Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Mount Julia Board of Commissioners. We're here to conduct a public hearing and consider the following on the June 8th, which is today, meeting at City Hall. We have two for six items for consideration on second reading. I will read these in for the record. The first is an ordinance to amend the land use plan for approximately five acres of property at 107 Timbertail Drive. map 72 parcel 1.03 from medium density residential to town center the second is an ordinance to rezone approximately five acres up property at 107 timber trail drive map 72 parcel 1.03 from ar 40 to ctc the third is an ordinance to amend part b of the unified development land code of the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, known as Zoning Regulations 2001-29, adopted October 8, 2001, as amended by amending Article 6, Section 6-103-7, Design Standards for Commercial Standards, and Article 7, Section 7-103-9, Building Designs. The next is an ordinance to amend the preliminary master development plan for Providence Central planned unit development ordinance 23, 13, 12, map 97, parcel 23, 25, 75.01 in the city of Mount Juliet. The next is an ordinance to amend the preliminary master development plan for Tremor planned unit development located off Benders Ferry Road, map 32, parcel 31, 29, 29.02, 29.01 in the city of Mount Juliet. And lastly, as an ordinance to amend Part B of the Unified Development Code of the City of Mount Juliet, known as Zoning Regulations Ordinance 2001-29, adopted up to rate 2001, as amended by amending Article 5, Section 5-104-1, Design Standards for Multifamily Dwellings and Section 51044, Development Standards for Single-Family Residential. The public is invited to attend and comment. If you have comments on any of these six items, I'd invite you to come forward and give your name and address for the record, please. And you'll be recognized for three minutes. Okay. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing, and we will reconvene for our regular meeting at 630.

have the next nine minutes okay well that is great yes good evening mr mayor council members and distinguished guests my name is wayne patton and i am honored to bring greetings on behalf of the major david wilson chapter of the sons of the american revolution Our chapter is dedicated to preserving the memory of the patriots who served our nation's liberty and to helping our community stay connected to the ideals that shaped the United States 250 years ago. We are grateful for the opportunity to stand with the city of Mount Juliet as we enter this historic anniversary year. Tonight, on behalf of the SAR, I am pleased to present to the city of Mount Juliet a large formatted pre-production of the Declaration of Independence. This document is more than parchment and ink. It is the birth certificate of our nation. The moment when ordinary men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom. We are inviting the citizens of Mount Julia to add their signatures to this reproduction as a way of honoring this legacy. Each signature is a personal expression of gratitude for the freedom we enjoy and a reminder that liberty is a responsibility we share. We hope this signed declaration will become meaningful keepsake for the city during the American 250th anniversary. As part of the celebration, I want to extend a heartfelt invitation to the people of Mount Julia. On July the 4th at 9 a.m., members of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and local community leaders will gather on the steps of the Wilson County Courthouse for a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. This reading is part of a nationwide observance with communities across the United States joining together at the same hour to hear the words that launched our nation. We welcome everyone, families, veterans, students, and neighbors to join us for this moment of unity and remembrance. And we would be honored to have someone from the council to join us and take part in that reading on the courthouse steps. On behalf of the Major David Wilson Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, thank you for your partnership, your patriotism, and your commitment to preserving the story of America. We look forward to celebrating this historic year with the city of Mount Julia. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much, sir. good evening everyone and welcome to the mount juliet board of commissioners today is june 8th i'm almost certain of even though i wrote down the 11th i guess i was thinking of world war ii so i call this meeting of the board of commissioners to order we do have a quorum present pursuant to six city code 62210 so we'll move forward with conducting the business of the city of mount juliet our first item on the agenda is to set the agenda And, uh, boss mayor.

Uh, yes, mayor. I'd like to, uh, to add, uh, to the agenda, uh, my, uh, ethics commission, uh, member if possible. Okay. Well that objection, uh, Joseph, this, this QC talk to him. Okay.

Is he open to coming in at the next meeting? Sure.

I can go ahead and have him do that. We've never done it in the past, but I can definitely look into it. Okay.

Sure. I mean, if there's no issue.

Sure.

So that's an objection. So you do it.

I'll go ahead and have him come in. Sure.

Then I'm going to add to the agenda a planning commission member that I need to appoint before the next meeting. Okay. And then I'd also like to move 10A, B, C, and D to consent. If there's no objections.

D. A, B, C, D. A, B, C, D.

9A, B, C, and D. Not 9, 10. 10, 10. A, B, C, D. While everybody's looking that over, I'll say there's nothing I wanted more last night than a good night's worth of sleep. And I got none of that. Any objections? Okay. All in favor of the agenda as amended, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The agenda is set. The next item on our agenda is the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Let's call on our city manager, if you would, to lead us in the invocation and pledge, please.

Yes, sir. Mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and those in attendance, please bow your heads, please. Dear Lord, as we meet today, please be with us. Guide our thoughts, ideas, and decisions. Bless abundantly all who are present. Come be with us, inspire us, and lead us in our time together. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Next item is the approval of the minutes. We have actually three sets. We have two from May 11th. One's a regular meeting and one's a work session. And the other one is from May 18th, which is a work session.

Any changes or items on these?

All right. Without objection, we'll adopt the three sets of minutes. hearing none they're adopted next item is citizen comments so at this point i'll open up the floor if you would like to make a comment to the board of commissioners unlike the planning commission which takes comments at each agenda item here at the board of commissioners we take comments at the beginning of the meeting if you do have a comment for the board i'd ask you to come forward to the podium give your name and address for the record and you'll be recognized for three minutes

Good evening. Steven Echendorf, 393 Page Drive. Just like at the workshop, my first thing is we shouldn't be raising taxes again on the citizens of Mount Juliet. And if we don't raise taxes today, I would like to understand how each of the board members believe about next year. we have a our two biggest budget items are obviously police and fire which are fantastic and they serve the city well um but there's no denying the cost increases that are there if you look at the budget personnel costs 13 to 15 percent um and that equates to if you were to put into property tax terms you would have to increase property taxes around 20 to meet that need this year technically Now, I don't believe we should raise property taxes. I believe we should live within our means and what we have here. For example, Mrs. Jones, who lives on the street, last year, two years ago, she hasn't added the burden to the city. But additional people, why is she having to up the ante? Because, oh, we're growing. We need to take care of more people. We need to cover more area. Well, that's not Mrs. Jones' fault. She's just in the same house, same property that she's lived in for 10 years. And so, again, it's not just this year because I don't think we should have any surprises in the following years, next year, the year after. I don't want any surprises to be like, hey, we need to triple it. We need to up it, you know, from 11, obviously the pennies are going to be different this year, but from 11 cents to 29 cents, you know, this year it's going to be 17 or something. Again, I don't know all the numbers yet here. They didn't have it at the workshop yet. But again, I just don't want there to be surprises a year from now after elections. After elections happen, I think we should be really clear what it is now. So that way everyone's on board and this is important to all the citizens, I believe. So those are my couple items. Again, I appreciate all the work you do and the city. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else address the Board of Commissioners?

I'm human. I may have missed my chance. I'm here about the zoning ordinance.

Oh, well, this is your chance.

Oh, perfect. Okay. So I am the property manager over 5,000 Crossing Circle. And I'm here on behalf of the owners, which is American Healthcare REIT. And they are against the rezoning of the master plan just due to increased... traffic, and they also believe that the adding of what they believe will be some sort of probably lumberyard, Home Depot, something like that, is not cohesive with the rest of the businesses that are currently there, mainly where their medical practices. And they're concerned about increased traffic, increased deliveries, things like that, just impacting their business and their patients. So they just want you to strongly think about that on their behalf.

5,000 crossing circles? Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

And what was your name, please?

Galen Bennett.

to get that thank thank you thank you all right anyone else to address the board of commissioners all right seeing none we'll close citizen comments we'll move to commissioner comments and report commissioner giles you were recognized there for five minutes okay mayor thanks to everyone that came out tonight i just wanted to um

Say I really appreciate Needham's putting the drone show on Memorial Day night. It was fantastic for those of you that got to view it. It was really great. So I appreciate them. And great show again. And Mayor, that completes my comments. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Vice Mayor, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mayor. And yes, Commissioner, I agree. Man, that show was awesome. And I do appreciate them as well as getting ready to set up another Fourth of July event for us, too. Very blessed to have two fireworks shows in this beautiful city that we call home. So thank you to the folks that came out tonight, as well as the folks that are online. Already starting to get some phone calls in pertaining to some developments. So for the folks that are out there, we'll be getting back with you tomorrow. So getting some more information. So as always, just great job to our Mount Julia Fire Department, the most recent big fire out there on Interstate 40. our uh our firefighters are out there making sure that uh our traffic's flowing as well as the safety of our residents and folks that are passing through our city so great job to them also great job to uh manjulia pd for all the rest that they've been doing over the last couple weeks uh even for the most recent one for the pokey man you know that was pretty wild to see that one in there so great job to that i want to thank the uh the members of the sun chapter for the declaration celebrating our 250 year anniversary tonight coming in there. That was a beautiful gesture as well as a great reminder of how blessed we are to live in this beautiful city. Just want to also just remind folks, 4th of July is right around the corner. And as we can all imagine, we always want to talk about safety. and follow all the code rules regulations. So please check out our Mount Juliet website for when we're supposed to be letting off the fireworks and be safe with all that. Cause I know that's been a big hot topic as well as for us as we're celebrating the 250 year anniversary. So let's see here. One more thing here. Let's see here once. Oh, yeah. Just one more thing. Back with the department heads, because I will be meeting up with Public Works this week, as well as Parks. I did get an opportunity to meet up with Fire and Police about a week and a half ago to just talk about some of the growth that our city is experiencing, as well as the infrastructure cost, as well as just what we had was... an opportunity for our public residents to be able to discuss uh some of the concerns for the taxes um so yes it's not just because of election year this is now year number two uh last year it was brought up to uh to myself to say hey it'd be great to know a little bit about what our department heads are doing during this time so that's what we took an opportunity back in 2024 And then, of course, we followed that in 2025, and here we are in 2026. So thank you to all the department heads to take that little bit of time to sit down with me, talk a little bit about the infrastructure that your department's doing, as well as some of the cost and the future growth of our city. So I just want to give those just some kudos to those department heads for taking the time away from their normal everyday schedule to meet up with me. So I appreciate that. Mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Heffner, you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate everybody coming out and those watching online. This is one of the hardest things this board has to do. Our role as an elected official is pass the budget. Certainly, it's going to be hard for me this go-around. We had a pretty significant, from a percentage standpoint, tax increase last year, partially due to not having property tax increases over a period of years. I want to try to avoid the same mistake that we made over the past five years. Now, that being said, I think we have to be very diligent. I think You know, city manager and deputy city manager has done a great job and staff as we'll get into later on. It's done a great job in trimming off some of the fat that traditionally as we've seen in the budget. So appreciate in advance your efforts on that. And just a couple of their comments. I mean, we're one of the safest cities in Tennessee, and that doesn't come for free. I've said this before. That is not something that comes for free. We've added an ambulance department. That's something that does not come for free. And we had to, and I'm glad we did. The salt that goes on the road in the wintertime, that has to be paid for. That's not free. the debris after we have a tornado or bad storm the city goes around and picks up that doesn't happen for free um but i do i do acknowledge and and know that we do have to control our expenses and we have to look we have to be very very um diligent and looking for ways to cut out waste um and focusing more on the needs and not the wants um focus on the must-haves and i hope we can get this so A little bit more about that later on. And there is some silver lining, I think, to the gentleman's point. There is an infrastructure development district that was passed. They modified the law last year that basically allows developers um to leverage the municipalities uh in this case mount julius triple a bond rating uh to leverage that uh we are looking into that and that that idd um actually the developer puts the infrastructure in first first before the the development on the particular project so Really excited about that. Gallatin did it a few months ago. That's when I kind of caught wind of it and talked to the attorney that assisted them in getting that IDD. So I encourage all developers now and future to look into IDDs. We're probably going to have a couple of workshops around that in the very near future. And then last but not least, go Troy Trojans, my alma mater, Troy State. Well, I was Troy State when I went there. is now in the first time ever World College Championship. So college baseball championship. So go Trojans.

That's it.

Thank you, sir. We'll recognize Commissioner Mullaly for five minutes.

Thank you. So I had surgery Friday. I'm only three days out, so I'm in pain. Might be a little blunt, but I mean well. So Commissioner Heffner's right. We had a public work session before this, and our 10-year capital road widening project plan is right here, and it has to be funded. More options on the table that we can talk about. Definitely agree there. But even people on social media admit we should have been incrementally increasing the rate over the period of years. And since I've been here in six and a half years up through last year, And I hope that's not the case this time, but the property tax rate has been cut four times, four. And each time it was cut, I hope we can learn a lesson from this because each time it's cut, it costs the money millions and millions of dollars in revenue. That's just a fact. In the work session just now we have over 20 transportation projects currently budgeted and yet revenues have not increased along with it so we've got to figure out how we're going to pay for these projects as well as public safety you know that's our number one goal is public safety uh please fire ambulance and um Last year, I think we were at 48, 49% of the budget. This year we're at 60, 60% of the budget. So as more people move here, that's naturally going to increase. And they just have to be funded. Talk about Mrs. Jones. You know, Mrs. Jones is not exempt from higher grocery prices and higher gas prices and hire doctor bills. So there's that too. Um, I would like to say that I'm disappointed when a department head pleads their case before the media, not once, but twice. And, um, it raises questions and the city we have, and then the city put out that report. We have heavily funded our, uh, public safety departments. And so I just don't know how to say this. I'm disappointed that happened. I don't think it was mentioned in the article, however, that three chiefs got raises last year. No one under the chiefs got raises. I don't think that was mentioned in the article. I don't, Did they get new vehicles last year along in the budget? I think maybe they did. So none of that's mentioned in the article. The tiller truck, you know, that seems to be a sore subject on social media. looking back on that and i think this board owns some of that responsibility when an item is brought to us and say it's needed um we trust that it's needed um we could have asked more questions looking back i think we should have but um little did i know at least that that tiller truck that cost two and a half million dollars, we didn't have the staff to run it. So we didn't find that out until later. So it just seems sort of backwards. Like we bought a two and a half million dollar cart and we didn't have the four horses to pull it. That to me just seems backwards. So I just wanted to get that off my chest and say that I'm disappointed that that had to be aired out in front of the media. But you should know the whole both sides of that. I was going to say one other thing, but I guess I'm done.

Well, thank you, Commissioner. I'll just start off by saying, I want to say thank you to everybody who's reached out with the, with the prayers and the well wishes over the weekend. Um, my father's been hospitalized, so he's, he's doing really good. So if you were following, if anyone was following along, he's doing really good. Um, He's been alert, talkative the whole time. He's about to turn 84 next month. I like to keep an eye on him when he gets at that age with the issues. He's had a little bleeding on the brain. I appreciate you, everybody who has mentioned that and kept him in the prayers. um speaking of that news story um comparing us to germantown one thing i did notice i looked at the germantown budget on there because i just just curious like how to how's a smaller city do do things that we can't do as a larger city and one of the things i noticed was i got like a little snapshot of the city budget and i noticed this this fact it didn't make sense to me i believe it was like 48 million dollars they collect in property taxes now Well, we could do wonders with $48 million in property taxes. For reference, the city of Mount Juliet collects about $6 million in property taxes. So I thought, what does this city have that we don't have here in the city of Mount Juliet? They must have this huge industrial base that's paying in at a high rate. It's like, we're doing something wrong. Maybe we need calculators. I couldn't figure it out. So I went to the Secretary of State's website and it became painfully obvious what was going on their property tax rate just the city just the city itself not the county was one dollar and 79 cents or you might say that is 179 cents now compare that to mount juliet our property tax rate is 29 cents so that's a dollar 50 or 150 cents difference between that so I know we haven't been able to do everything that everybody's wanted us to do at times, but this city has done more with the resources that we have than anybody I know around us. And the news story last year was a 146% increase. And what was left out of those stories was even after 146% increase, it was still half of what neighboring cities are. So when you put it in that perspective, i'd like to say thank you to our our city staff our city manager this board for being able to operate a city for as long as we have at 11 cents and i know i know the narrative is we should have raised more along the way i wouldn't really on board with that philosophy of it it's always been my philosophy is you never take anything you don't need i um i just have a distrust of politicians and when it comes to leaving money out there so i'm speaking i'm including myself on that I just don't like having a high balance up here if we don't need it. I think it should stay with the taxpayers as long as possible. But a lot of effort was put in last year to try to address the deficit on those things. I am more than willing to explore anything that we can as a city to cut and save money. But at the same time, I don't want to cut and save money and jeopardize not being able to do needed road improvements, be able to provide the level of public safety that we need as a city or do anything that's going to jeopardize our standing as a community where we have with the public safety that we have. We're surrounded by areas, and the stats are there. You can see where 95% of the crime comes that gets picked up, particularly with the technology that we invest in. And that's not going away. That's not paying for it. The stats will go down. The arrests will go down. But I tell you what won't go down is the number of criminals in this city that come through here. And it won't take very long for it to hit next door, Facebook, whatever your choice of media is out there that Mount Juliet's not doing what it used to do. So I'm committed to staying doing what we've been doing to make this city as safe as it is. And as Commissioner Hefner said, the budget's not always the most fun meetings up here to get through some of these things, but it has to be done. That's one thing that the state, people ask what the mayor's job is. I say chair the meetings and pass an annual budget. That's about the two things that are laid out in state law for me to do as the mayor. So with that, I'm going to recognize... Our city manager for his comments.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Thanks, everybody, for coming tonight. Those watching from home, Mayor, happy to hear that prayers worked and Pops is feeling better and on the mend, so that is great news. I want to give a shout-out to all the department heads for all the hard work that I'd also like to give out. for what they do yearly and what the staff does yearly. But in particular, sometimes you feel like you have some credibility to speak towards certain things when you've been somewhere a long time, sometimes just because you've been there a long time. But Mr. Mullins, who's sitting here as well, has been here nearly 30 years. I'm in my 37th year. And I can tell you, I'm very proud of the elected body here. I'm very proud of our city for what we accomplished with the means that we do have. We had a meeting, Mr. Mullins and I, today with the sister city's mayor. And we talked to different mayors and city managers all the time. And I know sometimes I say that you all don't get to bask in the glory. Our community doesn't get to bask in the glory. But when you've been here a long time, you remember being one of the first officers. There was under 10 officers when I started here. I think I was the seventh officer or so. look at what we've accomplished the tools the city provides and you think about the amount of traffic that comes through our city which is about 30 square miles and you realize that the predominant amount of that traffic is actually coming from other communities outside of Mount Juliet that generate a lot of the issues of car crashes things that nature for example the Tractor trailer crash on the interstate, if you think about that, that's on the interstate. It wasn't a city resident. That happened, and our resources went out there. And I'm just proud of this elected body and past elected bodies for stepping up and putting the most important asset we have, which is our citizens, first, as you've done for years. It is very tough to do that. And I pride myself on when we go to city managers' events or talk to other city managers and mayors, finding out what it is that they do with the resources they have compared to what we do. And when Mr. White gave his presentation earlier, you look at all these road projects, they take so long to come to fruition. So, so very long to come to fruition. And I think of all the ones that we've got pending, all the ones that we did in this past year, the things that we make the developers basically put up and contribute in various ways, including some things that you've got on the agenda tonight, the partnerships we have. I'm thankful for that. But if anybody in the public wants to help us more than anything or help your community more than anything, I encourage you to always shop locally. I don't think a city does a better job than we do of encouraging people to shop at your local businesses, be it medical, like the lady that says she's the Property manager, I think it is, for one of the developments here. All the things you can get done in Mount Jewett now. Mount Jewett went from this sleepy town where Jerry Mundy and I were made fun of in the police academy for having two red lights, to you look at this town now that basically competes with anybody. Second highest median household income in the state. Best school system in the state. I mean, on and on and on, the accolades. And that comes because of all the hard work, not only the elected body of the team, but the citizens of this great city. So please, if you can do anything for us, shop local. For example, one of the meetings that we had recently found out that one of our car dealers was first or second, I think it is, in the state. And we're fixing to get another car deal. So if you need to buy a car, wait. It'll break ground in August. So if you like Nissans, wait. If you like Cadillacs, they're here. Dodge is here. Ford's here. Many others. And we're working on that so we can bring convenience to you so you don't have to drive. So you don't have to clog up the traffic and get other places. And anytime you're out on the road, you're much safer when you get to your destination. The less you have to travel, the safer you are. So I'm thankful. I know that we're extremely blessed, and I hope that our community, our staff, and the elected body continues to bask in all the victories that we've got and many more to come. So I'm thankful for that. God bless our great city, our great country, and God bless everybody. That concludes my report, Mayor.

Thank you, sir. With that, we'll move into the business portion of our agenda, which will start with the consent agenda, and I will read the items. Item 8A, which is an ordinance to amend the land use plan for approximately five acres of property at 107 Timber Trail Drive, Map 72, Parcel 1.03 for medium density residential to town center. 8B, an ordinance to rezone approximately five acres of property at 107 Timber Trail Drive, Map 72, Parcel 1.03 from AR 40 to CTC 8C, which is an ordinance to amend Part B of the Land Development Code of the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, known as the Zoning Regulations 2001-29, adopted. October 8, 2001, as amended by amending Article 6, Section 6, 1037, Design Standards for Commercial Structures, and Article 7, Section 7, 1039, Building Design. 8D, which is an ordinance to amend the Preliminary Master Development Plan for the Providence Central Planned Unit Development, Ordinance 2013-12, located at Map 97, Parcel 23, part of 25 and 75.07 in the City of Mount Juliet. AD is an ordinance to amend the preliminary master development plan for Tremor planned unit development located off Benders Ferry Road, map 32, parcel 31, 29, 29.02, 29.01 in the city of Mount Juliet, and 8F, which is a resolution supporting the application to receive federal funding for the Lebanon Road widening project and establish a commitment for the required match for the grant. 8G, which is a resolution calling for an election on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026, for the offices of the expiring terms of the commissioners for Districts 2 and Districts 4, each with four-year terms. 10A, which is an ordinance to annex into the corporate boundaries of the City of Mount Juliet approximately two acres of property at 6386 Central Pike, Mount 97, parcel 17.02, the property being located within the city's urban growth boundary, 10b which is an ordinance to rezone property at 6386 central pike approximately two acres map 97 parcel 17.02 from wilson county r1 to cmu commercial mixed 10c an ordinance to annex into the corporate boundaries of the city of mount juliet approximately 1.72 acres of property at 6400 central pike map 97 parcel 17 the property being located within the city's urban growth boundary. TND, an ordinance to rezone property located at 6400 Central Pike, approximately 1.72 acres, map 97, parcel 17 from Wilson County R1 to CMU commercial mixed use. Have a motion and second. All in favor of the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The consent agenda does carry. The next item is nine a an ordinance to amend part B of the unified development code of the city of Mount Juliet, Tennessee known as zoning regulations on its 2001 29 adopted October 8th, 2001 as amended by amending article five section five 1 0 4 1 design standards for multifamily dwellings and section 5 1 0 4 4 development standards for single family resolution residential ocean second.

Questions or comments? Commissioner Hefner, you recognized? This is just an easy one. Under lighting, that could be solar or electricity. Is that fine? Do we need to codify that and amend that to say either solar powered or electricity? It just electricity and it could be staff level. But I mean, you're adding additional costs to an H away if they're having a set of separate meter, um, the power of the lights that are going to be on only when somebody walks through. So I just want to make sure that if that if I need to amend it, if it can be managed at staff level, I'm happy to amend it. But I just want to add solar or powered by electricity.

Yes, sir.

I didn't know if you wanted me to come up or not.

No.

Go ahead.

Give us some wisdom.

We'll add it before second reading. I could do that. Add option for solar.

Sure. I think it's a great idea.

Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Is there any objections to that? Hearing no objections to adding solar specifically. Last mayor.

I just figured it's dark since you're out here. space and then it also shows two parking spaces for the same male is that is that a typo is that just for the size should be one should be one yeah okay i think that's just a typo then if you can go back and look at that page 86 and 80s 88 all right thank you positive recommendation by the board of commissioners approved for second reading yeah

Yeah. This is not new business.

Go ahead.

Yes, ma'am.

The page 88, that's the staff comments from Planning Commission. So the Planning Commission would have made an amendment to change it to two. That's why it reads differently.

OK. I was just trying to get clarity because it was a little confusing. So it is correct. Thank you. Well, John, at second reading, you ready?

Yeah, motion to add solar as an option.

To solar power as an option. And I think we're good. There were no objections to that anyway. So second to our first reading, I think the intent's there to add solar. Are we ready to vote? All in favor of 9-8, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? It passes. Any objections to reading 10 E and F together? Hearing none, 10-A, which is an ordinance to annex into the corporate boundaries of the City of Mount Julia approximately 47.17 acres of property on East Division Street, Map 77, Parcel 13.01, 13.02, 15, 16.02, 16.03, and part of Parcel 16.01, 17, and 17.01. the property being located within the city's urban growth boundary, and 10F, which is an ordinance to rezone and adopt the preliminary master development plan, for approximately 47.17 acres of property on East Division Street, map 77, parcel 13.01, 13.02, 15, 16.02, 16.03, and part of parcel 16.01, 17.17.01 from OPS and Wilson County R1 to IR PUD. I have a motion and a second. Two items are on the table. Commissioner Mullaly.

All right. There were two things in the conditions that were not supported by staff. That's what I'm trying to find.

I think the brick was one of those.

One was along the western border.

And one of the buildings, the side facade would match a front facade because it bordered the East Division Street. Am I making that up, John? It's in the conditions, yes.

OK. OK. So we don't have to do anything for that if staff didn't approve it. Is that right?

That's still in there, yeah.

OK. So question for representation. Two questions.

Let's get somebody up here and put them under oath.

Okay. This is a big topic on Facebook or social media right now is these data centers. And I know these are for warehouses. Is there any chance or is it included in the zoning or anything that a data center could go into one of those warehouses? Okay.

me get your name and address please joe haddix heritage civil 2055 northbound julia road at this time a data center has not been anticipated excuse me nor has been reflected in the water and sewer availability or power availability letters that have been submitted and received from the city for the sewer in west wilson on the water in middle tennessee electrical north

all right so you don't have them all leased i assume so what happens if a data center comes in and what's the least one the developers here he can speak to the to the specific use but all right and my other question had to do with the buffer uh behind uh hunt is it hunting hills yeah

Good evening. My name is Tom Noble. I'm with West Development. Do you want my address? Would you like that for the record? Yes, please. Okay. 169. I'm sorry. I forgot that. 600 Highway 169 South Minneapolis, Minnesota. Suite 1850. Got it out. So yeah, no data centers, first of all. We haven't conceived that. We're looking to do small bay. So our buildings are only 170 feet deep. So that's gonna be tenants that are probably in the ideally 50 to 75,000 square foot range. So we're going the opposite direction from data centers. Nor do we perceive that you have the As Joe said, the utilities and the power and everything we need to do it. So we don't envision that at all.

Okay. Well, I had to ask. And the other question had to do with the buffer behind Hunting Hills. Right.

I'm going to let Joe talk about that in specifics. Do you want to do that, Joe?

I know that several of the residents have come out in favor of the same type buffer they have over there along behind Golden Bear. So what is the plan now to put a sizable buffer?

If it's not the same, it's 95% the same as what's already existing there.

We tried to give it as much height as we could.

We do have a creek on our eastern boundary that we have to slope down to, so we can't carry that height of that buffer all the way through. But we have added additional plantings that feedback received from the residents. We have a fence installed to prevent any type of migration between the two parcels at the request of the residents. We've added some fencing around the cul-de-sac at the request of the residents. So we've listened to what they're which they've said it would have been able to incorporate everything into the plant.

Okay. I looked at the plan and I mean, it's pretty close. So would the buffer go up and the trucks are like right there or would it go up and then there's a distance?

You're going up and coming down about 30 feet through that. Well, if you're on honeycomb. Yeah. It'll go up, I don't know, about 10 feet and then come back down. It won't get within 100. Our driveway at that location is from the edge of, from the end of Hunting Hills cul-de-sac, we're probably 150, 200 feet from the cul-de-sac.

Okay. To our parking lot.

And you said the height would be what? It varies. So that property slopes from west to east. So we're sloping with the land. Okay. And the adjacent.

And the other ones are like 100 feet.

They're about.

That's my questions.

Miss Burnett.

Commissioner, I just wanted to clarify those two waivers that staff didn't support. The Planning Commission actually did support them. So if you don't like them, then it does need to be changed. It's written in there as approving both of the waivers. under paragraph 2 and 15 under planning what page oh well i don't i don't have the whole i don't get the whole agenda anymore i printed the ordinance it is on the the bottom of the first page of the ordinance 136 yep number two that's the waiver for the the brick i think yes the brick And then paragraph 15 on the second page is the waiver for the 100-foot landscape buffer.

I noticed. Oh, Commissioner Hanford.

To clarify number 15, that's a buffer along the Western property line. Is that Jones Brothers? Yes.

OK.

I would agree with that.

The Western. Definitely only the Western.

Correct. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that. Block Jones Brothers?

We do have a landscape buffer along the western boundary. It just doesn't meet the 100-foot width requirement. Okay.

Got it.

Thank you. Number 30, which is provide a schedule for exterior maintenance to include pressure washing of all structures. Was that a staff request?

It was a staff request, yes, sir.

Was there something that inspired that?

Next door?

Oh, next door. Yeah, I remember them standing up there telling us how nice that facade was going to look if we gave them the waiver they requested on that because it was like number two. They wanted a deviation from 100% brick and stone as well, and they told us how nice and pretty it was going to look.

and now we have uh i don't know what that would be a 92 foot tower of mildew or what what that is it's growing on it but vice mayor uh just two two questions for you joe because i know uh when you stood up here a couple weeks ago we talked about the uh you know the roundabout down there um has there been any type of discussion about any improvements down there is that something that you would discuss with the residents because i know that was a concern

So, uh, with the roundabout and at the end of hunting Hills, we had added a fence internal about halfway through our landscape buffer. Uh, some of the residents were concerned on breaks, you know, our, our employees could walk there. So we added a fence. Here at the last meeting, if you've been down to the end, which I'm sure you have, you can see the start of a three or four rail fence around. The residents asked if we could continue that around the bulb of the cul-de-sac. We are going to eliminate or demolish the existing driveway that's there, close that fence off, and then do our grading and landscaping just to make it perfectly evident there is no interconnectivity between the two parcels but as far as uh cul-de-sacs i believe they had some concerns last time about some things going on at the end of the cul-de-sac i have not heard that since okay um i am happy to talk to the county road commission about it and the county sheriff

All right. And then the construction back there, again, you know, thinking about the trucks going in and out of there. Yeah. And, you know, any disruption as they're building that? Are you guys going to build all of that from?

Everything comes off the vision.

Everything comes off?

Yes, sir. Okay.

All right. That's good to hear.

I think that was a condition somewhere in there.

I just wanted to make sure that that was cleared. Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Was there any, since it's kind of a 2022, which says the side facade of building buildings facing east division shall be treated as front facades. Were we requiring any different as far as materials on front facades?

Windows, not a blank wall, something we'd be looking for. If they're going to get the 100% masonry, it would be something like that. Colors, relief, windows.

Because right now we're waiving that requirement, allowing tilt up panels on that.

I would interpret that to be not a blank wall, featureless wall.

All right. Mr. Martin? Yes, sir. This is more of a request than anything that Mr. Noble would consider. He's been great to work with, but we need a home for two different businesses in Mount Juliet. And square footage-wise, they're hard to find in Mount Juliet because it's a young city. So if Mr. Noble would consider this, we'd love to have a location for a bowling center, entertainment center. We have a good prospect. And then the other would be Pickleball Kingdom, who wants to be here. And that's the biggest problem we have is we just don't have a footprint. And then there's others I could talk to him about. But I know a lot of times that doesn't fit the industrial base, but as far as from a community, there's one in Hendersonville. It's an old industrial building that's quite large, and we'd love to have those here if we could figure out a way to have something we would possibly entertain. All right.

Thank you, sir. Any questions or comments from the board? Do we have anybody here from Public Works that can speak to the road improvement aspects.

Yes, sir. As part of their conditions of approval, we are requiring them to widen the street to three lanes along the frontage to match what the Amazon frontage is As part of that, they're required to either extend or replace the culvert for the stream crossing there with safety improvements needed there as well. So no just sharp drop-offs into the creek. We're also requiring a westbound left turn lane on Division onto Old Lebanon Dirt Road. And we are requiring them to grade their site at four to one or flatter along their frontage. Those improvements take care of the two most common crashes on Division Street, which are roadway departures, because the streets are too narrow and there's no shoulder, and rear ends from turning vehicles stopped in the road.

And this is essentially going to make the road

similar to what's there in front of amazon now correct and is that matching the standard that we're choosing to to widen that road through from i guess from mount juliet road past the overpass so the the long-term plan for division street is a five-lane section um however the widening plan is mainly on the other side of the street uh and that'd be a pretty extensive right-of-way take for a private development to undergo. So we were looking more towards intermediate solutions that would then be compatible with our long-term vision, which is where the three-lane section came from, which gets us three-fifths of the way there.

Does this cover any of the area with the gas line?

This is before the gas line, I'm assuming. To be honest, I don't know. Any utility relocation would have to be done by the development. I don't think you get to relocate these. Okay. Then yes. No, it is. This would be before the gas lines. Okay.

So that section would remain two lanes, and then you would have a taper going into the three-lane section?

The frontage would be three lanes continuous all the way to Golden Bear Gateway, and then it would taper down to slightly have another turn lane at Old Lebanon Dirt Road and then taper back down to two until we get eventually a turn lane at Clemens.

Okay. Okay. Mr. Haddock's question.

Yes, sir.

Is that widening expensive? The widening of the road?

Yes, sir. Very expensive. So as y'all are all aware, this section has probably one of the more significant drop offs on the south side of the road there at the existing culvert as you're approaching Amazon. several million dollars is as how we we've drawn it up with the culvert input replacement which we are showing a culvert replacement that would accommodate the full five lane future section so yes well we were just having a workshop talking about a new state law called an industrial excuse me an infrastructure development district and

could be a way to recoup some of those savings and potentially complete that section so for the owner there wouldn't have to suffer through a widening right in front of their development in the future has that been explored between first and second reading after sitting through that work session earlier it is definitely number one priority okay all right any other questions or comments Are we ready to vote? Just making sure we're on first reading.

All right.

All in favor of 10E and F, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? 10E and F does pass.

Thank you.

The next item is 10 G, which is an ordinance to amend the Mount Juliet, the city of Mount Julie code of ordinances regarding article three, section three, one Oh four, eight provisions applicable to manufacturing facilities and article seven, section seven, one Oh three, two, a permitting the conditions used and structures allowable within the industrial districts. Have a motion. Motion is second questions or comments on 10 G. All in favor of 10G, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? 10G passes. 10H, which is an ordinance to amend Part B of the Unified Development Code of the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, known as Zoning Regulations Ordinance 2129, adopted October 8, 2001, as amended by amending Article 11, Section 11, 11101 through 11110, sign regulations. Motion and second questions or comments on this one. Mr. Giles, you're recognized.

And I'm trying to find the section. I should have already had it out. Um, but it's dealing with, uh, the residential areas and the way this is written, which is the state law, but we can increase the amount if we so desire. Um, You know, for political signs, like, for example, I come through my subdivision, and I see just because he's running, county mayor is there. I see a lot of those. So if we pass this, this means that any of those residents can only have one of his sign. So I think that we should, and it's by position. It's like, you know, whatever someone's running for, if I'm correct on this, I don't know. see there you are and so I would like to make a motion to increase that to two I don't think that's unreasonable I think that's reasonable for someone because if they're on a corner or something you know the other street somebody may not see it depending on how they come in there and that's just not actually fair I don't think to any of those candidates so You may not feel the same way, but anyway.

That was your motion?

I'll second.

Okay.

And it's been properly seconded, so it's on the floor, but I'll add to that. There was an issue that just came up today where it involves a corner lot, and you had one sign on one road and then another sign on the other road, and... And that came up today. And then I see other instances where I know it, I know they shouldn't have their signs up there too on property because they don't always understand that when you got a big parcel, there's not very many of them in the city that are probably like 50 to 60 acres. You put one on one road and one on a totally different road. You can't even see the two, but technically you've got two signs on one parcel. Not that city staff is going to pull a map out and go do it, but somebody could complain because that is an issue. So, you know, questions or comments on the, yeah, Ms. Bellini.

And these are specifically for campaign science.

I assume, Jill, are the positions, I don't think it would be anything else. I mean, I'm not for sure. It could even be. I'm just trying to think of the situation where that wouldn't be necessarily voting, but something else is running. I don't know.

Commissioner, it's for non-commercial signs.

So that would encompass more than just political signs.

Okay.

Okay, here you go. It's for non-commercial signs. So the example in the packet has a picture of a blood draw or blood donation. So not just political, but anything that is not commercial in nature.

Vacation Bible school.

And just, Commissioner, just so you have the right section, he's talking about page 191. It's section 11.117, temporary non-commercial signs.

Ms. Johnson.

Yes, sir.

Any thoughts on this?

No, sir. I don't have or see any issues with increasing that to two signs because generally they're limited in the amount of time frame that they're out. At any given point in time, Vacation Bible School is generally limited to a couple weeks.

Break out a revival there or something.

Right. And then you're going to have, of course, your political and the signage out for the political is very restricted. to 60 days prior to the election of course that is early voting and then five days following the end of the election and then given like you said some of the blood drives and everything that's still going to be a limited period of time so i don't foresee it being an issue at all to increase it to two okay so this is any residential lot can have two actually the way this is written it's for all districts all districts under this specific provision with the temporary non-commercial it it applies to all Because lots of times you will see the temporary non-commercial signs in some commercial districts as well.

So I'll change that motion then to include all the districts if I said residential. But that's what I was thinking about was because I drive through the subdivision and I see those signs.

Any objection to the change?

Okay.

So that would be two 4x4 signs potentially in residential, two 4x8s in commercial?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Somebody's going to buy more signs. Shop local if you do. Are there any other questions or comments on the amendment? All in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Back on the ordinance as once amended. Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the ordinance as amended one time, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? It does carry. Next item on the agenda is 10 I and ordinance of the city of Mount Julia, Tennessee, adopting an annual budget property tax rate and sewer rates for the fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Second, I have a motion here, a motion, a second and a motion to that.

This Malayla you're recognized a motion to adapt the 29 cents rate that we currently have.

There's a motion to adopt $0.29. Is there a second? I don't hear one. I'll make a motion to adopt $0.28. Second. All right, we have a second. Any discussion on $0.28, Vice Mayor?

Where did the 28 cents come from? Where's that number?

It's between 29 and 27.

Ms. Dana, can you go into some detail on where we would be at if we were at 28 cents?

I can give a serious answer beyond, but it's between 27 and 29. And I'm on a ballpark here. Ms. Heyer, she can straighten me out when I finish. But there's a $4.2 million deficit right now. One million of that is tied up with community development, which falls off next year, which if you look at ongoing, assuming everything stayed the same, that would put us at 3.2 million deficit next year so by my math 28 come out to about 3.7 which gave roughly a 500k uh cushion over existing spending and miss hire that was my ballpark is that remotely close oh you were throwing me a crowbar here hold on

So that would put the property tax revenue at $10,129,868, which, yes, that will put you close to that because it's going to be over the deficit at $29,000, which is the $137,000. Okay.

Yeah, and really, it was 28, 48, 88. Not saying I support those numbers, but I just wanted to put something out there that Ms. Heyer could publicly notice for the second meeting that there is consideration of exceeding the state certified rate of 1776. As patriotic as that sounds, it won't balance the budget. but um at least have that discussion and we would have to take some actions tonight or that wouldn't be an option to us on second reading is that correct that's correct if this board desires to increase that rate over the certified tax rate we have to post notice and hold a public hearing for the next before the next meeting because if we don't we don't do something uh we'd be either gonna this board needs to cut about 3.2 million out of this budget or a pound or pass a deficit budget and then believe we're going to come up with even more money to pay for roads. So I'm optimistic. Ms. Mullaly.

Exactly. And because I brought this up last year, but going into next year, if we don't do this, how are we going to go into next year's budget and be able to fund our recurring debt and our capital projects? Another thing, too, What was it? Oh, well, so we get a letter from the bond rating company asking why our cash reserves have decreased consistently over the past recent years. If we don't do this, what is going to be our answer?

Well, they will, I don't think they like to downgrade, but there's a potential to downgrade us to below AAA. Yeah, and we don't want that. No, it could potentially cost us more on borrowing.

Exactly. This is something, in my opinion, we have got to do. I mean, we're facing the music here, and we've been kicking the can down the road long enough. I hate to do it. I don't want to do it, but it's time.

Commissioner Hefter.

Do we, sorry, do you have an estimate of how much money is coming back from the departments?

So when you look at the projected, I don't look at it that way. I look at it as what's our starting fund balance going to be.

So if I, hold on.

I should have brought my mouse. I'm sorry. No, it's fine. It's fine. So I'm projecting a net savings on the expenditures of $8.6 million.

So you're anticipating $8.6 million to come back into the general fund?

Yes. That's not going to be spent based on the budget. You won't see it. It's in the fund balance, the starting fund balance. So when you see the beginning fund balance of $15 million, that's accounting for that money coming back in to the general fund.

Repeat that again. So the 8.9, let's call it 9.

8.6.

8.6 is going back into the general fund.

Yes.

Okay. Is that factored into the current balance?

Yes. That is where my beginning fund balance comes from. The $15 million that I'm estimating that we're going to start with, that includes that $8.6 million.

Okay. So that's from the department's not spending fund.

departments and not what we like budgeted transfers to the capital projects fund that we won't spend it's all of that combined and you've already got those numbers from the department that's all that's already in the budget i look at projections and where we're going to start and so that 15 million starting fund balance that includes what the departments are not going to spend plus any extra revenue that i'm anticipating us getting what would that be 2.9. I'm estimating that at 2.9.

What is the 2.9?

That's the extra revenue that I've, additional revenue that is not budgeted.

Okay.

Do you have an estimate of what the voluntary contributions are going to be this year?

That's very hard to predict because that depends on planning. But that's also restricted revenue. So that's not available to spend on general services. That's specifically for certain capital projects. So I have to be careful putting that in there because it can inflate that fund balance and make you give it a false sense of security.

Yeah, but the deficit is due to the capital expenses to pay for the roads and the infrastructure, correct?

Well, part of it, yes.

OK. Yeah. so the developer contributions granted will will be tied to a specific road project right now that road project is being funded out of the general fund yes so it's not just well it may not cover it may not be for those specific projects but you don't have an idea of what that number is based on certificates of uh ceos anticipated ceos and where developers are at with their phasing sure Because this has always been a challenge for me because we don't include that as revenue in our budget. We include it when money comes in. So it becomes this unseen, unplanned, not documented anywhere of revenue that just hits our books. And then it shows up at the end. I wish there was a way we can do this a little differently. And I made this suggestion last year. that we take voluntary contributions from that year and that's our capital expense for the next year versus guessing and estimating and not even accounting for it in the budget. We need to take a look at it.

I think there's a question of, is it guaranteed? And then you're counting on it.

Well, if the contribution comes in, that's guaranteed, right?

If it comes in, yeah, absolutely. Correct.

That's what I'm saying. If we get $5 million of voluntary contributions this year, that should be our capital expense for next year, is what I'm saying. Rather than right now, we have no clue. We have no idea. So we're guessing and making assumptions. And in fact, we're not even accounting for that in the budget. But we know it's going to happen. And I get your point. I get your point that we don't know what they are. We don't know when they're coming in. It's triggered by COs. It's tied to specific projects. So we really need to take a look at how we manage that contribution. And my suggestion is we take the contributions that we collect, and that's what we pull from next year because we already have the money in.

Do you mean like if we collected what we collected this previous year, that would be the budget that we do capital improvements on for the upcoming year? Correct.

That may not cover them all, though, because they're very specific projects.

It may not, but at least we're accounting for real numbers. If we collect $3 million, but yes, we've got to spend 10, next year we know three of it is accounted for by way of those voluntary contributions that we collected, because right now they're not accounted for in the budget anywhere.

Sorry. Commissioner Giles. If we collected for, let's say, the project on Lebanon Road, then

that is specifically for lebanon road and that's going to take a while to get so how could we spend that in the future that is contributing to lebanon road we collect those funds last year or this year we take those funds and that is what's used for the upcoming year as it goes towards the cost to develop the road. All I'm saying is we're not accounting for the voluntary contributions, and there's probably some other revenue that we're not counting for because we don't know when it's going to come in, and we don't know how much it's going to be. How much money did we collect last year in voluntary contributions?

You're saying there wouldn't be any capital items beyond that? No.

You just want accounting of it? I just want an accounting for it.

Well, it's on your revenue list. It is in your revenue listing, on your revenue summary report. Based on the road improvements, this doesn't include what's in the capital projects fund, but just what comes in from voluntary contributions was $897,000.

For last year? For this fiscal year. This fiscal year?

Yeah.

Okay.

We're holding about 5.8 million, but those are very specific projects that I can spend those funds on. So typically what I do at the end of the year is I go back and I look at what we've spent and then document those expenses and take it out of our, we have a special road account that that money is held in.

Right.

And then move it from that account to our operating account. because we've already spent those expenditures on those specific projects.

So $900,000 we collected this year for voluntary contributions. Was that $900,000 included in the budget as revenue?

Yes. It's not included forward. I don't count that forward, and it wasn't included budget-wise last year. That's what I'm saying. No.

Correct, because we didn't know how much that was going to be. Right. So that's all I'm saying. I would like to see that accounted for somehow, whether we do it retrospectively or I don't know how you can do it prospectively looking forward. We're making assumptions and not including anything for voluntary contributions today. It's just when we get the check, it goes in the bank, and then it shows up as additional income at the end of the budget here, at the end of the fiscal year. So anyways, OK, that's all. I know we're not on a ramp, but it's just And I think is the case for real estate too, right?

No, we budgeted for the sale of real estate. But there wasn't a caveat to that because we did end up selling the Tomlinson property. That was not budgeted. So there wasn't additional money for that. But that goes to the, because it was parks, it's going to the Hotel Motel Tax Reserve. So it's reserved as well.

Okay. Commissioner Mullightly.

So that seems risky to me, like last year when you put in $2 million for the potential sale of property and listed it as a revenue source. To me, that wasn't actual revenue. We did.

We did budget for the $2 million sale of the Amazon.

$2 million is revenue. So that's, to me, like this seems risky. We can't keep using our cash reserves to fund the balance. We just can't keep doing that. That's wrong. Are we borrowing money on Old Lebanon Dirt Road construction? I do have a borrowing in the budget. And we're borrowing money for upgrades on the South Tower. I have that in there. Okay. We... are borrowing more and more money each year because we're not doing what we need to do to fund the budget. It's a hard decision, but someone needs to step up and do it.

VICE MAYOR. It's our you would send out these the summary of changes. Yeah, I just want to make sure the the 3.9 million. For the for the wastewater funds, the $500,000 for the stormwater, the 100,000 for the drug fund, the general fund there for 854,000. Is that all added into the 8.6 million that you were referring to earlier or the 15 million or is that in addition to?

No, all this list is in your current budget. So the fund balance shown in your current budget accounts for all of it.

That does account for it. Okay. All right. Because I knew that these were some of the changes. I didn't know if this was already added into that $15 million that you just mentioned.

No, I just wanted to give you an idea of what had changed between the workshop and first reading. So everything in that budget and first reading accounts for everything on this list.

Okay. Thank you for clarifying that for me. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, we're back on the budget as once amended.

Commissioner Giles? I've got two motions and I think we would put them together. So I'll read both of them separate.

I'll trust you.

A motion to amend the highway and streets administration budget to increase personnel costs by $120,266 to increase wages for public work employees, works employees, excuse me. Also, that second amendment, which I think we should put it together, a motion to amend the city garage budget to increase personnel costs by $3,098 to increase the wages of one public works employee. Well, I guess that's my motion. I can support it. Do you give a total?

Do you have a total?

I do not, but it's $123,298. I don't know. I have to add it together. No, it would be 224. No, it would be 223.4 approximately. 123.4. 123.4 billion? No, 120. $124,000 basically.

Just making sure.

Watch too much C-SPAN, I guess. There was a second on that, right? Yes.

Okay, so. Seconded. Commissioner Mullaly.

I'd like to amend this, and reason is because does this include Tim's budget? No. Or is it just Matt's?

Well, I think it's the whole Public Works. And I think I want to discuss this before we take an amendment.

So that was, when you say Public Works, you're referring to just Matt's area.

And the garage, which comes under there. Yeah, it's under Matt's. It was, wasn't it? Okay. Motion to amend the Highway and Streets Administration budget to increase personnel costs by $120,266 to increase wages for public work employees. And then the second motion was a motion to amend the City Garage budget to increase personnel costs by $3,098 to increase the wages of one public work employee.

So 122.66, 3,098 was the second number.

And all of that's under Matt?

Yes. So we had a second one. Can I discuss this? Yes. The floor is yours. Okay. So the reason this is, you know, this department, they came in even including, these motions to include this for raise for these employees way under and about 152,000 less. And so there were several departments, if I'm not mistaken, last year who their employees got raises. And so they did a study about with nearby towns, nearby cities that show what these people made. And I just think that this is not very much to increase these wages for them. And I think it's needed. I think we need to try to retain these people. And they do a great job over there. Not that any of our other departments don't. Y'all do great jobs. We've already talked about it tonight. Ms. Mulaney?

All right, so for the purpose of discussing, I don't think that we should be allowing a department to base their increases on a pay rate study because we have a pay scale from the city and HR. And I asked, I was concerned that this would likely open a door to other departments to adopt their own pay scale. And so there are other positions outside the city Well, my email is cut off here. There may be some pushback if we adjust the public works pay scale for a position. And again, I can't read the whole email. Dana can address because it was her response. Other department heads may take issue with this increase as well. So what he's doing is taking that pay scale rate study and asking for certain increases rather than a straight 3% or 6% like Tim's doing. Now, Tim had asked for a higher rate. It was cut to 6%, and then it was cut to 3%. And he wanted his people separated because of their certifications. So I warn you in doing this because it's going to open a door to other departments setting their own pay scale. I think the fair thing, have you looked at the percentage of these increases based on this pay scale? It's 19% pay increase, 12%, 14%, 9%, 7%. This is a lot of money to ask for. Typically, you have raises of 3%, 6%, 9%. So what I recommend is instead of basing it on this rate study pay scale, which is going to backfire on us, I recommend that you increase Tim's to 6% and then give all of Matt's people 3% based on our own city's pay scale rather than this one.

Mr. Martin, was this discussed during your workshops with the department head?

Yes, sir.

And what was decided there or recommended there?

I want to say it's 3%, like I said, for Mr. Tim, and then I thought it was 3% for Matt, but I could be wrong. Michael, do you remember? You may remember the exact number, but it was reduced from the original amount.

Bring that remarkable up. Mr. Mullins.

I did leave my budget book back there and brought this instead, but when the topic came up, it came up regarding the difference between a sewer operator and our public works employees and the different skill sets required for each. Um, what was originally planned was Mr. Forkham wanted to create some, some separation between public works and sewer. And historically, that's what was the situation there was historically some separation between the two. And Mr. Forkham just wanted to re-institute that separation because of the skill sets required for the sewer operators. And most of his sewer operators have transitioned from sewer, from public works to sewer. So they've came through that process. So Mr. Forkham did ask for a much larger number. It was trimmed down to 3%. And Matt's positions were cut from the original cost of the budget. and i do agree with mr giles and i spoke on that during the workshop of how good a budget matt came through and put together and how he did come under budget and i hated to do that When we talked earlier today regarding this possibility of getting something put back in for the public works crews, it was discussed that originally, well, not originally, the middle ground between what Mr. Forkle asked for was 6%. if we was to give Mr. Forkham and his group the 6% and then allow the 3% for the public work crew, that still did give them the separation between the two departments and pay scale and skill sets. But it also would give them like Commissioner Mulaney said, some of the percentages were higher. And I want to make sure we address it doesn't mean that they would get, I think you said 14%. They wouldn't get a 14% this year. That would be built into the pay scale like Dana does and would give them on their top end rate, 14 additional percentage that they could get to. It doesn't mean they would get it this year. But in addition to that, assuming that the body leaves in the cola, that's an assumption that the body leaves in the cola. With the 3% and the 6%, in addition to the 3%, most of the people that was on Matt's list came in around the 6% or 7% percentile anyway. So it gave the lower end people that Matt's asking these rates for pretty close to the number that Matt was asking for in the first place. It just didn't get to those top end percentages. And it still built in the gap between sewer and public works.

This is what I heard. I heard a lot of percentages, 6, 3, 14, 19, all kinds of stuff.

And I'd like to see all this in writing and be able to see.

And I can tell you right now, the men and women there in public works work extremely hard. Mr. Forkham and his department work extremely hard, very professional in what they do and how they handle this city. I don't want to just vote on this lightly. I'm going to make a motion that we defer this amendment to second reading so that we can get all this in writing. Because y'all may be a lot smarter than me. My head's been mental gymnastics keeping up with this. That's going to be my motion, just to defer this second reading.

Taught not to pay. You do. Matt, where'd he go? Oh, there you are. Y'all too, because y'all do excellent work.

Any questions or comments on the advisement of deferring the amendment to second reading? All in favor of deferring the amendment to second reading, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Okay. So we're back on the ordinance now as once amended. Any questions or comments? Any other amendments? All in favor of the budget as once amended, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? All right. But as it does pass on first reading, the next item on the agenda is an appointment to the Planning Commission. I have Ms. Jennifer Brown. She has volunteered her services to serve on our Planning Commission. Rebecca Christensen has served us very well and very faithfully for many years in the Planning Commission. she stepped aside and miss brown has has volunteered her services she's professional that works for cumberland university and i know she will work very hard for the city on that so i'm going to put her name forward as a new planning commission member and the last item on the agenda is the adjournment is there any other questions or comments on the german i'm sorry all in favor of adjournment please signify by saying aye Any opposed? We are adjourned.