City Council - Regular Meeting

Our Lord will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. If everyone could stand. Let us pray. God, we thankful today, God, as always, that you give us another day to serve you, Lord. And we just ask blessings upon a city council, Lord, as they seek your guidance to do what you'd have them to do, Lord. Father God, we're always thankful that you got your hand on Greenville and Green County. And we continue to ask you to bless all our department heads and all our departments as they uh serve every day, God, to do your will. We just thank you for this day and draw us all closer to you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.

Face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just want to thank everyone for coming today. We got a big crowd which is always good. Um, as far as ma major mayor's comments go, there's a number of things that we will go over. Um, first Nancy Laughlin has said would she wants to ask a question, so I'm going to ask her to come up. Good evening. If someone has reported a crime to the police, but the police didn't handle it properly and this caused the victim more harm, can city council help? We have addressed this question a number of times with a lot of different people, the courts, the police, uh the DA, and we have done all that we can do.

May I present my case next meeting? No, ma'am. We've discussed this a number of times, and we don't we there's nothing we can do for you. Uh, court action has not been taken. Ma'am, uh, Chief Spano, could you come up, please? Court has been chief investigation that was supposed to be given to her by him. She keeps going on with all this, but it's just not true. There's nothing we can do, Ma. Ma'am, you said you wanted to ask one question and I gave you the opportunity. We have done all that we can do. So, thank you for coming in today.

Thank you, mayor.

Yes. Okay. The next one is uh we've got a proclamation. Can you pull that up? April is uh the month for child abuse prevention and there was a resolution that was given to the in the county yesterday and just wanted to go over. Do we have anybody from the uh child abuse group? No. Okay. But anyway, we will get this posted and sent out, but just remember what it a big issue it is here in our community and uh things that we can do to help our folks. So, just wanted to bring it up. April is the month and and we can move forward on that. So, thank you, Christina. The next thing is I'd like to bring George Wartzell up. He's got a uh something to say, I believe. So, I came and talked to city council quite a few months ago, like years ago about uh audible pedestrian signals in our town. And they were they were promised and it was it was a while and happening. And I am a person who is blind and has been all over the world. And my blindness was never much of an issue as far as crossing streets and doing what I wanted to do. Now that I'm going deaf, it is a huge issue as far as crossing streets and those kinds of things. The audio pedestrian signals that you put up have a thing on them. If you hold your finger on the button, it it starts to vibrate when the when the light changes. And um it has made a big difference in in my ability to cross that street. And I want to thank you. I know it's taken you a little while to

get around to it. So, I thought I'd present you around to it. So, Mr. Cal, you can put that up in your office and know that you will always get around to it. I think we'll put it in a better place than that. Thank you so much. Thank Thank you guys. Appreciate you. It I I will tell you, you know, I I quit crossing the street because I I I lost my confidence to know when the when the cars change and that has that's made a difference for me. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Did you take a picture? That's clever.

Thank you so much. You're welcome. I want to thank the public works department for getting that completed because it was a it's a it's a great thing that we have had completed. So, thanks George. Next, I'd like to invite Bart up for a moment. Bart came to the U Christmas parade this past year. He is the man, the people that brought the Clydes Dales. So, I'm gonna let him talk from this point. So, that's going to be tough to follow.

Oh my goodness. I should

I'm going to do my best. My name is Bart Long, and I know you guys are very busy, so I want to thank you for just a couple of minutes. I am in the real estate auction business. We're the largest real estate auction firm in the region. Uh we have offices in Abington, Bristol, Kingsport, and now Green County. We bought Green County Land in auction in the fall of last year. Um, our office staff sat down and did a pretty extensive study on where we wanted to invest time. We've been coming here doing auctions for a long time, but where do we want to spend money in radio advertising, buying, have an office, and all the 23 municipalities we went through came up with Green County. I said this last night kind of off the cuff, but it's my natural reaction. This is still a handshake community, and I like that. I've enjoyed the people. I haven't been anywhere yet that I've been disappointed by anything or anybody. And so the more time I spend down here, the more I am excited that we're here. Um the partnership invited us to the Christmas parade and we brought our Clydesdalees. They're the equin ambassadors of our business. And we decided we had never been treated better at any parade. I've been through hundreds and hundreds of places with them. We were treated so wonderfully that day that we wanted to take a minute for the county and the town and have something made for you all to kind of recognize the first time the horses had been to Green County. And I'm hopeful you can find a a place to put this

like our chief police to come up and be a part of this. I will not be able to take credit for this. I have some ladies in my office that are much more artistically talented than I am. But it's very nice to meet all of you. We appreciate your time and and we really look forward to getting to know all of you a little better. Matt, Tim, Tim, Jenny, Laura, I don't know that you got to meet him, but I'd love for you to go up. And Chief Spano was leading the parade. So,

he drug us through town. Yeah, sure. We deal a lot with a lot of different chambers of commerce and I will tell you this and then let you go, the partnership here is impressive. They do a wonderful job. the choreography of how they handled things with us coming to town. It takes a lot to get all that put together. It's not just a simple kind of drag a float in. And they worked with us for several days and several trips to Greenville to get that all worked out and they did a great job. I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Okay. Um the next thing is after our meeting last Friday, some of the comments that Mr. uh Solomon made really resonated with me. So I would like to add an additional agenda item today to talk about our search and what our next steps may be. One of the things I think we need to look at is looking at a an outside consulting executive search firm to help us with this uh search. So, do I hear a a motion to approve this for the agenda?

There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. Any further discussion? Yes. I thought that we'd already decided what we were doing that we were having that second round of interviews. Well, and and I think that we wanted to my opinion is we need to change it. Change

change the process and look for someone to help us. We had talked about when we were putting this in place that if we didn't have enough uh people to apply, we might look at doing opening it up a little bit. With all of the issues that we've had with who can participate, who can't. I just think it is maybe a we have a need to look at an outside service to help us. I guess you've taken me by surprise, mayor. What What do you mean um who can participate and who can't? Well, I guess that's what we will talk about. I'm open to discussion. Okay. All right.

So, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Motion carries. We'll put it at the end today. Tim, is there anybody here from either the um youth leadership or adult leadership? Okay. Far as public comments go, there are three people on our list. They all are with one of the items that we're going to talk about. So, I'm going to wait until we get ready for that and bring them up. So, item 6.1 is consideration to approve the minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting held on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.

We got those last week. Do I hear a motion to approve? So moved. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I.

All those against like sign. Motion carries. Okay. Going to new business. Item 7.1 is update from Canopy and discussion on alternative housing options. And I think Dr. Mike Hartzel's going to come up and talk. Thank you, mayor, alderman, citizens. Um, Canopy has been working for three years now. We just had our third birthday. Uh, we have uh a dedicated purpose to serve the homeless and in particular direct that toward housing. of the three types of homeless individuals we meet. Uh our approach to clients is first of all to ask who are they? What's happened? Uh this determines what happens next. First, for the situationally homeless, we found ways to get rapid rehousing or short-term boosts that uh prevention strategies seem to help best and and frankly, they're the most straightforward clients to assist and uh move on toward housing. The episodically homeless, on the other hand, have more serious issues around resources that they do not have, such as housing support with vouchers, and available affordable affordable rental units. And we need your help here with uh things like plan development, perhaps uh resoning for apartment construction, better social services, and and contributing to rental assistant program like Fairview Housing. Uh this includes families and kids as well. Um thirdly and probably the most significant and difficult group of displaced neighbors are those who are chronically unhoused.

And this is where we have this intersection of disabling conditions such as psychiatric, substance, medical, partner abuse and then the comorbidities that interact that requires uh transitional housing or often uh permanent supportive housing. Um complicated process is needed sometimes to get mental health intervention, substance intervention and recovery. Some of those take up to a month of time. And then getting these clients to reenter society requires not only some hardware as in a site in which they can do that. And that's what we're beginning to to approach with. Um and that's uh some type of transitional village but also needs the software that you wrap your hands around that which is the wraparound support services uh that allows those people to reintegrate and learn and and become trained up as new citizens as they get necessary social skills. They then reenter the real world living in 12 to 18 months when they're ready for graduation. supportive communities such as transitional housing villages can be done in a number of different ways. We've got a couple of realworld examples of the KNOSOGA wagon type of uh uh homes that uh have been deployed, one in the county, one in the city here where they work pretty darn well. So, I think we can uh help get these folks together and keep them from falling back into old patterns of behavior and habits where uh problems can fester and they can uh reopen old wounds. Also, within that, we can ask uh the council for favorable consideration of some designated safe outdoor spaces. Now, this is where adults, many of whom

are working, who have a car but no homes, could park and sleep in their cars at night without being roused and and be given uh video monitoring for security and access to a toilet and some warm water. We also would like to work cooperatively uh with with law enforcement to work on folks who are to be released from jail, who who have no place to go. And uh if we can find out ahead of time with that, we should be able to provide some direction as to what's an option that's available for them when they get out. Uh we're requesting also uh civic leadership to help us boost participation in winter warming shelter. Uh the provision of shelter is just critical and we've had a bunch of nights this year where the warming center's been opened and currently just one church aspberry one nonprofit care has been managing this and Lord I hope they could keep it up and do the work. uh but helping from the the pulpit of civic participation to say, "Hey, we really need to help join in because it's taken 140 men and women to stand the watch this winter to help." These, I think, are some real tangible things we can do to work together. And it starts with the understanding that housing is a fundamental right and we need to work together so that we can make a beloved community. Uh the slide deck that we've provided has got a lot of details about the specifics of those transitional villages. They can be built economically now and we just need the awareness from the council to be cognizant to the fact that once we get the hardware and the software together. We're going to need some zoning help to try to figure out how we can put that together with adjacent partners that going to help us find a site to do that. But with that,

I'll say thank you for the time. Appreciate the opportunity to present these concepts to you. We also have our report that follows up on three years worth of work and what we've been able to accomplish. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Is there anybody would like to ask any questions or make any comments? Uh, do you happen to know off the top of your head the number of people in our community, Green County, Greenville, who are experiencing homelessness? Do you happen to have that statistic? Just for the record, pit count, the pit count numbers for this year, uh, stayed right in the vicinity it was last year. We got 82 individuals. Thank you. Uh, 87 last year. Thank you.

And 81 the year before. We've got a figure that's hanging right in there. And that's just the people we could find on a cold night in January. Does not include kids in schools, their parents that are episodically homeless and and are couch surfing and that sort of thing. talk with the the city and uh county family resource personnel to help you with those numbers. Thank you for what you're doing try to trying to help folks and we'll see if there's things that we can do the uh parking and certainly law enforcement if there's people that are coming out letting letting y'all know that they're coming out so they might can get some assistance would be a parthetically Johnson City has two officers that are dedicated solely to working with the homeless in their community up there but they got a bunch more than we do.

Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you coming in.

And I I guess just on on a side note, Heatherwood is has um been sold and that is going away from section 8 housing. So, I think there's about 40 families, 40 rooms, 40 that are that are gone. To my knowledge, there are 40ies that are going to neighbor to do that. try to see what's also want to thank Nick. I've talked with him a couple times and we've talked about some other things and uh thank you. All right, item 7.2 2 is I've got to get down to it now around to it.

Isn't to the feather flag discussion is it is okay. So there are a number of Can you go um up one more down whichever the direction is that one the next one? It is. It is the this one flag. Yes sir. At 7.2. Okay. Yes.

All right. Well, there are three people that requested to speak and Lyn Broyals is the first one on the list. So I will ask her to come up. I'd like to second our thanks to Dr. Hartzel. Um, we've spoken many times how we're all one major emergency from being homeless. So, I hope um we can find a way as a community to help you do what you do. Thank you. Um, so I am Lyn Broyals. I am the executive director of the Green County Anti-Drug Coalition. Um, I just wanted to give you something to consider as you uh look at the feather flags and really any other type of advertisement. Um, I want to be clear, this is not about limiting small business by any means, um, or interfering with any commerce, but what I'm concerned about is our advertising and high visibility signs that are used to pro promote um, addictive age restricted products in our area where our youth and children gather. Um, so just prior to the meeting and you all have copies, I purchased a half an ounce of THCA. It's going to my house though. If Andy gets it first, it's you'll know what it's about. Um, and in no way was I asked for my age. It'll be delivered to my home. I used Apple Pay and um you know that was from scanning this barcode and I can give you one if you want and it it went out to local postal customer and that could be anyone. Um, so this is something we're already seeing here in Greenville in regards to age restricted

business advertising and that I understand is a conversation for another day, but I think that's one we definitely need to have. Um, so obviously with the examples I gave you, uh, they're using what I would consider youth focused branding and so they're not accidental choices. I mean, these are things that are meant uh strategically for youth and they can for this one it was monster munchies madness talking about gummies. Um, and again, that's a side note. I don't mean to take up the council's time on that, but I just wanted to put into perspective why I have concerns about advertising. So, these businesses are already reaching our home through the mail. Um, and I've already reached out to the USPS to see um, what types of limitations there is on that. Um, but again, we're talking about feather flags and this conversation is bigger um, for sure. But we know that at this point you're considering this. I am not trying to limit any business or advertising um, in any way. But what I am suggesting is that we look at Tennessee law. Um we could possibly use zoning authority to regulate this signage. Um within the context of a church, the Boys and Girls Club um schools and things like that. The state already enforces a thousand foot buffer um for these type of advertising near schools and churches. So this state law restricts marketing. Obviously that appeals to minors. I think these flyers do. And I just want to make sure that that's part of the consideration, not to not accept flags, but is there a world in which we could put some sort of limitation on who and what type of business can use this, which we all know all of the vape shops

and other things already have flashing LED lights and um they're very Oh, sorry. Okay. So,

you're fine, Lyn. Here is what I I'm wondering is as we move forward um could this ordinance include some type of youth protection uh standard in uh in spec specifically no feathered flags for age restricted businesses within at least 1,000 ft up to a quarter mile of schools, parks, churches, youth organizations like Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA and no youth appealing imagery on these signs. Um, it does not affect general retail. Again, I support that wholeheartedly. I just want to possibly uh look at some um uh guard rails. So, um I think you know families already have a hard job and they're using the mail. Uh they're using all of these ways to get to our youth. Um which is in itself uh very very disheartening. But I want to just put that out there. Um, I did give you some information including some of the statutes and laws in Tennessee that we might be able to use. Um, and I'd be happy to talk about this more and I'll keep you updated. Um, I have proof of how I was never asked for my ID. Um, and it'll be delivered to my house within 48 hours. So, I've already talked to Steve and we're talking to the DEA to try and figure out exactly where this is coming from. Um, so thank you for your

Thanks. Thank you, Liam. And next is Jan Merkoff. And I should have said this earlier. You got three minutes.

Good afternoon. Um I am here as the executive director of Main Street to talk about the downtown area. Um specifically some of our um areas that already have some boundaries. We have an 18 block main street district. We have a historic zoning and we also have a national registry. So, as you discuss this and consider this, um, I really would like for you to take into account those areas and how hard we have worked as a community over the years to um, keep our uniqueness, the architecture. Uh, one of the things on the feather flags in a downtown very um tight area that we could find is um it's a visual um lack of better term a nuisance nuisance um from that also visibility with some um I feel sure that people might be tempted to put things in flower pots. Please not on my watch. um that has a lot of uh things. It also ruins the plants that we spend thousands of dollars on. But uh in addition to branding downtown um availability and the look um as you go forward in your decision and your discussions, please consider that uh perhaps using those three boundaried areas for um to be exempt from anything. Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks, J. Last is Chris Gunner. I just thank thanks for taking the time to listen and listen to if we can get it changed. But I think these signs it does work for sn for smaller businesses, especially like a niche business like mine because if he didn't, you wouldn't see them everywhere. And when we have the Irish vegetable in the fair, they're everywhere on every food truck. So they're so they do work especially for small businesses like mine. I get calls every day. They still want to say, "Do you do bike repair?" Well, yeah, that's the bulk of my business. So I've got a flag. It says bike repair on it, but I can't put it out. And I've got some banners on the inside, but you can only see so much, you know, driving by from a from a car. With a feather fly, you can get a little bit closer to the car or to the road, I guess, to where people can see. And, you know, I know they do make some noise, but so does American flag when it's windy 70 mph like we've been having here lately. So, you know, but I just think it's I just think that they do work for smaller businesses and we know small businesses in a tough time right now. So, small businesses need every help they can get to pull the edge away from big corporations. Thank you.

What is your business? Will sports bicycle shop on 422 East Bernard Avenue. I thought I know that, but I wanted everybody else to. Thank you. All right, that's all the people that we have to speak. So, I guess um

do what?

You didn't did you not did you you didn't sign up? He's the reason it's on. Yeah. Come on up, Chris.

No, no, no, no. I also want real quickly, I wanted to say I think we had a misunderstanding. You thought I could make this decision. All I can do is put it on here. So, it's really up to these guys and ladies. So,

all right. Well, first of all, good evening, Mr. Mayor and city councilman, I appreciate you allowing me to come back up and speak to you again. Hey, um I'm um I propose a revision to our current sign or ordinance regarding feather flags for business and shopping centers. Currently, small business, excuse me, small business struggle with v visibility compared to a large anchor stores. I suggest allowing one flag per storefront front provided it is displayed only during business hours and bought inside at closing. And this is really a win-win situation for the small business and the city because it's going to increase it can increase foot traffic for the small business and it can increase uh tax revenue for the city. Uh but this in-n-out policy prevents visual clutter at night and ensures flags remain in good condition and supports local economic growth without creating clutter. But thank you for your uh supporting our local business and everything. And uh one more thing I want to say about the the feather flags. I know a lot of people talk about uh distractions and stuff, but um I've done a little research and um there's never been any I' haven't you can't find any accident reports or anything from anybody saying, "Oh, there's a business right here." And uh and as you can see, my flag is like I just wanted to to put a picture of what a because a lot of people don't understand what a feather flag is. Uh, and then I just wanted to that street, the first picture is the one from the street side. So that's what if you was driving down the street, that's what you could see. And of course that's up close. But, um, there's no police reports of any, not just feather flags, but of billboards, um, the lit up boards or anything. Anybody's having any distractions, um,

having any wrecks or anything off of those. So, I just wanted to add that and, uh, thank you for your time. Where where is your business? It's 811 Tuscalin Boulevard. I apologize. Which block is that? Like, are you in the historic district? No, Eastgate Shopping Center. I'm on the opposite end of the grocery. The grocery is on the other end. I'm on the opposite end. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Hey, thank you very much. Thank you.

Thanks, Chris. Chris and Chris had reached out to me asking about this, so felt like in we needed to put it on here. So, I guess the the uh consideration is whether to allow our city attorney to make changes to our sign ordinance to allow feathered flags. I think it needs to be brought back to us, mayor if and when he redoes the ordinance.

Did not include um I thought it was 1500 feet. What she gave us a minute ago was 1,000 feet from schools. I always thought that was 1500 ft. And as long as it's not on right away, it's up against people's businesses, it doesn't impede any judgment of oncoming traffic, I see no problem with it. But I think Ron needs to work on it and bring it back to us. Well, and for this, I think all we're doing is whether he's whether we're going to allow him to start working on it and and then certainly we will have it. Motion that we start working on and I'll second that.

We got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like son. Motion carries. Thanks guys. I'm glad you brought your son out here too. It's good to see him. Okay. I thought that was your brother over there. Oh, son. Okay. Our next is uh the monthly financial report through February of 2026. You're going to tell us good stuff, aren't you?

I hope it's good. Um I uh I'm I'm going to be very cognizant of everybody's time on this one and the next item on the agenda since we have a long agenda. Um so the first page you'll see the large um excess revenue that we got. That is our um last month to collect property taxes. Um so February is always a large month. Um for a lot of our revenues it is. Just for reference, in fiscal year 2025, so a year ago, we collected 91.73% of our budgeted amount of property taxes. This year was 91.28. So we're down about a half a percent year-to-year. Um I'm going to go over to in particular the slide um with the graph on local option sales tax. Um, this activity is in December, so I wanted to kind of give you some perspective. Um, over last year, we received $35,235 more in our local option sales tax. Um, sales tax, local option, and state sales tax are slowing. So, 24 to 25, we had a 7% growth. 25 to 26 was 3.4. four. So, it's starting to level back off just a little bit. Um, the next slide is the state sales tax. These are relatively flat. So, 24 to 25, our revenue actually went, our state sales tax went down 8.3%. 2526, it's up four. And so, we've rebounded a little bit. Um, I've already started looking at the state budget and some of the economic forecasts that the state has where we budget these numbers and we're looking

around two maybe two and a half% um I'll know a little more in a couple months what the growth is anticipated for next year and year to year we had $7,800 more in state sales tax than we did the prior year. Do you know why the sales taxes were so high in February of 24? Was there a special activity going on or just a good December? It was just a good December. Okay.

It was just a good December. And then um on the last three are are the alcohol taxes. And so um this goound and it looks almost the same every year. Um December is a holiday month between people being out of school and out of work and Christmas and New Year's. And so our the wholesale liquor tax and beer tax usually back off. And the mixed drink tax where people are actually outspending money and at restaurants and uh in town um our mixed drink tax is always up in December. Questions about the financials at all?

We're above where our forecast our budget on just kind of over our revenues are fairly on track for budget this year. Okay. Good. Any questions or comments? You said they were slowing our taxes. The sales tax revenue is starting to back off a little bit. We were having five, six, 7%, especially on local option and they're backing off down to four. But we're still three or four. Well, we're down a little bit from 24. It's still going up. It's just not going up as fast. Not as fast. Not as fast. Growth is not as fast.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm going to ask Miss Ellen Leip if she would come up here, please. If you'll bear with me, I'm going to actually read a a joint statement. This was um my version of the statement she read to the school board. Um this has to do with the

Hello, Ellen. How are you? So, this has to do with um addressing uh being able to have a funding mechanism for school maintenance facilities. Every year they do our CIP and then they ask us for exactly what they need. And we've got on the town side, we have aging facilities as well, but we also have them on the school side. So, um, if you'll bear with me a moment, um, we had the Walpert Educational Consultants facility study that the town and the city schools engaged in, and their results were that it required a significant capital investment in maintenance and facility improvements over the next several years for our school system. So, um, Miss Lee and I, Ellen and I have worked together. We have monthly meetings and we have worked together over the last year since that study to try to come up with a way to address our school maintenance um on a regular basis. And so I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Starns, Dr. Horn, um the board chair, Mr. Quillin, and Mr. Graham, and go over exactly what their needs are. They're pretty much in line with what the town has. there are multi-million dollars over 10 years um of what needs to be addressed. And so um for your consideration today, there's a memorandum of understanding that adds two accounting funds on the town's books. One is a school maintenance debt fund. The other is a school maintenance project fund that would solely house anything to do with school maintenance. In our current budget, we also have a separate debt fund. now and a separate capital project fund for the town facilities. When we get to budget, we're that's a way for us to address our aging facilities as well. There is um this mechanism, this funding mechanism that we've talked about, these two additional funds are already in use um one city in East Tennessee and

another one across the state. They've been proven for 20 more years. Um I'll get into the weeds of exactly how that works as we get closer to budget time. Um but um the town is responsible for budgeting borrowing. These would be short-term capital outlay notes for capital projects and the schools will be responsible for budgeting through the town capital projects to be completed with these borrow funds. They have to be eligible capital projects. So they're capital in nature, not regular maintenance like painting and things like that. As we move into the budget process again um we'll talk about how this model works for us. So, as we did with the school board, Ellen and I respectfully submit this model as a joint recommendation. And we do believe this is a sustainable framework for addressing our school maintenance um and our facility needs. And the board of education unanimously approved this on February 24th at their meeting. So again, there's two funds. There's a school maintenance debt fund where capital outlay notes would be issued for projects that are budgeted by the school system. So, it's a partnership between the two of us, um the maintenance um crew over there and Mr. Graham, as well as the school staff and the school board. So, what questions do you have for me and for Ellen?

Well, I think with um we've had some surprises over the years and if we can kind of work to get away from that, that would be a great thing. So that's the intent behind this is so that their capital plan is now incorporated. Not fully. Ours is never fully incorporated, but this was would allow their capital plan to be incorporated and be very transparent um to our taxpayers, to the city council, and to the school board. Did I read in the in the memorandum that the school system would be responsible for determining what projects were needed? Yes. without input from city council or

so you would see that in your they would present that in their budget and you would see that in their budget in that school maintenance fund would be approved with the rest of our budget. Okay.

So those discussions would come around at that particular time as well as the borrowing. So just as if we were borrowing for a town project I would already have an estimated principal and interest payment. Um there would be a contribution budgeted from the town and a contribution budgeted from the schools. The proposal is that they're equal contributions to cover that debt service on an annual basis. So for example, if the city council approves $200,000 in this upcoming budget, the city schools will approve $200,000. So there's a 5050 contribution from each entity into this debt service fund. And that debt that money would be used to leverage debt to pay for those projects. Gotcha. Thank you.

Okay. And not everyday maintenance. We're talking stuff like if how Henry needed a new court like we need to put a new field on and you know that's coming that's going to be in your budget. Yes. For 2029 or something that we'll get the I'm sorry.

We can certainly keep you updated through Miss Young about what they're considering, you know, for that year. We we would like to not give you any surprises. So, starting with this next budget, you'll be able to see those capital projects. They'll be laid out in front of you just the way ours are on the town side um so that it's very clear what that looks like. Um and then I will work with um Ellen and Mr. Graham um and the the school staff to be able to make sure that we get those. But it's going to be Hback, roof replacements, turf replacements, things like that. I thought the report actually told the school system or asked the school system to start putting more money than you'll ever have in for maintenance, but I didn't know that was just capital outlay. So, it's not but that's what but that's what we're talking about splitting.

So, they will still have a cap a maintenance fund. They'll still have capital a maintenance what they consider their capital fund. So, that's going to be those funds that they maintain. um those contributions that they have just like we have are going to be for things like painting um restriping resurfacing not capital by definition in in our world. Okay. So we have a recommendation. Do I hear a motion? Second. Got a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?

I'd just like to say kudos to Laura. I've several she's pitched this idea coming into her office when she's talked about this project and and I can tell it's a bit of a passion area of hers just in conversation and um I think she believes in in it and in helping us uh have a more transparent relationship with our city school system as far as funding goes. So, thank you for following through with it and and uh yeah, let's do it. At this point, we didn't have another option. This was the only one that seemed clear. If we Ellen and I both agree if we try it and it fails at least we tried it's going to work. Okay. Thank you. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign.

Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Ellen. Item 7.5 is status update for Main Street sidewalk pro project SR35 T do D do D do D do D do D do D do D do D do D do DOT multimodal access grant 35 is Main Street right

that is it that's a mouthful um good afternoon council um just want to give you an update on this project this is one that u came under the purview of my department of development services as we're m managing ing all capital construction projects for the town. And this one has been around for a while. You have some information there. And I'm just going to sort of highlight this real quickly and then we'll go through it. This is a grant that was applied for by the town in 2021. A multimmoal access grant which was the intent was to improve uh the sidewalks along Main Street from McKe Street all the way up to Walter State at intersection Tuscan or Tuskan Boulevard. And it was awarded in the spring of 2022. You can see the amount there for 900 about $940 some thousand dollars. Um, and it really just kind of sat around for a long time. I found out after doing all my digging, it was about two and a half years before T DOT got around to even giving us an estimate in uh in the spring of or in August of 2024. Um, and then we got some initial cost estimates or the town did and then it sort of went dormant again. And then there was an update on in September of 2025 about a year a little over a year after that. Uh, that basically brought to light that the funding that was available was not enough to cover those four blocks. It might be enough to cover one of the four blocks. So that was brought to the town's attention then and the the town made the decision to have to look at which blocks might be the best option for this funds if we had to go down to one block. So then we waited again and we got another update just recently a couple weeks ago and that's why I wanted to bring this to your attention as soon as we got that update uh with some new cost

estimates and u there's some potential issues. So, uh, this thing, uh, so currently the block that was under consideration is the block from Depot Street to Church Street. So, it's the block that the General Morgan in is on, uh, and Andrew Johnson Bank. Um, for that, the revised cost estimate to do this now has risen up to almost $1.5 million for that one block. Uh, it's pretty expensive for one single block. And in that though there's a lot of challenges there. That block is very So we had them look at the other blocks. The block on between um summer and depot where the courthouse is in the capital theater. It actually was a little more expensive than this because of you wouldn't think that because the slopes easil under the sidewalk. So um we we tried to look at every option. I've I've posed every question we could come up with to try to figure out how we could make this work. T DOT essentially feels bad about this is the what I got and their T DOT local program office somehow miraculously come up with additional funds and they would now raise their contribute additional funds up to $1.8 million. So they're willing to kick in an extra 900 grand on this. However, the town still would have the 5%. We have a 5% match

20% on this one. It's it's 20% match on this one.

20% match. So we even if they'll kick in additional funds, we would have additional match on the funds that T DOT contributes. They did verify that. So I guess what I just want to give you an update. So the there are and we got to decide what direction we want to go with this. So um there's major challenges for the design on the block that we've proposed now in front of the General Morgan in because of the slope to make this ADA compliant. We have similar issues that we had on Depot Street with that slope down to the curb line because you have to be ADA compliant to the business entrances. So the question what we were also told by T do DOT is now they've come back and told us that the brick paver surface that's on there now is not an acceptable ADA surface for the sidewalk. So it could not be put back with the pavers. They are telling us that the only available option is a plain brushed concrete surface sidewalk. Uh we asked the question, could we use the design that's around Walter State and it's elsewhere? Technically, yes, because that's what's up there. But on this particular section, probably not because those brick strips that are on each side are not ADA compliant. The walkable surface in between them is. In those sections where it's around Walter State, you don't have the side or the cross slope issue coming out of the business entrance that you would here. So, you would not, they don't know that for sure till they run the design, but they're very, they feel very confident that it would not work out with the brick banding on each side or whatever you want to call it. So, I guess the question comes down to, is this something that we want to pursue and have them go ahead with a design? We've already contributed $200,000 to this for the design fee that was part of the original grant that was paid in April of 2022 by the town. It's already been paid. That is non-refundable

regardless of what we do. Um, so if we want to have them proceed, we can have them look at the design for this one block, but you just wanted you all to let you know that. So that material would change for the sidewalk. It would just have to be plain concrete most likely. Um, I have had them try to run cost numbers to see what that estimate would be if we looked at the completing the block between Church Street back up to Walter State because half of one side of that's already done and that if we were going to have a change in material that section those that block could actually have the same with the two the brick runners or whatever we're going to call it on each side. We haven't got that cost estimate back yet, but we know it's more expensive than this one. So, um, the other issue

I was I was under the impression that what's taken so long is it's a in-house T dot job. They were the designers on it and that's what was holding it up. That's what's been holding it up for 5 years. Originally Canon and Canon was the designer and they pulled it back because that's original cost estimates given pulled it back. That was the cost estimates that were given in 2024 were came from Canon and Cannon and then they pulled it back in house. And I don't understand the brick banding. I thought that's what we were going to go with the whole time. I I was under that impression, too. But I got a clarification email from the T do ADA compliance office in Nashville that that is not an acceptable ADA surface and could not be funded by T dot grant.

So now it's going to cost the taxpayers Laura $350,000 to do one block.

One block. One block. And of that the biggest challenge there, I've got a cost breakdown uh that I I did I just got the last minute we didn't get to put in there. But of that say $1.8 million cost for that block. $800,000 of it is utilities because all those businesses utilities are under that sidewalk and they're proposing in it that there's so much utility work that has to be done and there is a huge vault in the ground in front of the old Green County bank there from the GA that powers a lot of downtown that has to be handled very carefully because there's transformers in there. So the it's not necessarily what you see on the surface that's what's the expense. There's an enormous amount of foundation or utility work underneath there just like on the depot project that's driving the cost up.

Rest of our bond funds couldn't go there. We don't have that much bond money left on that one. And I would be hesitant to commit that those bond monies. For as long as it's taken us to get this back from them and to hear from them, I I just hesitate to commit those monies to that because it has to be spent by June. It needs to be committed by June.

The other op thing they told us in this timeline we kept we asked L, we were in that meeting, we asked tons of questions is that they think the earliest they could even have this ready to put out the bid for construction will be the spring or summer of 2028. So then what's the cost? 50,000. That was going to be my next comment. So then what's the cost?

Yeah. So I guess what I'm what I'm presenting to you for your con decision is and I'll be glad to get more information bring back to you, but is this something we want to pursue and have them go ahead with some more design work. I mean, I think we've already paid all the design fees to see what they could work out, but knowing that there's going to be these escalated costs, or is it something we just want to walk away from? So, the other thing I'll tell, and it's in that little packet, there were four of these grants awarded in 2022 for this very same thing to communities in East Tennessee. One was to us, one was to Irwin, one was to uh Bluff City, I believe, and one was to Kingsport. Irwin declined theirs recently because they didn't want to spend those funds when they had all the issues with Hurricane Helen. They didn't think it was appropriate. The one in Bluff City they did proceed with, but it was only for one block they were funding and the city decided to kick in the extra money to fund that. We were informed by T dot this meeting that Kingsports under the same situation we are. There was a multi-block section of downtown that was supposed to be in this and their funding has shrunk down to cover maybe part of one block and they're in the same boat you all are trying to decide right now if they're going to proceed or if they're going to just cancel it. It was underfunded from the beginning. it sounds like to me and I I just want to give you all the information. I'm glad to answer any questions you've got.

Better to to keep what money we would spend on that and redo the brick ourselves if I know I'm not putting that on now. But I mean something has to be done with the brick. I agree with that.

Yeah, I agree with Andy. I think let's wait and see. I mean, this was not for decision anyway today, but see what the block would be from church to Walter State. See what the town's match was. We did. The other piece of information they did tell us is that the other those other three cities or the other two cities already had foregone the grant. It doesn't penalize us to do that at all if we decide this just doesn't work. They were um the local programs uh gentleman was extremely kind. He was very understanding that we've already had this much delay and then even if we pulled the trigger now you've got another, you know, 24 months before we leave and go out to bed and then what's the cost?

And and we asked the questions, could we use the funds for anything else in that corridor, the alignment? And we were told in that meeting that possibly it could be used for crosswalk improvements. So that's why I had some photos in there from the crosswalks. I explored that to see if we could improve the crosswalk possibly at Walter State up there on that end or in the one at McKe because we haven't done those yet. Bernard and Maine. Yes. So, but I did get verification back yesterday from T DOT that we cannot do that. They will not allow improvements to the crosswalks unless the they go and coincide with the improvements to the sidewalk. Yeah.

To me, walking downtown, it's it needs to be more downtown. But if we can use We have to match whatever we take from them. Laura, is that is that correct? I'll go back and look and see if it's 20. One of the the resurfacing grant one was 20% and one was five. So, I'll go back and verify that. My notes had 20% on this one, but I we we've got the original grant contract. Go back and look. Curveball in this too even mention. So, the original grant documents that we got, there's a conflict with what T dot told us.

The original ones state that this these funds were for sidewalks. There were also for p new improvements to pedestrian lighting, landscaping, furniture. When we had this meeting the other day, they told us that those have all been stricken from there. So like on this section essentially, we we asked this, can you tell us exactly what that means? So we did this section of depot, they would remove all the street lights, all the trees, all the furniture, and if the city wanted to put any of that back, it would be 100% on the city to put it back. Not to mention there'll be a new governor next year. My

and the the change in material is a big concern to me. I think it was going to look bad if maybe aesthetically if you have that one block if we could use if there's a possibility to do it and you could use that we on the section between Tuscum Boulevard to church where going up toward Walter State that that the sidewalk that's already been done there could be used there because we don't have the cross slope. So, if we were going to do it, it makes more sense, I think, possibly to do it there because then that entire block around Walter State has the same sidewalk and it's confined down there and we don't have patchwork downtown of different materials, but we don't have a cost estimate on that yet.

I say we just t I make a motion we just table it, mayor, until until we get the cost estimate on that on that block. I just any other questions you all have just please direct this is really just which direction I guess so we'll just say go with that direction then okay very good thank you thank you we'll wait on your next information where you going Nick okay

Tim says he wishes he could get out Fine.

Thanks for coming, Sharon.

All right. Item 7.6 is consideration of a resolution for the Greenville Fire Department to apply for fiscal year 2026 rescue squad grant program. Hello, David. Good afternoon. How are you doing? Fine. How are you

doing? Great. Good. The uh state fire marshals obviously provide grant funding to rescue squads and fire departments uh to purchase equipment for life-saving services such as vehicle extrication and technical rescue. Uh we are requesting uh to apply for battery powered hydraulic spreader, a cutter, a ram, and some technical rope rescue equipment. The total cost is $73,140. And the good news this grant there is no local cost share required. So it's a fully funded grant. Um so we are requesting approval to apply for and if awarded to accept and administer the grant. Motion to approve. Second.

Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Thank you very much. We like zero, don't we? Yes. Item 7.7 is consideration of a resolution for the Greenville Police Department to apply for fiscal year 2027 Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant. Hello, Chief. Hello. We're just asking for consideration to be able to apply for this grant through the U Project Safe Neighborhood. It's through the state of Tennessee. It's for around 47,000 I think. Trying to possibly get purchase a vehicle out of it. Okay. match. Is there a match?

There is not. Motion to approve on my end. Have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. Thanks. Item 7.8 eight is and Laura, I think Tim had suggested to me at one time to try to have a cons a consent for festivals and signs and things like that. You can have you can have a consent agenda. Can we do that this time forward? We can. Thank you. I appreciate you suggesting that.

So, now we'll go through the 14 that we have to go through today. Item 7.8 is consideration of a special event application for the Iris Festival. Hello, Kendra. Hello, everyone. The Iris Festival is coming up on its 31st year. We don't anticipate any changes from last year in terms of the space that we're taking up or any road closures. Motion to approve. Second. Any further discussion?

All those in favor say I. I. All those against like sign. Item 7.9 is consideration of a special event application for Sundon on Depot sundown on Depot car show on May 16th, 2026. Come on up and speak to us. How's it going guys? Good. How are you? Doing good, thank you. So tell us about it. We're with the Sundown Depot group. Who are you? James Hooper. This is Todd Collins.

There's a a group of volunteers that put this show on every year. This is our 11th year in coordination with the hours festival. Nonprofit organization. It's all volunteer work. Everything that we bring in goes to charities. Last year we donated to Holman Home, Isaiah House, and my neighbor's house. So again, same thing. Okay, motion approved. Second. Motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Motion carries. Thank you guys for coming in and doing this for us.

You're going to stay for a little while. Yeah. Um item 710 is consideration of a special event application for the Appalachian Autumn Festival on a October 24th, 2026. Kendra, this will be the same footprint as the Iris Festival. We're looking at having less vendors but more curated events for this one that are more fall themed in particular like apple butter making and things like that. But um it should be exact this exactly the same as the Iris Festival in terms of road closures. Everything's been completed and finished and one day event. Okay. Not a two-day. All right. Motion to approve.

Second. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. Those against like sign. Motion carries. Next is consideration of a special event application for Sundown on Depot car show fall event on October 24th. What's your name? James. Okay. And your name? My name is Todd. Okay. It's good to meet you again. Again, same thing. Same event, same footprint, same everything as the Okay. Okay. Charity for that event though will be gifts for kids. Awesome. That's great.

Motion to approve. Motion. Is there a second? Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Motion carries. Thank you guys. Thank y'all. Item 712 is consideration of a special event sign request for the antique appraisal fair held on March 14th at the East View Recreation Center.

Um, of course, this has already passed. This was originally placed on the agenda for the March 3rd meeting, but the March 3rd meeting was cancelled. So, uh, Kathy Osborne and I got together and Kathy gave administrative approval to the application along with myself. Uh, so this isformational purposes. I'm required by ordinance to come in to let you know that we made this administrative decision and if there's any concerns about u our consideration, um, I will note them and use them. Sounds like you're asking forgiveness

sort of in a way. Uh, now one thing I can do is I'll be working with Ron on the the uh, signed ordinance. uh Rogers, I can have we can add that in there that um I no longer have to come to the board for these special event sign um applications that I I could I mean you all will have to review it and approve it of course

do that and then what you would be let's say if I turn one down you would be the appeals board that would appeal my decision if I turn it down but uh this was justformational to let you know we made that decision to accommodate the antique appraisal fair due to the cancellation of the March 3rd. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Item 713 is consideration of three recommended board members for the health and educational facilities board to fill vacancies due to end of term. The applicants are April Lane, Rodney Bell, and Al Clayurn. play double here. Play two places at once. So, yes.

So, the the three that you mentioned are the ones that the board recommended. Um, their chair is Kent Buley and their administrator is Jerry Laughlin. Um, and so they they suggested these three and I do have the applications. I think they're in your packet. All of them are in here, but Okay. need to. So, this is a countywide board. It's um they don't have to live in city land. No. Correct. Yes. I make a motion we approve. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Motion carries.

Thank you. I'll go back to item 714 is consideration to approve the purchase of a server from Central Technologies in the amount of $24,919.37 or 57. It's budgeted. It is. Yes, it's budgeted. Go ahead. It is budgeted and it is for the security of several sites in our town. It's going to replace aging equipment. Aged equipment really. Okay. Motion to approve. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. All those against like sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you.

Consideration to approve the repair of the transmission on the D6 dozer. Well, if you see Tony here, we know he's going to be coming up to ask for something. Forgiveness. Is that my gonna be asking for forgiveness with my permission though on this one?

Yes, I did ask her first. So anyway, I went with option two on the repairs of transmission. It went out again. Uh, of course, it's constantly pushing every day. So, you can expect those problems. But option two had it didn't say on there, but it did have it does say about the reseal and the rebearing to put all new bearings in it. And it has a oneyear 20,000 hour warranty. Didn't have that with option one. Plus, if you didn't put new bearings in it, you might have the same problem and three weeks, be doing it all again. So, it's just The nature of the work out there, I guess, is constantly.

And what tree are we getting these funds off of? Tony has the cash to pay for this. Yes. Okay. We have a recommendation. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Thank you. You do. You do a good job out there. Yes, you do. With a smile, too, I might add. Yes.

And item 716 is consideration of certificate certificate of compliance for retail package store, Chief Spano. So looking at the backgrounds and everything uh we find that Chatal Patel and Ka Patel do meet uh everything that needs to be met in order to get their certificate of compliance. Okay. And this is for the um town square. Yeah. Okay. So you recommend doing this? I do. All right. So we're taking one license, giving it to them. Is that what we're doing?

Pretty much. that they have to apply for the license. But yes, yeah, once once the state approves its escrow on that, it'll terminate his. Okay. Because we have a we have a limit of package stores. Okay. They're taking over. Gotcha. All right. Do I hear a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those against like sign. Motion carries. welcome. Glad to have you.

And then item 717 is the thing that we added on the agenda. And and again, what I attended to to explain was that after I'd read that that Mr. Solomon shared, I'd got some calls from some other folks and they felt like that the um the practice or the uh what we were going through. We didn't get a lot of um people that applied for it. Nobody had a real only one had um two had um city manager experience. And I just my opinion is that we need to go out and bring in a um a company that specializes in municipal executive search. I don't I don't know who they are. Don't know what who they might be, but ask them to come in and help with this. So Tim, I wanted to bring it up because I do want everyone to share their ideas or thoughts. Well, let me say one thing. I'm Tim said he was surprised, but I don't like to be blindsided and I know that we can't discuss among each other, but it would be nice if if to have known we were going to consider this. I too have had problems with the process because when Todd Smith was hired there were like over a hundred applications and um he was chosen from that. We had 17. Of course, it's kind of scary probably to try to apply here. You know, we got a lot of bad publicity with the

exit of of Mr. Smith. But anyway, I'm open to considering this, but I don't like to be surprised. So, okay, that's that's all I had to say.

Yeah, I think uh I think we need to pause and and look at going a different direction with our search or or addition to our search. Um, I don't think anybody's happy with the process at this point where we're at. I think that'd be that'd be a great thing. We've got one shot at doing this, right? And, uh, I know it's going to cost us some time and probably some money, but uh, I think it's better than making a a long-term mistake or even a short-term mistake by picking the wrong person. Anything you'd like to say?

Myself, I think we have three qualified people. Not saying that they have been city managers, but we have qualified people and we had qualified people that I guess were weeded out in in certain terms, but we've narrowed it down to three now. And I do think they are qualified and qualified to handle the job or I wouldn't have voted for him. We've been voting all along on this process. The only thing I if you want to do this what you're saying, I say we pause right now and decide what we're going to do as far as hiring a head hunter or whatever it is, but just pause, not have these second round interviews, but just I guess put the brakes on right now and pause and see what happens. Um, and and not do wave the three we've got right now is what I'm saying. Okay.

But we don't have to vote on the three is what what I'm understand. Okay.

Well, I think if you are a if we do have the discussion of uh redvisiting the process, then I think we need to truly start over. Um because if you bring in a consulting firm who has a different process, um you've got three individuals who've gone up to this point. you you're saying you're going to hold on to them. We're going to hold on there and then we're going to get larger, you know, enlarge our pool over here. Um that doesn't seem very wise to me and doesn't seem very fair. If I was an outside person looking to apply and I knew there were three individuals that were going to hold on right here, if we're going to look at revisiting the process and and going a different direction, then I think it's best to start from the beginning of that process.

I totally agree with that. I'm not saying hold them and put them over here and wait and see who else we get. I guess you I wasn't saying that at all. Well, I guess I was confused when you said not to, you know, get rid of the three that we had. Call for a vote on the three we've got. Let's put a hold on the second round interviews till we decide what we want to do. If we want to go as far as MTAS supposed, they're the experts at hiring city managers. So, where are we going to go with this? My opinion is to go out and hire a a a search firm that does this for municipals.

We discussed that when when Todd was voted out of the job he was. We discussed that right after that hiring this and we decided to go with MTAS because they're at our disposal. Right. So you're saying they didn't give us the candidates that we're supposed to have? I'm saying I was not satisfied with the the number that came in.

So I think the big reason I I wanted to bring it up on the agenda today was because we have this plan for the 28th. So if we want to hold this and just cancel those that and then have a discussion when everybody has a chance to think about it a little bit more on the first meeting in April. We did do that in a meeting, right, Laura? We set that date in a meeting. So, we need to table that for the 28th. That's correct. Because that's an open meeting. That wasn't We have not. So, the meeting adjourned last Friday before we actually scheduled a date. Okay.

So, you we've not advertised anything. That's correct. So, we'll just stick where we are. Okay. We have to figure out a way to communicate um in some way so that we're all on the same page. It seemed to me like some people might have known we were going to talk about this and I I actually did because a constituent contacted me and asked me about it. We have a city attorney that can contact us.

Exactly. Or or our interim city manager when she's here. It's just we need to communicate. You know, we talk about communication being the key to everything. We have to figure out a way to do that and still honor the sunshine law. Okay. Thank you. Mayor, would you like a motion to pause the city I'm sorry, did I interrupt someone? Was someone going to say something? Um to pause the city manager search and revisit at the April 7th meeting. Yes. Do you Okay. Or maybe the next meeting. Let's just see how it goes. We don't have to say that to them. You don't. Okay.

Sorry. Sorry for a second. I'm sorry for a second. Jenny looked like she was starting to say something and then and then Tim was speaking. Were you about to say something, Jenny? No, I just Okay, you turned I just You started to You looked like you were trying to say something and he was talking. So, sorry. Forgive me for talking. You're fine. Motion in. Oh. To table it or whatever we're doing. Put a pause. Okay. Are you good? I don't know what I mean what is it we're doing again

do you okay do you do you want so what I hear is their consensus if you're looking for a motion what I hear is to defer the city manager search period unless you want to put a specific date do you or there the other part of the discussion when the mayor first asked about it was to hire a consultant to conduct a city manager Let's talk about it more than just let's talk about it. Think about it and then talk about it. Well, since we don't have anything scheduled and we It is on pause. I guess it is on pause. So that we'll just we'll just stay with this. Okay.

Yes. Thank you. Motion to adjourn. Done. All those in favor say I. Thank you.