Board of Mayor and Aldermen - Regular Meeting

I'm seeing if Kara's coming, because I haven't heard from her. That's what we'll have to do.

If we had to push, two weeks is enough.

Is that okay? Yeah.

I didn't even see that coming that we were on the... I mean, when I saw Rachel gone, I realized she is on the curtain of these trips.

It's all good. I'll bust everybody else's charts. I'll make sure that happens. Thank you. That will be... I'll see you. All right.

All right.

Are you sure that's okay?

Thank you. It is 7 o'clock. We'll call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the McMinnville City Board of Mayor and Alderman.

The first item on the agenda is roll call. Item number two is consideration of the consent agenda, which includes the minutes from the July 14th regular session. If there are no requests for additions, corrections, or deletions, I'll entertain a motion to approve it as read. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Can y'all see that up there, Rob? Everybody? Okay.

Cool.

Item three is recognition of visitors. If anyone wishes to address the board, please come to the podium and state your name for the record. Okay, none. Item four is petitions. There are none. Item five is discussion items. Item 5A is... Resumption of discussion about sip and savor believe the road closers and then food trucks

Yes, so they did reach out to two downtown vendors. One is Butcher, one is Barron Forks. Both of those are located downtown, so there's no concern with them. And they don't have any issue with no outside food vendors. So staff recommended that the event be approved. Okay. All right.

Sounds good. Any questions about the Sip and Savor event or entertain a motion to approve their letter? I have a motion and a second by Brock and Morton. All in favor? And then we have three more items need to put under discussion items. Actually, no, these need to go under action items. Never mind. Item 6 is action items. Item 6A is resolution number 2026-37. This is a resolution of the city board of mayor and alderman to declare an ejector trailer from the sanitation department as surplus. I'll entertain a motion to approve this resolution. A motion and a second by Ms. Brock and Dunlap. Any questions? All in favor? All right, motion passes. Item 6B is resolution number 2026-38, a resolution of the City of McMinnville Board of Mayor and Alderman to declare a front load garbage truck of the Sanitation Department as surplus. I'll entertain a motion to approve the resolution. I have a motion and a second. Mrs. Dunlap and Ms. Morton. Any questions or discussion? Call for the vote. Item 6C is resolution number 2026-39. Resolution of the Maple City Board of Mayor and Aldermen to authorize into entering a contract with Design Sensory

marketing and creative services this is an action item that we'll have annually so each year as the budget comes out we'll look to outsource our marketing campaigns for the tourism department there are a lot of companies out there that are professionals in this they know what they're doing and so it just makes sense to outsource that to make the best use of our marketing money. Design Sensory is a company that we've worked with previously. We did put out an RFP for this. We received six proposals in response. After an evaluation, Design Sensory, who again we worked with before, was the highest scoring proposer based on their accurate, realistic, and sound financial campaign that they put forward, the amount of ESSENTIALLY IN KIND THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO BRING TO THE TABLE THROUGH TDTD CO-OP, AS WELL AS THEIR ABILITY TO MANAGE A GOOGLE GRANT FOR NONPROFITS THROUGH WHICH WE WOULD PARTNER WITH A LOCAL NONPROFIT. SO THE CONTRACT ITSELF WOULD BE FOR $46,000. $29,750 OF THAT WOULD GO DIRECTLY TO ADVERTISING. THE REMAINING $16,250 WOULD GO TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR THEM TO MANAGE THAT. Out of the $29,750 that would be allocated directly towards advertising, they're able to bring an additional $92,500 approximately in the advertising value through that Google grant as well as the TDTD co-op funds. So based on all those things, I would recommend that we move forward with them. They currently run our campaign, so it would just be a seamless transition into the next year.

All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve. It's up now. We have a motion by Ms. Morton, a second by Ms. Dunlap. All in favor? motion passes Oh we get it yeah okay item 6d is resolution over 2026-40 resolution of the city board of mayor and alderman uh authorizing the tourism and marketing department to accept the brownfield redevelopment area grant and enter into an agreement with nsafe to provide environmental testing on identified sites

So I'll give a little background on this. This is a multi-sequence process that you go through with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. So the first phase was undertaken by the IDB and it's possible that the Chamber was also involved in that. It's called the Property Evaluation Program. They used a consultant called Austin Consulting to undergo that. So they identified a number of properties throughout Warren County, several of which were within city limits, based on a matrix of property readiness, so that's utility services, road access, zoning, environmental attributes, the neighborhood surrounding, the local community, and then the region as well. And based on that, they put together a list, this consulting firm, of high potential properties within the city limits and within the county that are currently either vacant or dilapidated and would be excellent subject properties for redevelopment and would benefit the community through raising our tax base, AS WELL AS JUST GENERAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO GOING FROM A VACANT PROPERTY TO SOMETHING THAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE COMMUNITY. SO THE SECOND PHASE OF THIS IS APPLYING FOR THE BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AREA GRANT, THE BRAE. THAT'S ALL THROUGH TNECD, THOUGH IT IS A FEDERAL GRANT. IT'S ADMINISTERED THROUGH TNECD. THE IDB COULD HAVE SINGLE-HANDEDLY APPLIED FOR THIS GRANT, HOWEVER, THE CITY IS ALSO ELIGIBLE, SO THEY ASKED IF WE WOULD ALSO APPLY FOR THIS GRANT SO THAT WE COULD GET THE PROPERTIES IN THAT PROPERTY EVALUATION PROGRAM THAT WAS PUT FOR US THROUGH THE STATE, IF WE COULD GET THOSE EVALUATED MORE QUICKLY. SO ESSENTIALLY WHAT THIS IS IS WE CONSULT WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL FIRM. IT'S ONE OF THEIR AREAS OF EXPERTISE. THEY COME IN, THEY DO A PHASE ONE AND PHASE TWO ENVIRONMENTALS ON THE SUBJECT PROPERTIES. PHASE ONE IS A HISTORY OF THE PROPERTIES. PHASE TWO IS ACTUALLY GOING IN AND TAKING SOIL SAMPLES TO SEE IF THERE'S CONTAMINATION ON THOSE PROPERTIES. SO THE SUBJECT PROPERTIES THAT WE APPLIED FOR WERE 605 AND 619 MORRISON STREET. AGAIN, THEY'RE IN THAT PEP, OR THE PEP REPORT THAT WAS PROVIDED TO US FROM THE STATE. THERE'S NO FINANCIAL IMPACT ON THIS WHATSOEVER. SO THE TNECD DOES PAY FOR THE ENTIRE THING. NOT A DOLLAR OUT OF OUR FUNDS, AND IN FACT, THE MONEY IS GIVEN TO US UP FRONT, AND THEN WE PAY THE INFLUENCES BACK. SO WE ACTUALLY GET THE MONEY UP FRONT. IT'S NOT EVEN REIMBURSEMENT BASED. SO IN YOUR PACKET, I DO HAVE THAT PROPERTY EVALUATION PROGRAM REPORT, SO YOU CAN SEE THAT THESE PROPERTIES WERE IDENTIFIED. THROUGH UCDD, WE DID PUT OUT RFQs. WE RECEIVED SIX SOQs IN RESPONSE. WE DID EVALUATIONS IN-HOUSE. AND BASED ON THOSE, WE DID SELECT NSAFE AS THE MOST QUALIFIED FIRM TO CONDUCT THESE ASSESSMENTS ON THESE TWO PROPERTIES. THERE ARE TWO PROPERTY OWNERS ON THESE TWO DIFFERENT PARCELS, SO WE WENT TO THEM, MADE SURE THAT THEY WERE COMFORTABLE WITH THIS FIRM COMING ONTO THEIR PROPERTY. IN DOING THE PHASE ONE AND PHASE TWO, THEY BOTH SIGNED MOU'S, SAYING THAT THEY ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THAT. AND THEN THE MSA, THE MASTER SERVICE AGREEMENT, HAS ALREADY GONE TO ATTORNEY PURDLE, AND HE HAS So any questions because I know that one's kind of a lot to swallow.

So are those other properties with the IDB?

The IDB was awarded funding to do phase one and phase two evaluations on seven properties.

So within the community, we're having nine properties evaluated?

Correct, all within city limits. And the faster we can move through those identified on this report, we can hopefully do another report and get a whole nother round. So this is just a way to benefit the community. It's a way to help property owners because obviously if there is potential contamination on a property, that puts fear in a property owner. This gives them the opportunity TO HAVE GRANT FUNDING THROUGH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ASSESS THAT, AND THEN IT ALSO PUTS THEM INTO THE BOA, WHICH IS THE VOLUNTARY CLEANUP OVERSIGHT AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, WHICH BASICALLY ERASES ALL LIABILITY FOR THEM. THEY CAN ENTER THAT VOLUNTARILY OUTSIDE THIS PROGRAM, BUT IT WOULD COST THEM $3,000. THROUGH THIS PROGRAM, IT'S FREE.

ALL RIGHT, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE. Motion by Ms. Morton, second by Ms. Barak. Any questions or discussion? All right, call for the vote. All right, motion passes. Thank you. There are three other items that I need to put under action items owing to the time-sensitive nature of Mr. Main's departure. I would ask for a motion to suspend the rules regarding public notice so that we can get these three items passed through. They are appointment of Linden as the city representative for the Central Tennessee Solid Waste Planning Board, approval of interim city administrator pay for Mr. Scott and then approval for travel expenses for candidates traveling to McMinnville to interview for that position. So I'll entertain a motion to suspend the rules. I'll make a motion. Motion by Ms. Morton. Second. Second by Ms. Brock. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. All right, the first one is the appointment of Lyndon as the representative to the Central Tennessee Region Solid Waste Planning Board. Nolan has been on that board since he's been city administrator. Typically, it's been the public works director. So we'll have Lyndon slide into that spot if it's the wishes of the board. I'll entertain a motion to approve that appointment.

So moved.

Motion by Ms. Brock. Second. Second by Ms. Morton. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion passes. Following the departure of Nolan, as we've already decided, Justin Scott will be the interim director. City administrator, while we conduct the interview process, Libby has recommended bumping him temporarily up to the next step, which comes out to right around $660 a pay period. So I would ask the board to consider making that pay adjustment for this interim period.

I make a motion for the pay adjustment.

Motion by Ms. Dunlap, second by Ms. Brock. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. And then the last one is approval of travel expenses. Libby, you want to come up and talk about this?

We have several candidates from out of state, so it's customary to cover some of the costs when you bring candidates in from out of state. So you're looking at, like, plane ticket, hotel, car rental, and food. I think that you could probably get it for less than $1,000 per candidate. And that will be very dependent on if we do all of the hiring process at once. If we do the assessment on one day and the interviews on another, that means one trip instead of two.

How many candidates are there that would be traveling in from out of state?

We have got... Probably four from out of state that meet the minimum. But keep in mind, we haven't gone through all of the applicants and determined who we're bringing in. We obviously won't bring in all 20 or probably 10. So we'll go through that process and then narrow it down. So you would only be paying for the travel for the people probably out of state. Some of them are within driving distance. So that would cut down probably hotel and food.

Will the postings stay up until, like we tell them not to, or is there a closing date?

There is a closing date. Some of the sites are 30 days. Some of them are 60, but we can take them down early whenever you want to start the process.

Okay.

Yeah, we're never going to take them down, right?

Well... That would be my choice. $500, $750, I mean, what...

Plane tickets, that will probably be the majority of them. But if you're going to fly somebody from Washington or Utah... Your plane ticket, if you can get a two-week notice, is probably going to be $400 to $600. So you're going to have that. They're going to get into Nashville. They're going to have to have a rental car. That's probably about $120. And then we had checked on some hotels around here, and we got a pretty decent rate for applicants, and they will direct bill us.

Okay. $750? Okay.

Okay. up to seven it is up to the board if you don't want to cover any travel or if you do want to set a limit up to this to reimburse the candidate that is entirely up to the board just keep in mind some applicants may choose not to travel in their own expense

Any input from any of the other board members?

Well, is 750 reasonable?

That would cover, you know, their travel. And that may be all you want to cover. Food and incidentals can be on their own. It's entirely up to the hiring committee on what you do want to cover and what you don't.

Yeah. Does everybody offer them money to come?

It's very common in private sector and probably a lot in public sector for a position like this. Like an executive position, yeah.

I'll make a motion to put 750.

Up to 750. A motion by Ms. Morton, a second by Ms. Dunlap. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. All right, item seven is recognition of the

so summer is flying by parks and rec we're already talking abbreviated pool schedule and kids are already thinking about going back to school So what I wanted to do was run the numbers on the attendance. We've had a lot of rainy days this summer, but starting from Memorial Day to last week, compared to the last three years, and our total visits in 2024 was 30,023. In 2025, our total visits was 27,599. And in 2026, we were down to 23,336. We've seen a decline in paid admissions, but we've seen our numbers go up in pass holders, which is a good thing. So it's not all bad. The Memorial Center, we've had a good summer. Again, going back to Memorial Day to today, year over year comparison in 2024 to 2025, We increased our visits by 924. In 25 to 26, we increased it by 351. But from 24 to 2026, we've increased it 1,275 visits overall. And so we're seeing a steady growth during the summer in those visits, reaching our highest visits this summer at 8,386, which indicates that we've had a continued demand and increase in our facility, usage of our facility, which is great. Lastly, our adaptive launch has been, that's going really well at Riverfront Park. If you haven't seen that or heard of that, obviously we've moved that from Rocket Park to Riverfront. So a bulkhead has been poured on the bank of the river there, just to the side of the boat ramp. Our docking system has arrived. It's been offloaded, which was last week. They are looking to begin Monday, We have also improved our parking lot down there. So we have a lot of potholes in the bottom down there. So we've increased, we've added gravel to that, which looks phenomenal, by the way. So if you're out and about, heading down to the Greenway or just want to stop by and look at it, it is back open to the public until we start the install on Monday. But it's super exciting to see all the improvements we've got going on at the parks. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you, sir.

ANYBODY ELSE?

MR. MANNING? I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY. I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD THIS ORGANIZATION FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS. THIS HAS BEEN THE MOST FULFILLING JOB I'VE EVER HAD, AND I'VE LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT. IT'S TRULY BEEN AN HONOR, AND I WISH THIS COMMUNITY NOTHING BUT THE BEST IN THE FUTURE. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Mr. Perl. All right. Thank you. Yes. There's nothing else to come before the board. We stand adjourned.