City Council - Special Meeting

The June 22nd, 2026 special session of the Clarksville City Council is now called to order. The chaplain of the day will be Chaplain Eddie Byrd with Dominion Worship Center. The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Councilman Shekinah. Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to please stand, remain standing through the Pledge of Allegiance. Chaplain Byrd.

Let us pray. Our Father who art in heaven, holy is your name. Father God, your word tells us that in all things we ought to give thanks. So we thank you for this day, a day that began with new mercies and new life, giving us one more opportunity to live right, to pray right, to love right, to worship right, and within this body of elected officials, to govern right. So as we do the business of your people, as discussed tonight and voted on, We know that money can turn friends into foes, allies into adversaries, and humor into hostility. But not tonight, not in this room. We know, Father God, that this city is not its buildings, it's not the roads nor its parks, but the people. So let us set aside personal feelings, personal ideas, and personal agenda For there's only one agenda, and that's the people's agenda. So what's good for the whole instead of what's good for the sum of its parts? Let us honor one another in this room in thought, word, and deed, even in our disagreements. Let us still honor one another as unto the Lord, so we as a people can live out the words of the pledge that will be spoken tonight. One nation under God, meaning that you supersedes everyone and everything, honoring one another in spirit and in truth, and one another in love. How good and how pleasant it is for men and women to reason together as unto you. This is my prayer in Jesus Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Members, please register your attendance. Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

All members are present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The first and only item on our agenda is Ordinance 92-2025-26, First Reading, an ordinance amending the operating capital budgets for fiscal year 2025-26 and adopting the operating and capital budgets for fiscal year 26-27 for the governmental funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1st. 2026 and ending June 30, 2027, I will entertain a motion and a second. Motion made and properly seconded. Ladies and gentlemen, the posture we're in, Ordinance 92 sets the effective property tax rate at $1.01. The reductions were sent out to you on the list on Friday. And without objection, we're going to start with Ward 12 this time and work our way around for amendments. So, Councilman Lovato, you're recognized for amendments. Thank you. Councilman Shekinah, amendments? None, Mayor. Thank you. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized for amendments.

Thank you, Mayor. I do have a couple here. Hang on. I want to pass them out first, and then we can discuss them. There you go. There you go. As these are working their way around, what you'll notice is this is to – add many of the items back that were cut out from our last reading at last opportunity we had at a first reading to include adding back $203,995 to the police department for and we all got the list of what was cut out but for the public to be aware as well. This is for the servers, poll camera, HVA replacement, Ford Explorers, Ames units and cubicle set. To add back for our fire department, our pressure fans, confined space air hose, dive team equipment, MSA, GI, SCBA, AC machine, MSA, four gas monitors, gear dryers, fit test machine, furniture and equipment. For parks and recreation, it would add back $359,202. I'm trying to say these slower. I understood from a resident in my ward that I rattled the numbers too quickly in the previous meetings. This is for the Mary court lighting, the new Providence baby pool replacement, fencing repairs, Billy Dunlop and Valleybrook basketball court, Bobcat and hydraulic lift for Mason Rudolph. It's 22,000 for a zero turn, uh, for, I think it's for two zero turn motors. Um, for parks and Swan lake, it's $65,330 for the grinding cabinet for building and codes. It is 332,300. This is vehicles and equipment for abatement. Um, for the it department, it is 160,000 for the VSA and ready nodes for RDC. That's for two of them, um, which are on a five year replacement. the street department, 1.8 million in paving. The reason I'm bringing these back is because these are all extremely important to our departments, which makes them extremely important for the benefit of our citizens. When you're talking about the equipment that was listed for the police department, for them to be able to do their jobs. As far as the servers, those are obviously very important for everything that they need for efficiency, as well as for, as servers get older, they're obviously going to be easier to be able to be accessed, so this makes it protective, and as you would be well aware, there is very private information that is stored. The pole camera, HVA replacement, I let Chief Burdine discuss that a bit, Ford Explorers, we've heard in previous years the need that we have to replace our older vehicles. The garage will be the first one to tell us that we've got to get these older vehicles replaced because they're having a harder and harder time finding parts for them. And then, again, I'd also let Chief Bardon discuss the AIMS units and cubicle set. When you see the list of equipment that I just went through for our fire department, especially when you think about the pressure fans, which are used to get smoke out of the building. The confined space air hose is showing lots of sun. Those are showing lots of wear and tear on them. Our dive team equipment, I think that is exceptionally important when we think about that we've got our firefighters that are going out there and participating in this dive team. We not only need to protect our citizens, but we need to do the best we can to make it as little risk as possible for our firefighters that are out there for the benefit of us and our entire community. And again, these are all things that I could let Chief Montgomery talk about. um obviously with the things i mentioned for parks those are things that are important in various different areas throughout our community the zero turn motor the two zero turn mowers for mason rudolph of course they're buying two this year they're going to turn around and need for other areas two more next year if we're pushing it off that's four that are going to need to be bought next year Instead of mine to the grinding cabinet for Swan Lake and Miss Letourneau talked about that during the budget committee meetings We had in May that grinding cabinets from the 1970s. You cannot get parts for it anymore So when it finally plays out, it's done. They can't even it is so worn they can't even see the serial number on it anymore and With building and codes, the vehicles and equipments needed for abatement here, we've been working on trying to improve things. Um, if they don't have what they need to be able to do it, it's just going to not be able to be done. And then in regard to, and, uh, Mr. Crosby can talk about that. And then the VSA and ready nodes for, um, RDC, like I said, those are for two of them. They'll buy two this year, if not, and then next year they'll have to buy another two. Those are again, also, like I said, on a five year replacement. Those are exceptionally important. And if we don't do that, they're at the very least going to have to buy a warranty to cover those. And that's not going to be there within their funding and even buying a one-year warranty, because this 160,000 for each of those includes a five-year warranty on those. If we're buying a one-year warranty now, that's money we're just spending that we wouldn't have to spend if we were able to go ahead and get the nodes for that. And then in regard to paving the $1.8 million, we have heard from Mr. Smith before. talk about the need for more and more paving that needs to be done, and that's what's getting cut every single year. We hear from people throughout the community that are in need of paving in their areas, and we're just going to continue to fall behind in that area if we keep taking large cuts. So I make a motion for approval to add back the $3,186,568.

Motion made and properly seconded. What does it add to the property tax that is going to add?

I apologize. I didn't write that on there real quick, Mayor. I'm sorry, but if you give me one moment, I can do that math. It's 4.71 cents, so a nickel adds a nickel. Yes, sir.

Okay, you've heard the motion and the second questions about the amendment. Councilman Lovato, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I don't have a question, but I do make a motion to divide the question into two with police and fire being on one and the rest on the other.

Motion been made and properly seconded to divide the question. If I understood correctly, police and fire would be on the first question and the remainder would be on the second question.

Correct.

Properly seconded. Any objection to dividing the question? Okay, we'll consider the question divided. We're going to talk about police and fire first. Any comment or question regarding police and fire amendment? Councilman Chandler, you're recognized on the police and fire portion of this amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm gonna make this short, simple and sweet tonight. I'm only gonna speak one time about this. I went back and pulled from my property. my property taxes for a 20-year period. Over the last 20 years, my property taxes went from $332.51 to the lowest to $525 is what I paid this past year. Now, I don't own a mansion, but the thing about it is in 20 years, My property taxes went up $192.49. But in that 20 years, the police department has tripled, almost quadrupled. The fire department has tripled, almost quadrupled. Prices are, you know, everybody thinks that the city is like the state. We have some kind of printing press in the back room. As long as we've got paper and ink, we're okay. That's not it. Folks, we cannot continue to try to get the services that the city of Clarksville provides and not increase somewhere along the line. It does not add up. One of the things that I did check into 20 years ago, the average price of a vehicle was $28,000. Today it's $49,000. Guess what, folks? We're sitting here talking about buying vehicles. So they've almost doubled. And not just to the private citizens out here, but to this government that we run. We are not putting the money in our back pockets. I got an email from a person that basically said, I was stuffing the money in my back pocket because I was in the contractor's back pocket. Y'all know nothing be farther from the truth. I'm just a poor old country boy. But I am on a fixed income. I have a state retirement, and I have my federal retirement. My wife is the exact same thing. In the last 20 years, salaries averaged going up 2.5%. But we have not, and that's accumulative. increase we have not had that kind of increase in property taxes the city now is paying out more money than we've ever had to because of the economy i understand i feel sorry for the people out here but i also feel sorry for this city and we have got to do something to stay on track We cannot, cannot, cannot continue to cut services because before too long, if we keep this up, we're going to be cutting personnel. We're going to be laying people off. And we can't afford that, not at all. Thank you, Mayor, and I'm through except to push my button for the rest of the night.

All right, Councilman Shekinah, on the first part of the question on police and fire, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'm in favor of the... adding the money back into these Clucks River Police Department and Fire and Rescues budgets. As the population continues to increase, response time becomes more and more critical for both of those departments. And as I said previous here on the council, that I'm in no way in favor of ever cutting CPD and CFR's budget because life is always at stake when those lights are on. That's all I have, Mayor.

Councilman Peters, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm in favor of this also. I just want to say when you read all these comments, everybody's on social media, when you read these comments from our constituents and people who live within the city, the biggest thing they complain about is purchasing vehicles. Why do they cost $60,000? You've got to look at what that vehicle is, right? Police vehicles aren't your normal Ford Taurus you go and buy or your Durango. They've got increased cooling systems, speed-rated tires, they've got all this special equipment. So when people say, why $60,000? To me, $60,000, I think that's cheap for something like that. But I don't think that we should stand here and take money away from the police and fire. When something happens and you make that phone call to 911, you want somebody to come and respond to assist you. If we keep cutting funds from the police and fire department, pretty soon you ain't going to have anybody to assist you because, one, they're all going to leave for better paying somewhere else, and they're not going to have the equipment to help you. I mean, cargo's in the river. We had one, I don't know, it was a month or so ago, went in the river. Dive team, how are they going to go down and get them? They ain't got the proper equipment or right equipment. We've got to support these folks, and constituents got to understand that We have to support these folks. They put their life on the line for every one of us every day. And we can't sit here and expect them to do more with less. And I think we should support this. That's all I got to say.

Councilman Claunch, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I also do not believe that with what's happening currently that our law enforcement and our first responders should be affected through that. But to my other councilman's point, respectfully i am not affected and impacted with a dollar one the way that many of our citizens are i'm not i don't sit here for myself i sit here for the the single mom that has a flat tire because there's a construction going on in the neighborhood that it then has to take out of work for the day or the And the agency isn't important. Handing out food boxes and people are in tears because they're so grateful for the opportunity to get food to feed their families. Or the people that are at the gas station that I go to every day that are trying to figure out, do I put $7 in gas and buy my child a candy bar or something that they want because they've been good for the week? It isn't about me. It's about North Clarksville. Arguably the biggest disenfranchised community, one of the biggest disenfranchised communities in Clarksville, Tennessee. Understanding there are other disenfranchised communities, but it's not about me. It's about the constituents that I talk to. It's about the ability for them to provide for their families, making less than $44,000 a year in a community that there is no affordable housing. Do I think that not even three quarters of a penny is a bad sell and I when I met both of the chiefs of the police and five, I said I support our law enforcement and I support our fire and rescue. So that is a really a non negotiable to me. I would just ask that something else has to give in order for that to happen. I find it interesting that in a couple of days we've whittled down from a 31 cent tax increase to what was $1.23 and now we're at $1.01. Without fully understanding, I don't fully understand all of the monies, where they are, how we were able to do this so quickly, and the timeline that these changes were given to us.

Councilman Claunch, are you on the amendment for police and fire? Are you on the amendment?

I believe I am.

Okay. Continue, please.

Thank you for that. I am in favor of this, those funds, but I'm going to try to pull it from somewhere else. That is all.

Councilman Smith, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a question that might be for the Chief of Finance. Can she come in?

What is the question? Then we'll see.

Okay. doesn't every department match the money or put money in to help pay for the vehicles? Can she come up and justify without objection?

Miss Wilcox, you talking about the vehicle replacement?

Okay. Can you explain that so that the citizens can hear this as well?

Ask your question again if you don't mind.

Does the uh, police department match this amount of money or put money into a fund to help pay for new vehicles?

They do. Their budget will include the value of the new vehicles that they want to purchase will be moved over to the vehicle replacement fund to purchase them from there.

How much money do they put in?

It depends on how much they budgeted for the year.

What's an average?

Well, usually police and fire put in anywhere, let's just say an average of $2.5 million per year for their vehicles. So they help pay for their vehicles.

What did you call it again? The vehicle replacement fund. Okay, the vehicle replacement fund. Okay. Thank you. And I would just like to say that for the most part and for our police department and chief, I think that they're doing a great job in their relations with the community, and I think we need to keep them riding. riding good to help in the community. And you know, I watched them when they stopped a couple of Children the other day. I think they did an awesome job. They searched the car, did an awesome job right there in front of my house. I couldn't help but watching him look at it and I'm just checking it out. They've been doing a great job. And um, and I think that goes with coming from the head. down to the bottom. So I think the police for building a great relationship with the community. It makes a difference when people are treated and respected whenever they're stopped by a police officer. Keep up the good work and I will be voting in favor of this. Thank you.

Councilman Claunch, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. I guess I have another question for the CFO that we emailed about.

What's the question?

And then we'll see what is the balance of the vehicle fund replacement at this time?

Give her a moment to look that up.

The vehicle replacement fund at the end of fiscal year 2025 was $4.7 million. However, we have purchased vehicles in this fiscal year from that.

Thank you. You're recognized.

Thank you, sir. Uh, so again, forgive my confusion. We have a vehicle funding. We're purchasing vehicles out of a separate pot of money for vehicles. Why are they in the general fund as well?

Once the council appropriates the money, it's moved into the vehicle replacement fund. It allows them, if a vehicle is wrecked or stolen or falls into disrepair, it allows the department to purchase a vehicle without coming back to the council for a budget amendment for each vehicle they need to do. So this is a recurring fund that gives them the flexibility to do it throughout the year versus one time a year. Okay.

Wouldn't if it was an accident, wouldn't that come out of this self insurance fund?

Depends on who depends on who who's at fault. Sometimes it takes a while to collect on that. As as we know, insurance companies are slow to pay, but quick to bill you for premiums.

Do we at that point then if it does take time move because that vehicle, the vehicle fund has 4.7 million in it. The self insurance fund has 3.1 million in it. The health fund has 2.3 million. And the dental fund has $1.2 million. It seems like a lot of money that I'm just trying to educate constituents and myself as I sit up here.

Well, the dental insurance fund pays the premiums and pays the claims for our employees and their dependents to get dental care, same way with health care premiums. So that's a snapshot in time where they may have $3.1 million in a fund at the beginning, but it ebbs and flows throughout the year as claims come in and premiums are paid. Okay. Thank you sir. So it's not entirely accurate to say it's got a constant balance, but it does have to have a fund balance because with we, we are self insured, meaning that if there's a catastrophic claim, we need to have the cash available to pay that claim for that employee or their family.

I understand that sir. I just, you know, we're talking about $300,000. I'm sorry, let me get in. I don't have the exact figure right in front of me. $100,000, $200,000 on vehicles when we have 4.7 that ebbs and flows, that's quite a bit of difference. Maybe I'm not making sense. I'll be quiet. Thank you.

Anyone else have a question or comment regarding this portion of the amendment? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members were voting on the police and fire question only. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

That amendment is adopted. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Yes, Mayor. On the other part of the question, would it be possible for us to hear from Parks, Building and Codes and the Street Department in regard to the specific items and the needs for their department?

Yes, without objection. We'll go with Street Department first, Mr. Smith. And Councilman Streetman?

Mr. Smith, you've talked to us before in regard to the paving, and this is a $1.8 million hit to paving. Again, you've also talked about how that's had to be reduced in previous years. Can you talk a little bit about the effect this type of reduction has on paving and the that there is to our citizens for the reduction.

Sure, we'll have to kind of preface just a bit to say that we have a, we do a pavement condition index survey every three years. It's kind of a report card for our roads. We get a grade 0 to 100 for each of the roads. and segments of each of those. 56 is a failing grade for us and it puts us out there in a must pave and it usually involves excavation because the subgrade of the road is very, very poor. So we try to obviously pave before we get to that point. So if we take the six year average of paving, that's where 4.8 million comes from. If you go back two years, it was 5.6, 5.5 million. In these past couple years, we've cut it down because the tax rate wasn't approved to 3.8 and then 3.5. And as I said then, and as I said at Straight Talk, we're borrowing time. The roads, they begin to fail, and then they fall very quickly at a point. And it's based on, obviously, environmental conditions, which we've had some heinous conditions. And it's based on the amount of traffic that's on those roadways and the weight of that traffic. Obviously, construction is booming, so the vehicles traversing those roadways obviously cause impact. So taking this down to 3 million flat is another huge hit. And all it's going to do, as I said last year and the year before, is it's going to make our ask in the subsequent year insurmountable. because we're going to have to get back to a point where we're paving these roads that are in really, really poor health or come up with a different scheme altogether to do that work. And you know, we're outsourcing, we're doing as much as we possibly can in house. Uh, unless, you know, we're talking about buying more equipment and more people, for us to take on more in house, but it's really just, it's a balancing act at that point. We're really not, not gaining much. So it's a huge hit, uh, to us. Obviously it's a big number. So I understand that it has a very, very profound impact on the tax rate, but it's huge. Um, it will hurt. They'll go far. No.

Um, did I see Lana? Oh, yeah, there she is. Lana Booker with her IT department. Councilman Streetman.

Good evening. I'm sorry, Mayor. Thank you. Could you talk a little bit about, I did the best I could, but I am not an IT professional. Could you talk a little bit about the $160,000 for the two VSAN ready nodes for RDC and

and the importance of us needing to keep that in the budget for this year sure so we have four servers that support our infrastructure our vmware two of them i'm gonna interrupt will you pull that microphone down mr smith's just a little bit taller than you thank you um we have four servers that support our vmware infrastructure two of them come out of warranty this year We could put them off, but if we do next year, all four of them will be out of warranty, and it just puts us in a vulnerable state.

What happens if one or two of these go down?

We have to fully depend on the other two, and it just leaves, like I said, cyber vulnerability weakness in our infrastructure.

And everything that these run as well, and I may be getting too in the weeds on this, and I apologize. That's okay.

Um, so basically everything that we do from logging in to logging out, everything becomes vulnerable at that point. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Mr Crosby, councilman Streetman, you recognize

Thank you, Mr. Crosby. Can you talk a little bit about the vehicles and equipment for abatement and everything that also that you've heard from us as well as special committees that have been created for the need for abatement and what these these vehicles are?

Yes, ma'am. So most of it, not all the stuff surrounds. abatement vehicles and abatement equipment that has been in use for 10 plus years now. We have not replaced any of our heavy equipment for our abatement team since its inception. We have not replaced a vehicle for our abatement crew. since its inception over 10 years ago. So they're, they're driving vehicles that they need a lot of TLC. They need a lot of maintenance. We have one trailer, one dump trailer that we use exclusively for cleanups of trash and debris. It's the only thing we have to use for trash and debris. So one of the things you see in there is a dump truck. This is not a, This is not a giant dump truck you see on a construction site or anything. This is a two-ton, one-ton truck with a dump bed on it. This will be something that they can use to pull equipment that we have now and take that load off of our regular trucks that we drive day-to-day that's used to pull that equipment now. So it's to replace the dump trailer. Our dump trailer went down this year, which killed all of our abatement work orders that had to do with cleanup. and debris removal for about six weeks this year, and we don't have any redundancy built into our abatement team. When we put the team together, we've added a few things here and there and replaced some lawn mowers, but we have not added any heavy equipment until last year. And we're very grateful for that. And we were able to do a lot of good stuff with that equipment. And we were just dead stop when that trailer went down. And unforeseen circumstances, trying to get it back going, we borrowed a dump truck from another city department and get it out to the first job, it goes down. And just as those things come up, we're just trying to add some of this equipment to our abatement team to where we don't have to stop working in the middle of jobs in the middle of summer when the work orders start piling up. And we can't get ahead. We don't want to have to get caught on our heels and stop in our tracks.

Obviously, here in the past, we've had various different wind events, and I know several departments all come together and try and work on that. What effect could this potentially have if we were to have another wind event or tornado that comes through that requires a considerable amount of debris cleanup?

Right. We do get out and try to help during those times with cleanup and debris removal, and anytime that stuff would happen, any and all of this equipment would be put on the road and mobilized to clean up.

Okay. Um, thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Letourneau. Councilman Streetman, you have the floor.

Thank you. Um, Ms. Letourneau, you obviously have a kind of a list of different items here between parks, parks at Mason Rudolph and parks at Swan Lake. I already talked a little bit about the grinding cabinet. Um, but if you could especially talk in regard to the list that I went through for the public and for the council, regarding the items for the park's budget itself?

Absolutely. The first one on the list is Maricourt ball field lighting. This is to replace the lighting on the remaining field, or actually it's the second of three fields at Maricourt Park, and this is for the girls' softball. If you go out there, those poles are rested through. to the point where they're starting to become a danger. You can't find the heads for them, so we're looking to replace those. The baby pool replacement in Ward 2 for New Providence Pool, it leaked so badly last year that we would have to turn it off when we weren't using it and then turn it back on when somebody came over to use it. And it's at the point now that we can't even do that. So we would have to replace it with either like a water play table or a new baby pool. um i mean it's not a have to but that's the only pool that we have on that side of town and so it's it's really not fair to those citizens to not have that as part of their amenities um and that that is with with one and two you know we don't have as many parks over there either so um with the fencing repairs we have miles and miles of fencing and it rests through it ages out it rests through and those are mostly around ball fields The basketball court at Billy Dunlop and Valley Brook, they're both in bad repair. The concrete is bad. We're trying to get those redone. The bobcat, we've been asking for the bobcat mower for years now, and it's been removed from the budget year after year. That's to mow hills, and it's becoming more evident now because we have Exit 8. And even though there's no turf grass there, there is grass there, and we have to mow it. If you've been out there and seen it, those hills are sloped, and that's what this will do is it'll mow those slopes in wide swaths to where we can actually handle it. The hydraulic lift trailer is to haul that also. The Ford Maverick, we've got vehicles from the 1990s. I've got Chucky Smith at Liberty Park, and you can see the floorboard under his, through his bottom of his vehicle. And he is riding the, the truck is split, or the seat is split, and he has a piece of couch cushion there. And when I talked to him about it, he's like, no, ma'am, I got it. I got it. It's my truck. And that's not right. We need to do something with that. And then, of course, office furniture, it's $1,500. If you've gotten a piece of office furniture or really house furniture lately, you'll know how flimsy that is and how it's not always real. It's not made of wood, so it doesn't last forever. So All of these things, like the mower, they're on rotations. So we try to rotate it out and we try to keep these things current. But if we miss a year, then obviously that kicks us back like you were talking about with the mowers. It's the same thing with the vehicles and same thing with the office furniture, quite honestly. And then, of course, we spoke about the grinding cabinet. That is probably, if there's anything on this list that is the most crucial, is probably that grinding cabinet. As you said it, because you would ask, it was 1970s. You can't even see the serial number and model number on it. It's held together in the back with clamps. So it's time, and we're having difficulty finding parts for it anymore. And if you do, you have to make sure that it's the same thing that fits it, or you have to send it back because it wasn't the right one. Because they don't just sell them at stores anymore. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Councilman Streem, you have the floor.

I'm sorry, and I don't know if any of the others have questions for the individuals that spoke. So I'll reserve anything else once the others have the opportunity.

Councilman Lovato, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a question for Mr. Smith, if that's okay.

Sure. Without objection, Mr. Smith.

Thank you. Understanding that this council does not have line item approval, this 1.8 that is removed from your budget, that was your decision to cut out the paving. I'm a little confused, and I was just wondering if you could talk me through your process of triaging the needs of the city and how you came that paving was the least needed from your department.

So of the department needs, obviously with the winter and whatnot, salt, all of those, I mean, we've got a huge dent there to fill. Paving is the one thing that fluctuates a ton for us. Like this year, for example, we were able to save in-house. It wasn't the guys didn't do work, but parks happened to need some paving. So some of the paving monies we had budgeted for this year We're paid for through other departments. We simply, you know, engage the labor and that sort of stuff. So when we do this, we're able to take on different projects, keep those guys engaged and work with whether it's transit or parks. We've got some projects with the police department that are potentially lined up. And again, it, it, it really relates to, we can do the paving in house for around 40 to 50%. We're not as effective. We're not as efficient. Uh, it creates more traffic cause it takes us longer. there's no there's no warranty with the work when we do it so need more road was just paved and there's some issues with that that we're working through but buyer was on site a day and a half paving that would have taken us a week to do we would have saved money but at the cost of time so we're going to be awarding less of this to third party paving and doing more of this work in-house so we've had to reorient a lot of our goals a lot of when we looked at these are the roads we're going to pave this year These are the major roads that are going around like athletic. For example, we were going to put that out to a third party, the athletic span between next to the mall. We won't do that third party. Now we're going to try and do that in house. So again, it's going to slow things down a lot, but we were asked to cut. So that's what got cut.

So just to clarify, you're not saying that roads aren't going to get paved. They're just going to be done by you all, and it might take a little longer.

Less roads will be paved, and it will be slower, and it will be obvious the delays that it creates to the public. And it'll be done so without the warranty of a third party doing that work.

So I guess where my confusion is, it's like this was less important than, let's say, sidewalks.

Well, there's plenty of money in sidewalks based on what our goals were for the year. A lot of the projects that we've got, I know we've got some capital that the capital projects were closed and we've reinitiated some of those in-house. So we have enough with the concrete crew. Keep in mind I've got different skill sets, kind of like different divisions within. I only have so much work I can do with that concrete crew in a given time frame. So the paving crew is where I have the flexibility.

That's all the questions I have.

Thank you. Councilman Peters, you're recognized. Mr. Smith, please stay. Thank you, Mr. Smith.

Stay a while. I just got a couple questions here.

Yes, sir. The $1.8 million, that's strictly for repaving? It is. Not used for new projects or anything? It's just repaving?

Just paving.

So what's the top three priorities that you got on paving roads? What's your top three? Can I get that list to you?

There are a lot of it. So an example, I can give you Donna Drive just to show you how complicated it is. Donna Drive is divided into six separate sections, six blocks. We've got one of those blocks grades out at 78. Two of those blocks are in the 60s. So I can tell you Donna Drive, but it wouldn't be the entirety of Donna Drive. So it's a rather algebraic list.

And another question. I guess it's part of streets, but I don't understand why we pave in parking lots. In streets, streets, not parking lots.

we're providing the labor for paving city parking lots but can't can't that department put that in their budget it is in there but we're saving money by not having to contract out paving parking lots so we're providing the labor through the street department and the department is paying for the material so it's saving money versus contracting it all out which would probably cost two to three times maybe yeah i'm just it's a swag guess

Okay, so then that confuses me more. We got 1.8 million we're requesting to pave, but none of the parking lots is coming out of that 1.8 because it's coming from Parks and Rec or it's coming from the police department. So why are we requesting? I don't get it.

It's okay. I can send you the entire list, and I can show you that each of that list is based on the tonnage associated with the hot mix for that, so the asphalt that's required for those roadways and that dimension. and taking them off the list.

I'm glad that we're doing that, right? We're saving money for the citizens, right? But I don't understand if we're asking for money for paving roads, but we're going to go pave a parking lot. Even though they're paying for it, If you're doing it, I guarantee you, I don't understand. It's a double budget. It's a double hit somewhere. It's actually a reduction.

Well, it is a reduction in labor and stuff. Well, so Parks and Recreation, let's say they budget $100,000 for the Greenway that we paid for them this year. They didn't pay $100,000 for that because we paved it, and their out-of-pocket was just the hot mix. And my guys come to work. My guys are at work, so it's not a new cost. It's not a new labor cost to have my employees on the job. So they saved... well into five figures i don't know maybe six figures uh by us helping with that and my guys are at work we cut the paving budget significant last year we need the work all right i know about that a bit and you come to see my award we need some roads i'll be there okay that's all that's all i have sure mr smith thank you thank you i i'm gonna hold out for just saying anything else councilman peter i'm good thank you mr okay councilman brown you're recognized okay

All right. So, you know, I understand the value savings there. But you mentioned about some of these roads having contractors do it because it saves time, saves traffic. But I had somebody reach out to me today saying that their neighborhood was just repaved by a contractor. And it's back in a little area. So, like, there wasn't any traffic to deal with. They said their road didn't even need repaved, but this is just their word. So, you know, that one, to me, I think would have been better to do internally than contracting it out because it's like two roads and not even off the main road, maybe off a secondary road. Sure. But we contracted that out. Maybe time, but, you know, some of those, I think, you know, If it's in a subdivision more so or where it's not even a big subdivision, I think that probably could have been done in-house to save some money there. Could have done four roads instead of just those two. I think contracting out because it wasn't like it's a major secondary road like Dunbar Cave or something where you're on a time crunch because of traffic. That's just one that reached out to me today. When we're looking at that budget, you know, of which ones to contract out. You know, I know y'all got the people that can make those decisions, but just thinking about that, uh, is what I was looking at.

Absolutely. Councilman Smith, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Smith.

Yes, ma'am.

Good job.

Thank you ma'am.

You know, I had a constituent to call me about that road on Madison street. where there's a kind of a pothole. And I told her that it's a state street and she wanted to pay because it was causing her car trouble. She said when she go that way, it's a problem. And I referred it to you. Yes, ma'am. You told her the same thing.

Yes, ma'am.

So how can we collaborate with the state? I'm trying to get the paving done when there are potholes in our city roads. I know it's the state street. It's kind of CONFLICT HERE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, SO I NEED SOMEONE TO HELP ME, HELP THE PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT, YOU KNOW, I KNOW WE GOT THIS MONEY GOING TO BE PUT IN HERE FOR PAVING. HOW CAN WE JUST WORK THIS THING OUT? YOU KNOW, I BELIEVE IN TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK. AND HOW CAN WE JUST FIX THE POTHOLE WITHOUT SAYING, OH, THIS IS A STATE STREET. PROBABLY WON'T COST US NO MORE THAN SOME

leftovers to pave around that so what is the big deal about not trying to help i don't understand let me let me take a stab and then i'll let mr smith finish that is a state road yeah and we do talk to tdot on a regular basis about maintenance of their infrastructure everything from signage to crosswalk markings to paving fixing potholes We have four elected officials, three representatives, and one senator from Montgomery County. That'd be the place I'd send folks to tell them to get on TDOT and ask them to pay, because we ask them to repair constantly. But it's like everything else. It's just a matter of time and money.

I told you to call TDOT and see if you'll get them the payment. I don't know why. You know, it just so hard for us to collaborate and work together to get this done. If they don't do it right away, they could cost us a lawsuit or them lawsuit. I don't know. I just believe in teamwork makes the dream work. And I just think that we need to work together. We could have put down a little of that payment, you know, just to, hey, we got taxpayers here living here, paying taxes, helping us to pay for these roads. even if it's state roads, we still pay taxes.

They're just not on the books. It's a series of checks and balances. Anytime we put down concrete or asphalt, we have to attach it to an address or a project, and if we attach it to a state road, it's not on our inventory list, and it does call into question. I wish they'd pick up the deceased animals. It's on the state routes because a third of our call volume at the street department relates to a state route, whether it's tall grass in the medians or any of those things, so I do feel that.

Well, I appreciate you paving Madison Street on that right there at the light that you did do when I asked that to be done.

You had to repair the sensor there.

And that is a state road. It is. We did that, and I appreciate that. You did go the extra mile to do that. And I don't know how we're going to get the state to get their roads paved or to fix because it looks bad on us. Thank you.

I agree.

Thank you. Thank you.

thank you any more comment or questions regarding this portion of the amendment councilman's treatment for a closing remark uh yes um keeping in mind we're on a first amendment here um we divided so we've already voted on half we're on this um here for this so what i would ask is i mean this is a opportunity for us to have it here in front of us to make a decision on what cuts that we are supportive of So if you are, unless you are just against every single one of these, if there is a portion of this that you're in favor of, I ask that you do an amendment now so that we can get what we need for our departments and for serving our city. If you're for it all, obviously there'd be no reason to do that. But like I said, if there's something within here that you wanted to take out but you were in favor of the rest, I'm asking... you have the opportunity, you can mark through it, and Ms. Canfield can make a copy of it, and we can present it as amendments.

Okay. Any further comment or question? Councilman Peters, you're recognized.

Yeah. Can I speak to Ms. Letourneau about the grinding cabinet? Are we past that already?

No, we're not past it. Ms. Letourneau?

Yes, sir. question here i was just doing some research on the internet here thank god we never phones here uh this grinding cabinet you're wanting sixty five thousand dollars for what uh what kind of grinding cabinet are we speaking of it's for the real mowers for the the ones that cut they use daily and they're the reels that go with the the very very fine like eighth of an inch yeah i Since I am a golfer, because we had that discussion last time I was here, since I am a golfer, I just sit here looking this up. And precision reel grinding equipment in Lebanon, I'm just giving a name of one I research, they've got them depending on your needs. Bottom is $15,000. Top of the line is $30,000. So I don't understand the $65,000. That's twice as much as what the highest rated commercial equipment

real grind or what grinding cabinet is on the internet and that's locally sourced pretty much state of tennessee so i'm a little confused by that 65 000 number sure um i my golf division brought that to me my superintendent jim owen brought that to me and i'd love to have the opportunity to go back to him and say i don't he's the expert he can i always say he can grow grass on a bowling ball but um so i i defer to him for his expertise on that

Well, you know, I've always said if I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm on my golf course, I'll grab a one iron. Even God can't handle one iron. But that's all. I just had that question because sitting here looking at it, I mean, there's several different sites here, businesses throughout Tennessee, and that is the most expensive one I found, and there's nine of them listed here. Okay.

I'll follow up on that and get that information to you as soon as possible.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

You're welcome. Any more comment or question regarding this portion of the amendment? Seeing none, are you ready to vote? All members, cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

Four yes, nine no, zero abstain.

Amendment 1B fails. Councilman Streetman?

Thank you, Mayor. I do have another one here. This is restoring the transit funding, the amount of $860,000. And this is mainly, I wanted to bring this forward so that we had the opportunity to hear how this cut of $860,000 affects our transit department and the citizens of our community that utilize the transit system. So I make a motion for approval.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of this amendment. Councilman Streetman.

Like I said, I would love to hear from the department what the effect this would be.

Okay, let's get it around. I'm sorry. Mr. Ringenberg. Councilman Streetman, you have the floor.

Thank you. Like I said, I would really like to just hear from you in regard to the effect of this $860,000 on the transit department as well as the citizens of our community that utilize the transit system?

Yes, ma'am. Basically the $860,000 is out of our capital improvement plan. Basically it's going to be buses, vans, uh, support vehicles. Um, we're going to end up with cameras, some repairs for life safety and then a technology is what's going to come down to.

Are these all things that are going to have to be replaced in another year?

The challenge with pushing it all back is this year we've got three or four buses. We've got three diesel buses in here. If we don't get them this year, we're going to ask again next year. Next year I have five more in the list. We have our grant funding for this. It comes down to city matches that it comes down to for all these programs here. For our city match this year, it's going to be $866,000, and we're going to get $9 million in vehicles and camera systems and a few things like that. That's what we're looking at right now. Next year will be the same thing with whatever we don't get this year. We'll put it on top of next year. The challenge this year is going to be our cameras on our buses. We have a grant for $400,000 for fleet surveillance. The city matches $20,000. This is the second or third time we've pulled it out of the budget. Next year will be the last time. If we don't get it next year, then we'll have to give the grant back. So there's a few of those items like that right now. We kind of went through this back with COVID back in the day when we couldn't buy anything. Now we're kind of in that same situation where we can't buy anything due to city funding. So stuff is going to start piling up, which means we're running 2010 buses that have 600,000 miles on them, which means now our parts department and our engine replacement and all that kind of stuff goes through the roof right now. The challenge would be is if we don't get it put back into our budget, I'm going to have to start looking for ways to cut my budget elsewhere, which is going to be layoffs. I mean, if we're going to be serious about this, it's going to be we're going to reduce service to lay off some folks so I can pay for some of the stuff that I have to pay for. It won't be buses. It's going to be the life safety stuff. It's going to be the technology stuff and the stuff I'm going to lose. So probably $300,000 or $400,000. is where i've got to come up with money to try to pay for these things and it's going to be the only thing we have left right now is going to be people councilman streetman what does that mean in regard to if you're having to lay off people what does that mean in regard to the routes we're going to start losing them we're going to probably cut all the half an hour routes and then we'll kind of go from there that'll be the first three routes that will get cut um and one july we'll probably cut them one august we'll have to give the 30-day notice to the folks we're going to cut the half an hour routes

okay thank you councilman smith for mr ringenberg yes thank you uh mr ringenberg um we know that uh hospitals are opening and we're going to need drivers and buses to handle the extra passengers that will be riding the bus yes ma'am st thomas is opening and we have another house for tri-star is going to be opening and so we don't want to decrease uh our bus routes we really need to increase and so i would be voting in favor of this too so that we can uh match what we need to make our transit operations smooth and uh good for the citizens so that we can have transportation going to these new hospitals we need that thank you councilman zacharias you're recognized

Thank you, Mayor.

This is not from Mr. Riggenberg. This is just a comment. Thank you, sir. CTS has been running the same bus routes since CTS was created in 1987, the same 11 bus routes. Clarksville has grown significantly since 1987. This is not a failing on CTS or the department head. This is the reality of a city budget that does not grow with demand if you work in the industrial park you cannot take a bus to work if you work or if you live on need more trenton peters mill you might have a three mile walk to get to the nearest bus stop this is unacceptable for people who rely on public transportation to get to work thank you councilman peters you're recognized thank you mr mayor can we get mr rittenberg to come to come back up please

Councilman Peters, you're recognized.

Sorry for the name, Butcher.

No worries.

Is there any plans to increase bus routes in the industrial park?

No. Okay. I get asked that question a lot. About 10 years ago, I seen the routing, and there was about six people a day that were riding 10 years ago in the industrial park. We had about 16 hours of service out there for 10 people. At that point in time, that's when they decided not to continue with the Route 1000 is what it was back in the day. We've got asked a few times to bring it back, but I've gotten one or two people in the last three years that I've been here asked to bring it back. Exit 11 would be a bigger challenge for us right now due to the hospital going in out there in the next couple years.

I understand all that, but we say that, but in the last 10 years we've had I don't know, LG come into town. We've had Google come to town. We've had Hankook come to town. We've had you name it in the industrial park and me working in the industrial park out there. I wish that my employees could get on a bus and come to work because there are days where they don't come to work and we struggle because we've got to shut lines down right for production. So I think we need to change that view. What worked 10 years ago didn't work 10 years ago. It would probably work today. We've added so much business, and we've got the chemical plant coming in out there. We've got all these businesses. We need to be thinking about that, not just hospitals, but we need to be thinking about people getting to work. That is our tax base, right? I mean, that's the people working to earn money to pay taxes. They need ways to work.

So I was just curious if there was... No, the other challenge was when folks get hired for about the first two weeks to two months, they're on a day shift. Once the day shift and their training is over, they end up on nights being the new person on the low end on the totem pole. That's where when we close at 9 o'clock, they don't have a ride to get home. If we get them there at 7 p.m., there's no ride to get them home. So that was the other challenge was all the new folks end up on night shift.

I will agree with you on that because... The company that hired me about a year ago hired me for that reason, and I probably hired 80% of the people in this plant. And you're right. Three weeks on training, and then they go to night shift, right? So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilman Shekinah, have you recognized? I was trying to catch the director before. Mr. Ringenberg, not so fast. Come on back up. Councilman Shekinah, you're recognized.

Thank you, sir. Sir, we have spoken a few times about handicap parking. I mean, handicap accessibility for the buses and things like that, routes for that population. But talking about budgets and the transit system, and then listening to other council members voice their concerns about the workforce on Industrial Park. Have your department engaged, has anyone from your department engaged some of those corporations out there to maybe try to set up some type of system where they can also pay into this?

No, we have not.

I know from my area.

No, we have not. We've done a strategic plan every couple years, and it goes out to different departments out there. But I don't have anything in my hands and say yes.

I've talked to five people out there I have not okay because I know in my area I referenced the handicap I spoke to You know I'm not gonna name the business But I did speak to the business and asked him to talk their corporate about maybe offsetting costs For personnel to be able to ride the bus with passes and things like that and they did engage So that's my question. Thank you, man.

You're welcome. I know that I We have had conversations with some of the plant managers and the leadership at the Industrial Board, and as soon as you ask them to participate in the funding, they get alligator arms. I'll just leave it right there. Thank you, Mr. Rittenberg. Councilman Smith, you're recognized.

I'm just going to make a comment about the Transportation Department. Everything that has been asked is legit. And the concerns are legit. But the thing is, is my understanding is that it cost us more money to operate going over into the county area than it is for the people that ride the bus. You see, we don't get enough people to ride the bus to pay for the gas that we use every time we pick up two or three people. It costs us more to operate than it does to make any money. We don't make any money. As a matter of fact, we're losing money. So that's why right now, time and cost is the reason we cannot keep going out to the industrial park because, like you said, it has about two or three people riding the bus. Hey, it costs us more gas than that just to pick them up and take them. So we just don't, it's not cost efficient. Okay? Thank you.

Any more comment or question regarding this amendment? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? We're voting on this amendment from Councilman Streetman. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

Seven yes, six no, zero abstain.

Ordinance Amendment 1C. Excuse me, I'll get it right in a minute. Passes, adopted. Councilman Streetman?

That's it for me tonight, Mayor.

Councilman Brown, you're recognized for amendments.

No amendments.

Start to say you're honored. That's all right. Battlefield promotion. Councilman Haywood, you're recognized for amendments.

None there.

Thank you. Councilman Holloman, you're recognized for amendments. No amendments. Thank you. Councilman Smith, you're recognized for amendments.

I'm going to yield mine over to Councilman Five. She has the same amendment that I have, and there's no need to fight over it. So she brought hers in and spread it out before I did, so I'm going to yield it over to her. Thank you.

Okay. Councilman Marquis, you've been yielded to, so you're recognized.

Thank you. I was going to start with a little bit different. I know I handed out some earlier, but I did make a quick change tonight to two of them. So we're going to utilize the one with the pink ink on it.

Give us a second to get it circulated, then I'll come back to you for explanation of motion. Councilman Markey, you're recognized.

So last week we had divided the question so I just went ahead and did it this week that way we save us a couple minutes here and then I changed the wording for the description instead of the Tennessee Golf Foundation I just left it as a public-private partnership or an entity so I didn't name anybody that way this could go out to bid for the same purpose and And I also add an extra line where we would decrease that capital project and instead increase it to one of the street capital projects that is on hold. And for Mason Rudolph, I gave that one to need more. So I make a motion for this amendment.

Motion made and properly seconded in favor of this amendment. Comment or question regarding this amendment? Councilman Streetman, you're recognized on the marquee amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to speak again in favor of keeping Mason Rudolph and not closing down this capital project. We can say we want to bid it out for leasing, rehabilitating and managing the municipal golf course, eliminating the city's future budget obligations, but we have no idea when that could come about. And we've had people asking for years to get the Mason Rudolph project and get Mason Rudolph back open up. we shut the project down now we have no idea when this could happen and we're just ending it and it could leave it to where it's not only closed but we have no idea when it may be open this has been on the capital projects for a few years now and it's actually being funded so that we could move forward with this again we've got people I can tell you throughout Ward 10 that this Mason Rudolph that this is exceptionally important to to be able to get this back open and be able to utilize Mason Rudolph. There is a tremendous amount of history that goes along with it, not just in the name, which is exceptionally important, but the golf course itself. We've got children throughout that are learning how to play golf, and Mason Rudolph is the perfect place for children, adults, or older people to learn how to play golf on because it is a smaller course. It is an easier course for them to be able to utilize it on. people in our community that want to come together and help see this get open back up, help participate in program, help teach our youth to be able to play golf. We have children that this may be the one way that they're able to get a scholarship because we have more children or more kids from this area getting golf scholarships than we do anywhere else out in Tennessee. So I would ask that just as we voted this down last week, I would ask that you again vote this down and let's finally get this going and get this golf course back open for the many, many, many people throughout our community that have been asking for this and pay taxes just like everyone else.

Councilman Lovato, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I am once again going to speak in favor of cutting this funding to Mason Rudolph because just as many people don't want to fund this as many people do want to fund it, if not more. This council has voted no several times on a tax increase. We have to decide where we are going to make cuts. Multiple times we have heard from constituents across all wards, not just Ward 10, where they want to defund these quote unquote pet projects. And Mason Rudolph is one of these pet projects that is not needed. Something else needs to be done with it, whether it's a park or it gets turned over to a private entity. It does not need to be a golf course run by the city taking up taxpayer money. If we do convert it and we move forward with this, we are committing to more taxes in the future once this is done because it is going to take more to run this than it is right now or to turn it into a park. That's all I have to say.

Councilman Shekinah, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm in favor of the golf courses, but again, if we're going to look at a golf course or a road improvement, I'm going to take that road improvement. A lot of residents drive on these roads, I think much more than playing golf. So for me, I'll definitely support the roads. If we come across some money somewhere else later on down the line, then it could go to the golf course, but I'm not in favor of cutting the road projects.

Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Yes, sir. First of all, what would the $1.365 million do for the Needmore project would be a question I would have.

Without objection, Mr. Smith.

You're recognized. Sure. I need to sidebar with... the CFO briefly, but essentially I think we had our next phase of that project and the CIP that was amended was going to be another 5 million of the remaining $3 million in that project. So property acquisition for us is next step. We'll have to redo appraisals and surveys and stuff like that to rekindle that project.

So if the next part, the next phase, $5 million?

Yeah, that would be, I mean, that's what we had originally projected when the project was.

So what will the $1.365 million do? If the next phase is $5 million and this is only $1.365 million, what will that actually do then?

Well, it's kind of a, I won't call it a hindrance because anything helps, but if you're giving me enough money to restart the appraisals, and redo the surveys, but not enough money to buy the property, it's moot, because that's why we have to redo the appraisals to start with, because we appraised the property, we moved towards property acquisition, the project was placed on hold because of the tax rate, and now the appraisals are lapsed, so we have to spend money to reappraise those properties in compliance with code. They have to be done within 12 months. I could put that money towards appraisals and whatnot. But again, if I don't have the money to acquire the property, it's moot.

Okay. Thank you. That's all in regard to my question, but I know even today I have talked to several people again within ward 10 and ward, ward 10 is voters as well. And taxpayers, we don't get off tax free in ward 10 for sure. Um, but this is something that many of them talked about is the need for, they want this Mason Rudolph golf course back open. In fact, A lot of them talked about, they don't under, you know, they don't understand what it is we're doing up here, continuing to go through and try and take things out of the budget. They understand that they're paying taxes. They're wanting things for their tax dollars. This is one of the things that they are wanting. They also understand things are continuing to go up and things are continuing to cost more and more money. So if we want these things in our community, we do have to pay for these things. But there were a considerable amount of people that were upset throughout, not just Ward 10, but throughout Clarksville when the decision was made to close this and no longer have it as a golf course and instead turn it into a park. There's even more that are going to be upset if the idea was we're just going to sell it off for somebody to be able to develop it. and lose that history all the way. But this does not, to me, make sense to be able to do it because these same people are paying for, they're paying for the pools, they're paying for the recreation center. I went through all of this the other night and the amount of dollars that are spent on all of the other parks. We have the closest return on investment when it comes to our golf courses than we do have anything else. and we take a considerable loss when you're looking at our recreation center so if you know the point wants to be made well once it gets open it's going to cost us even more money to be able to run it again i go back to if that's the case why aren't we shutting down every single thing why are we still having a fireworks show for fourth of july i'm not in support of shutting all these things down please don't misunderstand me these are things that are important to our community throughout but you've got a lot of people that are choosing to play golf and they are not going to our recreation pools to go swimming they are not going to play pickleball they are not going to play basketball but they are going to play golf they're senior citizens in our area that that's their form of exercise is going and doing this Again, I mentioned the kids that are out there wanting to play golf. I would just ask you again to vote this down and do not close out this project because, again, we have had a tremendous outpouring of support for Mason Rudolph.

Councilman Marquis, on your amendment.

I do have a question for Mr. Smith.

Question for Mr. Smith. Which phase are you referencing? You said the next phase of Needmore. Which phase is that?

Sorry. Apologies for the terminology. Just phase one. Phase two is past Cardinal Creek or Spring Creek, rather.

okay so phase one then i i guess is that where you're at then with the appraisals and we're at the right way phase of the span between tiny town road and just past caldron creek at spring creek at the base there where it tapers back down to two lines and that's what you would have to redo appraisals for correct okay and yeah because that was pretty much one of the listed um items in the budget changes so that's why i was a little confused with when you're saying next phase and

Sure, sure. And some of that has obviously developed over the time that we've been dormant. Mr. Blue has developed a fair portion of that. So the surveys that we have are no longer accurate. The design we have, honestly, with the engineers is no longer 100%. So we would need to go back to the books on some of that stuff, some of the drawings.

Okay. All right. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify what phase we're in. Okay. And then I guess one more thing about this is that what I'm presenting is a way that we can kind of balance off what's going on. Obviously, we would keep – I don't need – I'm sorry. I don't have any questions for you. it's not selling off the golf courses. It would be still city property if we would still own it. We're not closing down golf courses. We're not doing any of that. We're just making it that the golf community can still have golf. It would be managed because this is, something that is happening across the state, various different cities have actually turned to this form of management and it's been very successful. And so the golfers can still golf. It is owned still by the city and taxpayers don't have to pay for it. So it's a win on everybody's books where it has been done. And so I figured, well, just put this into infrastructure so as i've also mentioned in the past that at this point it's come down to what are our uh priorities do we spend the money on golf or do we spend it on infrastructure and that's what i'm presenting here just let's balance a couple of things out together thanks

Councilman Haywood, you're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. I am also in favor of this amendment. For probably over a year now, I've gotten phone calls about Mason Rudolph, and, you know, it's not moving along. Sell it to somebody. Have them run it. And on top of that, the Nemo Road improvement is in my ward for the most part. We share it. But the road's crumbling. I mean, you drive down the side of it, and your passenger side tires are crumbling. going into rocks. So if we can figure out a way to maintain the golf course through a public private partnership, it continues to operate and put that money back into infrastructure. I mean, that's that's a win win to me. Thanks, Mayor.

Councilman Lovato, you recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to address some of the points that were made earlier. I do not expect any Anything that parks and rec offers the community. I do not expect it to break even I understand that each service that they provide is going to cost money that is what they are there for however those other services that were referenced serve a bigger percentage of our population than mason rudolph did so we already have we have two golf courses we have swan lake that is in ward 10 and we have mason rudolph that is in ward 6 and i think that we need to support this amendment and like the previous council member said we need to support infrastructure over pet projects thank you

Councilman Peters, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to suggest as a council we do some team building and go to Swan Lake and play around and let everybody see how it is when you're holding everybody up. Mason Rudolph is integral. I know exactly where we can get the funds. If I can get a sheet, I'll do an amendment to remove all funds from Bark and Rec, and we'll move those to infrastructure. Are they more deserving than the people who play golf? mean give me a sheet i'll fill it out right now i'll make everybody go on a record for who's not going to support mason rudolph and the golfers of this community i'm going to give me an amendment give me a sheet i'll have one next time i'll vote this budget down i'll come back with an amendment why are we going to fund parks and record we ain't going to fund everything for citizens thank you that's all we got mr mayor councilman chandler you recognized i guess i must have told him not alive and i missed truth

I have a question for Ms. Letourneau, if I could possibly. Sure.

Without objection.

Yes, sir.

Ms. Letourneau. Hang on just a second.

Hang on, Councilman. If you don't mind, pull your microphone closer. Sorry, Mayor. That's okay.

Ms. Letourneau, what happens to Mason Rudolph if this passes and this money is not in the budget?

if the cut passes and the money is not in the budget for the for that property yes um honestly i would probably allow people to use it as a park okay so you're telling me if we cut this money then as far as golf is concerned it's shut down no so we still have the driving range but i think maybe we could try to operate around it okay and i'm gonna go ahead and jump ahead and

I don't want you to have to come back up again. There will be an amendment here in a few minutes for Swan Lake and basically the same thing. What happens if you don't have that $2.3 million for Swan Lake?

If I don't have the $2.3 million for Swan Lake, we're probably going to lose not all the greens, we're going to lose some of the greens. They're compacted. We asked for this last year. They need to be redone. Every probably 10 years or so, you need to go back and rebuild those greens because they're compacted with all the walking, and you have to kind of fluff them up, for lack of a better word. They're out there working on them right now, trying to do an interim. They started it yesterday, should be done tomorrow, but it's a deep fill, deep time, and it's going to kind of buy us some time. But between the compaction and this past winter, when we had such a hard freeze, we're losing some of the greens right now. So I say all that to say that that's what that $2 million is going to do. It's going to make it viable. they do a lot with a little and they've stretched out as far as they've, it's been 20 years since we've done that.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Also, can I, can I say real quick, you should have an email on the difference in a mower. Okay. I just want to make sure I clarified that.

Uh, you know, if I knew that we had a person that could come in here or a group or whatever, they could come in here and give us, you know, a couple of months, uh, Yeah, we'll come in in a couple months. We'll take them over. We'll run them, da-da-da-da-da. Well, everybody sitting here knows that's not going to happen. It's the wheels of government run too slow. So by the time we get anybody in to come in here and we have shut these things down, Is that not going to be a deterrent for them to want them? Well, wait a minute. We're going to have to put in half the greens because we're not going to do it. We're going to do this at Mason Rudolph. Well, no, we can't afford that because the city is not going to do it. My point being is if we abandon them right now, we lose any type of leverage that we might have to bring somebody in. What I would like to see us do is go ahead and leave this in the budget and then honestly and sincerely look at getting somebody in here. And if we can get somebody in the golf courses are still up making a little bit of money. They're not run completely down. And if we turn them over to somebody in six, eight months, whatever money is left comes back to the city. But we cannot just abandon them. Everybody in here knows what happens when you abandon property. We're still going to have cost. You can eliminate this right here, but you're still going to have cost. Thank you, Mayor. That's all. Councilman Streetman.

I have a question for Ms. Letourneau.

Go ahead and ask your question.

Thank you. And I don't know if you'll have these numbers in front of you, but the statement was made that the other things individually serve a much larger population than the golf community, than the golf courses do. Would that be the case? Because with the revenue for our recreation centers on the fiscal year 26 being at $15,000 to... net loss of $739,000. I have a hard time thinking that our recreation centers are individually serving a much larger population than our golf courses, seeing as how we've got high school teams that come and play there. I think the college teams come and play there. We have different tournaments. We've got a lot of various people throughout the community that are coming to play.

Is that a question? Yes. Okay.

So it would be difficult for me to quantify that right now. I can say that you're not seeing that revenue with the community centers because we're not there to make money. The community centers, it's $5 per person per year unless you're 18 or under or 65 and older, and then it's free. So the revenue is not going to be indicative of revenue. the actual attendance of those recreation centers. I can tell you that alternatively, Swan Lake is probably one of the most popular golf courses in Clarksville, if not the most popular, and it is heavily used. But I think it may be apples to oranges. It's not apples to apples because it's their different types of recreation.

Well, and then you mentioning that kids play for free with paying adult, correct? Correct. So that's not being captured in the revenue as well.

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Klotz, you're recognized on this amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the councilman working to set priorities and to still another word of fellow council members said triage where we're at currently. Nobody's throwing Mason Rudolph golf course away. looking at a different option and a different solution to move everything forward so i appreciate the idea i also appreciate miss latourno just saying that it is the community centers and these other areas aren't designed to make money we all just heard her say that right the golf course should be making money so again, we're not getting rid of the golf course where we're searching for alternative options because what we're doing currently is not working. Thank you.

Councilman Smith. You're recognized on this amendment.

Thank you, mayor. But this golf course being in my ward and um, I know more about this golf course because I am a home grown, grown woman who has played in that area. That was our stepping ground, as I said before. It's a historical place, and I'm against this, bidding it out for leasing. I have not spoken with any of the citizens who would like to do this. I think we need to keep it in our capital projects, because if you bid something out, who are we bidding it to? Have we spoken with the citizens who want to keep Mason Rudolph flourishing? moving forward, playable, usable? No, I have not. But I have spoke with some who said to please do not get rid of our golf course. This is a historical place, and that's one of the problems we have. People who are not from here are always willing and ready to give up our historical places. So, no, I cannot vote for this. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman, I have two check marks by your name. I have two check marks by your name. All right. Councilman Markey, you have closing remarks on your amendment?

Just to reiterate, because it doesn't seem that some members understand, we're not getting rid of the golf courses. They are still city property. They're just going to be managed by somebody else. Again, this is being done across the state with a lot of great success that continues to give scholarships to children, and they continue to play for free. It just depends on how we as a city structure it when we find somebody to do this we're not getting rid of it at all the golfers will still have their golf club to play it just will be that taxpayers won't pay for it and we can put that money somewhere else in our infrastructure that is it thank you thank you any more comment or question okay seeing none hearing none we're now voting on the marquee amendment to ordinance 92 every member please cast your vote

Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clark, please take the vote.

Five yes, eight no, zero abstain.

Amendment fails. Councilman Smith, where do you for amendments? Okay. Well, you thought you were just yielding one. Okay. Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on your next amendment.

This is the Swan Lake one. Same thing. Same spiel, just Swan Lake. And then this one, instead of lead more, it goes to Rossview. That is it. I make a motion for this amendment.

Hang on. Let's get it before everybody. And then I'll come back to you.

Sure. Everybody got a copy?

Madam Clerk, you got a copy? Everybody got a copy? Oh, God still has got a copy. All right. Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on this amendment.

All right. We pretty much said all that we had to say earlier. So this one is just Swan Lake. Instead of need more, I'm putting the money to Rossview. But same concept. Lease it out again. And yeah, I'll make a motion for this amendment.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of this amendment. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Again, uh, I say the same thing that we should not be just closing out these projects as we've already heard from Ms. Letourneau. If we don't do these projects, then what we're looking at is losing greens on Swan Lake. And as she stated it, uh, you know, I can't remember exact her exact words. I know she didn't say anything about them, um, that they're supposed to make money because none of our parks and recreation things make money. But I know that I've heard that one of the best courses that we have in Clarksville is Swan Lake. People talk about what a phenomenal course that it is. I've heard, too, that it is one of the hardest that we have in the state of Tennessee. We have many, many golfers that play on this course and love this. I know that one of our council members himself plays on this course because he's already talked about it, the need for having people letting – new people play on Mason Rudolph so that it'll free up, uh, Swan Lake some, but I would be adamantly opposed to this. As I talked about previously, when you are looking at the money for golf and the revenue for that Swan Lake, and again, looking at fiscal year 26, we were looking at $753,000. with an expense of $892,000, so a loss of $139,000. And yes, that is a loss, but Parks and Recreation as a whole, on any other things, they're not in it just to be able to make money. I know that they have worked to increase their fees for people to be able to play to make that gap a little bit smaller, but giving up talking about giving up that and even looking at the other and you're giving up our municipal golf courses. And this is a wonderful facility. And once again, I would ask that you don't support this. This isn't the first time we have gone through this. In my eight years on the council, I think this is my third or fourth time having to deal with really the council wanting to do away with us having our golf courses. I'm asking that you, just like you voted down Mason Rudolph, please vote this one down as well, because this one is where you're coming a whole lot closer to getting a return on investment. than you are in anything else. You don't even come close in anything else. So once again, I ask that you continue to support this because if we do, if we're talking about giving this away, we're giving away the revenue as well. So you're not making quite as big of a difference as what you would when you think about closing this versus closing other things down. And I get this is just closing the capital projects fund. However, she's already stated that if we don't do what we need to do with this, we're going to start losing our greens that we have there. And then that's going to be an added expense that it's going to cost to try and bring them back.

Councilman Chikina, I'm on the amendment.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. And again, I'm for the golf courses. This is in my ward, so I'm definitely for it. But at the same time, if I had to choose between this and and I'm doing something to Rossview Road, I'm going to pick Rossview Road. And I know next month when we hear the RPC, when they bring the cases up, just remember, anything off of Rossview, I'm going to be asking you all to vote it down. If we can't fix Rossview Road, then we shouldn't be building anything else over there to add more traffic to Rossview. Thank you, Mayor.

Councilman Clonch, you're recognized on the amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, there is a an option to do it different nobody's been happy with the budget let me rephrase that a majority of the people have not been happy with the budget that was presented and this is a creative way to not again give away the park the golf course but to find somebody to manage it and it remain under city control i will be supporting this amendment as well i would rather see improvements to ross view road or any other infrastructure improvements over continuing to do what we're doing because it's not working. Thank you.

Well, I would disagree that it's not working. I think this city works pretty darn good. Councilman Brown, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Question for Mr. Smith.

All right, Mr. Smith.

Kind of the same question as the previous one. The $2.3 million on this state Rossview Road, where would that get us in making those improvements? Because like the last one, the $1.3 million for Needmore really Didn't seem like you had faith that it would get us any closer because the reappraisals would expire before we got that far. So would this 2.3 get us any closer on the Rossview Road?

Well, it takes us in the wrong direction. Based on what our goals are for that area, Tennessee Department of Transportation through the Federal Highway Administration has a shared partnership program. Our plans with that are to get the road to a point where the design to a schematic level and have environmentals done and then apply to the state to make it an 80-20 split with us where the state, much like on phase one and phase two of Rossview, shares the preponderance of the cost of redevelopment in that area. you know, we're not looking at that that some to get us to that point. But you know, we are at that point waiting for the state to say yay or nay if we go that route. So our present route is to pursue the shared partnership program.

So so there's 2.3. Would it fund a part of that or our portion of that if that was to be

Well, it's more than we would spend in the upcoming years towards those initiatives, getting that schematic level and the environmentals done. And then, again, it's just a waiting game with the state and the federal government to see if we're approved for that. So it's more than we would need.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Was that it, Councilman Brown? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Any more comment or question regarding this amendment? Councilman Markey, it's your amendment. I'm going to come to you for final thoughts. nope let's vote all right i like the attitude all right okay every member please cast your vote every member voted any member wish to change their vote madam clark please take the vote five yes eight no zero abstain ordinance fails councilman marquis you're recognized for a minute okay i have one more which i had already handed out to you guys it's a two-part

one the one with ajax and parks and rec and a an email i also sent you guys here or print it out for you guys

Okay. Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on your amendment.

All right. So last week this was an amendment to an amendment, but clearly I got here first tonight somehow. So I'm just going to present WHAT I HAD LAST WEEK AND IT'S NOTHING'S CHANGED. SAME THING DECREASE PARKS AND REC 1.2 MILLION AND INCREASE THE SENIOR CENTER THE 776 599 AMOUNT FOR WHICH IS THE AMENDED 2026 THAT WE GAVE THEM WHICH WOULD GIVE US A DIFFERENCE OF 510 And that would go to reducing our tax rate, whatever that can help there. So I would make a motion for this amendment here. Second.

Motion been made and properly seconded. Councilman Lobato, you're recognized on this amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. And I just want to apologize in advance because I'm going to speak for a second on this because I am wholeheartedly, without a doubt, against this. This would be a major mistake to move this money back to the Ajax Senior Center and the nonprofit that is currently running it. The last three years, there's been a third-party company that has performed an audit on the nonprofit and how they are managing their money and what they are doing with it. And I was looking through those audit reports and consistently over the last three years, Crossland found that they were not reconciling their money correctly. Cash was inadequately accounted for. Their QuickBooks did not match the money coming in and going out. There was a high turnover for essential employees for the organization. And this is a third party. So it was stated in a previous meeting that we needed to give the money back so that we could just put them on a personal improvement plan. They've been on a personal improvement plan for three years and it hasn't worked. So now fast forward, what are we looking at? We're looking at allegations of more mismanagement of funds. There's missing cash. There's inappropriate activity on credit cards. There is abuse of employees. There is abuse of members. This abuse includes sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse. They are still not reporting their financials in a timely manner to our city employees. They're not submitting the minutes of their meetings to our city employees. And this is all current day. This is what is happening right now. And you're asking us to keep giving the taxpayer dollars to an entity that is not managing it well. This is more than just a procedural issue that can be fixed. The stories that we are hearing, I have gotten hell of a lot more emails and phone calls from people who are in favor of the city taking over the senior center and their stories matter these folks are not going to talk about this publicly it's hard they grew up in a time where you don't air your dirty laundry out in public so of course they're going to keep it to themselves and so i'm sorry they're not going to make you famous on social media but that doesn't mean that we get to ignore what what they're going through so If you are a council member who is about to vote in favor of this, I want you to also be prepared to look at the grandmas and grandpas and the great grandmas and grandpas of our community and tell them why they're either liars or why you're okay with abuse. Because if you vote yes for this, you are telling them that you have a tolerance for abuse because that is what is going on over there. That's all I have.

Councilman Zacharias, you're recognized on the amendment. Thank you, Mayor.

So this is going to be a little bit disjointed because the previous speaker said a lot of the things that I wanted to say. So at the risk of repeating, I want to say, and I had my button pushed for the Mason Rudolph thing. My opposition to this is similar to my opposition to turning over Mason Rudolph to an outside entity. The last couple of times we've done this, senior center, In the parking garage, it has not gone well for the city. But let's talk about some of these allegations. My opposition is primarily rooted in the lack of transparency and accountability that comes when we turn over city taxpayer dollars to an outside legal entity that we have no oversight over. So let's be clear. We own the building. We provide the majority of the funding. But when questions are raised, we can't pull a personnel file. We can't audit a decision. We can't discipline an employee. So we own the liability. We sign the checks, but we're told to mind our own business. Just give us some board members that'll do what we want them to do. And that's the problem, okay? The allegations that the previous speaker mentioned, we all got the same emails. And the point isn't whether the allegations are true. The point is we built a system where we can't find out. We hand over money and we hope that they are honest about what they're doing with it. And what that makes us, if even one of these allegations are true and we keep funding this organization, we're not bystanders, we're not innocent, we're complicit in what's going on over there. The allegations are severe. The allegations of mismanagement are severe. And they are objective. And I understand that some of that stuff is still going through redaction to keep account numbers and stuff out of there. But I will say that I don't think city tax dollars should be paying somebody's child support. Let's see, the independent audit results have already been found or have already been discussed. The nonprofit status was suspended over accounting problems. There's leadership turnover. We've all seen what's going on with the board. Even today, we walked in. It doesn't appear that the board is even sure about who is employed by the center. I mean, maybe they have a director. Maybe they don't. I don't know. What I do know is there are a number of organizations that are renting space in this facility. I cannot find any sort of fee structure. Some groups are paying $1,000 a month. Some groups are paying $35 a month. At least one group is making their payments by putting cash in an envelope and sliding it under a door. This cannot continue. These are taxpayer dollars. We need to fund this transition and bring the center under a department that we can hold accountable, and we can't right now. We can finally tell our seniors the truth, and that is we're watching. Thank you.

Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree wholeheartedly with both of the speakers before me, and agree, especially with what Ward 1 stated in regard to the comments made by Ward 12. She covered everything very eloquently and to a T with what needed to be stated. Maybe the only thing she didn't say was she doesn't want the taxpayers to continue paying someone's child support in the state of Texas. However, in regard to what we have heard, I did hear from somebody, and I apologize, I have not gotten back yet with him at this point, But he appreciated my compassionate speech in regarding to golf, but didn't feel as I was compassionate about the senior citizens in our area based on how I voted. Let me be very, very clear. I feel that this is the best move for the senior citizens in our area. It has continued to be a chaotic situation over there. I believe every few days I'm hearing yet another situation that is occurring over there. I want our senior citizens to be in a safe place. I want those that work there to be in a safe space to continue to hear about multiple employees that have had to deal with being sexually harassed or assaulted over there. And having gone to the Director non director fire director really not sure I'm like you at how you want to classify that that's again just adds to things and getting 0 support in that situation. I've seen the director, non-director, whatever it is, stand up here and give private information for members that have attended there. It's my understanding that the attendance has considerably decreased over the recent months. I can't help but wonder if that's because they are continuing to be given this chaos over and over and over again every time they come there. And that's not a fun thing for them to have to go listen to on a daily basis of, being brought into the middle of all this. So I am 100% in favor of us being able to handle this ourselves rather than continuing to hand over our tax dollars from our citizens to be able to go to something that's not being managed properly. That there are questions in regard to cash payments that are being come in, whether they're being deposited, not being deposited. There are so many questions that I have. And as was previously stated, we've all received the emails about different things that are occurring over there. And I keep thinking about those families, those families that had members that were in that adult day center to be taken care of. that this is completely up ended their lifestyle and that there could have been, you know, more easier transition, I think, to be able to move to this. But I want those individuals to be able to get back in there as soon as possible, to be able to be served and to be able to be taken care of and get back to being able to see their friends. And this has been very disheartening to see the process that's occurred over there. And again, the chaos that has continued to ensue. So I, I like the two that spoke before me will be voting against this and I want to allow our senior citizens to be served, to be taken care of and to be taken care of properly, as well as those employees without the fear of retribution or, um, account numbers suddenly being wrong and employees not getting paid. all types of different things that we've seen occur over there. And it's, I do want to say in regard to that, as someone who processes payroll, if your account number was right on your first two paychecks, there's no reason why it would be different on your third and fourth paycheck because you're not inputting a new number every time. So it's disappointing that that's how the explanation would be given to somebody that was working there and wasn't getting paid their pay. it was equally disappointing to know that they were reporting sexual harassment or assault and not getting treated fairly or just getting ignored on that and being brought into the room with the person that did it. Just everything that I've read about it is sickening for me, for those employees, and for those that attend there.

Councilman Claunch, you're recognized on this amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Why? If all of this was happening... Why? Why was it brought up in May? Why was it not identified publicly before May? Why has the board been reduced? Why are the allegations and the stories not accompanied with sexual assault reports? Why? Why?

Got a point of information. Councilman Lovato, you're recognized.

They were reported. The sexual harassment was very much reported. Thank you.

Councilman Claude, you have the floor.

Thank you. Why is the board not full? Why are three of the board members in attendance at the same church as the chief of staff? Why is the conversation about the ADC being shut down and the mismanagement by the director when the board a board member fired the ABC capabilities to be ran. Why is there questions about bylaws and which version year generation should be used? Why the secrecy? Why? I also received a lot of emails. I also made a lot of phone calls and there was a large demographic of people that initially were for city takeover. And they liked what I had to say about, we're going to go from one to 10 months, months after all of these allegations, all of this stuff happened. And I would argue that I read these emails and I said, please call me because I do care. I do want to have these conversations. Emails are dry. I want to understand your perspective. It is unfortunate. There's two, there's three very distinctive classes at Ajax with respect to all parties. You have, a class that wants it left alone. You've got a class that wants the city to take over. And then there's another class that just wants to go there and enjoy the amenities that they have. But why? Why wasn't this presented to us? Why was a Clarksville Now article published that I got upset about and called Clarksville Now and was quoted from the communications department at the Clarksville of Tennessee? Why? Why has everything been so secretive? Where are the receipts? Where are they at? There's a group that has receipts that will show you information. Are there issues? Absolutely. Have they admitted issues? Absolutely. And make no mistake, I am not saying sexual assault is an issue. That is a crime. But what I am saying is why has it not been brought out until now? Why does everything seem so secretive about this entire process? Why? It frustrates me beyond belief because I have poured my heart and soul into this. I've been to the center. I've talked to the seniors and I changed some of their minds by saying, let's not jump from one to 10. Let's meet at a five in the middle. Why can't we do that? Why can't we establish, why can't we get a committee and establish a new board and come up with parameters that are talked about monthly in here, and I will be the first one to say, if that's not met, take it over. But if it is, why can't we leave it alone? Why? That's all I have.

Councilman Peters, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I've got to admit, this is one of those things you battle yourself over time and time again. I'll just say that time, I guess, has been my best friend in this. It's given me time for clarity to evaluate, just like I do in my daily life. It's given me time to look at things and see what's happening, why things weren't reported to us sooner, why we didn't know. And all I've got to say about all this is, There comes a time and a place when we have to make the right decision, and the right decision is for the seniors. And in saying that, I'm just going to say we can't look at things like board members go to the same church. God bless the USA. We live in a place where we can choose freedom, where we can choose religion that we want, where we can go to church where we want. If I happen to go to church, it's the same place, which I'll clarify that. I do not go to church. So if I was to happen to go to church with Mr. or one of the other council members, What does that matter? What does that have to do with anything? We chose the same, the love of the pastor, the love of the minister, right? That's who the congregation is supporting. They're preaching to them and making them feel the way they feel about whatever religion is they preach. So I'm not going to sit here and say it was bad because three board members went to the same church. I don't care that three board members went to the same church. I do care that the board members aren't in place and we don't have them. I do care that this wasn't reported to us sooner or later. I didn't like the way it was reported to us, but I'm not going to sit there and base my decision on things of that sort. I'm going to say that this was done because of the things that have transpired at the Senior Center. People in the know knew about these things. I wish all day long that I knew about them. But I can't support this amendment. I just can't do it because as much as I want to say that that the people running Ajax now is what's best for the seniors. And the things I've looked at, the evaluations I've made, the things I've looked at, I can't say that. I can't say that things have been done that's good for the seniors. I don't think things have been done in the best interest of the seniors. While back, we had an amendment about another senior center that we were voting on. I couldn't support it any more than I can support this one. And that goes back to... you know, just a little bit about me. It goes back to things that happened in our life. We all got experiences of things that happened to us in life, and I can't support something that in my heart I don't feel supports the seniors the way that seniors should be supported. I know that for a long time I was in favor of this. But as I said, time is my best friend. It's opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn't realize. I've had a chance to talk to people, investigate things, and look at things. And for that reason, I just cannot support this amendment. I just can't do it. So with all that said, I just want to say God bless USA. It's freedom of choice, and I love everybody.

Councilman Zacharias, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to attempt to answer some of my colleagues' questions because I had similar questions, and I believe I got the answer when I reached out to Mr. Bittner. But first, I want to start by saying that I find the counter of Well, what about three board members that go to the same church in response to these allegations to be wholly inappropriate and offensive? But to answer some of the questions about why are we just finding out about this, that answer has been given to us. We had somebody come here and say, the reason that this is happening is because the mayor is listening to the members. Who are we supposed to hear it from? The nonprofit that is currently running the Ajax senior center, I'm going to read the answers to some of my questions. Mr. Bittner, if I am misrepresenting you, throw something at me and I will stop. But what is the city's involvement in administering the senior center? The city has no involvement in the process. The center is a separate legal entity. Does the city have power to hold employees of the nonprofit accountable? According to page 10 of the bylaws, the center employs an executive director who is responsible for hiring, supervising, and reviewing employees. The city is not involved in personnel management. These are the problems that we are trying to solve. Oh, there was one more thing that I... That's all I've got for now, Mayor. I reserve the right to push my button again.

Councilman Chandler.

Call to question, Mayor.

Any objection to ceasing discussion on this amendment? Hearing no, we're now voting on this amendment. All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

Four yes, nine no, zero abstain.

Amendment fails. Councilman Markey.

That's all I got.

Councilman Chandler, any amendments? None, Mayor. Councilman Peters, any amendments?

None.

No amendments, Mr. Mayor. Councilman Clonch, amendments?

No amendments, Mayor.

Councilman Zacharias, amendments? No, sir. All right. It is 8 bells. We're going to take a 10-minute recess until 8.10 without objection. We're going to get the final tally, and then we'll come back and discuss the Ordinance 92 as amended. We stand in recess until 8.10. Please be back in your seats. Since there's no more amendments proposed, we're back on Ordinance 92 as amended, just to kind of give you a final tally. The amendments we have adopted added two cents to the property tax rate, so we currently stand at $1.03 on our property tax rate. And that is subject to being verified over the next couple of days, and if we survive first reading, we'll give you a final tally or an up-to-date tally at second reading.

so any comment or question regarding ordinance 92 as amended councilman brown you recognized thank you mayor so you know i know most of us have been getting calls and you know on both sides for and against you know wanting to you know reduce the the tax rate and you know seems like tonight we've increased it some to a dollar three from the dollar one so we just have to take that into consideration when, you know, we get these phone calls and you know, we'll get them or people saying we went the wrong way. So just something to think about and we just, whichever way we vote, we just need to plan on being able to explain that to our constituents. Thank you. Thank you. Any more comment or question?

Councilman Smith, You're recognized.

Can we make an amendment to just bring it down more to like 95 cents? Can we make an amendment on this before we vote on it? Can I make an amendment?

Well, it needs to be in writing.

I will write it up real quick. Right here.

I'm getting right here.

Okay. Okay.

Okay. Now, If you're going to address the property tax rate,

specify where the reductions are coming from to meet that now now okay that's a good point but you know how they was taking money out of like the police department and they said we can do line items and uh so i can't do a line item i'll let you all figure that out because that's what we were saying through the whole meeting uh last week we can't do line items you're right right you're right so i'll just let you all decide you know where you want to take this from Because we can't do line items.

You all, as in departments?

I'm talking about the city. It's your budget.

Well, it's going to be the council's budget if you approve it.

Yeah.

And you're all going to have to live with it.

Okay, Mayor. Okay. Let me see. Funds. Budget. Department. We just say city. Decrease. Now to 95 cents. It would be a cent from 108. You said it's 103 currently. 103 to 95 cents. Okay. Description. Budget. Is this going to suffice?

If you don't mind, give it to the clerk and she'll make copies.

Make sure this reads right before we do that. Is that right? I guess I'm decreasing it from 103 to 95 cents. So I put decrease because right now it's 103. Is that right?

We're currently at $1.03 on the property tax rate.

And I'm making an amendment to make it $0.95.

Hang on, let's get it copied and distributed, and I'll come back to you for your motion.

You ready for me, Mayor?

You recognize for the point of clarification.

I know that, as we've discussed, we don't get line item authority, but we do vote on the department budgets individually. Again, not the line items, but do we not vote on the department budgets specifically? That would be question number one. And question number two, do we not have to pass a balanced budget?

We would have to. Well.

We can see.

simple answer your second question is yes it has to be balanced so we would have to make the reductions tonight before we're able to come back and it and adjourn if it passes first reading this amendment has to be adopted first so what was your first question first question is granted we do not get line item authority for you know how many pencils a certain department buys but we do get we are approving their department budget as a whole Well, I would have to yield to the sponsor of this amendment to explain what this amendment is, and then we can take up your question. Point of order for Councilman Chandler.

Mayor, I have not heard a motion that's properly presented and or a second, so any discussion would be out of place.

You're right. So I will come to the sponsor of the amendment for a motion and a second, and then we come to you for the discussion.

I'm making a motion to decrease the, um, budget, uh, from one Oh three to 95 cent second.

Properly second. Now if you'll explain.

Okay. And what I'm saying is we don't do line items, whether, uh, and this is pertaining to ordinance 92 dash 20, 25 dash 26. This is the city's operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2025 26 and adopting the operating capital budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 for the government funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026, ending June 30, 2027. That's what this is pertaining to. And so we don't do line items. And so I'm just leaving it open for the city to decide where we can remove these few pennies. I think it's about, what, six cents? Somewhere like that.

Well,

six eight whatever it's one oh three nine five eight cents all right any question or comment reducing it by eight cents any comment or question regarding this amendment councilman's treatment you're recognized i go back to my question of i'm looking at the ordinance before us and the operating expenditures are broken down by department that's not a line item that's there Department budget so any vote in favor of this would that not be then voting for it to be out of Out of balance.

I think the sponsor explained she would leave it up to the departments to figure out how to make it work Or way to run a railroad Any additional comment or question regarding this amendment? Councilman Haywood, you're recognized.

I think my biggest, the thing I'm afraid of is our biggest departments are the police and fire. I imagine most of that will come out of that, so that's why I will not be in favor of this.

Councilman Chandler.

Call for the question, Mayor.

Any objection to the question? We're ceasing discussion. We're now voting on the Smith Amendment. All members, please cast your vote. As soon as the clerk... Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

2 yes, 11 no, 0 abstain.

Amendment fails. We're now back on Ordinance 92 as amended. Any further comment or question? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

6 yes, 7 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 92 fails. We're now ready for public comment. Our code allows for three people, five minutes each. Any member of the public wish to address the council? If you would give us your name and you have five minutes. Pull that microphone down so she can be heard. Lieutenant, if you don't mind, pull the microphone down.

Councilman on the left, Councilman on the right, Mayor straight ahead.

Hi, Mary New?

Yes, ma'am. You're recognized. Thank you.

Mayor, I have a question. Do you remember the first time you met me?

Well, ma'am, if you'll give us your name, and then let me just clarify. I did. Mary New. Okay, Ms. New. And this is not question and answer. This is your comments.

Well, I met you the first time I met you. It was in your bank. I came up and I talked to you about a problem. Now, I didn't know you were running for mayor then. Of course not. Not until you told me. But there's one thing you said, and I want to know what happened. You said in order to be a good mayor, you have to be friends with the people. People of Clarksville. Why? What happened to you? That's sad. Very sad. Yes, I go to the senior center. I sure do. And I'm total blind. And I do ceramics and I do other things too. And I love that senior center. But not what you're doing to it. You're taking friends away. I overheard, I don't know if this is truth, but I overheard somebody say, there's not going to be, nobody's going to have to join the center anymore. But then we're going to have to pay for everything else that we want to do in the center. Does that sound good? For people that are on a budget, especially somebody like me? Does it? Whoever... Whoever is our next mayor, make sure you're friends with the people of Clarksville. I don't care if we're old, young, babies, doesn't matter. But be there for us, not turn your back on us.

All right. We have time for two more. If you'll give us your name, you have five minutes.

Lois Grider, you know, I've heard a lot of accusations here tonight, but I've not heard one shred of proof to those accusations. Now, I could sit here and accuse y'all of stuff all day long, but that doesn't make them true. But I promise you, for anybody that wants to take five minutes out of their day We can prove those accusations are not true. You know, we have fought and battled. Mr. Peters mentions the board. Well, let me tell you something. That board creates more problems than we can count. And they even present themselves, if you go look at the minutes that are sent in, they present themselves as the city and then the center. I find that a little bit disturbing. And you can go look at that yourselves. So who is this board working on behalf of? Certainly not us. But these accusations of sexual harassment, these accusations of credit card fraud are exactly that. And we can prove in black and white beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are lies. Now, I don't know what it takes. We've dealt honestly this whole time. But yet, you're always quick to believe somebody else's lies instead of saying, is there any truth to this? No. But the thing about it is, we can back it up. Let them prove their lies. Because they can't. You know, you're real quick here to believe stuff that's just not true and sell all these people down the drain. That's unfair, especially when you don't even come and say, prove me wrong. Well, let them prove they're right. Cuz like I said, I can create accusations all day long. But I think we pretty well proved everything we have said in black and white. When you take accusations over facts, You sell us all down the drain.

We have time for one more person to address the council. If you give us your name and you have five minutes.

Hello, good evening. My name is Marissa, and I am the volunteer and activities coordinator at the Ajax Turner Senior Citizen Center. What's your last name, please? Colom, C-O-L-L-O-M. I have worked in nonprofit organizations for the last 11 years, and I have recently had the pleasure of coming over to the Ajax Turner Senior Center, where I have really enjoyed my time working here. What inspires me about this work is simple. I enjoy creating spaces where people feel cared for, connected, and valued. Every day I get to help create a place where people can find friendship, purpose, support, and a sense of belonging. That is what the Ajax Turner Senior Center is. Ajax Turner serves 1,500 people, not numbers, but people. People who come to us for connection, for purpose, for the center of friends waiting for them when they walk through our doors. We encourage people to try new things that they have never done before, build new relationships, and stay engaged in their community. And that matters more than it sounds when you're elderly and the world has gotten smaller. For many of our members, the center is not just somewhere to go. It is their social network, it is their support system, and it is often the highlight of their day. I want to tell you about one of our members. I'm not going to use any names, I promise. She is a grandmother raising her grandson alone, and he's around nine years old. His parents are gone, and it is just the two of them. She came to a health fair that I organized in April at the center and afterwards she quietly thanked me and told me that because of that event she learned about food pantries in the area and she learned that she was also likely eligible for other food assistance programs before that day. She didn't know that those resources had existed and she had been struggling quietly to feed that little boy. she found out because she had somewhere to go because the center was here that little boy is being fed today in part because the center exists i also think about another member who once told me something that i will never forget and she's told me that the center saved her life and she has been a member for over 10 years Think about that statement for a minute. A place saved her life, not because of a building, not because of a budget line, but because it gave her a connection when she was lonely. It gave her purpose when she needed one. It gave her people who cared whether she showed up or not. There are countless other stories like hers within these walls. When people talk about reducing the center, absorbing it, or changing what it is, I worry that these stories can get lost. It becomes easy to look at spreadsheets, budgets, and organizational charts. But what is harder to measure is the value of human connection. How do you measure the value of a widow finding friends again? How do you measure the value of a senior having a reason to get out of bed in the morning? How do you measure the value of a grandmother discovering resources that help feed her grandson? Those things matter and they change lives. When you consider this budget and the future of Ajax Turner, I ask you to remember that the center is more than a building and more than a line item. It is a community. please consider that grandmother and her grandson consider the member who said the center saved her life and consider the 1500 people who rely on this place for friendship support purpose and belonging and consider what it takes to take what it means to take that away throughout all of this discussion I think there has to be a better way for the two organizations to work together collaboratively. I don't think that it should be this one, 100, or 0% of what is being proposed. There has to be other options. Because I really enjoy my job, and I know tons of our seniors that love going to the center. and I don't think cutting it one way or the other is the right thing to do. There has to be some other third option, and I am pleading to you, please propose something to please do that, because I know we are willing to do whatever it takes. Thank you.

Purpose for which this special session of the Clarksville City Council have been accomplished, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Without objection, we're adjourned.