County Commission - Regular Meeting

We don't want it on until somebody's there. Get feedback. We We will turn it on when somebody goes out. Okay. We will turn it on, but not yet. Pam.

Waiting on Commissioner Brown.

[snorts] All right, it's 6 pm. I'm going to ask the sheriff to call this meeting to order. Come to order now open to business. The Has everybody checked in and the roll call on your pads?

Right quick. I want to make an announcement to the body and the audience. We may have we may experience technical difficulty and if anybody's iPad there's several did not show up tablets. They are not iPads. The tablets if anybody goes dead you announce it and we're going to cut off electronics and we're going back to raise your hand. We're going to do everything man. We're not going to sit around wait on electronics. Okay. All right. Having said that, the meeting is in order. Are we uh We got two We got one commissioner absent. That would be Commissioner Chambers. So, having said that, I would ask for the invocation. Brother Josh Jackson, are you in the room? Here you go. if you would come to the podium and uh there's a little slide switch. If you would turn that on when you get there, pull the mic out if you want to, but the little slide switch. Tap it to be sure it's on. There you go. All right. Dear Lord, we love you. We thank you, God, for all your wonderful many blessings. God, I thank you for another day that you have given us breath in our bodies, for all your blessings and all that you do for us. I pray, God, that you would be with each and every one that's gathered here tonight, God, that you would give strength, that you would give wisdom and every decision that is made, God, for the betterment of this county, God. Give each leader the strength and the wisdom that they need in these difficult times that we live in today. God, that it would be for the for the good of this city and this community. In your wonderful name, we pray. in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, brother Jackson. I would now ask Commissioner Lauren Nettles to lead the body and our pledge to the United States flag.

Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, the next item I I would like to say right quick to my left is a face you haven't seen before in here would be Josh Barard and he's taken uh Mr. Pedigo's place tonight as parliamentarian and he's pretty sharp in that subject line. So we want to welcome Josh here. Thank you Josh for filling in. Okay. uh we approved the agenda. I want to talk about the agenda briefly. Uh it is it is normal protocol in a lot of business meetings to have consent items where by without objection by unanimous consent items that are not contentious or likely to not be debated. the agenda approval process will approve the items that I have as chairman listed as consent items. So having said that I would like to say that the committee appointments you have been provided in writing all the committees with the individual names you'll see their expiration date would be expiring either two years from now or four years from now as the uh position may be. You have a committee list that erroneously because of the confusion. We have a 911 emergency communication district which is a separate board and entity. We have a comm board which is a 911 which is a interlocal communications

board and we have a EMA board and all of those are so similar in appearance when when we're shuffling through committees the EMA board erroneously got supplied in your packet but we have the position that's actually being uh appointed is chief Manchester City Police Chief Adam Floyd is going to be on the E911 emergency communications district board. So that was provided to you uh as an addendum basically as a separate sheet tonight. There's one other thing in the in the preparing the comm the committee assignments. There's one committee that was listed in there here under consent. And I do have to make you aware that the board of zoning appeals is [clears throat] not a mayoral appointment. It is an appointment by the legislative body. Therefore, it is on there and I would uh I have contacted the individual whose term expired this year and that's Sammy Morton Jr. He does wish to stay. So, I would open the floor for a nomination to

Mr. Mayor. I would like to nominate Sammy Martin Jr. for reappointment to the BZA. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Hirsman made the nomination. Is there a motion for nominations to cease? I make a motion nomination cease. Second. I'll second it.

Thank you. All in favor of nomination cease by raising their hand since it's not an agenda item. Okay, thank you for that. All right, so that name is now already included in your agenda that will be approved by unanimous consent upon approval of the agenda. So how this works there's sever I'll do this a little differently the next month I will group consent items together. I put them as in the normal position that we've always had these particular items but to save any confusion in the future. Uh this will speed up these long meetings that you know you we sit through a bunch of voting and all that. So having said that there's several unanimous consent items on the agenda at this time approving the agenda. If you have objection to any of those, now is the time to state your objection. If not, there is a motion. Uh you have moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Hirschman has. Uh Commissioner Watkins has seconded the motion to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion on the agenda? You would push the amend button. [clears throat]

Okay. Do you girls see her amend? Okay. Please state your amendment. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody for everybody viewing. We have brand new audio system. Do you think it's working pretty good? Everybody can hear. But the commissioners, you have to push your button. Hold the button the whole time you're talking. Okay. And so if you would now state your amendment. The law enforcement committee needs to make an amendment. We need to add a judicial commissioner recommendation.

All right. You want to make that 9E then? Yes, sir. That'll be fine. Do you want to go ahead and state the name for the judicial commissioner uh recommendation? Yes. Our committee went through the proper interview process and Matthew Vance is going to be our nomination.

Okay. Uh, Commissioner Hirshman, are you okay with the amendment? Yes, sir, I am. Commissioner Watkins, are you okay with this amendment to the agenda?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Having said that, is there any more discussion, amendments, or objections to tonight's agenda? There being none, we're ready to vote. the agenda has been approved with 17 yes votes. Thank you for that. Okay, moving on down the resolutions of memorial, sympathy, proclamations, and commendations. We have one tonight. It's a Governor's Volunteer Stars Award. Uh, Mr. Lamar Wilkey, would you step to the podium and I will meet you there.

Public comments. I'm sorry. Well, you go ahead and do this.

Yeah, I did. Yeah, I'm totally out of order. Sorry. Yeah. Public comment. We got I jumped down there. I'm already ready to start doing this paperwork. Public comment. All right. Here's what we're gonna do tonight. I apologize for that. The school board is the first up for public comment. It's not on the agenda because it's actually not a business item, but they do want to make a presentation and we felt like this was the appropriate place for it. Thank you, Chairman Pro Tim Stubblefield for bringing that to my attention.

Thank you, Mayor Hunt. Uh we appreciate the opportunity uh to share with you all this evening. My name is Scott Hargrove and I'm extremely proud to serve as the director of schools for Coffee County. Um, I apologize to those um, commission members that were part of the budget committee because you're going to hear some of the same things that we shared with you the other night. But before we begin, I'd like to thank Commissioner Tim Brown for attending our last night's board meeting. Um, helping us celebrate some of our awesome kids at New Union Elementary. But we appreciate your attendance. Thank you. Our presentation will be short, transparent, and hopefully clearly communicated tonight. Um, we're here to share about the potential of a new Hickerson Elementary School and additions to East Coffee Elementary School. When I landed as superintendent, it didn't take me very long to figure out what I've watched and observed from down the road for 20 plus years. as I visited our school buildings um and tried to learn as much as quickly as I could about our school system outside of Deerfield. Here's what I learned at those visits. Outside of Deerfield in our middle school, our building are older or more experienced structures. The high school was built in 75 and that's the new one. Everything else was built in 6162 or prior. But I also learned in those visits that there's been an intentional commitment to maintaining our facility, our school facilities, and a vision for the future. I think the observations that I had speaks volumes about the value that our county, our county

commission place on education, investing in our young learners and our community. Um, I also learned that our county commission and school district have been good stewards of our county tax dollars and we definitely definitely want to see that trend continuing. Now, everybody talks about the I24 corridor. I don't have a crystal ball. I don't. But it's hard to believe that we're not next in some capacity. How long that will take, I don't know. But here's what I do know. Our friends to the northwest in Rutherford County, there's an expected 5600 student growth next school year. To put that in perspective, our school district has roughly 4,200 students. So, I'd be lying if I told you when I thought if when it was going to hit, but it's coming. And we see that in some of our schools. In fact, Hickerson is as large as it's ever been student-wise, bulging to almost 270 students, and that's as big as that school's ever been. But the migration's coming. We just all would like to know when, because that affects our county and other areas as well. I'd also like to share with you how the physical spaces look very much different between East Coffee, Hickerson, and our other four elementary schools. The cafeteria uh spaces are much smaller, provide schedule changes. They have to serve lunch longer, breakfast longer because the spaces are limited. Our kitchens are also smaller in those two facilities. Um they're not

we don't have the same equipment in those kitchens. So, conversely, our menus are different at those two schools than they are in the rest of the district. Gym areas, which we associate with athletics, but that's not the way we roll in elementary school. That gymnasium in an elementary school setting also serves as an assembly area. You have parent engagement activities. You have the play, you have productions that we all remember in elementary school. in those two facilities. Uh the gym areas at East Coffee and Hickerson are much smaller and it makes it a challenge for those two schools. Last but not least, and I didn't me uh mentioned this the other night, um our office spaces are much different, smaller um at East Coffee and Hickerson than they are in the other four elementary schools. We'll be setting up tours for Hickerson, East Coffee, and New Union. And we would love for you to see the differences, the physical differences in those spaces. Um, New Union is included in that visit because there's a stark difference or contrast between New Union and the other three schools that have those spaces in the two of Hickerson as well as as East Coffee. Uh, we appreciate your supporting our school district always and allowing us to share tonight. Deputy Director Kelvin Shores has a short presentation he would like to share with you and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Harg Grove.

I wish I could say it was really a short presentation, but there's several slides. I just gave you out the the PowerPoint, but what I'm not I'm not going to go through each and every one in depth. I'm going to hit the high points on each one of the pages. Move on through it fairly quick. If you have a question, please ask and just let me know and call me out. We do have it on the screen as well. But, uh, as Mr. Herrow says uh or it said we're we're trying to to get us get all of our schools caught up to the same area and equity. Uh this is something that actually started several years ago back in 2010. Uh it started out with Hillsboro Elementary and Deerfield Elementary. uh the the board came to you and asked for funding to to start taking care of our um our over population or if it started coming get it taken care of so that when it's here we're ready for it. So we started at Hillsboro in 2010. Deerfield 2010 was a new building. Coffee County Middle School was built in 2014 and then we moved the middle school, the students over to the new middle school, opened up now what is called Raider Academy, which is a ninth grade academy and that was in 2014. North Coffee had a renovation and addition in 2019. New Union was renovated and had an addition in 2020. Then at the high school, we used extra funds and we added on six more classrooms. So, we took care of it there. We're down to the last part. We're down to the last two schools and it's the last of our plan, which is Hickerson and East Coffee. Our goal is to to have all of our buildings ready so when the growth starts coming in that we're ready to take care of that growth. And with, as I mentioned to the uh budget and finance committee the other night, as our industries are growing, you could go to our industrial parks. They are growing. People are going to

start coming filling those jobs, and we're going to need the places for their kids to be able to go to school. So, that's where we are. We're looking at Hickerson and East Coffee. And I'm going to start going through this fairly quick. And like I said, if I if I pass over something, it's not that I'm meaning to. Budget Finance got a a quick synopsis of it uh last week and it's going to be pretty quick again tonight. Otherwise, we'll be here all night and nobody wants to be here all night because I've already heard we have consent agenda items to speed it up a little bit. Right, Mayor Hunt?

Why are we doing this? We're doing this for equity so that all of our students can get the same experience as the others. And these two schools are lacking in several areas. And if you go into the gymnasium, if you go into the cafeteria, if you go in the library, all these core areas is your main areas that's going to really show up. If you're able to make it to the tour, you're going to see the difference in the equity of where we are with those two schools. We're going to try to aliviate and address any issues at the sites such as parking, buses, drop off, pickup. And if you've ever been by by Hickerson Elementary about 3:00, 2:50, 3:00 in the afternoon, the old Tele Highway is backed up pretty bad. It it is a safety situation. Uh I've been out with uh the principal there, Miss Crabtree, Dr. Crabtree, and we've looked at trying to figure out ways to alleviate it. It's just that the building was built fairly close to the road. So, we have some problems there with that that part. uh to address enrollment and projected enrollment and also the growth that's coming to this area. We want to make sure that our buildings can handle the students that are coming. So those are our reasons why uh what are we looking at addition and renovation at East Coffee. We're looking at adding a new building, a complete new building for Hickerson Elementary. So those are the two things. The total funding is extremely high and it's just where we are. It is approximately $69 million uh which is a lot of money. That's a whole lot of money. Moving on to the next uh slide. Uh we got in touch with our architect and engineer which is W and they are uh working with us. They were given two tasks to look at. One was to try to get East Coffee and Hickerson up to the the same core as uh North

Coffee and New Union. what they received and and building those areas so that the equity is there. Uh also deciding what do we need to do with Hickerson? Is it going to be a better move to build a new building or just add on and renovate Hickerson Elementary? Uh Wool was actually brought in on in May of 2024. Uh this was when we started really looking more extensively with it. And so you could tell we this is not a quick we're in 2026 as you know. So we we've been at this a year and a half trying to figure out what direction we need to bring to the commission and that's what we're doing tonight. Uh moving on to the next um slide. What was the what was in the study? We had the physical conditions, the capacity enrollment, utilization of the building, grade level organization, educational programming, uh security analysis, site conditions and expansions options that we could do. Um we did bring in another group out of uh our area. We didn't go through Wool and that is Harpath Research to give us projections of our growth. Uh we felt like we needed a third party so that it's not skewed in any way. It was a a nonbiased group and that's where we came in with Harpath. As we go through this, you'll see that on the slides that you have, the blue slide or the blue writing fonts is is some of our main things that we're going to be looking at our synopsis of what we're asking for and considering. Uh, moving on to the next slide. The next slide is the needs and the maintenance of our schools that we need as of right now. So, if we don't do any um additions, renovations, these are things that needs to take place at our schools immediately. And as you can see, it's going to be some sight and civil

things, some exterior work, uh interior with ADA, uh accessibilities with the restrooms, mechanical systems, electrical systems, and so forth. um when they built these buildings the the one at Hickerson the main building was actually built in around 1948 at that time we didn't have the technology we have today big difference a lot of changes uh the the sizes of the classrooms are smaller so those are a lot of the things that we started looking at uh as we look through those things do we put more money into what we have or do we need to build new and that's where it came in with the Hickerson as well uh on that. But as East Coffee, it was better for us to to add on and renovate what we have. Moving on to the next slide is a mockup of the school of East Coffee. It's what we have currently right now. The the school is basically set up on a two section model. When I'm talking about sections, I'm talking about each grade level, how many grade how many classes of that grade level. So, if we're looking at uh two sections and we're talking about third grade, there's two classes of third grade. If we were talking about three sections, then we would be talking about three third grade classes. So, whenever I'm going to be bringing that up several different times, I want to make sure you understood what the sections were and and that's what we have with East Coffee Elementary. If you'll notice on the map, it has um four with those little circles. There's all of them are they're all dark except for four of them. And those are rooms that are actually being they're large classrooms that are not being utilized as a full classroom. So like a speech class, you might have up to five students in that speech class. You don't need a full classroom. You could get away with a half classroom. I'm saying that because there are there's there's a little bit of space for us to grow.

But if you'll notice, there's only four of those rooms. So, we could put those two put two of those together. It's going to take up a full room. That's going to rel actually empty two rooms that we can put classes in, which is a total of about 40 students. We're trying to get ready for a lot more than 40 students. So, that that kind of gives you an idea what we're talking about here. And also, when this was made was actually before this school year started, the steam classroom, the steam lab actually has already been changed into art classroom. we didn't have that that program. Uh our board added added it this year which has been a really good thing for our students but that classroom actually has turned into a art classroom. Moving on to the next cl next slide is the current setup at Hickerson Elementary. Once again if you'll notice there's some open circles after talking to the principal today. Once again this was before um this was before we started this school year. The one that says special ed and interventions on the left is actually now a classroom. Uh we had the growth and we had to create another fifth grade class. So it's already been taken up as a classroom. The intervention class that is next to the media center and the music uh actually houses two intervention classes which has two teachers in it with approximately five students on each one. and just trying to to navigate that with having two classes of interventions going on at the same time within the same class or the same room is difficult. Uh if you'll look at the one that says special education prek plus that is a classroom that should be blackened in because that has 20 kids already in it. It's full. So, as you could tell, Hickerson is even a a more desperate need than East Coffee is, and that's due to the growth that they are having at in that area. Moving on over

to the next slide, this is from Harpath Research. Uh Harpath Research did a study. Now, when they did the study, it was from Coffee County. Within Coffee County, we have, of course, Manchester and we also have the teleoma districts. So they had to actually try to pull those out and through the growth they expected the growth by 2035 to be over 10%. And this is for Coffee County for the school population is 13%. However, when we start pulling out of course the Manchester City and the Toma City that starts making a little bit of difference. The growth expected for the 10-year growth for the Coffee County systemwide is at 5%. Moving on over, you'll see the specifically we are uh anticipate anticipating higher growth at Hickerson. It's already been showing up this this year itself. As I told you, we're already using some of those classrooms. Moving on over, you can see the other side, the yellow uh part. uh Hickerson enrollment numbers uh seem to be going according to trajectory and if we continue to grow as we are, it's going to be busting at the seams within three or four years. Moving on over to uh the next slide, it has been brought up, well, can we uh uh redraw the district? The the lines the lines can be redrawn. Our problem is the school that is actually losing some students right now is New Union Elementary. The school that is growing the most is Hickerson Elementary. The problem we run into is between the two is a city. Their their borders don't even match. So trying to get the kids to that area, it it would create some problems. as well as the ones that do match such as North Coffee and Hickerson. North Coffee is also growing.

Once again, 15 years ago, the the the plan was to try to start getting ready for the growth that's going to happen in Coffee County. We're to the point we're down to the last two schools. When we get these last two schools, we're ready. Bring it on. We're ready and we're able to take care of it. right now we could get some get in trouble pretty quick with Hickerson and also East Coffee. Moving on over to the the next page, Hickerson immediately needs to be already built for a three section according to the numbers that we received from Harpath. That's the reason why we're looking at a four four section school. um additions on Hickerson would would give us that four sections as well as start taking care of the traffic patterns that that's created from being right next to the road. And also, it's going to come up a little bit later, but where we have to put the building for an addition, it's also going to create the same problem with the drive. And more kids you add, the more traffic you're going to get. It just they go together. Okay, moving on to the next page. Like I said, I'm moving through these fairly quick. This is your paper to take home so that you can look over it and and ask questions later if you have. Uh the next one is square footage. Uh the pink is not meeting the standard for the current needs for the square footage for that that program, that classroom, and so forth. As you can tell in East Coffee and also in Hickerson, there's quite a bit of pink there that needs to be taken care of. Uh, one of the things that we do look at is the core areas and that's your gym, your cafeteria, your kitchen, the library, and the music room is making sure that those areas are taken care of because if if you get to come to the the tour, you will see fairly quick the those areas are not suitable at the

schools. We have very nice facilities right now, but but the space is just not there. Moving on to the next page, remodel square footage. As you can tell, if we go through, it shows East Coffee, Hickerson, and also if a new building was built. If we remodel Hickerson and do the additions there, there's still a few rooms that would not be up to size and up to to what is the standard. U if you look at the new, you can see the difference there. East coffee would actually be taken care of through the remodeling. Moving on to the next page. Uh security analysis. Uh this is blurred out for a reason. We do not share the the security of our buildings because of what it is. Uh we we it's just one of those things you do not share out. Uh but there are things that we are looking at to to definitely make it even more secure. And of course the new building would be much more secured. And then the other things that we could change at East Coffee to make it even more secure than it is already. But um I I'm not gonna go over those. If you have questions later, I'll be glad to talk to you oneon-one on on those type things. Moving to the next page is show how the the site can actually accommodate the proposal. The first page is or the map is East Coffee Elementary. East Coffee is way off the is a fairly good distance from the road. There's enough land and area that you can see there's a where they put the yellow area or to the left of the building that we can add on fairly easily and take care of the needs at East Coffee. Switching on over to the next page is Hickerson Elementary and this is with the the building. You can see where the old Tele Highway is located in front of the building. To put an addition to it, it would be going out the back. Once again, the struggles is going to be with parking and pickup and and staging cars throughout as well as

buses. So, that that's a difficulty. Also, if you'll look over to the side, it says we have approximately 200 to 260 ft to the left of the building going into the woods. There's already a ramp where we added on added on the 1996 edition, which was the last addition added to this school. And if we go further out to the left, it actually will drop it down a story lower than the main building, which is significant. So th those are some of the reasons why it's it's better for us to look at doing an a new building. Moving on over to the next page, recommendations. There should be equity between all of our elementary schools. While enrollment projections show slow growth districtwide, we are still growing. We need to be ready for that growth. Boundary adjustments alone cannot accommodate the loan growth. It can do some quick fixes. Uh the site at East Coffee uh can easily address be addressed by adding a building as well as doing the renovations. The traffic is not a problem. At Hickerson's a different story. Uh before investing additional maintenance funds at Hickerson, a long-term decision needs to be made and educational spaces should be appropriately sized for each building. Once again, we're looking at East Coffee, three sections for the growth, four sections at Hickerson, and that's going off of the numbers that we have today. Looking at the next page is a visual of possibilities. This is truly a possibility setup. This is not this not set in stone. This is to show what could be done to make it work. East coffee is the first one going out the back end with a gym and stage and music and area. If you look to the left, there's a blue area for kindergarten and prek and special ed. And then over to

the right, you have the fifth and the fourth and fifth adding classrooms going out that side. Just kind of gives you an idea where how it could go together. Looking at the next page, you can see East Coffee is with the the the map of it or where there's a possibility of making this work and the building going out to the back as well as those two I mentioned to the right and left of the the building. Going to the next page is the Hickerson layout. This is the layout that is um that the architects uh provided with a new building. So the old building after the new building would be built, the old building would be uh demolished, the parking would be taken care of and you can see that by the yellowish green lines and you would have plenty of room and there's enough space for the building to fit on the current site. Okay, moving on to the next page is the budgetary numbers. And this is the hard part. This is where it really hits. Uh we're looking at a lot of money. There's a whole lot of money here. Uh and I'm I'm going to go back to what I started off with talked about what we what the plan was where things have has been taken care of by this this uh commission. Hillsboro started and we did addition and renovations in 2010. It cost $4 million to take care of what they needed. Deerfield, we built the entire new building for $11 million. That's 2010, 15 years ago. Coffee County Middle School, 160,000 square feet, $24 million. Raider Academy. I don't have the price on it, but after we moved the middle school over, then that relieved and gave us a whole another space for our ninth

grade. North Coffee, that was in 2019. We're only talking about, well, seven years ago now, if you want to say it, and we added 22,000 square feet, $5 million. New Union, same thing. It was in 2020, five, six years ago, uh, $5 million. And here we are now. We're look, well, at the high school, uh, we added six classrooms. We were able to pull it off about 800,000. And here we are asking to to do the same things just about with Hickerson and East Coffee, except we're adding a whole new building at Hickerson, which is a big difference, but we're looking at we're asking for 69 million. My my question is going to be is what are we going to look at if we hold off and wait for another 10 years? How much more is it going to be? I I I don't know where it's going to go, but I don't see prices going down. And I almost feel like we missed that chance of hitting that cheaper price, but we're where we are and and we've we've got to keep going and finish the job is kind of where I'm at. Okay, moving to the next one, which is the timeline. We would like for it to be able to get open in 2027, fall of 2027. for that to happen, we have to get some some movement going pretty soon and get the architects started now. Uh, and that's that's saying a whole lot. Um, so but you see the timeline for East Coffee for it to to get started and for us to open up in fall of 27, we would need to get funding pretty pretty quick. And for Hickerson, which is the next slide, even quicker. We we need the money now so that we can get started and get it opened up and and get these things taken care of. Uh moving to the last slide or next to the last slide, the recommendations from from us is is we

believe that this is the best approach to address immediate current and future enrollment projections and that's from a third party uh group. The proposed projects are needed to provide an equitable and appropriate experience between the schools and the communities. While the projects are large, the recommended solutions are the least disruptive for the students and the communities. And and I said it two or three times, $69 million is a lot of money, but we also we need to we need to finish it. We need to finish where we are in the planning that we had. And I'm open to any questions. And if you don't have any tonight, like I said, please take this home, read through it. If you come up with any questions, please send me an email. I don't mind giving you my email address. It's shores k12 coffee.net. And

thank you, Mr. Shores. Does anybody any commissioner have any questions for him? It'd be good to ask him now while we got him on camera. [snorts] Thank you, Mr. H. Mr. Commissioner Miller. I guess my question is what is the effect on the taxpayer citizen from what it is now to what it will be

and and something like that was actually asked the other night by Mr. or Mayor Hunt and and you are the the funding body and and I don't know what the the effect is. uh that that's the reason why I'm coming to you as the funded body and I I'm into the education world of it and and I I don't understand or know that part of it from the commissioners. Yes, ma'am. How much of this money do you already have?

Right now, we're asking for the the complete amount. Uh we do have a fund balance that that is is a very nice fund balance that I feel like the the school system has done a very good job on attaining. Uh that fund balance is truly we use it as what the fund balance is for us to not to have to come down here and ask you for things every every year. Our goal is to not bother you with with if a air conditioner goes out if we have to change out something or or need something through the schools for maintenance. It's not to come down here. We've got it to take care of it. And we try to be very good stewards of what we do have and what we spend and how we use that fund those funds so that we can use it as needed. So as of right now we we are coming to you as uh we need the the full funding. to also add to that interject. We'll meet with our our board and discuss that area. But we are proud and we try to follow the leadership that happens here on being good stewards of our money and I think we we've tried to do that accomplish that. So, but we would meet with our board of education that Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. Are there any more questions from the commissioners? Yes, ma'am. Where did you get this these figures? Are these You obviously have not put it out to bid, correct?

So, where did you get them? We we use wool uh engineering and architects and they are a a international building and and engineering group that are building on regularly every year are putting up many buildings in many schools. So they actually use what they have from from all that information to come up with the numbers. but they're nationwide, so they they have the Any more questions for Mr. Shores? There being none, I appreciate the presentation. I want to say thank you for this commission and thank you, Mayor Hunt.

You're very welcome. Okay, moving on with public comments. Is there anybody has signed up for public comments regarding business items on tonight's agenda? And I will remind you what you just heard is not a business item on tonight's agenda. So is there any public comment regarding agenda items? There being none, we need to move forward with approving the minutes from our last legislative body meeting. Is everybody's tablet still up and running? Okay, good. All right, we have the motion to approve the minutes by Commissioner Morris, seconded by Commissioner Jones. Are there any additions, changes, corrections to last meeting's minutes or discussion thereof? There being none, let's vote on the minutes approval. The minutes have been approved with 15 yes and two abstain. I can explain the abstaining individuals. We were always taught as commissioners and body members that you it's generally not acceptable to vote to approve minutes of a meeting you did not attend. So you'll you'll see that from time to time why people would abstain because it's officially correct. Okay. The minutes have been approved. Now,

Lamar Wilkey, I think we are ready for this Governor's Volunteer Stars Awards recognition. And this individual is present tonight that is getting this. So, I would ask her, Miss Jennifer Simmons, please step up here with Lamar and myself. Ladies and gentlemen, in conjunction with the 17th annual Governor's Volunteer Stars Awards, which is Tennessee's statewide volunteer recognition program, Jennifer Simmons was selected as the Coffee County Honore for 2025. Uh she was selected based on her decades of community service efforts with Coffee County Rescue Squad and her coordination of the Gan Taylor and Steve Graves Christmas Foundation ensures that children in Coffee County have food and toys for Christmas. Uh they sacrifice a lot of uh personal and family time. She and her husband uh Chief Neil Sim Simmons over there to make sure that we are safe. So again, congratulations Jennifer on your selection.

Thank you. [applause] Uh Lamar, would you please tell them a little bit about the process your position is the director, right? Or coordinator. There you go. And uh if you would explain to the public.

Well, the Governor's Volunteer Stars Awards uh program is established by Governor Lee. He appoints volunteer Tennessee which is a 25 member board to oversee uh volunteer efforts in Tennessee. This is one of their recognition programs and it recognizes uh volunteers who have displayed exceptional dedication to their communities in each of the 95 counties. Only one adult and one youth volunteer can be selected for any one county each year. Uh, as coordinator for Coffee County, I have a selection committee who reviews nominations. They don't know who the other selection committee members are. So, I'm the only one who knows who they all are. They score each nomination individually, send me the scores, and I tabulate them in the high score is the select team, which was Jennifer Simmons this year. And so we keep it as unbiased and as objective as possible in Coffee County.

Thank you, Lamar. Um Lamar Wilkey, he does a lot of work uh with the VFW in this county and we appreciate everything he does. More more so our our first responders. Uh Jennifer, as been stated, she is with Coffee County Rescue Squad. They're pretty much volunteer. You don't get a big paycheck there, do you? you know, our volunteer fire departments, the Coffee County Rescue Squad, those are not really arms of Coffee County government, but we do contribute and we appreciate the services and the first responses that they do give. This certificate of recognition is awarded tonight to Jennifer Simmons is awarded this certificate in recognition of who has served I got to put my glasses down. who has served the people of Coff County by volunteering with Coff County Rescue Squad since 2003. You were just in grade school, weren't you, when you started. So anyway, having said that, we do appreciate you immensely and everything that you and your your husband Neil back there do with along with all the rest of the volunteers of the C County Rescue Squad. So there's you something stick on your desk. Thank you. Thank you Lamar for your work.

[applause]

I didn't get to announce who made the motion. or the second on accepting that. I think it was Commissioner Hodgej made the motion to approve this proclamation seconded by Commissioner Hollinssworth. Is that correct?

Okay. And everybody has voted. So, the results are 17. Yes. Thank you guys. And thank you, Jennifer. Okay, moving right along. Now, we're up to the if I'm not skipping all of this stuff. That's why I will have consent items grouped together so we do these individual items a little bit more efficiently. Now, the next thing would be the 9D. Is that what you guys got? All right. WW that acronym that's WWTACCC is the water wastewater treatment authority of Coffee County. That's the the entity that is not an arm of Coffee County government, but it's the entity that takes care of the STEP system out at Wayside Subdivision. uh step system. It's an acronym for septic tank effluent pump. That's what goes on out there. We've had several resignations. The the board that controlled that authority uh did not have enough members to conduct business. It's a five member board. They only had two members. So tonight I have appointed Commissioner Jeff Perry from Manchester. We have attorney Matt Harris who is present in the audience and also Commissioner Tim Morris. Those three individuals have agreed to serve on that board.

We will tonight. I think I need uh a motion to approve these three. I have the motion from Tim Stubblefield, Commissioner Stubblefield, seconded by Commissioner Nettles. Uh this it is now open. This item is now open for discussion. Does anybody have any questions for these three individuals? Uh, attorney Matt Harris, I think, brings a an attorney. Would you like to speak briefly on your appointment to this board? Yes, there there's prerequisites regarding those uh descriptive the descriptive language of Tennessee statute that sets up these authorities. There are uh I if you guys approve these three names before the body meets and conducts any business, I'm going to shoot the comprollers's office a a letter uh revealing to them the new board members and be sure they're fully compliant. So when they start acting uh in their capacity as the as operating authority, I want to be sure they're compliant before that I've instructed them not to conduct a business. But anyway, if there's any discussion on these appointments or that board or I'm involvement in it, now be the time for that. Does any are there any discussion? Anybody have any questions? Have you got this set up to vote on these one at a time or all three?

All three.

All three together. Okay. All right. So, with there being no discussion, uh I'm ready for you guys to vote on these three appointments. Okay. These appointments have been approved with 16 yes. Uh, Commissioner Morris abstained because he's actually voting on his own name. But I always when you do a group appointment like that, I always made the disclaimer that I voted because I was voting for the other two people. So, I'm that's what they did as well. I just want everybody to understand why he abstained. So, appreciate it. Thank you. that the the people out there deserve a board that works and I hope these guys bring it to the table and get something done out there.

All right, the unfinished business. That would be the next item is 91140. A budget amendment. I'm sorry, what? Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I got it scribbled out here to the side. commission or uh I always want to use your last name, your mayor [laughter] name and then I know Missy Dford, you had an amendment and if you would state your nomination,

the law enforcement committee would like to nominate Matthew Vance for the open judicial commissioner position. Does any Nobody has to second that nomination, but uh I would anybody want to second the nominating the nomination for judicial commissioner? We have a vacancy.

All right. Commissioner Stubblefield seconded that. Okay. This are there any other nominations for judicial commissioner? This is just a recommendation from law enforcement. There being none, uh, does anybody have questions for Mr. Vance? You are in the room, correct? Raise your hand, please. There you go. Does any commissioner have a question for Mr. Vance? There being none, the motion by Commissioner Miller, seconded by Commissioner Hollinssworth. With no discussion, we're ready to vote. Commissioner Morris, is yours working? There you go. Okay. Congratulations, Mr. Vance. You have been appointed by this legislative body to fill the position of judicial commissioner. I would like to add I don't think I would I think you do you are required to be sworn in which normally would be conducted by our county clerk who is unfortunately out of town. So I'm thinking that uh you could get with one of the judges. Uh would you weigh in on that attorney, county

attorney? Would you say uh he could get one of the judges to do it immediately so he could go right to work or how would you do it? Teresa is not going to be back until next week. I think it would be fine for one of the uh general sessions judges to do that or circuit judge. Either one. Okay. If you would, you can take care of that and if and and send me uh an email or something confirming that you have take taken your oath of office. Don't make any decisions until you have done that. Just so we're on the right page. Okay. Thanks. Thank you for that.

Go ahead. The clerk may have a form for him to sign as well, acknowledging that he's taken that oath that she keeps in her record.

Yeah, that's true, too. Yeah. All right. Moving along. 10. Unfinished business. That would be budget amendment 91140, which uh right quick that was a uh an allocation from rural capital projects of $35,000 to be spent on water line materials for J Sartine Road and it has been put off. This is the third commission meeting that this item has been on the agenda. It's been postponed two prior meetings, so it's on the agenda and it has stayed on the agenda. So, we need a mo got a motion from Commissioner Hersiman, a second by Commissioner Morris. The floor is now open for discussion. No discussion. Uh, we're ready to vote, please. We have this motion has passed with 14 affirmative votes and three no votes. This uh just so everybody knows this money is not spent until Manchester City agrees to install the pipe. So appreciate it. The people on JD Sartine Road appreciate your vote. Now, moving on to new business, the uh financial summaries. I hope everybody, it's in your packet. I hope everybody reviews that. Got some pretty good numbers. What's interesting in the summaries is that we're at exactly December the 31st means we're exactly 50%

halfway through the budget cycle. And if you look at all the different departments, it uh Mariana has provided what percentages of the budgeted expenditures on each department uh where they're at at this point. And I think most everybody's right at between 44 and 48 49 50%. So all your department heads are doing a pretty good job. Moving on down to I think the next one that is not consent is the uh 11D. Was that correct? [clears throat] Commissioner Watkins, do you want to tell us just a little bit about that one?

Um, yes, Mr. Chairman. This is a grant that was given to us by the uh Tennessee Corrections Institutes, which are governing body for the jail. This is a grant, a non-matching grant, 100% funding for training materials and equipment that we'll be using for our corrections officers. Thank you for that. We have a motion to approve by Commissioner Morris, seconded by Commissioner Nettles. Floor is open for discussion. There being none, let's vote, please. This has been approved with 17 yes votes. Thank you for that. Moving to 11E. This is a preventative maintenance agreement. Uh Commissioner Stubblefield, would you like to speak to that briefly? Yes, that's a Can you hear me? Okay. That's a maintenance agreement that we um have been uh paying every year. It's on the the U EMS, the uh ambulances, the CS, the Striker CS that we have and some other equipment that we have that we have that we u have striker to do a maintenance on it each year and it it comes for review each year or approval each year. for five years. This one is for five years.

Okay. Excuse me. This one's for five years, but I think this is the second time we've renewed it or Okay.

motion to approve by Commissioner Hurstman, seconded by Commissioner Duncan. Is there any more discussion or questions regarding this? There being none, let's vote, please. has this has been approved with 17 yes votes. Thank you for that. Moving to 11F. This is resolution. This our first resolution of the year. This is 2026-01. This is a a uh recommendation from our regional planning commission which changes the language regarding easements and road public road abutment of parcels in the urban growth boundary only. It does not affect anywhere else in the county. Just the urban growth boundary. The language in there now states you must abut a public thorough affair by 50 ft to be able to get a building permit for a house on that parcel. In the urban growth boundaries, we are now reducing that abutment to 30 ft. It has to get wider as it goes back if you're going to build a house on it. But abuing a public thorough affair, you now if you have a parcel that can abut the street 30 ft, you're good to go. [laughter] Motion by Commissioner Hirschman, seconded by Commissioner Smith. Are there any discussion on this zoning resolution amendment? That being none, let's vote. [cough and clears throat]

This amendment has been approved with 17 yes votes. [clears throat and snorts] Thank you for that. There was a public hearing at 5:00 regarding this and there was absolutely no one interested in uh objecting to it. Now we're to 11G, which is resolution 20262. And I'm going to let our budget director, Mary Edinger, speak to this into her microphone.

I'm sorry. [snorts] I was wondering if you were going to do a motion first before I spoke. [clears throat] Okay. About uh six years ago, we refunded, which actually means refinanced all our debt. Uh you know, interest rates at the time had dropped. we were able to capture significant savings and during that period of time we've also paid off debt. So the fund balance has accumulated to a point where um we have a little bit of a surplus and due to the fact that we have several projects that need to be done uh once a justice center roof and the teleoma library roof. I did not think it was appropriate to borrow money when we had a huge fund balance already in general debt service. So, um, I had a meeting with our director of local government finance with the state and asked, could we not move some of that money from general debt service over to our capital projects in order to fund these projects because it didn't make sense to me to issue debt when we had such a strong fund balance. It was almost $12 million. So they said yes um that is correct you can do that. Um and this is the funding mechanism mechanism. It looks a little funny because it says interfund loan. We're not actually um borrowing borrowing our own money.

We're just moving it from one fund to another. So that's what we talked about at budget and finance and that's what we'd like to do to fund these projects. Does anybody have any questions? Any discussion regarding this? Oh, yeah. I see. I'm looking at my TV screen now. Commissioner Hodge, you have the floor. Yes. Uh just clarity, this was taken by the budget uh committee and they approved of this.

Yes. Uh the budget amendment. This is really loud. It's It was earlier on the consent agenda. There's actually two. One is reducing the fund balance and the second one is actually moving it over to capital projects. We also intend to pay off a capital outlay note that we had issued for the improvements to this roof. That would pay that off as well.

Thank you for that clarity. I appreciate it. And mayor, I think it sets a good example to our stewards or our children and stuff that come after us that as you pay as you go. We don't incur debt and we don't pay interest to somebody. We're using our own money to pay for this stuff. Yeah. Thank you for that. And it and it went through budget and finance. Yeah.

Any more discussion or questions? This was a motion by Commissioner Hchman to approve, seconded by Commissioner Stubblefield. You were ready to vote. That's been approved with 17 yes votes. Thank you for that. Okay, the budget calendar. Everybody knows what that is. That's the That's the days that we're the budget and finance going to be earning their keep. So, uh have a motion by Commissioner Stubblefield, seconded by Commissioner Watkins to approve this budget calendar. Anybody have any comments or discussion regarding this? There being none, let's vote. We have this has been approved with 16 yes and one negative. Thank you for that. the last thing. Let's do um standing committees. Let's go ahead and do that.

Okay. Okay. Budget and finance Commissioner Morris. Our next meeting is February the 26th here at 5:00.

Okay. Thank you. Capital outlay commissioner Terry Hushman. Uh, our next meeting is on February the 5th at 4:00 in the afternoon. Um, I will give you a brief u update on what's going on in Capital Outlay. We have been uh watching over the health department and the animal shelter as it's being constructed. And both projects are are in full steam ahead right now. The health department is probably ahead of their schedule. Um the animal shelter is probably behind on their schedule as we see it right now, but they are progressing very quickly right now. So everything's going good.

Okay. Thank you. Health, welfare, and recreation Hollinssworth. Commissioner Hollinssworth. This will be meeting Thursday night, January 22nd at 6 PM. Okay. Thank you. Law Enforcement Commissioner Defford. Nothing new to report at this time. Okay. Thank you. Legislative Committee. Commissioner Watkins. Nothing to report. Okay. Policies and procedures. Commissioner Hirschman.

Our next meeting is is on the 26th of January of this month. U. We moved it from the 19th. I think they have not re-updupdated that in the calendar, but it is on the 26 at 5:00. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Commissioner Stubblefield. Chairman Pro Tim Stoverfield. Okay. Now, before we do statements and announcements from the commissioners, we have a guest, uh, Miss Deafany Greg. Would you please come to the podium? and she wants to uh she wants to pitch something to everyone that's listening. She's with the Manchester Library, by the way. Energer, your mic is not on. Would you find the slide switch, please? [sighs] Is this better? Yes.

Um, so I do work at the Manchester Public Library, but today I am coming to you as the board chair of the Imagination Library of Coffee County. So that is the Dolly Parton books that we get in our county. Out of 95 counties in the state of Tennessee, we are in the top 10% and almost in the top 5% for enrollment. That being said, when I say average, I mean that kids are being born every day and kids are turning five and aging out of our program every day. In Coffee County, we're currently reaching 78.42% of the eligible children in the Imagination Library. This translates to just si shy of 3,000 kids a month. Um our book bill is about $2.50 a kid and part of that is funded by the gelf um Governor's Early Literacy Foundation. Coffee County is celebrating their 20th anniversary for giving Dolly Parton books and giving kids a piece of magic in their mailbox every single month. However, with that being said, the money is limited and in order to keep this program going, uh, we are changing leadership. I took office today as board chair and changing some strategies to keep this going. One of the things that we have is a Dream with Dolly fundraiser on February the 6th. You can buy your tickets or you can sponsor. You can also make a donation to help us with that book bill. Again, our book bills are a little over $3,000 a month, and as of right now, we only have three and a half months worth of funding left. So, I implore you to um learn more about our program and get involved with this and help us keep putting magic in kids' hands. Thank you.

Commissioner Miller's got a question. I think you said that 3,000 kids a month. Are those different kids or is that some of them repeat? Those are the same kids. So there's three or 2,987 kids currently enrolled as of today. And that is the Coffee County kids only. I'm not speaking for the state of Tennessee, just Coffee County. But that that's the number that's showing up every single month. Yes, sir.

That's what I was asking. Is it the same uh 3,000 kids or is it 15 doing twice? It's just one person, but we do have the eb and flow with kids being born daily and kids turning five and aging out of the program where they no longer get the books. But on average, it's just one. Now, if they go into the foster care system, they get moved into a different portion of the program and we do not have to pay for their book bills. The state pays for that with them being in the foster system. So, we are currently paying for 2,800 or 987 kids roughly. And I think I flopped those numbers.

So, I guess I didn't understand. Apparently, you're sending these to them. These are not children going to the library. Correct. We are mailing the books to the children in their mailboxes. Anybody have any more questions for Miss Greg? [sighs] Yeah. M Comm Commissioner Brown, did you say what the cost was for that dinner? Is it a dinner? The dinner, the adult tickets are $25 a piece. Students are 20. Kids 10 and under are 10. And under five are free. February.

February the 6th. And we do have sponsorship opportunities where you can um do different tiers. They're cleverly named if I do say so. Um but the lowest one is the Jolene tier and that's $150 and that gets your business advertised on the table as well. Miss Craig, Miss Craig, isn't that dinner at First Baptist Church?

Yes, ma'am. I think Dennis or the county mayor has already donated to you or gives some money. So, I I'd like to buy two tickets and uh just let everybody know this is a great program and I want to challenge all the commissioners to do the same. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So, am I hearing you correctly? You're not going to ask the county to fund this as a line item to the budget. You're going to ask for donations. Currently, yes. Eventually, we may put it as a budget and finance line item.

Anybody else got any questions for her? It's a great cause. Dolly does a good job with everything she touches, I think. So, [clears throat] thank you. Thank you. And I accept the commissioner's challenge to give to the cause.

Thank you, Commissioner Brown. [clears throat] Okay. Now, statements and announcements from the commissioners. I have one um our um January budget and finance meeting for that was scheduled for the 22nd has been cancelled and just want to make sure everybody knows that. Commissioner Smith,

on January the 5th, you announced that you received a letter from Tde in reference to a farm lake in Beach Grove that is attempting to bypass our local zoning laws. And I believe you asked our lawyer, a county attorney, to send a letter to request a public hearing. So, can you answer that, Mr. Williams.

Yeah, I've given a copy of the letter to the mayor and I'll email a copy out to all of the commissioners. I would like to add that all elected officials in the state of Tennessee have to by January 31st complete a statement of interest. So, I'm just reminding all the commissioners that have not done that to try to remember to do that. And there are some officials that are not elected that have to do it. I think our county attorney does, don't you? Or do you?

I'll have to look and check and see if county I I know elected official and I've brought this up to the the ethics uh division of Tennessee State. Our board of zoning appeals do not have to and I do not understand that. You know, if you go in the drop-own box where you do your statement of interest, members of board of zoning appeals are not there and I just it's an oversight that I feel like the legislature needs to fix, but it's not our duty. But I just wanted to mention that. But our planning commission members are not elected. uh they have to file statement of interest as well. So having said that or there if there's no more statement of uh I mean statements or announcements I guess we need a motion to adjourn. Motion by Commissioner Jones, seconded by Commissioner Hodgej. Vote please. So the meeting is officially closed. And did everybody's iPad stay up? Does anybody got a dead iPad tablet? I'm sorry.

Do what? 1%. Okay, we have officially adjourned this meeting with 17 affirmative votes. Thanks everyone.