had, we had quite a few complaints that it wasn't easy to find the minutes and find the answers to the questions. And I do believe that communication is number one. in any kind of business and especially in municipality um all our meetings all have been open um to the public and again um you know i want to make sure that our agenda and all the minutes and all the information is on there so i hope we've gotten that fixed and i hope we're spending whatever we need to do to make sure that our website is top notch and easy to use. I'm not really technically educated, so I like to keep it simple. So I'm like you, I have to look for things on there as well. so i hope we're doing that um there was also some questions asked about the old plant um i'll ask you regina i believe from what we've been told on the uh committee is that the old plant will stay and it will still be utilized so we're not going to be doing anything with that is that correct so

Parts of the plant will go away, but there are new pieces that will be added there. Influent pump station, not to get down into the weeds too far, but an influent pump station to transfer the flow that comes to the plant now to the new location. There will be the existing septage receiving station, which is where all of the septage haulers that collect sewer from out into Wilson County, they bring it to our plant in the city. That's going to stay there. We don't anticipate moving it to wherever the new site location ends up being. It'll still go to that plant. We built a new... receiving station probably two or three years ago there so it's going to stay there we may shift it some but we will still be utilizing it for the treatment plant okay and then um have we had a leak lately for it to be smelling like it has i you know live right here in the in town and i haven't smelled it or heard any complaints lately yeah there's not been a leak we did have um a valve that was malfunctioning that we had to get a rental unit in for um so there could have been a little odor there while that was getting fixed but with the age of our plant we have a lot of maintenance issues that we can't plant for and we just deal with them as they come okay but

You know, and for us on the council, you know, we have not been told yet when our work session is. I know, Mr. Hershey, you talked about adding something to that agreement from what I understand, too. And I'll ask Regina this. Is this agreement is just for environmental testing? I don't believe it has anything to do with the type of plant. And to my knowledge, we really haven't sat down as a council to really talk about that. talk about what type of plant. We've discussed some in the committee meeting, but we haven't heard full numbers. We have talked about what's the best, we think, in that committee meeting, the wastewater treatment plant, but we have not really sat down and decided on what type of plant yet, to my knowledge. But tell me, that question is, what type of plant that the agreement is for environmental, right? Right.

Environmental. The soils or. Soils test, environmental study, geotechnical work, drone footage. If we want to fly over it and get a, like a bird's eye view appraisals, like for the appraiser to go on the property. But it's that type of work. It'll be a, short-term agreement it's going to make it clear that we're not the city's under not no obligation or commitment to purchase the property that we just need to do our due diligence and as far as the type of treatment plant that doesn't really have any significance on the sites that we're going to look at the sites are big enough that they'll work for whatever treatment technology we decide to use as far as the treatment technology because you mentioned that just a second ago our plan is when we do have the council work session once we've done all this due diligence and have information to share with everybody is to start that work session to go over the treatment the different treatment processes that are available i think back when margaret was here i think there was at least a PIC meeting, maybe a council work session where they went over all of that. And whenever she was gone and I got this role, Steve repeated it for me. And we had him look at, could we make the existing site work? There's a lot of things that have come up tonight and in meetings we've had before. We've been through all that, thoroughly vetted it out. I think everybody up here would have preferred if it could stay where it's at now. That's where we would have loved to have left it. But again, I feel like our job is to make sure we're planning for the future and setting those that come later up for success. And the current site doesn't do that. But we will go over. All that again, why we chose the process that we're doing. You know, it's not just the initial cost. It's operator O&M that comes after that, the skill labor that it takes to run the different plants. There's a lot that goes into it more than just picking one, building it, and then there it is.

Well, thank you, and we're looking forward to that. All of us are, to hear more about that. Okay, now I'm changing gears. One more thing. Sidewalks, Kristen. I've had a request from some people on Pennsylvania Avenue. They would love to get a sidewalk. I know that there's some stormwater drains, and it's not just a sidewalk and cement sidewalk. So is there a way to get them on the list? Or could you tell me a little bit more about that? Because I still don't have Hill Street and it's taken eight years.

So sidewalks, as you know, they tend to be more than just sidewalks. They tend to be right away. Utilities are impacted. Then, of course, drainage. We have a lot of low lying areas. So all those things factor in to any sort of sidewalk project. We do have a pedestrian priority plan. That is our master plan for priorities. It started with the saddle bike and trails committee, went to public infrastructure committee, and then you all adopted it early last spring, 2025. But that has two sections. It's got our grant opportunities that we needed to be able to pursue grant opportunities and state and federal funds. And then it's got local priorities. There's a list of 22. There are no particular order. But those are the ones we felt like if funding were to be available, they would have the greatest impact. for that fund for local funds a lot of times that that is the connections looking at your schools um you know the the residential the commercial aspects the parks tying that in together and and making a system um so we've got 22 on there pennsylvania is not currently on there um but we're always looking for partnerships um we have a lot of partners uh that tend to help get things done but we'll take a look at that one and and see what's available okay thank you

I'm done.

Okay, thank you. Councilor Crowe.

Thank you, Mayor. I took notes as everybody got up and spoke tonight. And I wrote down 25 numbers, four names. I just want everyone to know from my standpoint, I appreciate it when everybody conducts themselves in a professional manner. who stands up here and expresses their opinion and observes the three minutes and gives their name and address. That's the way we've set up the process. And I think the vast majority of the people who appear before the council do that. And I appreciate it when people do that. There are people, I think veterans I see in our audience tonight, appreciate the service of all veterans. Because of you, we have a free country and people can get up and express their opinions. And I appreciate it when they do it in a civil manner and non-threatening. I think that's important in the civil society. I also want to say that I think all of us up here respect the Constitution, and we appreciate those who stand behind it. And we are going to continue to give law enforcement the best tools that we can across the board. And when people are threatened, they need to be held accountable. just like we're held accountable for our votes. And I also want to say that, as I said a moment ago, we're going to continue to offer the best tools available. But the main thing is we've got brave men and women who put a blue officer uniform on every day. And until you need one of those people, you may not appreciate it. But when they stand between you and harm, you do appreciate it. I just want to thank all of those people who have been there for me. And I think they've been here for all of us at some point. And I want them to know how much I appreciate their service to our community. The tools mean nothing if you don't have somebody that's going to pick up the tool and do the job. So I appreciate all of our men and women in blue, and that's my whole sermon this week, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Bryan.

I don't have anything, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Moorhead.

Just real quick, I'm thrilled to see you folks here. You are more than welcome to come. Obviously, we meet on the first and third Tuesdays every month. You're free to be here until something is decided. But at this time, as Mr. Hershey mentioned, the resolution on the agenda tonight, number 10, is to give Mr. Jones authorization just to access those sites. So I said this a couple weeks ago. I'll say it again. We don't know what we don't know yet. So this gives him opportunity to go to those sites, evaluate those sites, and before anything is discussed up here at a council meeting for a vote, there will be a work session here, and that will be public notice just like everything else we do. So you're free to continue to come. You're free to continue to tell us, but until I get data from him that tells me what makes the most sense, whether it's the site selection, the type of system that we're going to look at, the Environmental, what works the best, the size of the properties, that. You're free to come, but like I said, I'm not going to be swayed one way or the other until I get all that information. That's all I have.

Thank you. We have a consent agenda and five items on it. I'll read all five of those. Orders number 26, 74, 62. Second, we need to approve TDOT local construction railroad agreements for the Railroad Crossing Approaches Project on West Main Street. And South Maple Street T-DOT contract number CRR070606 and CRR070607 T-DOT PIN numbers 135120. and 135122 by Kristin Rice, Executive Director of Engineering and Planning, and Jake Pruitt, Capital Projects Manager. Ordinance number 267463, second reading to approve a TDOT local agency project agreement for resurfacing of SR10 from Cedar Forest Road to near SR24, state project number 95S010M3003. PIN 136334, agreement number 260119 by Christian Rice, executive director of engineering and planning, and Jake Pruitt, capital projects manager. Orsmar 267464, second read, amend the 11 municipal code, title 22, stormwater, adopting new stormwater credit manual, revising stormwater management requirements, and crediting chapter 3, establishing sinkhole regulations by Christian Rice, executive director of engineering and planning, and Maddie Needy, engineering director of development. Or it's number 267465, second reading to approve bids and award contract for the 2026 Sidewalk Improvements Project CL26003 by Christian Rice, Executive Director of Engineering and Planning, and Jake Pruitt, Capital Projects Manager. Or it's number 267466, second reading to approve budget amendments relative to the new refunding bond for radio communications bond and public safety bond by Lindsey Wolfenbarger, Finance Director. Motion to approve. Motion by Councillor Crowell. Second by Councillor Cormack. Discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. Now it's new business. Resolution number 262891. First reading adopting a plan of services for the annexation 6829 Lebanon Road to be added to Ward 6. Request by Larry Brunson. Motion to approve. Motion by Councillor Moorhead. Second by Councillor Crowell. Discussion?

I have some questions, please. Okay. So... I guess I'm trying to determine what is the plan for this project and what, I mean, with all the conversation about annexation, I was just curious about what this project was and what kind of value it would bring to the ward.

Josh, you want to step up or you want to, Council Red?

I'll let Josh go first. This would be number one, two, and three are all related for this annexation request. They're doing a specific plan, a Texas specific plan. They're limiting it to a short list of commercial possibilities. This is right in front of the township apartments out on 70, just west of 109. This is directly adjacent to a property that was annexed a few years ago. They're using the same commercial uses, so this will create a larger commercial area for future development. The property owners right now, it's a church. They don't plan to develop it themselves. This will just give them the ability to find a buyer in the future that could develop it for commercial uses. I know they worked with Councilman Moorhead on the list of uses. The list of uses they're allowing are financial, consultative, and administrative, food and beverage, general business and communication services, general personal services, general retail, trade, and medical and professional services. They also did prohibit a good amount of uses as well, that being tattoo services, convenience markets, including gasoline sales. drive-thru restaurants, bail bonding, tobacco product shops, liquor stores, beer, wine, and distilled alcoholic beverage sales have all been prohibited, so they have honed it in quite a bit. For us, we saw this one as beneficial due to those commercial uses. Commercial uses are you know financially beneficial for the city it's already surrounded by the city on three sides and this will also help the previously mentioned commercial sp actually gain access to township boulevard which we would require anyway for safe access onto 70. so we do think there are a lot of positives to this even though it is an annexation request gotcha

to this to the previous one it just made a lot more sense and they have the sp is identical as far as what those uses are so uh it is no way residential is strictly something i think would bring uh benefit to the people that live on that side of town as well as tax dollars to the previous annexation for the the restaurant right correct gotcha okay gotcha any further discussion

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Resolution number 262892, first reading, annexing property at CCA 29 Lebanon Road to be added to Ward 6, request by Larry Bronza. Motion to approve.

Second.

Councilor Morehead. Second. Councilor Crowell. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Orsimer 267458, first reading to amend the official zone atlas of the City of Lebanon, Tennessee, by requesting zoning approval of about 4.84 acres of 6829 Lebanon Road to 6829 Lebanon Road tech-specific plan in Ward 6, request by Larry Bronson. Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Councilor Morehead, second by Councilor Crowell. Discussion?

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Thank you. First one, 2674.59. First reading to amend Title 14 for 14303 and 14304 to specify garage setback applies only when garage doors are on primary facade. Request by staff. Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Councilor Carmack. Second by Councilor Crowell. Discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Morse code 267460. First reading to amend title 14 to change 14-512-28211 to permit requests for single family and two family lots established prior to September 5, 2017. Wishing to expand existing driveways beyond 18 feet wide at the property line to be reviewed and approved administratively. Request by staff. Motion to approve. Motion by Councillor Carmack, second by Councillor Crowell. Discussion?

Yes.

Okay.

Could Josh come and talk about that?

So currently our code limits driveway widths at the property line for single-family and two-family residential to 18 feet wide. We do have a number of neighborhoods that were approved or established before September 5th of 2017 when our current parking regulations went into effect. that are running into issues of expanding their driveway further to allow for further parking on their sites. Right now, they can do that on their property, but once they cross the right-of-way line, we would not allow them to do so. There's been a number of cases that the Board of Zoning Appeals to consider this request, and they have been granting those. This would allow any property established before that date to be approved administratively instead of having to go through the Board of Zoning Appeals process.

I think a lot of this came because Spence Creek, we had a number of them there where people with kids and some of those setbacks are so short that they cannot even get two cars deep in the driveway. So a number of them are coming to Boza asking for variances, and that's where this came from, was so they could now put some more room in the driveway to get cars off the street.

All right.

Thank you for your comment.

Just for a council's approval, we also get these coming into city court with parking violations. And one of the first questions they asked was, how can I get this taken care of? This will provide a route for them to be able to go to the planning staff and get it taken care of without having to go through BZA or anything like that. So it should simplify it much better for the residents.

kind of would be, and Stephen, can they pave their whole front yard or just a portion?

I'll leave that to Josh, but I think it's going to be within bounds. I'm obviously not going to let them come in and just do like a concrete jungle, if that's what you're asking. So I'll let Josh answer that.

So this ordinance doesn't address on their property. Currently, we don't regulate what they can pave on their property. This only addresses in the public right-of-way. So right now, that's where the width is limited. So once they get into the public right-of-way, it's limited to 18 feet. But currently, there is no limit on what they could pave on their property, nor does this ordinance add one.

Okay. So they could.

Yeah. Okay.

Right.

You could conceivably pave your whole front yard right now. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Question number 26, 74, 61, first reading of amend title 14 to add 14.514, data centers and computer and data processing services to establish a minimum requirement specific to these uses. Request by staff. Motion to approve. Motion by Councilor Carmack, second by Councilor Crowell. Discussion?

Discussion. The only thing that I would want to see perhaps before the second reading is a little bit more definition around the buffers. I would like to have the maximum buffer possible between any data center and residential area. So maybe if we can, I know there's language in there, but if we can beef that up a little bit, I would appreciate that.

Okay. Any further discussion?

Yeah, if Josh could explain this one too. I know that people have a lot of questions about data centers and want to make sure that everybody is aware.

As you might remember, last year we first addressed data centers by adding them to our code. They weren't in there previously, so we added a definition and then also made it a conditional use within the light industrial district. What this ordinance is doing is going a step further to add specific regulations to that use, which was not done at that time. Really the main goals is to protect residential and community facilities in the city from being too close to data centers. It also limits the light and noise that can be emitted off of these properties if they're using it for those uses, and also establishes minimum design standards and process for reviewing and approving these if they do come along.

Okay, any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Verse number 26, 7467, first reading to authorize the purchase of tax map 68E, group Q, parcel 1, address West Main Street, 11 Tennessee, deed book 1526, pages 1219, 1221, by Christian Rice, executive director of engineering and planning, and Rick Bell, mayor. Second by Councilor Crowell, second by Councilor Carmack, discussion.

Yes, what address is this?

at the southeast corner of Maple and West Main, adjacent to the Capitol Theater. So this is the parking lot? Yes, ma'am, that we talked about at the work session.

We've met about this. I don't know why it isn't spelled out here. You know, I'm very disappointed in that. And how much are we talking about paying for this?

$275,000. And we get about 40 plus parking spaces.

So what does that come to? About $6,000 a parking place?

I haven't done math, but that sounds good.

Are they renting back to us? Are they, you know, we're giving them privileges?

As we talked about at the work session, parking on the square is always a topic of discussion. He approached the mayor asking if we would be interested in purchasing it. He's not interested in renting it or leasing it to us. We looked at it, and it's on your agenda.

When I met with you, Kristen, we talked about really doing, I know we had a survey that was done with some merchants, and it was about 40 merchants. Am I right? I had asked, too, if we could have a count of how many parking places are empty or full during different times of day. It's not that I don't think that we don't need more parking, but we have specific parking that is designated. And We're talking about buying a private parking lot to use for public use and the private person is using it. I just think it takes more discussion, especially since it's in my ward. I'd ask for this to be deferred.

Sure. We have been doing that study. We've been using our drone at different types of day to really get a feel for how many people vacant spots are at any given time, a.m., midday, peak, evening, on the weekends as well. So we're gathering that data to continue that conversation with the merchants. But there's, you know, we've added parking at all the other corners of the square in the past couple years. We've added some on market. Of course, the church parking lot, our agreement with them, the southwest quadrant with Gay Street. So this just continues to add parking for the merchants.

I'd like to see that we have a plan, and we passed a plan, I think, with historic Lebanon that added more parking. I'd like to see us working towards that before we purchase, you know, pay $275,000 without more discussion and a plan.

Well, I think this is something, as Kristen said, it did come up. The owner, Bob Light, did. reach out to me about potential purchase property. And as both you and Kristen said, there is always talk about parking on the square. Purchase stuff like this is a good opportunity to have more public parking. It's something we can have forever. Right now it's private. And I know people park there, but that's technically trespassing and they can block it off anytime they want. You know, at some point in the future, Bob may sell the Capitol Theater. He may sell this to someone else. And this puts in our hands so that we can control. So I know this was not part of a larger plan, but it is something that came up. And I feel like it's a good purchase for us. And so that's why I put my name on it.

Well, I think it's too much of a hurry, especially when we're trying to build a wastewater treatment plant. It's not going anywhere. So, again, I'd like to have more discussion and more information because I know we've talked about maybe charging for parking, and we're still in the discussion of that. And I think that $6,000 a parking space is quite a bit.

Well, I don't think we've ever talked about charging for parking for the public parking. I know there's probably a lot there that's charging currently. I've never had any discussions about the city charged on the square. And that's something I don't think that I would ever be in favor of. But again, this is something that came up. He came to me. Purvey that went out. There was a survey, but that was about time limited parking. I don't think there's anything about charging for parking. But again, that survey is being looked at, as Kristen said. But again, this is something that came up. And again, I feel like it's a good purchase. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed?

No.

Thank you. Form 26-7468, first reading to approve a traffic center agreement with FFG-11-LLC by Christian Rice, executive director of engineering and planning, and Jake Pruitt, capital projects manager.

Motion to approve.

Motion by Councilor Carmack, second by Councilor Proud. Discussion?

Discussion. This is the Hartman and Levo. Is that this one? Wawa. Wawa, yeah. So it's pedestrian-related.

Yes, correct. We have another project, and it's going to be more efficient if we manage it. So this is their contribution for us to manage it. Thank you.

Further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Procedure number 262898 to approve the Texum All quote for the Customer Service Department by Lindsay Wolfenbarger, Finance Director. Second, Councilor Crowell. Second, Councilor Moorhead. Discussion?

Is this the utility, Regina? Did I say that in the packet? Did I read that correctly? The text? No, sorry.

Well, that's for my department. Your department? Yeah, customer service. That's for us to be able to text, send out voice, automatic calls for people who are going to be on cutoff to give them a warning.

Perfect. Thank you.

Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Resolution number 262900, authorizing the execution or write-up entry and access agreements for due diligence investigations of potential wastewater treatment plant sites, Virginia Santana Utilities Director.

Motion to approve.

Second. Council Morhead, seconded by Council Burdine. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Resolution for 26-29-11 to approve the severance agreement and general lease between the City of Lebanon and Philip Andrew Wright, Jr. by Rick Bell, Mayor. I have a motion by Councilor Ashley and a second by Councilor Carmack. Discussion? Let's do a roll call on this one, Christian.

Yes.

Jerry Ashley? Yes. Camille Burdine? No. Chris Crow?

Yes.

Tick Bryan?

Yes.

And Phil Moorhead?

No.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. The last item has been removed from the agenda, so that's the end of our business tonight. We are adjourned.

I just shut it down.