City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, I call to order the Bristol, Tennessee City Council meeting, October 7th to order. Um, first thing that we have on our agenda this evening is the swearing in of Matt Slaggel as the appointment to city council. Uh, Mary Lee, would you please administer the oath to Mr. SL?

Yes, sir. You can stand right here facing this way. If you raise your right hand, please. I, Matthew Slaggel I, Matthew Sgel, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support

that I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States the constitution and the laws of the United States and the state of Tennessee and the state of Tennessee and the charter and ordinances and the charter and ordinances of the city of Bristol of the city of Bristol and that I will fully and I will fully discharge the duties discharge the duties of the office of city council the office of city council to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you.

Congratulations.

Now, Mary Lee, would you call the role? Yes, sir. Acre here. Turner. Yes. Fire Robin here. Slaggel here. Powers here.

Welcome and thank everyone for attending this evening. Uh there will be two opportunities to speak on matters of city business this evening. First, attendees are invited to speak regarding any of the three public hearing items tonight. I will announce when these opportunities are open. If your comments relate to the subject of one of those hearings, plea, please speak during those hearings. Uh second, citizens are welcome to address council regarding any matter of city business that is not subject of the public hearing matter during the appearance of citizens. A signup sheet has was provided as you came into council chambers and I have that list here. Um, next we have our invocation and pledge. And uh, Chief Mike Carrier will do our invocation and Councilwoman Powers will lead us in our pledge.

Let us pray. Our most kind and gracious heavenly father, as we come before you tonight, we do thank you for this day that you've given us. We thank you, Lord, for your many, many blessings you pour out upon us. As we come before you tonight, dear Lord, we just thank you for the opportunity to be able to come together and be a part of the decisions that are made to run our government here in Bristol. We thank you, dear Lord, for each of these council people that give of their time and their effort to be able to lead our community. We thank you, Lord, for Mr. Slaggel, who has now come onto this board. We thank you for his service that he's provided for Bristol as he served on the county commission as a Bristol representative there. It's our prayer tonight, dear God, that you would just bless each of these. We pray, Lord, that you would give them your wisdom, your insight as they make decisions, that they make decisions, Lord, that would honor and glorify you and that would move our community forward and that Bristol would remain a great place, a good place to live and to work. We thank you, Lord, for all those that have fought for the freedoms that we have in this country. We're coming up on Veterans Day, just a few weeks out. Help us to never forget the sacrifices that have been made down through the years to provide for the freedoms that we have. And even those, Lord, who are standing on the front lines now protecting those freedoms. We just pray, dear God, now that you would just be with us here, that you would lead in this meeting. And I pray, Lord, for our first responders. And I thank you Lord for the outpouring of support and love and strength that have been given to our fire department here in Bristol in the loss of our own this past week. Thank you Lord for all those that have expressed those different ways of showing their support for us. Pray Lord for the family of Brandon Clawson. Wrap your loving arms around them Lord and comfort them as they move forward. And we pray Lord that you would comfort our

department as well, his family here at work and the responders all across the communities and the areas that he's worked in. He's made a lasting impact on a lot of lives. We pray dear God for your blessings on that family and on those first responders now. And I ask all this in the holy name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Please uh face the flag. I pledge algiance 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.

Thank you. Are there any additions this evening?

Okay. First, we have five proclamations and two recognitions this evening. Um, the first pro proclamation is a Bristol Motor Speedway appreciation. Um, we have Adam Rust with us who's the vice president of events and operations at Bristol Motor Speedway uh to accept the proclamation. and uh I will read. Since in 1961, Bristol Motor Speedway has become one of the most beloved and stored venues of all of motorsports, earning the nickname the last great coliseum and attracting generations of fans to witness the excitement of short track racing at the world's fastest half mile. The BMS legendary atmosphere has made it a favorite among NASCAR drivers and teams, producing some of the most memorable finishes, rivalries, and moments in racing history. Together with Bristol Dragway, also known as Thunder Valley, these venues have hosted record-breaking non-racing events, including the largest NCAA football game in history with the Battle at Bristol, the new all-time record holder for regular season single game attendance at the MLB Speedway Classic, plus worldclass live music events. Following the devastation of Hurricane Helen, the team at BMS stepped forward to serve as the designated Northeast Tennessee disaster relief center. BMS serves as a steadfast partner in the region, driving tourism, supporting local businesses and creating jobs that benefit residents throughout the region. BMS has built a legacy of community engagement, charitable giving, and regional collaboration. City Council recognizes BMS for the remarkable contributions to our city's

history, culture, economic prosperity, and resilience, not only today, but for generations to come. Well, I don't have a whole lot to say other And thank you. Um we appreciate the support we get from our city. Uh big events obviously take a big effort and there's no shortage of that from the city. All of the people on the stand. Um we know that every department within the city is pulling in our direction and that's what it takes to succeed. Uh we know that we're only as good as our community is. Um and we're just so blessed to be a part of this community where everybody's pulling in the same direction. um and now for the greater good. Um so, thank you for the honor tonight. We appreciate it and uh we look forward to continuing to serve.

Thank you.

All right. Next, we have a proclamation for Teen Driving Safety Week. Uh Councilman Slegel will read this proclamation summary and Samuel Jones, senior program coordinator, and Katie Sapias. I didn't want to executive director for the Appalachin Promise Alliance will accept the proclamation.

Thank you, mayor. Cities of Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia recognize the safety of our young drivers as a vital concern for the well-being of our community. Teen drivers have crash rates nearly four times those of drivers 20 and older. In 2023, there were 3,48 teenagers who died from crash injuries in the US, making it the leading cause of death for this age group. Teen drivers are a valuable asset to our community and it's imperative that we take proactive measures to prevent car crashes involving young people. The collective effort of parents, educators, local law enforcement, elected leaders, community leaders, and the youth themselves is essential to protecting our young drivers and their passengers through education and the promotion of safe driving practices. The week of October 19th to 25th, 2025 is recognized as National Teen Driving Safety Week, providing a prime opportunity to increase public awareness and commitment to teen safe driving. with the support of dedicated local organizations such as the Appalachian Promise Alliance to buckle buckle up Appalachia program and the cooperation of local law enforcement, the participation of students and faculty from Tennessee High School and Virginia High School, we can significantly contribute to raising awareness about youth traffic safety. Thank you. Uh, Teen Driving Safety Week is a call to action because the safety of our youngest drivers is at stake. Tennessee is ranked as one of the three most dangerous states for teen drivers with a staggering rate of 41 drivers for

every 100,000 teen drivers last year. In 2024, Sullivan County ranked as the 19th worst county in the state of Tennessee for teen driver crashes. The experts are clear on the causes which are all within our control. alcohol, distracted driving, and speeding. So, we must slow down. We must buckle up every single time. We must put the phone down. So, thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Next, we have a proclamation for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Vice Mayor Powers will read that proclamation summary. and Britney Fleiner with the executive direct director of the branch house will receive the proclamation.

Thank you, mayor. Domestic violence transcends racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic borders, and its perpetrators harm their victims, endanger children, traumatize families, and threaten our communities. Statistics show us that one in four and one in seven men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in the US. And in 2023, 60,479 victims of domest domestic violence were reported in Tennessee along with 6,928 juveniles uh accounted for 11% of all victims in Tennessee. On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide. Victims of violence should have access to medical and legal services, counseling, transitional housing, and other supportive services so they can escape the cycle of abuse. Local programs, state coalitions, national organizations, and other agencies nationwide are committed to increasing public awareness of domestic violence and its prevalence and to eliminating it through prevention and education. The mayor and council urged the citizens of Bristol, excuse me, to increase public understanding of this significant problem. Keep an eye out for those around you and especially during October, which is domestic violence awareness month.

Good evening, Mayor Turner, city council members and staff. On behalf of Branch House Family Justice Center, and our community partners, I just wanted to sincerely thank you all for recognizing October as domestic violence awareness month and for your continued support of the important work that we do. Um, domestic violence affects families across our nation and behind every statistic, there is a real person, a mother, a child, a neighbor who deserves safety, dignity, and hope. And your proclamation helps remind our community that domestic violence is not a private issue. This is a community one. Um, and together we can truly make a difference. At Branch House, we work side by side with law enforcement advocates, prosecutors, and medical professionals to provide comprehensive traumainformed services to survivors. And having the support of the city of Bristol strengthens that network and sends a powerful message to victims that you're not alone and help is here. So, thank you again for standing with us and for continuing to shine a light on this issue. and your partnership truly helps us to save lives and to create a safer and stronger community for us all. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Next, we have a proclamation for the nature center accreditation. Uh, Councilwoman Py Robin will read their proclamation summary and director of parks and recreation Mike Mains and nature center manager Jeremy Stout will accept the proclamation.

Great. Can you all hear me? It's not There it is. Now you can hear me. So, this is um I'm thrilled to do this and I hope everybody here has visited our nature center. It's been there a long time and it got uh new building and all kinds of new things within the last uh shorter period of time. Uh, the city of Bristol, Tennessee is enriched by the nature center at Steel Creek Park, an esteemed scientific and educational institution dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and presenting the natural heritage of our community. The American Alliance of Museums accreditation represents the highest national recognition for museums in the United States, signifying excellence in operations, governance, collection stewardship, and public service. Fewer than,00 museums nationwide have achieved this accreditation, placing the nature center among a distinguished group of institutions recognized for their exemplary professional standards and commitment to public trust. This accreditation affirms the center's role as a leader in museum practice, a trusted resource for lifelong learning, and a vital contributor to the cultural vitality and civic identity of Bristol. The achievement of accreditation is the result of years of dedication, professionalism, vision by the leadership, staff, board, volunteers, and supporters of the center. The mayor and city council wish to acknowledge this accompul accomplishment and commend the center for bringing honor and recognition to our community. Congratulations

Thank you. The nature center at Steel Creek Park has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1995. Originally a one room exhibit with handme-down aquariums and handwritten signage has grown into a fully accessible space with vibrant exhibits, educational programming for all ages and abilities and curated collections and natural history research. The center is a hub for scientific advancement in the region and beyond. A am accreditation is a mark of distinction that fewer than 4% of institutions earn and it's a testament to the commitment to research, conservation, and education by the city of Bristol to its citizens. Uh so thank you so much for this recognition and I'd like to invite each of you to our celebration uh which is going to be at 3:30 p.m. this Friday at the nature center. There will be cake. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, next we have a proclamation for fire prevention week. Uh, Councilwoman Akre will read the proclamation and Chief Mike Carrier will accept. The city is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living and visiting Bristol. Fire is a serious public safety concern everywhere, and the presence of lithium ion batteries in many household devices introduces unique fire risk. Most of the electronics used in homes daily, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, power tools, ebikes, and toys, are powered by lithium ion batteries, which if misused, damaged, or improperly charged, can overheat, start a fire, or explode. The National Fire Protection Association reports an increase in battery related fires, underscoring the need for public education on the safe use of lithium ion batteries. Residents should buy only elicited products, charge batteries safely, and recycle them responsibly to prevent battery related fires. The proper disposal and recycling of lithium-ion batteries help prevent environmental hazards and reduce fire risk in the home and community. Bristol's first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of fires through prevention, safety, education, and community outreach. The mayor and council urge all urge all citizens to use, charge, and recycle lithium ion batteries safely to reduce the risk of fires in homes and communities.

Thank you very much. Um, do you know we uh celebrate National Fire Prevention Week every year and the theme that was selected as you can see in the proclamation this year is a theme that uh has not been uh spoken a whole lot about in the past. But one thing that we have seen nationwide and the NFPA, National Fire Protection Association has documented an increase in fires that are related to the lithium ion batteries that are found in basically everything that we have uh from the laptops and uh cell phones to your power tools. And we're seeing a lot more ebikes with those. We're seeing a lot of uh scooters with those around and they like anything else uh they have their limitations. And so what the theme attempts to do this year is to educate the public on the dangers that can be associated with them when they're improperly charged when you're buying um uh less than the higher grade batteries and not uh handling them, managing them properly. And so we're going to attempt to um educate the public on the safe purchase, the safe use, the safe recharging, safe storage, and the safe disposal of those batteries at the end of their life. And throughout the month of October, we have a lot of public education events that a lot have already taken place and we have more throughout the rest of the month that will be taking place to help to educate the public on the safety uh fire prevention, fire safety as a whole and particularly lithium ion batteries. And we don't have any cake, but we will have open house at station 2 on the 18th and we will have something. Okay. Uh the menu hadn't been exactly set yet, but we have the date and the location and we will have to try to one up the the nature center with their cake. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Next, we have two recognitions. Uh first is government finance officers association award uh tonight and we recognize finance director Holly Baron and her team for the their recipient of the esteemed GFOA certificate of achievement for exc excellence in financial reporting. Uh this is the 22nd consecutive year that the city of Bristol Tennessee has received this award and like to thank Holly and her team for everything they do. Good evening, mayor and council members, and welcome, Mr. Slegel. Um, just want to say thank you for taking a moment just to recognize this achievement. um a lot of time and effort goes into it and um we're all about crunching numbers and we don't use a lot of words until we have to write this big report and we have to put some words with it and um we don't have cake. Sorry. So, but thank you for your time.

Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. Next, uh, we are proud to invite John Lutil, director of community relations to the podium to tell us about the two city county communications and marketing association awards received uh, for the hurricane Helen and Paramount videos he and his team created. John, thank you, mayor, and uh, and members of council. Uh we are proud this evening to acknowledge the recent national recognition of two btn TV projects from this past year. Uh as you mentioned uh the projects are tonight is the night the paramount Bristol story and hurricane Helen 6 months later. These two projects are actually pretty different from one another in in kind of tone and content. Uh but in a lot of ways it's actually appropriate that they were recognized together because they demonstrate the breadth of the stories that we're able to tell. In one case, we have a featurelength documentary exploring the history of one of Bristol's most recognizable landmarks. In the other, we shared the previously untold firsthand accounts of one of the most harrowing events that Bristol's first responders and really our region as a whole have ever experienced. One spans nearly a century of Bristol's history, while the other recounts an event that only happened a year ago. Now, we never go into a project thinking about how it might potentially be recognized, but we are proud to have earned uh similar state and national recognition for our projects in the past. This type of acknowledgement uh particularly when it does come in the case of this from a group of our peers in local government communications from around the country. Um it really serves as validation for the immense amount of time that it takes to produce something up to the standards of quality that that we hold ourselves to. Um, and it is it is worth it in the end to tell these stories because it also puts additional eyes from around the country and really around the world uh on Bristol and the great things that happen here. Uh,

speaking about the amount of time that that go into these projects, for for example, from its inception until its premiere, the Paramount documentary was in production for more than four years, um, including the the pandemic, which ultimately became its own chapter of that story. Uh the scale and scope alone of that piece are something we're immensely proud of and something that the judges for this competition acknowledged, saying, "This documentary has captured the building's history vividly and preserved its legacy. The number of interviews was staggering. All the B-roll included was impressive, and the commitment to a 2 and a half hour video is inspiring and exhausting. Um, a finished product of this magnitude is rare in our field." for the Hurricane Helen piece. The judges noted that this was clearly a massive undertaking and an emotional story to share with the video covering a lot of ground in just 35 minutes. I should also add about that particular piece that since the video was first posted on our YouTube channel this past April. Of course, we showed a a short version of it here at the city council meeting on April 1st. Um, that video has more than triple the views of our previously most viewed video on our YouTube channel and uh and has just on its own resulted in more than 100 new subscribers to our YouTube channel. Uh, for folks who can view things like the city council meeting happening tonight and all of the other content that we post. You can view both of these winning projects along with most of our other video content on YouTube at youtube.comwatchb. Uh, and lastly, I know I'm the one here speaking about this recognition, but the individuals who truly deserve the credit are the other members of the community relations team who make all of this possible. We're lucky to have uh Brennan Dye and Scott Hill, who constitute the entirety of our production crew, uh, being responsible for camera work, lighting, sound, editing, on-screen graphics, and so on. Um, but I also want to acknowledge Anne Dunham who serves as the primary producer for most of our video content, uh, coordinating all of

our interviews and who especially in the case of the Paramount documentary did just an enormous amount of research on that project. Also want to acknowledge Jamma Hellbert who keeps us on track and on budget as we work through these projects and who always helps our department and organization put our best foot forward uh, whether it's a themed movie premiere or a reception to welcome a new city council member. Uh so thank you to everyone on the team for what they do and and thank you for allocating the time this evening to uh to recognize them.

Thank you. before. Okay, thank you. Um, next we have our board of education report. Dr. Tutor, good evening everyone. Uh, congratulations Councilman Slaggel. Good to see you. Look forward to working with you. Um, just a couple of things this evening for you all. I just want to recognize that October is National Principal Month. So, I'd like to thank our dedicated principles who selflessly serve our students every day. Uh John Sprouls at Anderson, Denise McKe at Aoka, Trey Arrington at Fairmont, Tanica Harden at Hannesfield, Kayla McMans at Holston View, Dr. Luke Douet at Tennessee Middle School, Kim Kirk at Tennessee High School, and Keith Parker at Tennessee Online Public School. Obviously, you all know how hard how hard they work and how dedicated they are to the students in our school system. So just wanted to recognize them publicly for their service. Um just two other things. One just wanted to note that we just completed our 73rd annual music in the castle. It was a huge success. Unfortunately I was not able to

be there but we had 20 p 20 different bands who competed or performed kind of the like exhibition that Tennessee High School and ETSU do. Um thank you to Bristol Tennessee Police Department and the city of city staff. I know it is a challenge to navigate all of that. The the traffic that comes with having 20 bands and all of the things that come with those vans, semi trucks and trailers and all that stuff is is a challenge, but obviously great for our community and a wonderful event for our school system. And then just one last thing, next week is fall break. Can't believe we're already a quarter through our school our school year already. Um we do offer inter session for students who need that. Uh Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we do breakfast and lunch and um lots of fun activities as well as remediation. And then teachers return to an inservice day on the following Monday. We also offer um child care services for students who need that as well. That's all I have for you unless you all have questions for me.

I would just like to say on behalf of council, congratulations on winning the superintendent award. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we have uh three public hearings this evening. Uh the first one is ordinance 25-20 imposing a temporary moratorum on the establishment of data centers. Um this public hearing is hereby open for ordinance 25-20. Sheriff Young, director of planning and community development will present. Thank you, Mayor Turner. Good evening, council members. Um the uh ordinance tonight for a moratorum on uh data centers uh is is brought to you and born out of the work of the planning commission. Um the planning commission has been hard at work the past few meetings um looking at ways to amend uh and revise some of the regulations in our M2 ordinance. We've been looking at um outdated uses, emerging uh uses, emerging technologies. And in that discussion, the planning commission discussed um and recommended a moratorum on data centers to city council. Um so tonight uh public hearing is on uh the ordinance to to create a moratorum on data centers and this would be for a two-year period um while the planning commission still works uh in the background to uh research and and look at look at this emerging technology.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to council on this matter? Seeing none, this public hearing is closed. Um, next we have a public hearing on the annexation of territory in the city of Bristol by owner consent, uh, 140 Sweet Knobs Trail. Um, this public hearing is hereby opened and Sheriff will present.

Thank you once again. Um, so the next public hearing is related to an annexation request filed by the owner of property at 140 Sweet Knobs Trail. Um, that is Mr. Sean Hunt and he is in the audience with us this evening. Um, it's currently zoned A1, which is a general agricultural estate residential district in Sullivan County. Uh the parcel is approximately six acres and if annexed um the owner intends to subdivide the parcel into two parcels and build a home on each site. Um the plan of services information I'll go into just a little bit more detail um in a moment. Um but the ultimate recommendation in that plan of services is to zone this property as R1A.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone in attendance that would like to speak on this matter? Okay. Oh, you okay? Please come to the podium. Yes.

I think she's already stated that they it's been recommended as far one. Originally, it was recommended according to my paperwork as a B3. And um if you all are going to recommend it R1A, then I'm good with that. That that was just my only Okay. That's why I came tonight. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for being Yes. Is there anyone else? This hearing is hereby closed. Next. Like I'm getting ahead of myself here, I think. citizens.

Okay. Next, we have a public hearing on plan of services for annexation of territory to the city uh by owner consent for 140 Sweet Knobs Trail.

All right. So, this is a little bit of a repeat. Again, this is the plan of services portion of the annexation activity. Um, as I stated um, in the last public hearing, this is currently zoned A1. Um, and what is recommended for the plan of services in the zoning category is to zone this R1A, which is a single family residential district in the city of Bristol. So, what you have on the map uh, here is the parcel hatched. Um, you do have A1, Sullivan County, A1 around B3 on the Highway 394 corridor. Um, during the work session, during the last city council meeting, I went through the plan of services. um in in some detail. U many of these services are going to be available um upon annexation. So, police fire protection, zoning services, recreation services, uh utilities will be provided by South Fork utility district for water and then the um owner of the property will be responsible for connecting to the city sanitary sewer service. The one difference this time around um is that the planning commission did hold a public hearing on the plan of services during their September meeting and they did recommend an amended plan of services which focuses on the zoning uh line item. So as um the um as suggested by the previous speaker u the plan the staff recommendation to planning commission was to zone this B3 and that is because um the future land use map shows a a a split of commercial and residential on this property. So staff recommendation was B3 to the planning commission but the planning commission felt that R1A was more appropriate and that is the recommendation to council tonight.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone that would like to speak on this matter? Seeing none, this public hearing is closed. Next, we have our appearance of citizens, which provides opportunity for the public to address city council on any matter of city business. A response is not likely to be made at this time since most cases neither council nor the city manager will be prepared to effectively respond to the concern. Uh the city manager will look into the matter and report back to city council as appropriate and have staff meet with you in an effort to satisfy your concern. Um comments are limited to three minutes and I have a list here. First is David Shoemaker. Council, I appreciate the opportunity to uh come here and speak to you tonight. My name is David Shoemaker. I am a lifetime lifelong resident of Bristol, Tennessee. Uh I'm here tonight as a member of your parks and recck commission. Um and um my special interest as as a member of that uh board is Stills Creek Park. Um, I grew up uh a short walk from the entrance of Stills Creek Park uh on Broad Street. In fact, our property borders Stills Creek Park to this day. Um, I need your help. We have had a number of thefts over the last couple years. It's now to the point where we're having thefts weekly. In fact, in the last four days, we've had four or two breakins and thefts in the last four days. Um, the

problem that we seem to have and and I don't understand it for the life of me, we don't seem to be getting any response at all from the police department. Uh, I don't know whether they're just not interested or don't think it's a big deal or or maybe they think because it's a park it's it's not part of their job. I I don't understand it and and and I I don't know why. Um, make no mistake, the people who are breaking into our park are not homeless people. They're not teen vandals. These people are coming in with burglary tools and and breaking into buildings and and doing other damage. Perfect example. Um, also, uh, you know, I I serve as as one of your drivers on a little train. Uh we've had so many uh breakins in the depot, but a good example this summer within a week after the Civotan Club, my club, uh another member of the club, your former mayor Joel Stton and I wired the deck that we've been working all spring and summer on down there. Um they came in uh we put outlets on either side and in front. They came in with a heavyduty uh bolt cutter uh cut the conduit that we had run the wires through, cut through the conduit, cut through the wire, and pulled out the wires that we had just installed less than a week after we did that. Uh they're bringing in power tools or cutting through the cages that have been installed over the depot, uh other buildings. Uh when they come in with power tools to cut through things, these are not kids. These are not homeless people. They've stolen air conditioners. They're not carrying air conditioners all the way out of that park. They're coming in with wagons or dollies to do that. Um the uh when I heard about last night's breakin uh where they went in and and uh broke into a pump house on the golf course,

stripped out all the wire in the in the pump house. Uh when I heard about that from our park manager, Beth Carter, I asked her if she would give me just a brief summary of of what's happened recently. So, if you'll indulge me another minute or so, let me just read what she sent me earlier this afternoon. In the past few years, breakins would generally uh happen only at the train depot or at the concessions. At its worst point, breakins were happening about every two weeks for a couple of months. Replacement on doors and windows along with restock of concessions would be a necessary expenditure each time. Metal caging was put around the depot windows and doors which prevented further breakins until they came in with tools to cut through the metal caging and break a window early in August. The paddleboat house has been broken into twice over the past year as well as the B building that houses items for the apiary. Wall AC units are and renewable energy resources were sto or sources were stolen. The nature center storage building was cut into twice over the past year and food for our staff Christmas party last December was stolen out of the lodge kitchen after being stored in there for less than 24 hours. Copper was stolen off the lodge HVAC units requiring a privacy fence to be installed and locked around them last year. The golf shop, which has never had issues previous to the past year, has had three breakins since last November, requiring replacement of custommade doors and windows each time. That cost about $800 per occurrence. The pump house was broken into, stripped of almost all of its wiring just last night. The cost to repair has yet to be determined. theft of plaques, cameras, pieces of aluminum from picnic tables,

extension cords that were padlocked to prevent their theft were uh cut and stripped out. The copper continue throughout the um the year to be a an issue where they're stripping out copper out of out of buildings. Another example, last Friday night, there was a camera installed on the bridge near the end of the train track so that they could try to keep them from messing with the uh uh the decorations for Spooky Express. The camera lasted 12 hours till it picked up the vagrant or the person climbing up and throwing the camera into the lake 12 hours after it was installed. We desperately need your help. They're doing thousands of dollars worth of damage to steal a few dollars worth of wire down there. Just can't

I I appreciate you coming and um we will definitely u look into this. And thank you, Mayor. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Next, I have uh Jim Jordan. Good evening. My name is Jim Jordan. My wife and I have lived at 232 Colony Drive for the past 37 years. Uh once again, I would like to remind you of the opportunity you have as city council members to help alleviate an unfair burden which has been placed on the elderly and less fortunate taxpayers of Bristol, Tennessee. I'm referring to the property tax freeze act which if approved could help property taxpayers over 65 who qualify. Taxpayers like uh Mrs. Atlanta Binka who pled for mercy before this council passed a 21% tax increase. That increase comes after the 13% property tax increase of last year and after two years of increases in our water, sewer, and solid waste rates. While most people in this room might be able to afford these increases, these increases along with inflation and price increases in grocery have disproportionately affected seniors living on a fixed income. The most recent statistics show that 14% of people living in Bristol, Tennessee are below the poverty level. Psalm 41:1 says, "Blessed is the one who considers the poor. In the day of trouble, the Lord delivers him. The Bible also gives this warning in Proverbs 21:13. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

And my request is that you make a resolution or ordinance, whichever is appropriate and applicable, to approve the property tax freeze act effective with the FY 26 tax year. While this should help those who qualify and apply, the loss of any revenue should be a small percentage of the $3.4 million increase the city projects due to the increase in the property tax rate. Thank you for your consideration and action to help those over 65 on a fixed income. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have uh Earl Caner. Thank you. My name is Earl Caner. I live at 4265 Old Jonesboro Road and that's in the Hunter Hills subdivision. This is a residential subdivision. Uh the block that I live on has people ranging in age from in their 90s down to kids that's pre kindergarten. Now the problem we have is very unsafe on our block. You know the speed limit there is 30 miles an hour. Uh it has been over the years I've lived there for 45 well since the house is new 45 years. Now the problem we have is the speed limits 30 miles an hour. This street is being used as a thoroughare for tractor and trailers. We have a logging company now that makes three trips a day through there with a big huge long tractor trailer log truck loaded down with logs. We have school buses going in the opposite direction. And when you know you get a truck that big running 60 miles an hour and you get somebody trying to let kids off of a school bus, that's not a good situation. Now we have my neighbors are afraid to go to their mailboxes, mow their yards because you get close to the street, you're taking your life in your own hand. You can't keep a mailbox up. I have a I think it's called a curve. Anyway, it's a sign that has a curve to

it. Uh two weeks ago got up, it's laying in the in my driveway. Lady down the street. Two weeks ago, no mailbox. It's scattered all over the neighbor's yard. you know, whatever resources the police department need, I would like to ask this council to provide them with the money or whatever resources they need to enforce that speed limit. And you know that I know everybody is entitled to drive on the public street, but this has been turned into like a a four-lane highway. You you know, you can't get out of your driveway. You turn into your driveway, you've got somebody with road rage blowing their horn because you have you have to take their time just to get off the street into your driveway. Uh I don't know what the answer is to this. We've made numerous complaints to the police department. Uh there was a I don't know what you call the device. It tells you how fast you're going. It was placed up the street about two blocks from, you know, like where I live. Uh, that's all well and good. People used it instead of slowing down, they see how fast they can go. We have people coming by my house 50, 60, 70 miles an hour. Um, I don't know what the answer is, but do we have to kill an old person or a kid or get somebody injured just trying to get their mail out of their mailbox? Uh, this should not we should not have tractor and trailers using this for aair. That's that's not what a residential street is designed for. Now, it has become a shortcut from the people from

Johnson City and then that area getting to the golf courses up on Virginia side. Now, you look at the cars coming down the street, half of them have Virginia tags on them. But anyway, okay. Whatever whatever resources you can provide the police department, please do that before we kill somebody. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, uh we have Kathy Mitchell. Oh, okay. And Sean Hunt, is that the same for the previous public? Okay. Take these off of here. Okay. All right. That is the end of the public comment.

Is there anyone else that would like to that's intend that did not sign up would like to speak? Okay, next we are going to appointments. Uh the first one we have is the board of zoning appeals and we have one candidate for one open position and it is meen LL. Could anyone like to speak on behalf of Mr. Lal? U Balen's with us tonight and we really appreciate his service he had for uh on city council and the mayor and it was during that time that he stepped up to volunteer to be on our BCA. So we appreciate your willingness to do that and to work with that particular uh board to help out. So thank you.

Yes. Thank you ma'am. Okay. Councilwoman Akard has mail and let Vice Mayor Powers has mail and let Mayor Turner has mail and let Councilman Sliggel has mail and leal. And Councilwoman Bay Robin has mail and let Thank you, Ma. Next, we have two candidates for one position on the library board and we have Barry Hopper and Sheila Osborne. Would anyone like to speak on behalf of either one of these candidates?

Um, I could speak on behalf of each of them. Um, and Barry Hopper had served on it and, uh, felt like he probably couldn't continue and then later realized that he could. So, um, the term expires the end of this year, so it makes sense for him to serve out the rest of his term. um Sheila Morgan Osbbor and she may go by Morgan. I'm not sure. Anyway, I talked with her and I think she would be a great addition to our library board as well. Um so hopefully um whoever doesn't win tonight will look at applying again. Okay, we ready? All right, the library board. Um, Councilman Slegel has Barry Hopper, Vice Mayor Powers has Barry Hopper, Mayor Turner has Barry Hopper, Councilwoman Fire Robbin has Barry Hopper, and Councilwoman Akard has Barry Hopper.

Thank you. Okay, next we have uh three resolutions and two ordinance on first reading tonight. U first one is resolution 25-162. a resolution to annex certain territory upon written consent of owner to incorporate the same within the boundaries of the city of Bristol, Tennessee, and to approve the plan of services for such territory at 140 Sweet Knobs Trail. Uh Miss Young presented earlier uh in the public hearing portion of tonight's meeting and uh is there any questions for Miss Young from council? If not, is there a motion to approve resolution 25-162?

Motion to approve resolution 25162 to annex certain property territory upon written consent of the owner at 140 Sweet Knobs Trail. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Mary Lee ARD. Yes. Turner. Yes. Fire Robbin. Yes. Slaggel. Yes. Powers. Yes.

Okay. Next we have resolution 25-163. A resolution authorizing the city to enter into an agreement with Frontier Health for provision of social work services. Uh police chief Matt Austin will present on this item.

Yes sir. Thank you. Um what this is again um uh as you all know that we had started a a a co-response program uh and with Frontier Health uh with a a a clinician to come in and work as part of our team uh throughout the city with the officers that um that uh are there. That uh position was funded by Frontier Health uh at that time. looking at what we were doing and how well that that program has worked and uh the services that that has provided. Uh we're trying to expand those services uh to add a second clinician uh where where we would be funding that second one. Frontier Health would still be supplying and funding the uh the one position and we would be pos uh doing this the second position at an expected cost of 96,848 um in which we would be uh looking to take those funds or using the funds from the opioid abatement um uh program to to to to help with those funds. And then if uh uh if you would have any other uh questions uh for me on on that program.

I don't have any question. I think that I have heard from both sides not only from the police department but also from our fire and EMS of um I think the success that the one we had the current that frontier is um providing. So, uh, no questions. Just that I think that it seems to to be working out well. So, uh, is there any other questions for, uh, the chief?

So, could you just I know you explained to us, but I think it's really, um, interesting and important. So, some of the ways that having a person working with y'all and going on calls saves the time of our police officers for going to the ER with somebody or whatever. Can you just talk about that for a minute?

Yes, thank you. Uh what that does is a lot of the the clinician has uh authority to do direct admits if we if we have somebody in the field that we're dealing with that's uh having a mental breakdown or a mental issue that she can assess those people at that time and have direct contact with uh with services that that can help us with those situations that we can uh have a diversion whether or not that the diversion is a diversion from going to jail or diversion from going to the hospital that they can go direct admit to to a place where they could get um they can get help. A lot of times we've seen with uh mental health issues, a lot of times uh we we were struggling with there was no uh to find the services and we'd have no choice but to to take somebody to jail. We couldn't leave them in the situation that they were in uh because of something. And now now we have the opportunity that we can look at looking at what services are available to have a clinician looking at what's going on to look to see if there's a diversion uh to do that. Um and and those are the things that that help us at time where they don't have to spend so much time uh at the hospital. Uh and I can give u kind of some examples of of how that that that works. Uh, you know, we we had one before we started that program. Uh, there was uh things that helped with um uh crisis mobile crisis centers and things like that that uh from Johnson City, but we'd have um uh someone that would having a mental breakdown that uh because of uh some issues that they felt like somebody was coming in to get them. So, they've barricaded themselves. Uh and that situation is very volatile and dangerous for that person for the officers involved and any neighbors that we uh would have uh at that time mobile health

mobile crisis would would say that they would help but they wanted to do it over the phone. In those situations, it's just really unable to do that. Now you take another situation where I use an example of of what this does. We'd have another one um uh uh someone that was in that metal break that thought people were coming to get him, had barricaded himself. We had gotten uh through that and we were talking with him trying to get him to go to the hospital or to go uh um uh and he didn't want to go with the police. The police were uh we got uh Monica out there and within 10 minutes uh he agreed to voluntarily uh go to the hospital. So all of those situations that uh uh that that she's trained in the things that she's done has uh uh been outstanding and and really truly a benefit uh for the city for the the health and well-being of our citizens, not to mention the uh the budget and the the financial uh savings that we get from from that saving time.

All right. Great. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve resolution 25163? Motion to approve resolution 2573. 173. 163. 163. Thanks. Second. I have a motion and a second. Uh, any further discussion?

I just wanted to um say I'm really pleased with how this has worked out. We've had a little over six months. excited that we'll have basically our day shift covered during the week. It'd be great if we could have 247 someday. Um, and I know Miss Fleiner talked about branch house and domestic violence and talked about safety, dignity, and hope. And a lot of the people that um are in crisis, they also need to have safety, dignity, and hope. and by having trained mental health professionals that can help that approach. So, I just really appreciate that. I appreciate our um city staff who started exploring this and just really pleased and we'll be interested in seeing what the next steps are for how how things are looking. Thank you very much,

Mary Lee. A yes. Turner, yes. Fire Robin, yes. Slaggel, yes. Powers, yes. All right. Next, um, we have resolution 25-164, resolution authorizing entry into a memorandum of understanding with Bristol, Virginia for downtown cameras, and Chief Austin will present again.

Yes, thank you. Uh, and what thisou will do, uh, we've been at different times throughout the um, u putting cameras, we have, uh, cameras that are in around the downtown area that gives us coverage for, uh, for that. But now, uh, Bristol, Virginia has now come on board and adding cameras of their own. So, what thisou does is allows us to be able to, uh, for them to to use footage if they need to of a of a crime or or to help from our cameras, and it allows us to to get footage or use footage from uh, from their cameras as well. But it's uh it it's set uh we're we wouldn't be funding any equipment in Virginia and they wouldn't be funding any equipment in Tennessee. Uh this is just again to to help us allow us to to uh to work together with both cities to to to help um um with both c both sets of cameras.

Sounds great. Uh, is there any questions uh for the for the chief? Do I have a motion to approve 25-164? Motion to approve. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Uh, any further discussion? The only thing I would say is when we have the opportunity to partner and I realize that our cameras will be in Tennessee and theirs will be in Virginia, but anytime that we can work collaboratively on on any projects and for it to be cost effective. I congratulate both sides of the city. Thank you, Chief. Yes. Thank you, Mary Lee. Bard, yes. Turner, yes. Fire Robin, yes. Slegel,

yes. Powers, yes, ma'am. All right. Next we have ordinance 25-22, an ordinance to designate the zoning of Sweet Knobs Trail property newly annexed into the city of Bristol, Tennessee as R1A. Uh Sheriff Miss Young, she spoke on this earlier during the uh public hearing. Um is there any further questions for her or do I have a motion to take action on 25-22? Motion to approve ordinance 2522 that clearly states that the zoning of the property on Sweet Knobs Trail 104 will be designated as R1A. Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second?

Second. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee. Akard? Yes. Turner? Yes. Froin? Yes. Slaggel? Yes. Powers? Yes, ma'am. All right. Next, we have ordinance 25-23, an ordinance to amend ordinance 25-15, an ordinance to adopt the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026 by changing the previous established tax rate.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Ordinance 2523 is presented for council consideration this evening. This ordinance amends the fiscal year 2026 budget revenues and tax rate to reflect a change from $187 to $1.845. If approved, a special called meeting is requested to be scheduled on or after October 20th. That would be to hold a public hearing and second reading of the ordinance. Uh please do keep in mind October 20th is planning commission meeting. So that date might not be the best to to select. Uh and then because of this amendment uh would take place obviously following the October 1st property tax due date that's established by city charter staff would then work on addressing the procedural and administrative issues and posting the tax role sending out notices addressing applications for tax relief and all of those other pieces that would go along with the ordinance amendment.

Okay. So to be clear, once this action is taken at that point in time, those that were mentioned earlier may make application for tax relief. That's correct. Yes. And we will put notice out um as soon as we have action tonight. If this moves forward, we'll put notice out on the website and and other means to get people aware that they can't actually pay their property taxes quite yet and that this this is in process. Okay. Is there any is there a motion?

Make a motion to approve um ordinance 25-23 to amend the tax rate uh for the new fiscal year from $187 to $18450. Okay. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Uh is there any further discussion from council? I'll weigh in and just acknowledge that we've had a lot of tough decisions and lots of conflict um with our budget and tax season and particularly with the reassessment that really started us out at a pretty high level to start with. I think it's really important that no matter how we vote on this that we this next year we need to thoroughly evaluate where we are. Um we have to as uh Bristol we are the smallest of the Tri Cities and our property tax rate doesn't bring in as much as the Southern County and Kingsport. So, it means walking a pretty thin line trying to do what we want to do, what we think we need to do for our citizens here in Bristol for both moving us forward as well as for um setting tax rates that are reasonable for our citizens to um to have. Um, so the and we talked some during our uh budget times about previous times we did when we didn't set a tax rate where we needed to be and when that happens it can compound out in the future. Our um we're looking at our reserve fund and wanting to get it in better shape um in the coming years. So, I'm going to vote no. Um, and just feel like the reduction of the two and a half cents um with a annual savings of about $6.25 per 100,000 of appraised value just um

I'd rather stick with where we are and um continue on the path that we set in July. Thank you. Well, the only thing I'll say is that of with this reduction of the fact that we had uh there was a bond that was going to be issued for the baseball, which the baseball is now not happening. And uh I feel like that of giving this 2.5 cents back to the taxpayers of since the bond is not going to happen for the baseball field is uh the right thing. So, um with that, I have a motion and a second. If there's nothing else, um, Mary Lee,

Aker, yes. Fire Robin, no. Slaggel, yes. Powers, yes. Okay, we will uh I guess discuss a throw out some dates of a second. Is it on or before or

It can be on the 20th. It's just there's a planning commission meeting that evening. So, we wouldn't have the full council. If you have it at at 5:00, we wouldn't have the full council and I'm not sure what the planning commission agenda looks like. Um, so preferably not on that Monday if possible. Is there any way that we could meet at lunch? Not to eat lunch, but to meet during that time if council chooses to. I don't we would notice it no matter what time it's at, right? Yeah.

Or the you know the planning commission meeting is at five of prior to that there's nothing in the annex that if we could meet at even possibly four prior to planning if Yeah. I mean whatever's It's up I mean it's it's up to council. We'll post it the location, the date and time, no matter when and where it's held. So,

um it's really whatever is most convenient for city. I guess as far as this go, I mean, if we could, you know, tomorrow, send you an email of the fact of some times that if we didn't do it on the 20th of if it was the 21st or ideally, if you could give us that date and time, I hate to make put you on the spot, but this evening, we have to get it to the newspaper tomorrow. Okay. Do it just prior to planning commission. Monday, Monday. Would that work at 4:00? Monday the 20th. Monday the 20th at 4:00 at the annex. Okay. I'm scheduled to be out of town. Uh whether it depends on what happens with the air traffic control whether I'm able to go or not, but I'm not here on the 20th if I'm traveling.

Okay. Can you do it?

So 20th at 4. 20th at 4. Okay. Now we have two ordinances on second reading. Uh ordinance to impose a temporary moratorum on the establishment of data centers. Uh this was presented earlier by Miss Young during the public hearing. Uh there any other questions for Miss Young or do I have a motion to approve ordinance 25-20? Motion to approve ordinance 25-20. Have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second.

Motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? I would just I would just comment that until we have a better handle on this whole uh situation impacting our natural resources, it's a a prudent thing to do at this time. Yeah, I think our neighboring communities have already sent some of the same messages in some of the um resolutions that they have passed. Data centers take an enormous amount of not only energy but water consumption as well and I just think it'd be in city's best interest to really fully evaluate that and I think this moratorium gives us time to do so.

I I would say that we've done similar actions in the past um as cell phones got more popular and cell towers were going up everywhere. took time to figure out how can we regulate those towers and not and um the impact that they were having on our community. So I think it's great to have the moratorum and I think um you probably pointed out if we get things worked out before the two years or if we need to extend it a little bit we could follow up with that. Right. Mary Lee Akard yes Turner. Yes. Fire Robbin. Yes. Slaggel. Yes. Powers. Yes.

All right. Next, we have ordinance 25-21 to amend chapter 38 section 38-2, operation of junkyards on the city's code of ordinances. Um, this item also uh was presented I guess in our last meeting by Miss Young. If you would like to if there's anything further that you would like to add or

Sure. I'll just be very brief. Um, this amends the code of ordinances. Um, we discussed it in pretty good detail with the planning commission and then with city council um during the work session and the meeting last month. Uh this expands the existing um regulation that relates to junkyards, adding some clarifying definitions and then adding a requirement that um areas that are qualif areas that qualify under the definition as junk uh be screened from public view either through or public from the public rideway either through fencing or some sort of um buffering requirement. Okay. Happy to answer any questions. Do I have a motion on ordinance 25-21?

Motion to approve ordinance 25-21. Have a second. Second. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee. Akard. Yes. Turner. Yes. Fire. Robin. Yes. Slaggel. Yes. Powers. Yes. M.

All right. Next, we are to our consent agenda. All right. Thank you. On the consent agenda, you have the minutes of the September 9th city council meeting, minutes of the September 30th council work session, minutes of the September 30th council special called Called meeting, approval of resolution 25-165 authorizing acceptance of the Tennessee Highway Safety Grant, approval of resolution 25-166 authorizing payment to EZRI software support for GIS. Approval of resolution 25-167 authorizing the city manager to distribute employee appreciation gifts. Approval of resolution 25-168 authorizing the purchase of ammunition for the police department under the state contract. Approval of resolution 25-169. That resolution rescends resolution 25-119 and authorizes the purchase of incar video systems and body cameras from Axon Enterprises. Approval of resolution 25-170 authorizing entry into anou between the Bristol Tennessee city school system and the city of Bristol Tennessee for the school resource officer program for fiscal year 26. Approval of resolution 25-171 adopting the 2025 Sullivan County hazard mitigation plan. Approval of resolution 25-172 rescending resolution 25-67 and awarding the repairs for the solid waste unit um 404. Approval of resolution 25-173 authorizing the purchase of demographic software from Placer AI and approval of resolution 25-174 rescending resolution 25-110 and authorizing the purchase of Panasonic Toughbook computers and mounting hardware through the Omnia uh cooperative purchasing contract.

Okay. Would any member of council like anything removed from the consent agenda? like to remove resolution 25-173 for the purchase of demographic software from Placer AI. Okay. So 25-1 173 that to be removed. Um, do I have a motion to approve the other items included in the consent agenda?

Make a motion to approve the consent agenda with omitting 251 173. A second. I'll second. Motion and a second. Um, Mary Lee, Akre, yes. Turner, yes. Fire Robbin, yes. Slaggel, yes. Powers, yes. Okay. Now, we have resolution 25173, the purchase of demographic software from Placer AI. Yes, Mr. Legal if you would I guess speak on

Yeah, I guess I'm at the unfortunate disadvantage of not being able to comment at the previous work session due to timing, but I think I just had a lot of questions related to the data that's collected here. You know, if there if that data can be sold, uh what notifications we need to provide if we're going to have software collecting data from visitors as it relates to rules around tourism and tourism sites. Um, and those questions may be able to answer, maybe not, but I'd like to have some more time to consider it.

Mayor, if if I may, and Brea Mornings is here as well. Um, to we can provide some clarification, and if council chooses to to continue this discussion, we certainly can do that. U, but, um, after the work session this past week, I did ask that we have a a call with our representative from Placer AI, and we did have that call. So, I'm going to give a very high level review because that's my level of understanding of it and and I'll turn it over to Brea if you have more detailed um questions and then again we can we can continue the discussion if you choose to. Um the understanding I I had two questions for our representative. One was what privacy laws and what updates to the privacy laws impact the placer AI program and what we do with that data. Um and his response was they don't collect personal data as it's defined under the law. So they are not subject to updates to privacy data as such. They they collect latitude longitude data and that is it. Um which I originally didn't understand how that could be the case but in how he was explaining it. Um basically it pings a phone. It does not collect phone numbers. It doesn't collect names. It doesn't collect account information. I asked about my area code because I wanted to know. Um and he said no one would know. Um it just it collects where the the phone is placed at any given time and then it it collects how often or how long it's sitting in that location and how frequently it is. Um so that addressed the the privacy question. The other question I had was uh regarding what information can we provide to our partners uh because it the contract talks about you know how much data is is able to be provided and

how really how much is not. Um we and I used explore Bristol as my example because there's there's information that would be helpful for us and and we are the biggest partner in explore Bristol. Um, so my that was one of of my big questions and concerns there and his explanation was if is if we are providing data that is data that would be helpful to the city of Bristol then and not in a full report we the um map can't just say okay I want to report with this um and we just spit out a report so we're basically you know just the technical arm of that. uh he the sales rep likened it to uh us being a vending machine for data out and um but if if it's data that we would want to collect that would be helpful for us. He mentioned and and we did talk about the rhythm and roots attendance that's helpful for us to know so that we could provide that information to our partners. Um if it gets beyond that and it's really someone that is continuing to use the the product, they should get their own subscription to the product at that point. uh we don't own any of the data. We don't own any of the information, even the latl long information. We're really buying the right to use the software and they own everything else.

Did they clarify their right to sell that data? Well, that's they're selling it to us. Um can they sell it to other parties? Anybody that has placer AI's subscription would be able to use that information that's that's collected. Yeah. Now, I don't want to overstep with council here, of course, but I think there's some guidance, and it's not firm yet, but there's guidance from OECD's policy in tourism that really explicitly flags robust data collection without proper notification. So, I just want to make sure that we're checking all the boxes here and we're not invading citizens privacy while trying to do a good thing and collect information that will help our city as well as our police department.

Yes. And again, we asked that very specific question and were assured that that did not apply to them and to that data. Thank you. Is there anything? Well, I would like to hear other members of council's thoughts on this or do we want to table this for a work session? I mean, we had the I guess for me I mean, we we had the presentation during our work session and

honestly for me of with this of I could have another presentation of it and it's over my head of this of of this type of software. I'm sure there's, you know, there's probably numerous companies out there that do the same thing. Um, that this particular company, I'm assuming that we I mean staff had looked into other there was other companies that were Yeah. I mean, Placer AI ranks really highly in civic civic data collection.

Civic. Yeah. And um so you know I think for me if I think the questions are good of with this and uh you know if we've you've asked the questions and of what we're what we've been told then and you're satisfied. I feel okay with uh moving forward and staff I believe is the same. So I'm good. Okay. Do I have a motion to pass for resolution 25-173 of demographic software for placeer AI?

Motion to approve resolution 25-173. Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. There's no further discussion. Mary Lee Akard. Yes. Turner. Yes. Fire Robin. Yes. Slaggel. No powers. Yes. Okay. All right. Next, we have our city manager report.

Thank you. Um, so we have a ton of events coming up that I wanted to talk through and lost my first page of it. All right, here we go. Um, well, first of all, welcome, Councilman Slay. Thank you. Thank you.

Happy to have you on. Um, we have Halloween coming up. So, quite a few events happening, Halloween downtown especially, but also out at Still Creek Park. Um October 10th though is uh to follow up with the domestic violence awareness month is chalk about it in that um you will see messages and statistics regarding domestic violence written in chalk on the sidewalks around the government center. Uh that has been done in the past and and will be done again. We have coffee with the chiefs and it's plural this time. So both the fire chief and the police chief this Saturday from 8 to 10 at the finish line diner and then Halloween is in full swing. We have the Spooky Express Halloween Fest at Steel Creek Park on October 18th at 6 PM um with the movie Nightmare Before Christmas that begins at 7:30. The Spooky Express train ride as as Mr. Schumanker had mentioned in the train at at Steel Creek Park. That is Saturdays from 11 to 6:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 6 through the month of October. It's a dollar per person for that. Um, we have the downtown Halloween is the big biggie. On October 25th, we've got pumpkin palooa from 9 to 1 at the downtown center. We've got downtown trick-or-treating from 5:00 to 7:00 all along State Street. Monster Mash will be at the downtown center on the 25th from 5:00 to 7:00. That's um games, crafts, those types of things put on by our park and wreck. And then the the to off the evening, the Halloween parade for Believe in Bristol is at 7 PM down State Street. We will also have a Veterans Day parade on November 8th from 10 to noon on State Street. Um and then just a couple things to respond to the comments that were made during the uh public comment portion. The Steel Creek Park thefts have been an ongoing issue and um

very frustrating frustrating for staff as a whole. Frustrating for the the park staff, frustrating for our IT staff and for our police staff. Um we've our IT department has put up cameras where they can. Um we were really hoping that that would take care of the issue. At least we'd be able to catch the the person or persons that have been doing it. police have been flying drone flights. They have been um doing additional patrols through that area. We continue as a staff as a whole to try and address the problem. I understand the frustration. Believe me, staff is probably more frustrated than the public on that. Um and then as was mentioned, the property tax relief program um that we have that program is already in place. the applications that normally would happen as property taxes are due will get pushed out a little bit and then we will again be bringing the property tax freeze program back to council for work session discussion at the next meeting. So just wanted to make sure everyone knew that that we have heard and and do continue to work towards that but that our property tax relief program has been in place for many years and that continues to be in place. Um and then my condolences to um the family, both the actual family and our fire family for the death of our our firefighter paramedic Brandon Clawson. my appreciation to the city council and all of our community who and and our neighboring communities um who have come out to support all all of our department um in the family. The funeral was yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful. Gut-wrenching, but beautiful. and to see all of the agencies represented and what they did

was absolutely awe inspiring. Um he had a huge impact. All all of our public safety have a huge impact and you don't unfortunately see it sometimes until something tragic happens. So um just wanted to to acknowledge that it's it's that was a tough one and our our department's going to going to feel it for a while. Um and I just I send my thoughts to them. Thank you. Council, who'd like to go first?

Of course. Um, so I'll just uh continue that for just a second for um our thoughts and condolences and also um just being impressed with our the mental health response team that comes together when something happens to our city family u first responders and just very impressed with how that works and hoping that that helps with um with people as they work through their responses. Um, also wanted to and I thank our our first responders. That is something I know I could never do. So, just really um appreciate what they do. Um, I want to welcome um, Councilman Slaggel and also wanted to congratulate all our candidates with the 11 that some of us thought after the last few weeks um that we might not have any candidates. So, we were thrilled and some very excellent candidates that um, I know I enjoyed talking to some of them and exchanging emails, etc. So I really appreciate that and hope that uh they will continue with their interest and look at other ways to to serve our city. Um also Rhythm and Roots wanted to congratulate us for doing a rhythm and roots and just say that we had people here from California, Oregon, Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, and North Carolina. They did not all stay at our house, but um they're all um relatives and friends who came in for rhythm and roots. So, uh and all of them were just thrilled with the experience that they had and the music that they heard. So, uh thanks to

everybody who does that. Um also, uh I always like to talk about Theater Bristol when there's opportunity. Um they have a full schedule. They're doing Odd Couple and then they um are Schoolhouse Rock and then they move into their Christmas shows. But um I don't know where Scott Hill is, but I saw it this last weekend and um Scott Hill instead of being behind the camera, he was on stage. So, um congratulations to him for um getting back into doing some theater again. So, uh, I'm just I'm going to keep going for a second more. I just want to say I express gratitude and gratefulness again for our public safety, our first responders, for all our city staff, for going above and beyond for everything that they do. Um, and I'm grateful for the city that we live in that's safe and vibrant and beautiful. um both the buildings, our downtown, our surroundings. Um again, grateful for the candidates who applied and um I'm grateful for citizens who participate in our civic and community life uh who are ready to serve um and to learn and seek understanding for the workings of our community and our city. And uh last night as I was thinking through things and just encourage everybody to go out. It's a full moon. It's beautiful and it's the weather's fant maybe not tonight. The weather's been fantastic. So just really appreciative and grateful for where we are. Thank you,

Mayor. Thank you. Um, so the network's partnership had uh 12 different national uh site selection entities in this past week. Uh, we want to give another shout out to Bristol Motor Speedway for providing a great venue for them to come. And while they were here, they had the opportunity to view a lot of the options. Uh, I would say a lot. we're we're filling up our options rather quickly uh as far as uh economic development and and site uh preparation. So kudos to networks and to our team here um uh with BTE as well as uh networks. I'd also like to give a shout out to BTE and TVA. Yesterday we attended the ribbon cutting of the substation on 394. Um it is the largest between Knoxville to Rowan Oak. Uh unbelievable what's what's happened there. And so we're really excited to have that and it'll be a great uh addition to uh the site selection process. And in talking about site selection and BTS and TVA and utilities, that brings us to our planning department. The planning department is is just it's unbelievable the amount of work that comes in and is pushed out there. I would encourage people to attend our planning meetings. They're run very efficiently. We have an outstanding chair as well as commission. Um I'd like to give a shout out to Believe in Bristol. Uh they uh we met this morning. They have one and a half staff people and uh they push out an awful lot of work. They will absolutely through the help of volunteers run an outstanding um experience uh October 25th in our downtown area. In addition to that, the BCM uh Rhythm Roots was a great weekend. We had some great weather

and uh but I'd encourage you to go to their website. There are still many opportunities to participate and enjoy the entertainment that they bring to our community. Uh we're very well recognized and received by both states of Tennessee and Virginia as well as referring to believe in Bristol. And then finally, Explore Bristol, the uh uh uh tourist center, the visitor center will be opening soon. You may be seeing some of the um different uh things that will be displayed there, the different displays. and uh it's it's been a passion for our community to get this up and going and it too has been recognized very well by both states. So there's a lot going on. There's a lot um of uh job creation going on. Ask our uh Department of Economic Development uh with our existing industries and with new industries coming in. So, a lot of a lot of great things happening and I would encourage you to to get out and to see and experience a lot of what has been planned for our community in the oncoming months. Thank you, Mayor.

Anything you

Yeah, I just like to continue the theme of the council, you know, expressing condolences for the loss of a first responder and just the larger first responder community in our area. I have a couple of really good friends that that serve as first responders here and and consider them family and I know how much those families and our larger family here in the first responder community suffering. So thoughts and prayers out to them. I I'd like to thank God for the opportunity to serve. Um you know I serve county commission for three and a half years and was a pleasure to do so and I'm proud and thankful for council for for your vote of confidence and continuing to serve here. I'd like to thank my wonderful family who's here. I'm blessed to have them that support some of these endeavors that that I go send myself out on and I'm thankful for their continued support. Um, thankful to staff. The onboarding process has been awesome. I appreciate staff and all the hard work that they've done. Thank Chairman Cuddy from the Tennessee City School System for reaching out and board member Taylor uh with a warm welcome. So, look forward to working with you all. Look forward to working with them. Thank you all.

Welcome. Um, I think a lot of what uh you said I red carpet tour and I guess the only thing I would add is that uh today we had uh Allah Cersei who was the one uh of our girls that went to state. I guess the only person that went to the state for golf and um ended up 12th in the state today. So um that was earlier this afternoon. So congratulations to Isa um on that and uh yeah I don't have anything else with that we're ajourned