County Commission - Regular Meeting

No. Oh, Jim. And Janet sent me a message.

When I first served on the 97, we $50. No, that's that's in the seventh district. I don't think I will. And we had to sign in. If we didn't sign in, we didn't get paid. Did you get paid back in them days? Yeah. It's only $50 a month. We got $25 for budget. We still get that. Yeah. If we meet other than

That's when we used to smoke in here. We have chairs lined up across the chairman sit up here and we face this way commissioners quarterly meeting the first meeting of the year and like to welcome everyone out tonight and uh this is going to be a rather lengthy meeting because we've probably got about an hour and 15 20 minutes of public input. everyone that uh there was some confusion here. This is the citizens input form and I have collected one from the school meeting that was here earlier today. I did not know that a lot of you have signed the wrong one, but we've got that took care of. So, you'll be called up accordingly. So, we will get a roll call.

We have 18 present, three absent. 18 present, three absent. We'll move right along. Uh we'll have our prayer.

Joe Coleman, remain standing for the pledge of Mr. Sam.

Our heavenly father, as we come before you this evening, we praise your name for being with God through these times that our nation is facing. We pray for our nations tonight. We pray for the leaders of our nation. We're a nation in trouble and a world in chaos and confusion. God, we just pray that you give us the right mind tonight in order to carry out the content for the people. We pray that everything will go in order for thy will tonight. We ask anybody that don't know you might be a time that you make things right with you because we know God we tonight of all the wars and all the problems in this world that you'll be coming back soon. We thank you for that promise tonight. In Jesus holy name we pray and amen.

Amen.

Attention salute flag. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We got a few visitors in the house tonight. Uh we got the youth leadership. Would you please stand up? Appreciate y'all taking Next. We'd like for Alex Snodgrass. Where you at? I do believe you're the president of the statewide 4H. Is that correct?

THANK YOU, SIR. NEXT, NEXT WE HAVE proclamations and courtesy resolutions, hometown hero, Marissa King. You have the floor. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you again for allowing us to remember one of our local heroes. Tonight's hero is First Lieutenant Alan Bettis. He was killed in the Korean War. He is an Air Force officer and therefore we have Colonel Craig Canarum here to talk about his history.

Before we get into it, I'd like you to just look at that airplane and put yourself in it. You're 22 years old. You left Jefferson County and you're on the other side of the world fighting the war. You've already flown 20 plus combat missions, received an air medal, and you're going out and it's on Easter Sunday. So, we're gonna I'd like to ask that you come join me up here, the two commissioners. That'd be uh Mr. Greg Bird and John Johnson from the area that he's from. And uh at this time, we'll read the uh proclamation. The other colonel, the better looking Colonel Canarum, she'll read the proclamation.

Honorary proclamation, hometown hero. Whereas first lieutenant Alan Shields Bettis, born November 10th, 1929, lived with his parents Ru and Cecil and his older sister Dorothy in Jefferson City, Tennessee. His mother stated that as a boy, he was always eager to fly and that his room was filled with model airplanes. And whereas after graduating from Jefferson City High School in 1945, Allan attended Carson Newman College from 1947 to 1948 and the University of Tennessee from 1948 to 1950, majoring in civil engineering. In August 1950, he enlisted in the United States Air Force after being advised by his grandfather not to join the Air Force. However, he wanted to be a pilot. And whereas Lieutenant Bettis spent six months in primary and basic flying training at Randolph Field in Universal City, Texas. He was then sent to Selma, Alabama, where he earned his pilot wings. He was transferred to Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, Arizona for gunnery training. And whereas Lieutenant Bettis was trained as a fighter pilot and assigned to the 12th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter Bomber Wing, and sent to Korea in January of 1952. Two years earlier, his squadron had deployed to the combat zone. He flew the F-51D Mustang, a fighter bomber aircraft with a range of more than 2,000 miles known for its superb performance at low altitudes. The Mustang was ideal for destroying enemy vehicles, warehouses, factories, bridges, troop concentrations, railroad supply lines, and anti-aircraft sites. And whereas on April 13th, 1952, Easter Sunday, First Lieutenant Alan Shields Bettis took off in his Mustang from Hongong Air Base with three other [snorts] aircraft. He would not return. His family received words from pilot reports the aircraft was seen apparently hit by anti-aircraft fire and out of control. The aircraft was observed to crash with no evidence

of a parachute. The pilots with him immediately searched the adjoining area of the crash, but no signs of life were observed. And whereas first lieutenant Alan Shields Bettis was 22 years old when he was listed as missing in action and presumed dead on December 31st, 1952. He was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the Republic of Korean War Service Medal. In Honolulu, Hawaii, First Lieutenant Bettis is memorialized at court 8 in the courts of the missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also engraved on the wall of remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC. Now therefore, I, Mark Pototts, by virtue of authority vested in me as mayor of Jefferson County, in conjunction with the Jefferson County Commissioners, express sincere thanks, deepest sympathy, and condolences to the family of First Lieutenant Alan Shields Bettis. He will always be remembered for the sacrifice he made for Jefferson County, Tennessee, and for the United States of America. and in witness hereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of Jefferson County, Tennessee to be affixed this 20th day of January in the year of our Lord 2026.

And speaking of family, we have uh a bunch of family members, but three of them are with us. Angeline, would you join us up here? Come on up. Dusty and Don. Angeline is the niece, and these are second cousins that are honoring them along with your relatives. Mayor Pot, you're going to come for the presentation and the Give a hold. What will happen now is the blow up of uh Lieutenant Bettis will be taken into the lobby of the courthouse and will remain there as a symbol of honor and remembrance for his service until the next county commission meeting. Thank you all very much.

All right. Next on the agenda, we have a public hearing. We have resolution 2025-63, a resolution amending the zoning resolution of Jefferson County, Tennessee to reflect certain prohibited uses in all zoning districts and permitted uses in the I3 zoning district. This would be the data centers IT. Has anyone got a question or comment? Not hearing any. Does anyone have anything to say about it? Does anyone wish to speak? This hearing is now closed on this resolution. Next hearing is resolution 2025-66, a resolution amending the zoning map of Jefferson County, Tennessee by reszoning property from A1 Agriculture Forestry to C2 General Commercial. This is the parcel on Highway 92 by Pamela and David Eddie Roberts. Does anyone wish to speak, sir? question or comment.

Um, where's Stephanie? She here. What they what they want to put in this storage buildings like across the road from there. Stephanie, you'll need to come to the podium, please. We can hear you. I can ask a question if you want. Yeah, come on. The first phase of just going to be open storage. There's not going to be any construction of buildings for boats. Just go boat and RV storage to start with. If it goes well, then y'all are welcome to bring other stuff. Okay.

All in. All done. That hearing closes. The next resolution 2026-01 resolution amending the zoning map of Jefferson County, Tennessee by reszoning property from A1 Agriculture Forestry to C2 general commercial. This would be the parcel on Harrison Road in White Pine. I have a list of people that wish us to speak. We will go down this list and at the end we will make sure that everyone gets to speak first. Uh can I'd like to ask the same question or what before we start the people.

Yeah. Hold up. St. Come to the microphone. And I think they're wanting to do a tow lot on an advanc a property that's not been in use in the county for quite a while. Refurbish the building and do some work on the property for a tow lot for storage for a record service tow. Okay. It went through White Pine Regional. Yeah, I've seen that

and it app they approved it unanimously. Normally in our county commission or our county planning if it's in the growth area and there's no other commercial property near it. Our Jefferson County planning would have denied it. So they um in turn at the White Pine meeting did approve it. Okay, you starters. Just a quick point of clarification on that. The owner is requesting the reszone or the lease is requesting the reszone. The owner. Okay. Is there a contract existing between the owner and the lease? I have a statement from the owner that [clears throat] they signed

here in giving them the okay to go forth with the reszoning request. Okay. And then the final note, just to make sure I heard right, the county planning would not have approved this reszone. Correct. That is correct. Normally we do not approve anything in growth areas that do not touch something else commercial. Thank you.

We shall so proceed. First up, you'll have three minutes to speak to this issue and this issue only. I'm going to call out a name. You can come to the podium. Then when I call out another name, be on deck so we can kind of move this along a little faster. Daryl Yates, would you please come to the podium? On deck will be Karen Yates.

Yes, my name is Daryl Yates. I'm a resident at 3. Speak into the microphone, sir. I'd probably My name is Daryl Yates. I live at 3054 Harrison Road and I oppose this resoning. It's right next to my home. Thank you, sir. Next, we have Karen Yates and then Samantha Street.

My name is Karen Yates and I live at 354 Harrison Road. I'm totally against the reszoning. Uh I have pictures to show how close this building is. It's 30 feet from my home. I do not want to see commercial put in there because it's right on my home, right beside of it. Y'all can see it.

Thank you. Next, we have Samantha Street. On deck will be Georgia Street.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Samantha Street and I own property at 3048 Harrison Road. Two lots from the parcel for up for resoning tonight. My parents built our home in 1978 and they chose that location because it was zoned agricultural and that zoning promised a quiet rural place to live. But I [clears throat] want to be clear, the property up for resoning is an eyesore and I fully support the county enforcing cleanup and maintenance under existing codes, but cleanup is not what you're asked to approve tonight. Tonight's decision is about C2 commercial zoning and what that zoning allows now and in the future. Reszoning is permanent. Once land is reszoned C2, it becomes commercial parcel with a wide range of permitted uses, many of which have nothing to do with the current proposal. Zoning follows the land, not the business. If this parcel is reszoned C2, any permitted commercial use could operate here in the future without another vote by this body or without input from current residents. This request also raises concerns about spot zoning. Reszoning a single parcel to commercial in the middle of an agricultural and residential area that without a broader zoning pattern to support it creates an isolated commercial use and this shifts the impacts to the surrounding neighborhood. Harrison Road and Wit Road are posted with 10 ton weight limit signs and no truck signage. These roads were not designed for commercial for ongoing commercial activity. Commercial corridors already exist on Highway 25 less than a mile away and those roads were designed for this type of use. Commissioners, this decision sets a precedent. It signals that agricultural and residential zoning can be undone one

parcel at a time. What happens when it's your neighborhood and your home? I respectfully ask for you to vote no on this resoning request and protect the agricultural and residential integrity of this neighborhood. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next, we have Georgia Street. And on deck will be Mary Knight. Well, I'm afraid I can't follow that. Uh my name is Georgia Street. I live at 3048 Harrison Road, White Pine. And I am very, very, very opposed to this because it's just right one house below my house. So, I do not want it.

Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Mary Knight. Yes. I live at 3192 Harrison Road. I bought my property there about 26 years ago because it was a nice residential area, quiet like I like it and would like to keep it that way. And the roads, like Samantha said, are not made for heavy traffic. Um, so I'm very much opposed to it and I appreciate y'all taking it into consideration. Everything is residential.

Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Buddy Beckner. on deck. Mr. James Snugers.

My name's Buddy Begner and I live directly behind the property in question. uh the property surrounded by houses by residential houses in front of on each side and behind as well with mine and I absolutely positively oppose it. Thank you, sir. Next we have James Sners. On deck we have Nicole Seals.

My name is Alex Snodgrass 1849 Whit Road Pine. Good evening, county commission. Tonight, you will have the opportunity to vote on resolution 2026-01. This resolution would reszone 1 acre of land from A1 to A to C2, which is half a mile from our family farm and smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Tonight, I speak in strong opposition to this proposed resoning. As a young farmer and senior at Jefferson County High School, I am deeply concerned that year after year, commercial property finds itself growing closer and closer to generational farms, swallowing up the hard work of men and women who can't afford to fight developers. And tonight's issue though, farmland is already taken. It's already gone. It's already been lost. But it's a reminder to farmers that if we continue to stay silent, commercial land will continue to swallow up what we've done for hundreds and hundreds of years. Commissioners, I'm afraid that my grandchildren will live in a world where they don't understand I grew up with safe and sustainable food. I'm a afraid that your generation is taking agriculture for granted because that's all you've ever known. If you continue to spot zone in areas that are surrounded by A1 lots, your great grandchildren, your great great grandchildren will not live in a rural Jefferson County, but in one that is plagued by a food desert. But don't take my word for it. I want you to hear from the neighbors who actually live in that area. Yesterday on my day off from school, I decided to survey that neighborhood. Everyone I asked express service would bring to that neighborhood. One family pointed out that Harrison Road is not ready to handle the capacity of a record service and from what I was told traveling between eight and 10 times a day. That community told me that

they are not ready for more traffic, not ready for an increase in crime. Protect this neighborhood. County Commission. Each of you are elected to represent this fine county and I ask you so humbly that you will respect District 3 and what we believe and what we want for our community and that you will protect agriculture and our way of life and and vote no to resolution 2026-01. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next, we have Nicole Seals. On deck will be Stanley Myers. Hi, I'm Nicole Sals. I live at 3053 Harrison Road, directly across the street from this building, and we oppose this. We don't want this across from our house. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have Stanley Myers. And on deck will be Randy Seals. I bought my property out there because it's so nice and it's it's pretty. Most of the homes out there are kept very nice except for the ones that have issues where they can't keep them nice. And I want to vote no again. I want to keep it as it is. We do have some older people that can't can't mow their yards and uh other people that are able should go help those people, but they don't. So, if I was able, that's what I'd be doing. I'm not able to do it or I would be helping them. But I don't want a record service out there. I want it left A1 just like it is. Thank you, sir. Next, we have Randy Seals. My name's Randy Seals. I live at uh 3053 Harrison Road, right across from the property, and uh we oppose it. It's hard to get in and out of our street from the main highway where it funnels down to one lane. People jockey for place. A recorder in and out ain't good. the other end you have a railroad crossing without crossuards. It's a rural area plus the bridge um with the weight limit. I oppose this decision or this agenda. Thank you.

Thanks, sir. Okay, we're going down this other list that got filled out accidentally. Uh Shane Carell, sir, come to the podium.

I don't have no speech or nothing. I just want to tell you I want to do this. I want to grow. I own Cherokee Towing. I bought it. You know, I'm like the fourth owner. I think I just trying to grow my business. And uh yeah, you're right. It's It's not good to be driving commercial, but we're not going to be going eight and 10 times. Maybe three or four at the most the week. depends on how many wrecks we got on the interstate. And there's only going to be probably most that 10 cars on that lot. And we plan on can't see it. It'll be hidden because we got to follow state rules for all that. And uh I've got pictures of what my place looked like before I bought it. And uh I was just going to pass them around, let y'all look at them and see or whatever. And that shows my route too, the way we're going to come. Like I said, That's heavy traffic, but there's a substation out there. So, they got to get, you know, electric company has to go out there to that substation, too. So, but it would look nice if you see what my place looks like on 92 and what it looked like before. I mean, I'm just trying to make it look better and trying to grow my business. And I get it if nobody wants to do it, but I'm just asking that we could and it'll look good. And we plan on remodeling the building, spending big money, and I plan on buying the building eventually, too. So, this all works out. And uh like I said, anybody has any questions, they can come talk to us, too.

Do you own the property now on 92? Yeah. No, the one Oh, no. No. Okay. But anybody has questions? Like I said, I ain't got no big speech or whatever. I just That's all I got to say. Next, we have Josh Kidd on deck. We got Michael Donley.

Yeah, I'm the manager of Cherokee Towing. And uh we like he said, we're not being coming in out there 8 to 10 times a day. Uh it's just going to be, you know, three or four times a week at the most. And uh we're just trying to uh grow our business. And that if you can all see the property now, uh not throwing shed on anybody owns it now, but it's kind of a eyesore. And when we get done with it, it look 10 times better than what it is. And we feel like it'll uh help the properties around it because right now the way it looks, it decreases their value. But uh I don't me me myself I don't see no problem problem with it. Uh we're just trying to you know make the area better and grow our business too. So that's all I got to say.

Thank you sir. Next we have uh Michael Donnelly and uh on deck will be Billy King.

Evening. Thank you for meeting with us. Um I uh I live at 3072 Harrison Road right next to uh the lot in question. Um, I got five kids. I mean, along with [clears throat] everything else that everybody else already said, I agree with all that. My main concern and my wife's main concern is we have five children, three of them under three. Uh, the youngest one being a newborn and the oldest up to three. So, [clears throat] we like to let them hang out outside and the uh increased traffic is uh going to end up being a risk and something that we don't want to necessarily deal with. Uh along with um the um uh lowered u privacy, we do have a pool in the backyard and that lot oversees everything and it can look nice as you want, but you got a bunch of random people coming in all the time [clears throat] picking up their cars. That's not what we want to see. So, I oppose this. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next, we have Billy King.

Hello, guys. My name is Billy King. I'm representing my parents. At their age now, getting older. This property is in bad repair. They realize that they can afford to do something without my assistance. So, what I've proposed is trying to get a situation to clean this property up. We are acknowledging it is a battery power. It's been battery power for years. Something needs to be done with this property 100%. So whether it's a towy yard, storage unit, or anything else, something needs to be done. So we need to figure out a plan. Now I'm I know most of the neighbors, I've got no issues. I need to figure out something to do. As my dad gets older, he can't do it. So we need to get together and figure out what we need to [cough] whether it is a towy yard, whether we make storage units out of it, whether we do something. Something needs to be done. We purchased a property. and my father did in 1997. Uh I had a business in it through the early 2000s and closed. At that time it was zone commercial. Our tax records still show that property as C1 commercial taxes asset paid of 24. So I understand the spot zoning. We were never acknowledged or made aware that it went from C1 [clears throat] back to A1 until 30 days ago. So, we had no idea this property had been inverted back to agricultural one. I still have my tax records in my hands right here showing C1. So, I understand it may not be the same commercial as C2, which is fine. I also understand like I have several industrial commercial properties in Morstown. That property does not have three-phase power, does not have the ability to get three-phase power readily available to it. So any kind of heavy industrial, they'll never be able to be done in that property. So pretty much we

just like to do something with the property because the inevitable's coming in time. I have to deal with this sooner or later. So at this point in my life, something needs to be done and I, you know, we acknowledge that. We just need to know what's the best avenue. We can't go spend large capital investment on remodeling this building and cleaning the entire lot up to have some kind of an ROI. You just can't do that. Otherwise, we're just going to have to leave the lawn and bush on this year. So, we just need to get together and figure out what can be done with this property. That's what needs to be done. Thank you guys.

Thank you, sir. This concludes the public hearing section. This hearing is now closed. We're back to the regular agenda. We have approval and corrections to the agenda. Is there anything to add or delete? Not hearing any. We'll move right along. Consent agenda. Anything? Not hearing any. We'll move right along to approval of minutes. Mr. Chairman, we need to approve our agenda first.

You can, but nobody spoke, so we not naturally approve it. You didn't do it. Do it on the second half. We haven't voted yet. [snorts] Joe Coleman, we need you to vote. And John Johnson. All right, we got 18 yes, zero, no. Passes. The agenda is set. Next, we have approval of the minutes. We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Question or comment? Not hearing any. We'll proceed to vote. We have 18 yes, zero no passes. Next on the agenda, we have the appearance of citizens. I have one that wishes to speak. Uh, Mr. Michael Fagan. State your name and what you want to speak to, sir. Uh,

Michael Fagan. Um, I'm before you this evening. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, commissioners. I'm before you this evening to speak in favor of resolution 2026-06 regarding recall of local elected officials. I'd like to specifically thank the sponsor, Commissioner Snrass, and all the commissioners who have signed on as co-sponsors. In our country, we have things like the Declaration of Independence, which speaks to the consent of the govern, and the US Constitution that begins with we the people, and the statement, government of the people, by the people, for the people from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. All of which speaks to the authority of the people. The Tennessee Constitution Declaration of Rights states this premise even more explicitly that all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority. However, with authority comes duty and responsibility and in this case to hold elected officials accountable. If the people find that an elected official is failing in the position for which they've been elected, or in other words, the job for which they've been hired, because let's admit it, a campaign is like a long application and evaluation process, and the voters are the personnel hiring committee. So if the voters discover that the elected official or employee is not conducting themselves consistent with the position expectations then it would be incumbent upon the citizens or the employer to remove the problem. In fact it's my understanding that this body has received counsel that the authority for removal of elected officials lies with the voters. However, there's a problem. Unlike an employer, in almost every other circumstance, the citizens do not have the means to immediately address such situations. If they find out six months into a term

that an elected official is failing to do the job for which they were elected, the citizens would have to wait another three and a half years to vote that person out. That makes it difficult for the citizens to execute their authority and to fulfill their duty and responsibility to hold elected officials accountable. That is the issue that Representative Harris and Senator Taylor seek to address through House Bill 1448 and Senate Bill 1446 in the General Assembly. The bills would put in place a citizen-driven process to recall an elected official who's failed to uphold the requirements of their job. The steps mandated in the process create a sufficiently high hurdle for such an action to occur. In other words, it's not going to be something undertaken lightly. As you have in many resolutions previously, I hope that you will lead the way in championing for the best interest of the citizens of Jefferson County and quite quite honestly those of the state. I intend to join your lobbyist, Mr. Seal, in Nashville once these bills are assigned to committee to advocate for their passage, and it would really advance the cause to have your support. Thank you again for your time and consideration.

Thanks, sir. Did anyone else wish to speak that didn't get a chance to speak? Not hearing any. We'll move right along before you. We have approval of notaries and bonds. Is there any new notaries? Nope. No new notaries. So the number you have is it. We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Question or comment. We'll proceed to vote. We have 18 yes, zero no passes. Next we have nominating committee agriculture extension committee Clint Bacon January 2026 to December of 2026.

We have the chair I'm sorry two more for the IDB. Two more for the IDB. Mike Norton 2026 2020 2032 and Charles Crosby 2026 and 2032. Did you say Mike Norton? Mike Norton. Yes. And Charles Crosby. Yes. We voted to approve all of them. All right. Is there a question or comment? You want to take them all at one time? Yeah. That's what we'll do.

We have a motion on the floor. We have 18 yes, zero no passes. Moving on to report selected officials and department heads. County Mayor Mark Pots. Sir, you have the floor. Just real quickly, uh, as you know, I've been apply, we've been applying year after year trying to get SS4 safety grant in order to do a long range transportation plan. December 28th, I got a letter said we've got it for the first time. So, that's about 88,000 with a 20% match. That's to get the data on the county roads and the state roads. you [clears throat] have to have the data in order to get the grant to do the plan in order to get the money in the race to get in the system to get get improvements done. So this is the seventh try to get that done. So pretty pretty happy about that. So I'll be bringing more information on on what our part will be versus theirs and and plan of action, but it's hard grant to get so we're fortunate to get it.

All right. Anybody have a question or comment for the mayor? Katie, is that I know we talked before about a specific corridor over near the hospital. Is it all the county roads or

it's a it's to gather all the data in the county. We do not have a uh I mean Joe's got a paving plan on the roads, but as far as a 10year, fiveyear plan on roads and traffic patterns that's developing in the county, we all have a good idea where the traffic is anytime we're sitting looking at tail lights. But that that data doesn't work when you plot the grant. You got something said here's the traffic flows, here's the traffic count, they're going to give us right at 180,000 towards getting that study. Now there may be quarters come at it. I think um we'll get together with some people and get with the road and stuff. We'll identify once we get the data. These are your target areas. But if we can never get into the next level, it's kind of like a automatic thing. Once you get the once you get the the plan and the data, once they've invested so much, then the feds will will come on with it. Another question. Do they do like summertime there's more traffic because there's tourists in town. Do they put a multiplier based on the time of the year or

they're using like traffic cameras on 40 and some drone setups and some I think every now and then you'll still see the rubber. Had seen one lately, but uh I know Seabir County uh something we got to look into. that they put a data-driven center in for Severe County traffic and they have live time traffic on what's going on. And so when we were getting this grant, they say you may be able to piggy back some on Severe County with the software they got and then you maybe maybe that I I don't know. We've still got tobody.

Yeah. Anybody else got a question for the mayor? Thank you. We'll move right along. Chairman's comments. Only thing I have for you tonight, it's the first of the year and I'm required to read this. This is pursuant to Tennessee codeandated 5-5-113. Each member of the county legislative body, newly elected or appointed after April 12th, 2018, is required to complete orientation training provided by CASS within 120 days after election or appointment. Each member must complete at least seven hours of continuing education training provide or approved by seas annually. A list of commissioners non-compliance with above requirements is prepared by seas and provided to the comprollers's office for public posting at least annually. The following Jefferson County commissioners are in non-compliance. If you think you're in non-compliance, see me after the meeting and uh we have some educational stuff coming up. I believe Jesse, you have a a tax rate school coming up in February. Is that correct?

Yeah, I shared it with the budget committee. Sure. I can share it with you.

Sure. But that would be a that would be a good educational thing for the uh for everybody. It's coming up in February. Give Jesse a call. She can get you hooked up there. That's all I have as chairman. Next, we have other elected officials. We have reports from the circuit court, clerk's office, highway department. We have new roads to be accepted. Mr. Joe Patterson, would you take the podium, please, sir? Got garden lane and bungalow drive. Everything looks good on them. They're ready to be accepted.

Does anybody have a question or comment for Mr. Joe? We need a vote on that tonight. Right. Yes. Okay. We have a motion on the floor and a second. We'll proceed to vote. Joe, I think we're done with you. All right. We have 18. Yes. Zero. No. New roads are Garden Lane. Cottages Bungalow Drive off Sims. Next we have registered deeds Ed's Diner. Does anybody have anything?

Sheriff's Department. Mr. Jeff Coffee. Sir, do you have anything? Anybody have a question or comment for the sheriff? You're off the hook, sir. County Trustee Jennifer Bowling, you have a report. Constable Jacob Thomas, you have an appointment. Thompson, I'm sorry. Next, we have County Attorney Doug Granon. Do you have anything, sir? Does anybody have anything for the county attorney? Not hearing any. We'll move on to finance department. [clears throat] Miss Jessica Elder, do you have anything? We're going to go ahead and vote on I [snorts] seen it popped up.

We don't have to, but we can if we need to. It popped up and we're trying to get it off. Vote to pay him or what? Vote no. Vote. Vote no on the pay. Is that what it is? Yeah, vote no on [laughter] the pay. I guess we could do that. Uh, what we're going to have to do is everyone vote yay for Doug Drenham so we can get past this and not mess up the computer. We don't want to wreck a computer. So Doug, I believe you're approve approved for another meeting. No, that's just this meeting.

I can't believe you didn't say we going to pay. Our computer won't back up. Jim, could you just give us a yay vote so we could get this computer to move on? Now we're approved. Let's see if we can move on. Now we're going. Okay. Building Inspector Rob Wilson, Emergency Communications. Justin Crawther, Emergency Medical Services. Brad Phillips. Brad, are you here? He was.

He was, I believe. Do you have anything for us, sir? Question or comment from Mr. Brad? Not hearing any. We'll move it on to environmental office agent tourism UTA extension. Ryan Brown, Department of Education, Dr. Tommy Arnold. Not hearing any. We'll move on to budget committee. Well, we had a short budget committee tonight, but I'll uh let Jesse run over the very short stuff that we had if y'all want to hear it. Okay. So, um our budget amendments, we had the first one, County 101 amendment number 15. This is utilizing $9,000 of general fund balance and it's going to the election commission to pay for um mailings and postage and printing and stationery that is required for them. Uh that was as of June 2025 and we had already passed their budget. So these are items that they do need added to their budget for this fiscal year. That will increase their maintenance of effort. Um, but it does vary different during different election cycles.

Does anybody have a question or comment? All these will be moved from the budget committee. You want to take them all at one time? Can we Jesse? So, that one utilizes fund balance each. So, I don't think you can. Yeah. Okay. Fund 101, item 15, item one. We'll proceed to vote. We have 180. Ma'am, you got the floor.

All right. Next one is general 101 amendment number 16. There are four items before you and it's increasing $4,236.82 of reserves. That's reflecting item number three for library reserves. We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Question or comment. Proceed to vote. passes 180. Next one's drug fund 122 amendment number three. There are two items. No use of fund balance or reserves.

Got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Question or comment? Not hearing any. Proceed to vote. 180 schools. Next item, schools general 141, amendment number eight. This is just one item, item number nine. It was left out of the packet last month. And so this is just the the item that was not included in your packet. Question or comment. proceed to vote.

We have 18 yes, zero no passes. General 141, amendment number 11. There are five items before you. It's utilizing $50,000 of reserves. And that's item number three. Motion on the floor been seconded. Question or comment. Proceed to vote. 180. Next item, general fund 141 number 12. There's one item before you. It's bringing in the public school security grant that the school system received. Question or comment?

We'll proceed to vote. [clears throat] 18 yes, zero no. Moving along. Federal fund 142 amendment number five. There's one item before you. Question or comment? We proceed to vote. 18. Yes. Zero no. Pass. Last one. Student nutrition fund 143. Amendment number two. One item before you.

Question or comment. Proceed to vote. John Johnson. Give us a vote. 18. Yes. Zero. No. We'll move right along. County commission items. You've got invoices for information only. Actions impacting property tax information only. Nonprofits, Jefferson Alliance, Jefferson County Auxiliary Radio, and Companion Animal Rescue Care. Question or comment for any of them. Fire and rescue. You have Danidge New Market and White Pine Fire Departments. You have reports. Question or comment. Not hearing any. We'll move on to libraries. You got Dan, Jefferson City, Parrot Wood, and White Pine. Question or comment. Next, we have lobbyist David Seals time. I believe Katie Huffaker is going to speak to that. David could not be with us.

Okay, David's in Nashville, so he asked if I would read this. Uh this is his real estate transfer tax legislation SB1080HB 649 and this is his lobby report. State representatives and senators that David has contacted continue to send requests to Governor Lee in support of the real estate transfer tax legislation that would bring 50% of those proceeds back to Jefferson County. approximately $1 million per year for roads, capital projects, and debt service. Those legislators that he has re no those legislators that have recently joined the effort to persuade Governor Lee are as follows. Senator Steve Sutherland, Marstown. Senator Janice Bowling, Oklahoma. Representative Iris Rudder, Winchester. Senator Rusty Crowe, Johnson City. Senator Steve Steve Sutherland and Representative Clark Boyd have both signed on as co-sponsors since your last our last meeting. All total the legislation now has 10 Senate co-sponsors and 27 [clears throat] House co-sponsors. Several more legislators have verbally committed to support or co-support that he has spoken with. He's meeting with those legislators this week. The House prom sponsor, Representative Pat Pat Marsh and David spoke Saturday on strategy for getting the bill enacted and they plan to meet this week. He indicated that he and other sponsors of the legislation met with the governor recently to discuss the bill. Collections of the real estate transfer tax have increased statewide in the past fiscal year by near nearly $7 million, 2.59%. Projections indicate additional future growth in collections for fiscal year

2025 2026 of 5.47% which equates to $14.5 million. Additional revenue from which the bill can be funded. Um overall total state revenue collections are up by over 3% from last fiscal year. He will he will send us an email and some links so we can ver verify the data on the state revenue and real estate transfer tax. We now have the support of the Tennessee Constitutional Grassroots Coalition which has 28,000 followers in Tennessee. Any resolution of the bill will likely happen late in the legislative session because of the bill's fiscal impact and because the state budget is generally finalized late in the session. And so I guess if you have any questions, just email David and he will email us what I just read and the links.

Thank you. Anybody got a question or comment? We'll move right along straight through old business. There is none to new business. And here's when the fun begins. Resolution 2025-63, resolution amending the zoning resolution of Jefferson County, Tennessee to reflect certain prohibited uses in all zoning districts and permitted uses in the I3 zoning district. This will be data centers, IT, AI centers prohibited or permitted. Does anybody have a question or comment? Not hearing any. We'll proceed to vote.

[clears throat]

We have 18 yes, zero nos. This resolution passes. Next resolution 2025-66. A resolution amending the zoning map of Jefferson County, Tennessee by reszoning property from A1 agriculture forestry to C2 general commercial. This parcel is on Highway 92, owners Pamela and David Roberts. Question or comment? Not hearing any. We'll proceed to vote. We have 17 yes, one no passes. C. We have resolution 2026-01, [clears throat] a resolution amending the zoning map of Jefferson County, Tennessee by reszoning property from A1 agriculture forestry to C2 general commercial. This would be the property on Harrison or Harrison Road. We have a motion on the floor and a second motion.

Yes. Uh my motion is to deny this resoning request based on what was shared from the zoning office earlier and then the it's clearly a spot zoning issue. All right. You going to make a motion or do you just want to deny the resolution? Which do you want to move? Motion to deny. Right. Motion to deny. Motion to deny. Yes. We have a motion on the floor to deny and that's the the second to Mr. Brook. Try. Yes. Greg Birds, you can speak while we're working this out.

Okay. I'm curious to where there he said his tax bill shows it as C1. How would it be that way and it not be agriculture if it's if he's got a I can answer that for you, Greg. Okay. What they do in the tax office has nothing to do with zoning. Okay. Um it could have been they've zoned or taxed it commercial probably for years, but it never was reszone. Okay. That's what I don't know. Thank you. All right. Jim, did you have a presentation you want to do now? Yes, please. Good. Mind if I stand up? I'm behind all these big guys here.

All right. I like to stand when make a presentation. Ready?

Okay. Now, can you see it on the TV? All right. Uh I think I got eight or nine slides here. And really, it's unfortunate that we have this in front of us today. And I'll just start. Something is broken in our process. If that would have not been approved by county zoning, it should have never made it to this point. So, we got to take back step back and take a look at the process. So, as you look here, this is what's in our package other than the title. That little orange section is what the proposed C2 change point is in the A1 residential neighbor. I just want to read a little bit out of our uh zoning regulations. The intent of this district is to establish areas for compatible business activities that require high visibility and accessibility. The requirements of this district are designed to encourage the location of commercial establishments along major collector streets and hightra areas for maximum convenience for both local residents and regional travelers. So this is does not meet that requirement to start with and we should not focus on the record business when you change this to C2. Here are some of the things that can go in there. That's completely separate what's going in there. Now you can put a lounge in a bar there right in the middle of this residential neighborhood. Okay. If you look on some of the others, you can put pool halls. [snorts] You can put go-kart tracks [clears throat] and fairs, small engine repair shops, lodges and clubs, dog kennels. [snorts] Uh you can put micro distilleries, micro breweries, micro wineries, uh solar energy systems, which this particular neighborhood has already been hammered by that as well. So there's a large development that again went into the A1

without any discussion. Uh then also wind energy systems can be put there and custom slaughter houses. So you're talking about open this up to a C2 zone which takes it wide open. These guys may walk away from the deal and then all the folks in the neighborhood are left with wondering what's coming next to my house. Okay, those are things we got to look at going forward. All right, so what you got here, this is Harrison Road. Uh you'll see in the red box there that is the affected property the proposed C2 sites just on Harrison Road and there's some on around the lower leftand corner there 17 residential home sites and many of those spoke here tonight. All right, I want to show you this too. If you'll see in the upper right hand corner or upper leftand corner what you're looking at, you have another record service over here. So there is great potential. I know these this business may have good intentions, but look at what's happening over there on 92. Look at it. Doesn't look so nice. So, you can imagine something of that nature has risk to occur at this location as well. All right. All this traffic in and out and so forth. They're record service. They're going to answer the calls as they come up. So, it can be all hours of the night. So, now I got you some street level views of this facility. Um, and if you'll notice the homes on the right, it's directly across. And I believe um, Mr. Miss Sil spoke tonight to live across. The gentleman, Michael with the five children live just on the lower side of that. And this is looking at it from the other direction. That kind of brown roof building there is what we're looking at again next to uh, the Yates House is directly next to that, which we'll see again in just a moment. And uh then the streets home is up next. And then Mr. Stanley's where the RV is located. So

again, beautiful neighborhood. No place for a commercial business. Uh again, up close look. You can see the homes directly across from that. Now, here's the big deal. Our big issue as um Mr. Miss Yates pointed out earlier, that's their house to the right. That's their concrete driveway. This building is just within a few feet of the property line. Doesn't even meet the setback requirement of 40 feet to make a C2 zone. Okay. And then that's the rule down below that's in our zoning. Again, same thing from the road here. I measured that this morning. I stepped off about 26 27 feet from the road. It's got to be 40t from the road. So, it doesn't even qualify, which is probably one of the reasons why I would have never made it to this point anyway. All right, with that I'll close. Uh, I would like to read the letter if I could real quick, Jimmy. Sure, since we missed that and I made a commitment. So, this is also a letter from a citizen on Harrison Road, uh, Cindy and Jeff Best. And I'm just going to read their email uh, that I received last night or actually last Friday. My name is Jeff Best and Cindy Best, and I live at 3039 Harrison Road. I'm writing this email to emphasize my displeasure at the thought of the property at 3058 Harrison Road to be approved for reszoning into commercial. Not any commercial property, but an impound lot that can have cars delivered at all hours of the night for many reasons, including parking violations, expired registrations, lack of insurance, DUIs, reckless driving, unpaid fines, and last but not least, the commitment of a crime. I for one don't want wreckers up and down my street unloading cars at all hours of the night and I definitely don't want the irresponsible people operating these vehicles hanging around my neighborhood trying to retrieve their cars. Have any

of you been to this address? If you would just drive by, you would notice our neighborhood is very wellmaintained and nice and quiet. There are family residences right on the property lines and many nearby. I'm sure they will be overjoyed to have records delivering cars all hours of the day or night right next door to them. I've lived at my address since 2013 and the property at 3058 has always been the only place in the neighborhood not maintained. Has been left overgrown and unattended for years. What makes you think they will do anything to it now? All I foresee is a bunch of abandoned cars dumped in an overgrown lot with unmaintained buildings. If you approve this spot zoning for commercial use, you will be making a terrible mistake and opening a door for any future business to enter without community input. This is a really bad idea and I'm assuming all of you are property owners. We are a definite no. Respectfully, Jeff and Cindy Best.

Thanks, sir. Thank you.

Anyone else question or comment before we vote on the motion at hand? And I will remind you that the motion at hand is to deny. You're not voting on the resolution. You're voting on denying. You will vote yes for denying. No. If you don't want to deny, anyone will proceed to vote. We have 17 yes, one no, zero abstensions. It is denied. Next we have resolution 2026-02, a resolution declaring a surplus and to authorize the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency Emergency Medical Services to surplus and dispose of said equipment, decommissioned ambulances due to high mileage and repairs exceeding Have you question or comment? We'll proceed to vote. 18 yes 0 no. Next we have resolution 2026-04 resolution approving an interlocal agreement between Jefferson County, Tennessee in the city of Jefferson City, Tennessee regarding the rehabilitation of the Mousy Creek Wildlife Viewing Area. Question or comment? Not hearing any. We'll proceed. Whoops. Wait a minute.

You need to ignore. There you go. We're back. We're ready to vote. Proceed to vote. We have 18 yes, zero no passes. Next, we have resolution 2026-05, a resolution increasing the tipping fee for commercial solid waste hauling. Does anyone have a question or a comment? Not hearing any. We'll proceed.

Whoa. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Can't do that. Okay. [laughter] I thought you were No, sorry. No, I'm talking to the commissioners.

We'll proceed to vote. We have 18 yes, zero no passes. Next, we have resolution 2026-06, a resolution recommending the general assembly of the state of Tennessee to enact legislation to enable citizens to recall local elected officials. question or comment. Proceed to vote.

Hold up. Miss, you have the floor. I'm sorry we can't hear you. That we have been presented with We don't know the information. Therefore, I think it's

much too important to ask us to vote on a resolution recommending approval. Therefore, my recom I make the motion that this resolution be tabled. We have a motion on the floor to table this resolution. Is there a second? John Johnson seconds the res the uh resolution to be tabled. Question or comment. Mr. Snograss, I believe you got the floor. I'm not sure what Miss Heidi said. Could someone repeat that or Miss Heidi?

To table it. Yeah, her motion is to table. The reason is this is the first time we have been presented with got too many people talking. Hi. Pardon? She's trying to say something.

I said this is the first time we have seen this. We've had no prior discussion of it. There's been no prior information submitted. And I think it is way in way too important. We don't un we don't have any real background to understand the impact of this to vote for a resolution recommending approval of this legislation. In fact, well that that's that's my statement. We don't have the background information to vote on this. All right, Mr. Jim.

So I just want to clarify for everyone. We are not approving a process. This resolution as a body, if we approve it, says that we support the state legislative actions to push this through the state. We are not changing any of our processes. All we're saying is we support this mechanism which doesn't exist now to say if an elected official is underperforming or something of that nature the process to get them out of the office. We're not changing anything. We're just saying we support the state legislative body that is trying to make change. That's all we're doing. Just as most of our resolutions,

my understanding at the state level, it would be voted on at least three more times before it could ever become law. So, this is a this is a long process. All we're doing is telling them we support it. That's all this that's all this resolution does. It's just saying we support you. State legislative officials, please give us a mechanism to correct our elected officials if they're not doing what they're supposed to do.

That's all it's doing. And we all need that. Everyone understand? We have a motion on the floor that's been seconded. Marcus Reed, who I see here, I think Marcus Reed's going to address. I would just like to say in addition to what Commissioner Snardrass said, you know, I think it pretty well was summed up by a couple of folks talking tonight about this. It's time that we hold our elected officials accountable. And I'm all for this resolution because we're not directing them to do anything. We're just putting out there for it to be talked about. This actually comes from the different party in this state. And I'm all for this. And I hope that everyone really examine themselves and understand that we as elected official need to be held accountable. I think that's what our citizens want. So I'm in full support of it. We're all in and all done. We'll uh we're going to vote on the motion to table first. If you are [clears throat] for tableabling it, vote yes. If you're against, you vote no. We have 13 nos and five yeses. So therefore, the tableabling does not carry. We're back to the original resolution.

Hold up just a second. We're trying to get her computer back. You got a right here. Should be right there. You got to go back to that. Yeah, here we go.

We're having a little computer trouble. Just bear with us for a second. 07. No, we're 06. That's right. You're right. Okay, we are almost there. It should be there.

Yep, we're ready to vote. We have 15 yes, three nos, zero abstensions. It passes. Next, we have resolution 2026-07, resolution authorizing the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department to surplus and donate a K9 officer to the Danidge Police Department. We surplus an officer. I believe it's the dog. Is there a question or comment? Not hearing any. will proceed to vote. 18 yes, zero no passes. Last but not least, we have resolution 2026-08, resolution declaring a surplus and to authorize the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department to surplus and transfer set equipment to the Jefferson County Chantry Court Clerk's Office. I believe this is an unused vehicle from department to department.

Question or comment. Not hearing any. We'll proceed to vote. Passes 18 yes, zero nos. This concludes the agenda for the evening. And uh announcements I do not have. Do you have anything? Mayor Jesse, do you have any announcement? I'll take a motion.