City Council - Regular Meeting

Director, are we ready? Are we ready? All right. All right. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. the uh April 14, 2026 city council meeting public service announcement. If you hadn't gotten an extension, your income tax is due tomorrow. But the extensions are great things. Yeah. Actually, Wilson County because of the 22nd. It's the 22nd of May.

Yep. Got an extension. Not from the IRS. Yeah. All right. If y'all bow with me, we'll have a word of prayer and then we'll get rolling. Our father in heaven, we're thankful for this day, the many blessings of life you've given us. Thankful for the opportunity to gather again here today with these public servants and with the people, good people of our community. Lord, we pray that you'll bless this meeting. Bless us as we make decisions and keep us safe from harm. Keep our people safe from harm and uh watch over them. Go with us. Forgive us our sins. Amen.

Well, we're having this meeting tonight. uh a little out of order and a little out uh the time's a little different. Early voting will start tomorrow across the county and you'll be able to vote here in the morning. 7:00 or 7:30? 7.

7 for the next 15 days excluding Sundays of course. Um, but we like to make that available to the people up here so that they don't have to go to Lebanon or Mount Jurel to vote. And it seems to work out well. But sometimes it inconveniences us. We had city court tonight and now city council and once we conclude they'll be in here to set up shop with the voting machines and we won't be able to get back in here for until after April 30. Go. I'll go ahead and say I didn't look at the calendar, but I believe it may we may have our council meeting affected two other times in August and November because we have two more elections this year. So, uh uh we may have to well we will most likely have to adjust the date of our meeting, but we'll give you plenty of notice on that. And uh appreciate everybody working with us. got a uh set of minutes from April 17. Oh, excuse me, March 17. A little ahead of myself. Y'all had a chance to look at them.

Make a motion to approve the minutes. I'll second. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor say I.

I. Opposed. Minutes are approved. I probably should have said a while ago we and declared a quorum. We do have April and Caleb will not be with us tonight, but uh they'll be back next meeting, I'm told. Uh public business comment, anybody? All right, we'll move on. I see some folks that are going to address us a little later on. Uh Dale, you first up tonight. Uh, I entered the wastewater plant into a plant optimization program that the state is putting on. And this is a program that's put in place to reduce nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico. Um, they have reimbursement money. I had some gentlemen from the state came out and looked at our facility and uh have entered us in the program. Um they want to do some spend quite a bit of money at the facility. Uh it'll be our money spending and then reimbursement is how it works. Uh there's a class I got to go to Friday. It's like an orientation class into the program in Fleming Training Center in Murphy'sboro and there's quarterly reports associated with it. And there'll be people from the state in and out of the facility looking at designs and doing testing and things. But they have uh equipment, testing equipment that's loaner equipment and things that they'll be bringing out. But uh it's going to be some more work on my end, but there will be, you know, hopefully in the long run, we get some updated and equipment out of the deal. And I think it's a really good thing.

Okay. Questions, comments? You said it's a we pay and they pay back. Yes. It's a reimbursement program. Yeah. Is it 100% reimbursement or That's what I gather. Yes, it's 100% reimbursement

and it's for the Gulf of Mexico. There's depend on the time of year and the season and you know who's measuring but there's roughly like a thousand square miles dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico from nutrient loading and it's from algae growth. The algae blooms and grows and then when it dies it consumes all the oxygen. And this is uh I talked to the gentleman that's putting it on and and sewer plants are point source discharges and we do discharge nutrients and it's a lot easier for them to or it's a lot more costefficient for them to spend money on something like a sewer plant than it is where the real problem is farms agriculture but it's not that cost efficient to be spending lots of money and convincing farmers not to do things near the streams and not to use fertilizers and but that's that's their approach to Yeah,

the word nutrients and sewer just don't go together. Uh, any questions, comments? That'll be my joke of the night, I guess. That's really cool. End of the day, it's all for our left. Yep. All right. Thank you, Dale. Uh, Chief, you want Hinderite? Chief Enderite. I forgot we got two Chiefs here. How you feeling? Good.

Amazing. Glad to see you're moving well. Me, too. I'm taller. I can stand upright. It's like a B. I mean, it clearly I should have done it years ago, but yeah. Like to be safe for being upright. That's right. You doing jumping jacks yet? Yeah, actually I am. Yeah, I'm I'm like a new man. I didn't know how much the Lord loved me for the first three weeks because I'm telling you, I didn't sleep a bit. But after that, well, let me ask this before we get to other stuff. How how the baseball players cuz I had

amazing. I'm watching it right now. I just left. I had to go to EL Harding. It's our last game tonight. He hit Cole hit a triple off the wall and two doubles. Why didn't you go to the ball game? I wanted to see you all. I haven't seen you in a while. I did. I went to his, but Landon's playing right now. Okay. They're playing at home against DA and he they didn't let him pitch today, so he's going to pitch tomorrow against So, you get to see tomorrow. Yes, sir. All right. Good. Good. That makes me feel better. All right. You got anything you need to share with us? No. Uh the uh one of the gentlemen had come about uh some kind of five or 3K the chamber that they're going to have. I guess he's not here. He has store it. Okay.

Okay. He store it, but he's not here. So, I guess we don't get coming presented about closing some stuff down and I told him to make sure we this had to be early here. So, not doing it until like September. So, we'll bring that up closer. Okay. Okay.

Awesome. Well, it's not on the agenda and I've got a request tonight, June, and we'll talk about it, but I think it doesn't require any action. I don't think I think that's good. I mean, we, you know, it really took a toll me being off. I know we've had a lot of concerns, but uh we issued 21 codes letters this week and then just being in compliance with our policies that we've done. The the letter we made physical contact places that look terrible. uh four of them been cleaned up, pictures taken, but we did issue 21 letters uh this week. They'll have 10 days to comply and after that they don't comply be a citation and it being in court. So, just so everybody knows that uh the the one thing I that's not on the agenda, but I do want to ask you about uh optics. You know, they're starting to park tractor trailer trailers there two or three at a time. Um, it does block the view of my cameras and the school zone and stuff. It's something that we probably need to discuss at some point. Not just for my cameras, but when you're pulling out there.

Yeah. When they have three of them, it it's it's kind of dangerous. Is Grammy still on that? Yeah. Talk to her about it. Yeah. I mean, again, I don't I'm just trying to be nice about it, but I mean, it is kind of And then when they sit there in the morning, it's like they're loading up their trailers, they'll leave them there overnight or one of them's not moving in a while. Yeah. You know, it is kind of, you know, safety is issue. Well, if I need to go with you, talk to somebody or whatever, let me know. Okay. Yep. That's it for me. We don't want to get anybody getting hurt over there in the school zone. One question about that cuz I know they've been they've been parking parallel to the building in front. Yep.

If they parked perpendicular to 70 on the side, that would help with the view from the road, but I don't know how what that does otherwise. Well, I mean, it would help period, you know, it just it's a lot, you know, you know, especially because just the way the parking lot comes and it like the gravel part almost looks like the road sometimes and people are Yeah. you know, and it make you it creates a um a visual effect that makes you want to go out further than what you really need to because when you see it, you're like, "Hey, I need to get out past all this." And then all of a sudden, you're in the roadway. Now, I'm not telling you it's caused a bunch of wrecks. That's not what I'm saying. But it's the visual effect.

Well, I've heard the complaints. My wife goes that way every morning. Yeah. Okay. Other questions, comments? Thank you. Just go back and watch the ball game. Yes. Glad you're back. Thanks. I'm glad to be back. Uh Chief Han, fire report. There he is. How you doing, mate? Good. Y'all are well. Yep.

We had uh been a pretty calm month, which is good in our line of work. We had uh 46 calls last month and 12 in the city and 34 in the county. I will say in future reference, if you happen to look back on this report, uh the mileage and the hours are incorrect. That was uh my fault. Miss April had called and reminded me and uh I got busy and forgot about it and was trying to get that report through and I overlooked that part of it. So, uh, I know it's not something we track every time, but I do like to keep y'all aware as as the hours and mileage goes up, we can track that. So, if there's a discrepancy later on, that is, uh, is my fault and we can kind of ignore that month's report on that. We had our pump testing last month. Uh, that went well. Basically, they come in, they work the fire pumps, they, you know, certify those, they'll do pressure test on it. Uh they revealed a couple of issues that we had mostly just with valves. Uh their metal ball valves uh going to each uh to some of the lines and over time the gaskets blow out, calcium builds up in the water, kind of creates ruts in those. So uh that's something that'll need to be rebuilt. We got a quote on that for uh about 2700. So, we're going to look I don't think we've got anything else pressing um I think through this budget year. Kind of look and see where we are and and see if that's something we can uh squeeze in or need to put off. So,

okay. Questions, comments. You training still? Y'all still training? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I knew the answer to that, but I just thought I'd ask. We've got a a good group of guys and gals over there. Good. It's uh It always amazes me of the dedication that people put into it. Yep. It does me too. It's been that way here as long as I can remember. As you tell, you're you don't remember as far back as I did.

People have always followed me in to help fight. And now big difference is it used to be they just went around the square and you jump on the truck go with them but now we got people that are trained and but they always volunteer. Any other questions? All right. Thank you chief. Thank you. Let's see. I don't see Jeff here for parks and recreation. I'll just say that we did get started on opening day and looks like everything is going good and the weather is certainly cooperating. All right, Chris, you ready for Railroad Museum? Yes, sir.

Come on up. I apologize. Paige is in here to keep me short. So ask Paige gets credit for that. You can give me the signals. Wonderful.

You can give me the signals. I'll try to keep this con can concise. I sent y'all some uh economic info, impact info. So, we've been spending a lot of time trying to develop that to understand what it means. Um, one of the reasons we been developing this whole idea is what can we do to help the town from an economic standpoint and increase things. And there's obviously ways to do that and different things and build a lot of buildings or get a bunch of, you know, manufacturing, those kind of things. And those aren't necessarily things we want in town. Uh because of where I came from in Pennsylvania with the Shredburg government up there, the railroad coming here, this was to me a kind of a good solution to capitalize on. So that's how it all came about and why it came about. So we spent a lot of time with this study. Ask any questions along the way. I don't know if you had time to look at it yet. Um and they're just kind of real uh you know we took it from a lot of other impact studies, state tourism studies, uh looked at some other cities and towns and organizations that do this to kind of compile that. So that's how we got all that information together just to kind of show um you know by creating a bit of a tourism industry if you will here uh what that does economically for the town. Um and and there's two sides of that. Uh and the the one example is I talked to Amy today from the chamber uh about the yard sale that we had this past weekend which was a which was a really great event. It was a great day, beautiful day. I thought there was a lot of people, a lot of the businesses, you know, said they experienced a lot of business that day. Um so that's a really great event for the town. The I don't want to say the downside of that, but the other side of that is it helped a lot of the businesses that are here. Um but a lot of the people who came and did booths and all those things, a lot of that money left our town, didn't stay here. We don't collect sales tax on that. Um you know, some of

the food trucks, we give them a waiver for that event. So event like that is great for the town in one aspect, a bit of a downside in another sense. Um so in in kind of an overall sense, it really becomes a really great marketing opportunity to bring people to our town. The goal being how do we get more people here today on Tuesday and Wednesday? The train comes 18 times a year and again that's great. Um you know so we got the two yard sales the train. So now we're talking 20 events you know to really make some kind of impact with the handful of business we have here. You know we talking about wanting to do 75 events you know to to get people here. Well that's probably not a great idea. um just from logistically that kind of thing. So how do we develop something to get people here? The train is the great connection obviously um and develop something that can draw people on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. The steam engine coming in adds another element to that. Um we expect along with Nashville Steam Tennessee Central that uh when the steam engine becomes a part of the excursion trains that's really going to change the dynamics of the people who come. Not only is it 500 people getting off the train, there's probably going to be another thousand people showing up just to see it because it's such an event. Um, and that these are these are numbers that are borne out in other places. These are kind of real statistics if you will kind of thing. Um, so those excuse me, those things are great, but again it's train days. How do we how do we develop things? So that's really where the whole museum idea came about and developing the facility in the way that we did with some event opportunity with the third party restaurant so that we can have things and develop things that are drawing the museum itself drawing people here throughout the week based around the train. So that's kind of how those economic uh numbers developed. Um and again if you have any question about those over time feel free to look at them or let me know. I don't want to

spend a lot of time going through those numbers. Um the two things I do want to point out u and the two things that I attached also were there's Wilson County numbers uh and I tap the state impact study you know how many folks came to the state and what kind of numbers it was broke it down into Wilson County with Wilson County numbers so we can see from a tourism standpoint what the numbers are just down the road kind of thing just around us. So by developing something that draws people here, you know, 300 days a year or whatever it may be, we can see that a piece of that pie can come our way and really come to our town and stay in our town. And if we have something that draws people here to spend money here based on our businesses, not based on outside businesses coming in and taking that money home, we can keep that money here. So that's kind of where those numbers really developed. and the importance of those and the other one being and this came from the state impact study why tourism matters. Uh and we you know we all talk often about you know tax base and those kind of thing and taxes here in town. U and the the one sheet talked about how Tennessee uh garners more income from tourism than a lot of other states because of our tax structure because how the money stays here because it's sales tax base. So when people spend money we're taking that money you know, it it's not coming just from the residents kind of a thing. So, tourism is a very important part for Tennessee and I think that can be developed here so that we keep those dollars in our town. Um, and and from my vantage point, again, I don't see any other industry necessary to developing here in a big way to affect that. We're we're a small town. We're a quaint town. We're in Wilson County. We're in distance of a large metropolitan area.

We have the railroad. This is a great opportunity for us to grab a hold of that and and add it to our community as a way to fund some of the infrastructure needs and things that we have that don't become a burden for the residents. Um and and the uh go the last note of the whole thing was just you know what is this uh we are 501c3 you know product company developing this you know relying on people to help us out kind of things. The way we structured the facility is so that there is revenue opportunity with the with the whole concept um so that we we can operate in in the black if you will. Um, a lot of small-time museums tend to chase money just to operate, just to stay open. And and we've worked to develop this so that we can be self-supportive and have other options around just the museum to bring folks here to spend the money here in town. So that's how event side, restaurant side, all those things work. And with the train connection, because it's coming from Davidson County out here, we have a real opportunity to take advantage of not just uh tourism dollars, if you will, but corporate dollars because of these corporate things that happen in Nashville. They're always looking for excursions and things like that. We can draw them out here. So, it's kind of another way to generate revenue there. So, what does this mean uh as far as what you know, working with the city? You know, we're a private entity, like I said. um what does this mean for the city? I think I would hope that mayor's office and the council would understand the significance of this. Um it's not necessarily just a an event we're doing or hey can we have fun concert and all those things are great want to downplay

those things. This is kind of a different model. Uh so I would hope that everyone understands the importance of that and what I would ask is that you know based on these numbers and we can start to share these things and and outside of our circle that the city leadership would really champion this on our behalf. We're not asking the city to do the work or you know contribute the funds or those kind of things but really the connection aspect that all of you have in different ways you know through the governmental side and people we know and long time and that kind of thing and that the city see this as not just another entity doing something for the town which is nice but it really is an important aspect of the town as a whole and that we become a partner if you will and how we do that even to the extent of um talking through things as we develop this having come from the entertainment world um you know we would probably talked about this before we go to places where there would be an entertainer status and we you know we show up tax so we develop things it's a ticket tax or something like that so that we can work together to develop things that benefit the city um because beyond just this thing as the as the entire concept grows and the train grows and they want to start taking trains in and out of here, things like that, there's ways that I think we can discuss and develop things to make it beneficial to the city. Um, uh, so I, you know, hope that you look through those numbers, understand those, ask any questions. Um, I feel like they're fairly conservative numbers. Where I came from, Strasburg, Pennsylvania is a small town out in the country, very much like this, about 3,100 people. They get about three or 4 hundred,000 visitors a year because of the railroad. And it was so important the state built the Pennsylvania

railroad museum across the street. So I think it's something we can understand and look at and then kind of develop together and then you know the city would look at these as being a real option and and again work with us from a championing it standpoint kind of a thing and make those connections kind of thing. So that kind of help put the study together and that

I do have one question. Um, I looked at the numbers briefly. If I understood you correctly, you came up with those numbers based upon state tourism in the Wilson County. Who had the input? Who drive those numbers that were in your report? So, we we pulled all those numbers from various entities and other impact studies and other organizations and what they what they do. So that's how you came up with the the average and the average amount spent per tourist. Yeah. Per tourism. Yeah. And there's a little blip in there about you know these numbers are based on day trippers because we don't have hotel situation here

and you explain you know how those numbers some of those are statistical national numbers. We kind of took all of those things and put it in together. So those those the numbers in this are are really based on other studies and other averages that are out there from organizations. Okay. Few months ago we brought up a uh thing here on at the table and it was killed right here. What?

We wanted or some of us did. We thought uh a nice sign out here would bring people or people coming down this highway right here could see what's going on in water town all the time. And we thought a sign, a nice one that would be run right, uh would be a thing that would help us. and it was kicked out here right here at the table because we didn't they didn't think it was it was useless basically ones that uh didn't agree and and I still agree and I think some of the others do too that we can draw more people in in this city uh by having some a sign out here that everybody body can see and tell what's going on in this city instead of just uh running up and down the highway. And but uh we got we had some members here on the board that thought that was useless, I reckon. And I don't agree.

And uh so I think it ought to be brought back up and uh and put back in in our city and bring put a sign up here that everybody coming down the street or the highway can look grandfather's highway and say, "Hey, it's ball games going on tonight. we might stop or it's a a dinner or still they going to have a barbecue at the fire hall and and so maybe quite a few people would stop and and but we don't have nothing out here that tell the people what's going on

right so I and I think that's wrong

when I worked uh when I was in the music business I worked for a guy um an artist and one of the things they tried to do when I took over is they would do the concert and he would go out and greet people after the show and he tried really hard to be friendly with everybody and become friends with everybody and we had a discussion at one point and I said you know you can do that one at a time and that's going to take you 900,000 years to build a career because we need tens of thousands of people and we need to find ways to do things that create large number of people responding. Um, and so what this does is really we're working on and while a sign is great and that's up to you, we're working on things with Jason from Wilson County developing plans that draw large numbers of people um and and we're going to be advertising nationally uh in some of those kind of things to get large to a larger number of people to come here. So, you know, there's two ways to look at it for sure and probably capture it.

Naturally is good like that, but we need to look beyond that for sure. Locally is good. Also, we have a little sign that's right down here that they changed and says milestone of the day. I know we don't have one know what Mr. talking about, but we have one that says what's coming up. Yeah, I believe uh Donna Delos takes care of that. Yeah. And updates coming up. I think the one Al's talking about was putting one out. I still want to revisit that one. I think the members of the board, but we didn't have a sign that says what's

they thought putting up putting a 3 ft of sidewalk in down new here would with what the sign would cost would be better than than putting a sign up. Yeah. I I don't know. All I know is I'm trying to capture large numbers of people because one at a time is a hard way to do it. Yeah, we need a lot more tax money than a couple people stopping for dinner. So, but but there's certainly benefit to that for sure. Well, we'll we'll revisit that because I'm I'm still very much in support of that. I I can't like for it to be something very nice. I think we're talking about two different things here, but both of them very necessary. Both of us going to the same end though, I think.

Yeah, both of them very necessary. Good. I mean, nicely or 10 people running down the highway out here and say, "Wait a stop." I mean, anything else? Can I uh can I ask you something, please? I heard um recently two or three different reports on where exactly the status of the steam engine is as far as ready to be ready to roll

there. Uh the last I talked to them in a couple weeks uh within the past couple weeks is they're they're gearing up for the steam test. Haven't done that yet. There was a delay on one of the installation things, but that should be coming up here April or May, I think, is their plan. And once once they passed that, um then it's just kind of get it back together and and start their track testing, which is a fairly long process. So I I you know they don't they're not saying any concrete dates but I think they still have in mind you know first first or second quarter of next year it to be operational.

Okay. So, and it it may show up in town before that just in a testing phase kind of thing at the end of the year, but that it's that's just a they're they're definitely making progress and it's not far off, but there's Well, you know, I have mixed emotions. I want them to get it ready, but on the other hand, I want us to be ready, too. Right. Right. For sure. Yeah. that

depending how that goes timing goes and and along with that I think we've mentioned before is I've been spending some time talking with Tennessee Central and they have you know once the turntable and the spurs are you know the the parks complete kind of thing even if the steam engine isn't necessary pulling the train you know they're in a place to have the discussions about having some equipment brought out you know set there for display so we've already talked through the list of equipment that kind of thing so once it's done Even if it's not the steam engine, there'll probably be other visible things. I've always been optimistic about this project, but it's it's taken so long, but I really think that once we get moving, things are going to fall quickly, fall into play, not fall into place quickly.

Yeah, I agree. So, I'm hopeful of that. Yeah. And I It's People come in the store because we play the video in the store and and every day people ask about it. Yeah. Had a stand out at the yard sale and talked to a lot of people. Met a lady who uh Oh, I've been waiting for this. I'm so excited. My father worked on the railroad. I've got so much stuff I want to give to you. So, people are very positive about it. I think it's been a long time. So, there's a little bit of I'll leave it when I see it. But yeah, but the the reaction has been extremely positive. I'm hopeful 2027 will be the year. I think once what you said, I think once it starts and I keep telling people, look, we're we're this close

and we we've got a meeting Thursday or unless they changed it. We hope that the federal government is going to turn us loose Thursday to start designing and bidding the project. Correct. If so, then things should start happening. But awesome. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Chris. Yes. You know the booth they built down by the train track that has QR codes to maps and stuff. Is there a link in there to the video about the train project? Uh, there is and it was all that stuff just goes to the city website, but it might be worth it. We can't. Yeah, we'll talk about make some new signs, but they haven't gotten I mean that's all the people who are already excited about train stuff,

right? Seems Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. I hope that's helpful information. Thank you. Thanks. Sorry to bore you there so long.

No, no, no. You're good. I want to just add something. The last three times I've come down here 15 20 minutes before they board to leave and I just hang around and I want to hear what people are saying whether it's good or bad and what I hear is good but what I'm amazed at I know my English teacher wouldn't be happy with that. You don't end the senator with a preposition. But the first Saturday that I came down here, there was four people sitting there and I said, "You mind me asking where you're from?" He said, "Lexington." He said, "Lexton, Tennessee." "No, Lexington, Kentucky." Okay. The other two ladies, I said, "Where are you from?" Memphis. Okay. next week or the next time I asked and the uh the two people told me they were from Evansville, Indiana. And then this week there was a couple here from Detroit, Michigan. Now they're coming to Nashville and they're coming for the rowdy part and all that, but this gives them an option to get out of town and see the countryside and all of that. And it's it you know I I was used to hearing people say well you know I'm from Dixon or I'm from you know Gallatin or something but when you start talking about coming from Detroit and riding a train out here and then another couple told me about the train that they run in Georgia that actually has a spot where you can get out and put one foot in Tennessee and one foot in Georgia. So we can get out here and put your feet anywhere you want to. Uh so you know and they laughed about it too. So, uh, but anyway, it's a good it's just a good thing and it's going to happen. Um, before I go any further, is anybody I didn't ask while ago. Has anybody over wanted to comment during public vision?

I do have one from Amy Harlon, president of the chamber. Yeah. She just wanted to publicly thank the city for numbering the square and said that we had a great my long yard sale which broke some records and she just wanted to thank the city for that. Okay. Well, thank you. And we did have a great yard sale and the weather that's chamber of commerce weather you can tell her. Yeah. Okay. You ready for civics plans? We have not had a meeting because we need this meeting. So, I will defer to

Okay. All right. Well, I got a few items we can go through. I see the guys are here to set up the voting machine. So, we don't want to keep them out past midnight or 1:00 or whatever in Watertown. They're new residents to Watertown. They were just coming to our meeting.

They will be the next 15 days. Um let me the budget report u the one I'm working from was the one two days before the end of March which would have been the ninth uh month of the year 3/4 of the way through the year. The uh general fund shows a negative 36880 but I still hadn't transferred the 60 out of there that goes back to water and sewer. So uh we're good on that. Parks and Recreation is good and that's always uh amazed me because we run that on a shoestring as y'all know and uh water and sewer is heavy with cash right now but we are also got a big debt coming due first week of May.

May 1st. How much is it? 300 and something thousand. It's it's a lot. It's like 351 or something. It's the big one. you know, you have a big one in May and interest only in November, but we've got uh the planning has worked well. I'll come back to that in a minute uh in a few minutes about something that just kind of perturbed me. um current projects. Um we pretty much talked about the turntable and the meeting we've got Thursday, although I hadn't seen the the coordinates or whatever we sign, but hopefully we're having it. I haven't seen any updates on that.

U Nashville Eastern Railroad Authorities meeting Thursday as well. Um sewer, uh we're moving right along. Let me go ahead and and update you on that. Uh we had a meeting yesterday with water management services there, Representative Steve Jones, uh Brian Conrad, uh Bob Morgan, Dale Smith. Um good meeting. Brian Con Brian Conrad says that the entire project will be completed by June 30, 2026. Yeah, that's good. I told him I said I'm going to announce it. So, you know,

weren't they just talking about they were going to run over and they didn't have any control? He says he can't find the guy that said that and Bob told him. So, I'll tell you who told me. So, I don't know what happened after that, Katie. But the uh but they still uh well, they put uh binder on the road today. They put the binder down where they initially built the hitch line. So it'll stay down for a couple months and then they'll have to come back in shade the road and be brand new all

Yep. And he said he had that he talked about the ditching and the paving on the commerce. They need they got a,000 ft of line to lay over on the hall property. But that ought not be so much rock there as it is dirt bottom land. Uh they got across the creek twice. once behind the city shop and once behind Steve Brown's place

and um then after that they'll all we'll have is you know clean up and the punch list and that type of thing. So hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel. It's just maybe not the train coming to run over. But Brian I told him I said Brian you can you guarantee that? And he said yes. So, uh, and then one other thing in the area of water, we had a young man here in town, and I'm not going to call his name. I don't want to embarrass him, but we had a young man um hit a fire plug down on Pearl Street, knocked it over, and u the police did a report on it. Chief Ender Light's already gotten that to me. He the the driver was insured. So, when we get our total bill together, we'll make that claim to the insurance company, including for the water we lost. And hopefully, uh, we should get back. We should not lose anything on that other than uh Bob did say that y'all are going to move that plug over on the other side of the sidewalk.

We did. We moved into Miss Malone's property over it about 4 and 1/2 ft back. That's the third time. In Bob's words, I'm tired of moving up and I better stop there. Uh

yeah. So, uh but uh that's they got right on that yesterday morning and I brag on these fellas. There ain't no group of people around better that when you got an emergency, they fall in on it no matter what the weather is. And I appreciate it. Uh, now I'm hopeful with what Brian's talking about that perhaps in the middle of the summer we can start talking about street paving and see how much we can do, what kind of money we've got. And I don't want to jinx it, but I'd still like to get that done this year if possible. So, uh, and I said that that's on me. That's not right. So, Mike, a question for that.

Sure. In advance of that, do we want to start looking at trying to create a priority list?

We probably do. And we also need to Steve, we're going to need to explore some funding possibilities like the USDA and um I know well I'm not giving away anything here. The city of Lebanon is paving. They have a paving contract. And when they told me how many miles they're paving for what amount of money, I was encouraged. And I want to talk to that contractor because I'm thinking if they bid the project, we can dovetail on their bid and use them without us having to go through the expense of bidding, which saves some money. But I I'm not ready to report on that yet. But they did tell me that a couple of weeks ago in a meeting on something else.

And another another thought, I don't know if I don't know if we're planning the pave over or if we're going to reclaim the current asphalt and put down new asphalt, but some of our minor streets and things that aren't the main avenues. If we're going to dig up the existing asphalt, maybe we can use that asphalt and resurface some of the minor streets instead of using new product totally. It gives a new surface. Won't last as long as a new product, but it's recycling of the asphalt. Yeah, that's that's good good thought on on the minor alleys, back streets, and things that aren't heavily traveled.

I I still don't want to mislead people. I don't think we can get enough money to pave all the streets in town, but the ones that are driven, you know, I'm thinking Main Street from one end to the other, Elm Street, Elm Avenue. Um, and then see where we go from there. I know we got a lot of bad streets. I believe the worst one in town is the one going to the trash. That's what I'm talking about. Elm talking about Yeah, cuz Elm's gotten a lot of traffic in the last year. It's basically got two streets for It's became two streets for the last year since commerce was closed.

Yeah. And always have April check on this for us. Our money at the local government investment pool for the sewer project. We have a,554,767.70 on on depositor and it's earning interest. Uh, some of that is our interest. It'll stay with us. Any questions on that? I'm not ignoring you. Just over you got to hold it down by yourself over. All right.

Okay. Uh we have received some more calls about the burn pile. Chief Hong left. We we we've got the drought situation that the weather people are concerned about. Everything's dry and we've got limitations from the state. We can burn limbs and branches but not vegetation. So, I talked to Blake today, Chief H, and I asked him, I said, "Blake, if we open this up for two or three days by appointment, maybe have somebody stationed there for half a day, and people can bring wood, you know, trees, branches, whatever, but they'll have to the leaves will have to be off of them, which I think crazy, but that's the rule. If we could do that, would the fire department stand by while we burned it with this drought on Blake City? So, they'd have somebody there. So, hopefully April and Tamara will talk about with Bob in the morning and Cody about how best to make that happen. Of course, if people bring in stuff that we can't burn, then we'll be defeating the purpose. We need to look at that mess they sent out to us the first time because one of their rules in there was a about distance from where

Yeah. this stuff is brought from as in like it can't be but a certain area away from where your burn is and was part of their rule system too. Well, it used to be just our community but there's also a 200t distance from any house. Yeah. had something to do about that. We don't have that. But there was Yeah, I read through that list of rules and I was quite silly some of them. No, no action that I'm asking for tonight, but we're going to try to get that back. We've had three or four or five calls on that. They're just burning them in their yard. I mean, I think it's a But every night

Yeah. And you wonder like it's there in between all the houses. Yes. Just announced super exciting. I think it's crazy. I know what they don't want us burning trash and they don't want us burning shingles and they don't want us burning asphalt, but why can't you bring rush? So, Mike, we've been talking about this since I was on food council before, but it just occurred to me there's this whole principle in composting where you have an active pile and then you close it. Mhm. I wonder how long it would take if we let people put brush and then closed it and start a different pile. Like how long would it take for that pile to become burnable?

The EPA's write up on that actually had something about it wasn't just burning. It's the dumping, bringing stuff to a site. There was a very specific I have to look it up. Do you have an email or just Yeah, I have the email. We didn't. But it's it's a very specific that's that's an interesting thought. Our a boys over at the high school, perhaps that's a project for them that we could get them to take on. Think about at least, right? Because I mean then you'd have to make sure you put the stuff in the right pile, whatever.

I'd say that would be kind of a loophole because if you did get it through a school or a program, it wouldn't be considered a dump pile at that point and considered a project. That's well and I started to call the people back at the state the last couple of days, but I knew with this weather the way it is, they going to tell me you don't need to burn them, you know. So, I thought I'm going to waste my time calling. But I think we ought to explore that. A composting uh network or a Yeah, that would be like a system recycling system for greenery. Yeah,

that's possible. to see what the rules are on that. Let's see what we can come up with. They're getting close to the end of school. That may have to be a July and August project, but there's still some kids that's looking to get their green hand is another big word that they can get their senior year, but that they work over the summer because we have found projects for them to do over the summer so they can get these hours. They have to have a lot of hours by first time their senior year to get like the national recognition. Who would I talk to at the a department over here? Jason Bradshaw. How do I know Jake? How do I know that name? He's from here. He married one of the tri girls.

Is that Matt? No, sir. Okay. I have done that same. I don't think they're related. They're what? They're not related. Oh, okay. But I know that name from somewhere. They would be more.

Okay. All right. Well, that's a that's a good idea. We'll pursue that. Um few items in new business. The audit is there. I'll need you to vote to accept it. The uh it's a good audit. It's has the standard stuff. We don't have enough people handling money, but because of our size, we can't do any better. Uh the bad news is in our general fund last year according to the audit we over spent and also in water and sewer. And again I'll come back to that in a minute and I'm going to end with something that makes me ill. But uh anyway, everything else is good. I'm watching this as best I can. Hopefully we won't have this again. But uh we over spent last year. So now good news is we've got a fund balance that cover. We got a half 3/4 of a million dollar fund balance and over a million dollars in water and sewer. So but I need y'all to accept the audit if you would and it'll be ACC.

I'll make a motion to accept. Second. All right. Discussion. All right. All in favor say I.

I. Oppos. Thank you. Now, um here's something. Um let me get my notes here. Okay. We bought all of this acreage on the other side of the creek back in the 1990s, mid to late 1990s. We sold the house off over here and we have all this over there where the helicopter pad is and where the tiny tots ball field is. There's a pond back there and we always thought we owned that pond, but we don't. We've been taking care of that for 20 something almost 30 years. There's 5.01 01 acreage back there. And how it's come to light is that the delinquent tax attorney has located it as being delinquent with taxes. And the owner of that property lives here in Watertown. She wants us to have it. She thought we had it. she until she started getting these u notices saying that there was delinquent taxes and she wants us to have it. I told her we want it because we feel like it's ours has been all along. So here's what I'm going to propose to you. Um I'm going to propose to you that we pay the delinquent taxes through May 31. That'll be $2,400.90. I'm going to propose that we get a title search on it. And the gentleman that's going to search the title for me told me it would uh not exceed $250.

And then I'm going to suggest that we get the property surveyed. Talked to Brian Keith's firm, Steve, the one who comes to the planning commission all the time. It will be $2,850 to $3,350. The mixup was one of the mixups was what I was looking at only showed 1.64 acres, but the lady that owns it said it's 5.01. And when I got talking to the surveyor, he said, "Yeah, it's 5.01." So, we need to get that survey and know exactly what we've got. So, my proposal to you tonight is is that we buy that for paying the back taxes. the cost of title search and the cost of the survey. That's going to be about uh going to be around $6,000. $6,000.

Yeah. It's landlocked. It's worth more to us than it is. I I have a question for you because if you go on the Wilson County GIS site Mhm. It already indicates that the city has a landlock piece back here that's I think already a couple acres. Is that the same one you're talking about? Well, that's the one I was looking at, but the one that the surveyor found was 5.01. And I thought we were looking at the same thing, but maybe it's the two of them combined. I don't know. But whatever he surveys it out that's left over that's put in the city of Watertown.

Why do I do I know the home? Do what? Do I know who own Yeah. Yeah. Doy Williams. Terry Williams. Uh, why? Used to belong to Miss Larry We Larry Jones years ago. Well, I tell you who had it before. How was Joe and Clara Dodd? That's Doy's parents. They live on and they sold some of it off and then they passed away. Yeah. And u So she wants us to have it. We've met over here and we've been in contact back and forth and it means more to us than it does anybody because it's not a building site. It's a big pond. Yeah, it can be bigger. Yeah.

And well, my question for you, well, with this acquisition of the five, will it still be landlocked or will it adjoin ours? It will adjoin ours so it will no longer be landlocked. That's right. It it doesn't have road access to road, but it has it right through. Well, I I I guess my thought is if we ever develop this as additional park space, which I think has always been the plan, right? We could have the pond as part of the extended park. Yeah. They build a house in front of it. That's exactly what I wanted was pond. Okay. I hope I have hopes that one of these days we can open that up a couple of days a week and kids can come over here and fish. It's fish. It's fish out there. that big.

Oh, you talking about over in the in the rock quarry now. It's It's a little bond back there. I know. Yeah. Yeah. They ain't no telling what's in that rock for you and I know that. I wouldn't I maybe some dead bodies. Put my foot in it cuz they ain't no telling what's in it. All right. Well, well, I'd like to get y'all to approve that. So, I'm going to recommend that to you if you would do it. I make motion. We approve. I'll set it that discussion. I know you got it. You can find everything. I think it's one down here, but yeah, it is not sectioned on this one. All right. All in favor say I.

I opposed. Say you can find more stuff on that phone right there. And I find my telephone number. Um be here tonight. his youngest son is going from tonight's his advance from 8th grade into high school meeting night. So JC needs to be there. But he has sent us a proposal. We need to purchase a chlorine analyzer. As you might guess, this is suggested by the state of Tennessee. It will uh it will tell us how little chlorine can be in the system and still remain effective. He has recommended one. It is he's taken bids. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive either. It's the Chem Track unit with pH adjustment quoted by Labtronics. Now, y'all might that mean mean something to y'all. Um, all I know is he said it's got to be tied into our scatter system, you know, which we did some work on that about a year ago. The price of this is 13,46534. So, I'll recommend that to you as well. JC said needs to be done in April so we can get that taken care of.

So, you need a motion for I do. Motion to purchase what's it called again? Yep. It's the chem unit. Let's just call it that. Flooring the analyzer. Yep. All right. Is there a second? Okay. Discussion. I wish I could tell you more about it. All I know about water is a cut faucet on comes out. All right. Ready to vote? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Okay. Now, here's the one that I've been hinting around that doesn't make me happy. I got an email from folks with the controllers's office, the Tennessee Board of what's it called? A utility regulation on March 5 telling me that we were on the docket for a meeting on March 12th. That's 7 days notice now. two of which is weekend. And I wrote them back and said, I would like for them to move it to the next date because I have I was in court that day. I had seven cases and I said, I can't be there. And they came back and told me that I could join the meeting virtually if my schedule permitted, but they would not reschedule the meeting. It didn't sit well with me, but you have to play by their rules. If I could join it, I' i'd have gone. But the response was, "This email was intended solely as notice that Watertown will be included on the agenda. No action is required from you at this time." They didn't tell me what they was going to consider. 7 days notice. We're not going to put it off for you. And they don't tell you what it's going to consider. So on April 2nd after the meeting, I get an order from them signed by the chairman of that board. And the last time I was down there, he was super nice. He told me said, "Appreciate what y'all." We adjusted the rates, but I've got to hire somebody to do a capitalization policy, a review of our debt management policy, the creation

of a five-year capital asset budget, a review of relevant utility fees, including connection or tap fees. We adjusted those. Verification that all of us are in compliance with the relevant training requirements. Well, I've got mine for having to mess with them. And a review of the leak adjustment policy, including any recommended modifications. We fixed that. If I could have just gone down there, or if they put it off to the next meeting, I could have told them that. They wanted me to hire somebody by April 30th. That's this year, 16 days from now. But and they wanted it completed by December 31. Now, they did throw me a bone. They gave the board staff the authority to grant up to two extensions of up to six months of the deadlines upon the showing of good cause. I'm going to respond to this and I'm going to tell them what we've done and I'm going to tell them in a kind way. I hope that if you' just let me come down there, we could have told you that if you just said it all. They didn't want to do it. But it irritates me that they tell you you're on the docket. That's not the American way. You're married to an attorney. Nobody goes to court unless they know what they're charged with.

If you're on the docket, there's a reason you're on the docket. And that reason is normally shared. That's correct. And that just and I have a question for you. Everything that we've done everything they just noted and I I think we've done all that within the last two years. We started it within the last two years. We actually finished it about a I believe it was April last year because Yeah. I say because we with with the water and sewer project we did we went through everything you just described. Mhm.

Now if we present them evidence that we have done this on this in with the dates can we request a wave? I mean hey will they will they accept that in lie of spending money to redo another one? I don't know the answer to that, but I'm going to request a 90-day extension. I don't want six months

and then send them all of that and see what they do with it. U but and I'm sorry, but just the way we got to this point and the fact that they're telling me you got to do all the stuff you've already done. So, you don't have to vote on anything on that. You just got to tolerate your mayor being ill for a few minutes. And I am going to ask for the extension. and I'm going to respond to the order. So, and I'll keep y'all informed. I'll be nice. That's really all I had tonight. Um, theformational items. I will not be here the third Tuesday next month. If y'all want to meet, you're welcome to. If you don't, I'll need to move move it to either the second Tuesday or the fourth Tuesday. Which one am I going to go to?

The fourth graduation for Wilson County School starts on the 12th and ends like on the 23rd. That's early. Yeah. The first graduation will be on the 12th. That's the BTA adult high school. Um, so hey, and I know now that's the Tuesday after Memorial Day. And I know people take vacations and stuff. Everybody good? You good with that? Stay. What day? 26th. 26th. Yeah. I'm not going I'm not going to be gone till first week in June. Okay. I should be good. I'm I'm out for two weeks in August. But

well, if we get to, you know, there's a lot of time between now and then. If something comes up, y'all find out you got a conflict, let me know. After Memorial Day, we'll move this day after Memorial Day. And it's already been mentioned about the yard sale. I just thought that was a great day. And couple of us remember a lot of yard sales. I have to think that the crowd Saturday was as big if not bigger than any we've ever had. It was nice to walk around. A lot of people. I didn't get to come over. I wasn't up the far. So, it's Well, there's a crowd. Yeah. So, I didn't get to make it.

All right, let's go around the table. Howal, you're first up. Uh, I really can't think of anything I could bring up. Okay, Steve. Don't really have anything other than the fact if if anybody's a baseball fan, I want to remind everyone our baseball team is doing fairly well so far this year and I think we got a good chance making a good run into the tournament season. So, yep. And there's two games this week on Thursday and Friday. So, come on out. There's not three more home games, I think. But, who do we have to see to find out to get the dates of when the ball? I like to go see them play baseball, but I never know when they play. I've got a

I'll send it to you. All right. Yeah. And and uh if we finish first, the district tournament will be here, too. So, we got a good we and right now I think we got a good chance. I think we're in the lead. Yes, sir. They're playing at Mercur right now. It's also on the school's website, but it doesn't update it fast like they're drifting from the weather or something. I I've been to go see them play several times, but I hadn't been up for two. I I've heard them time two hollering over, but

they're they're pretty good. I I went to Carthage Friday and saw them. I went over to East Robertson the Friday before that. I guess it was good Friday. And they're pretty good. Of course, you didn't have a bad day, but they're pretty good. They're very well coached. Um, anything else, Steve? No, that's it for me. That's fun stuff there. Laura, I've been quite a few months now, right? You want to You want to hang a star on the wall for you? I'm ready tonight. It's getting there quick and easy.

Um, we got the list of food trucks from Miss April of who is compliant right now. Who monitors those? Cuz I know some people think that they're still good. They didn't realize that it had expired. So when they're get up for expiration, do you like give them a call or anything? I usually track them down, but they have their permit, so they should keep up. I know that, right? Okay. Cuz aren't they supposed to have posted? They are supposed to. Yes. Because we have quite a few right now. There's only three that's on there and none of those three are even visiting. So, the ones that are around here right now visiting do not have a permit

because there was one that I had to keep texting and get in touch with. Yeah. So, I just want to make sure that we're polite and Yeah. Um, and then the other thing is softball. I had a parent bring this up and I haven't talked to any coaches or the middle schools. I don't know the baseball and softball middle school use our our fields.

Okay. The parents asked about doing a concession stand and gate and their coaches told them the city said we cannot do that. So the parent was like how come we go to Carol Oakland and have to pay $7 but when people come here they don't have to pay anything. We have to do extra fundraising to get money for our uniforms and stuff like that. So, have we ever told them like you can't charge a gate fee? Not that I'm aware of, but but we do know

that the same time that somebody maybe there's a baseball game going on, our teams are playing on this field and if you try to charge those folks and problem it was I told her I said, "Now, number one, it's hard to monitor." Yeah. And number two, you can't use our concession stand because that is for our city league. it funds our and she's like but we couldn't set up our own and I said I will ask at our next council meeting and depending on what the mayor said you can go take that up with your coach we've never done that because I don't want them to use our possessions then because we had that marked for our I know but but our concessions will be open now that we're playing ball over here Monday Thursday

but if they want to set up concessions and compete with us know we can do okay I'll let her know that but you know they start sometime they start in March Yeah, especially from March until whenever. Okay. Um, so I'll let her just know she coach trying to be difficult, would you? No. Right. Um, and the other thing was the Everbridge posters. I brought that up at one of the meetings and Mr. Casey wasn't here. So, I just wanted to bring that up again. the businesses that a few mess ago we had said the Everbrite posters were going to get and put in all the businesses to get the word out there. So he said that yes when you want to speak for yourself

well no I mean I know that night we talked about it there was a discussion about the cost and he said it'd be about 20 bucks. I offered to pay for it. He told me don't worry about it. He was going to donate it being uh Mr. Michael. Yeah. Michael. Oh, okay. So, that was the that was the last I heard of it was that he was going to cuz they were going to print them on a cardboard. Yeah. paper so that it would survive and last longer. Yeah. And like I said, I had personally offered to pay for it, but he said, "Don't worry about it. I wouldn't pay for it. We need to." So, Well, yeah. Because y'all have them, right, Mr. Okay. Yeah. I didn't think they're in our businesses yet. And I would like to get that out there. Mr. Hinderite and I know this was kind of April's push and Mr. Hunite worked to get that and

Yep, he did. We need to get it out to our community. Maybe even put it in the paper. Okay. Thanks. If you I'll try to remember to put it in my article next time. Okay. I'm good. Put it on the website, too. It wasn't bad. No, it wasn't. It was just a few. You're good till Christmas now. That's right. What do we need to Have you called anyone on the the 911 button? No, I have not. Yeah, I figured it just Yeah, but it is important that I if you need something, hit me up. We'll try to get it moving along cuz I had somebody else ask me about it last week. So,

yeah, we had, you know, we've had three or four walk ups and now that they secure the building like you can't get anybody. Yeah, it's not that they're at fault that they don't come to the door. They may bring them back don't hear it and the fire department's locked up too. It should be but you know I guess we coded all that with the digital stuff. So we don't have access to but the button does need to be fixed in my opinion. So that way when we're talking about the the metal that you know you should push it and call 911 if you had an emergency. Yeah. So it's not worked somebody

the wiring is partially still there but the original like DSN box that was back in the back room is missing and gone and whatever ties those two buttons together has to have some kind of cell link so it calls mine rolling out. We need either AT&T or whoever it is we're using like for the city. They need to come out and put this box in. So, who put that in? Put in I think I think it was AT&T, wasn't it? AT&T. I mean, who who paid? Do we pay for the installation?

Oh, yes, sir. When the building was made or made erected, uh, it just I said it doesn't work. It really does need to work because there are a lot of times we've had three MIS pull up active MI on the car and you know if one of them is sitting up front we don't have a buzzer either. So how do we get that? We need to call AT&T and ask them to come out and give us a quote on what what they need to put in I guess their new server or their router box where not to have to dial 911 only. I think that's important. Um, yeah.

And we'll probably have to pull the face off that button, I'm sure, and check and make sure it's still good inside there because it's old and been sitting for quite a while. But the button is still there. It's just it doesn't you click it doesn't do anything. But you said the box in the back is gone. Yeah. Where all the wiring goes back to the main server area inside or outside? It's inside the building inside the dispatch per se for the fire department and the whole building central. And that's the reason that we found out is when it didn't work, we went back there and all of our stuff was back there. So, we had to move all of our stuff up to our room so that nobody I mean our people run their internet.

But how how does something like that disappear? I mean, I think we all know the answer. Rhetorical question. Yes. I mean, the wiring is is still there best I can tell. Everything was coming down the ceiling and out of the ground, but the natural metal box that was all men originally, the unit is missing out of the box. So, it locked off or they can get it or I don't know the answer to that, but we'll get to work on that. If we can get a box in there, I'm more than happy to do the time to try to get the make sure the wiring all is happy for me to be. So, okay. We need to get that fixed. We'll get to work on it. Okay. Anything else? Probably. Well,

what day? We decide May 26th. 26th. That's all right. You're going to be gone in June. You said we got anybody over there, Mr. Director wants to talk to us. Zack, we're good. We're good. Okay. I can't hear you think your name. I'm sorry. I gave you a title. U Okay. Y'all ready to vacate the building? Second. We're out of here.