Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome to the Mount Juliet Board of Commissioners. Today is August 10th and I will call this meeting to order. We do have a quorum present. So the first item, or actually the second item on the agenda, is to set our agenda tonight. I'm going to suggest we have an emergency item that we need to add. I'm going to add, without objection, add that to the heel of our agenda. Also, if there's no objection, we will remove 8C, 8G, as in George, and 8J, as in James, from the consent agenda agenda. C-G-J. Any objections? All right. Hearing no objections, we'll adopt the agenda as published with the changes in the addition. The next item is our invocation and pledge of allegiance. I'd ask our city manager, sir, if you would be so kind as to lead us in our invocation and pledge.

Yes, sir, Mayor. Bow your heads with me, please. Dear Lord, as we begin this meeting, we ask for your clarity and focus. Remove any distractions or confusion that may hinder our progress. Help us to stay focused on the task at hand and give us the insight needed to address every situation clearly and effectively. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Thank you, sir.

Next item is approval of minutes. We have one set of minutes from July 27th. Have a motion. Motion second. Any changes, additions, comments? All right. Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That does pass. The next item is citizen comments. This is your opportunity to address the Board of Commissioners. If you have any comments, it invites you to come forward to the podium, give your name and address for the record. You will be recognized for three minutes. And this is your opportunity. We do not take comments on each individual item, but I would invite you forward and ask you to give your name, address, and record. For the record, please.

Hello. Hello. My name's Galen Wilson, 132 Privateer Lane, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Well, good evening, everybody. I'm the executive director of Wilson Rides, as most of you know. And I'm here to thank you for your continued support of our organization and the older adults we serve. Wilson Rides now has more than 100 volunteers and 170 clients. While our volunteers serve in many capacities, most provide transportation and medical appointments, dialysis, therapy, grocery stores, pharmacies, and other essential destinations. Last year, we provided more than 5,100 trips and traveled over 71,000 miles. We also delivered 960 food boxes, more than 720 Easter bags, and over 500 Christmas presents to local citizens living independently in senior housing and in assisted living and memory care communities. Our work has grown far beyond rides. We've helped older adults move, assisted them in facing scam situations, and we worked with local fire and police during inclement weather to make sure they reached their critical medical appointments. Most recently, we've partnered with local churches and community organizations to collect, clean, repair, and recycle medical equipment for people in need. We also are working with Vanderbilt-Wilson County Hospital and Caris Healthcare, which serves many uninsured and underinsured patients who need access to this equipment. None of this is accomplished by Wilson rides alone. We work with civic clubs, Imtar, senior living communities, public schools, businesses, nonprofits, churches, fire responders, volunteers, donors, and local government. And I say all that because we are a true partnership with the community and it's not what Wilson rides or I have accomplished. It's really what all of us has accomplished together. When we began, we thought transportation was our mission. What we learned is that transportation is our service, but connection is the real mission. This week, we will reach 250,000 miles driven since our first ride in 2021. That's a lot of miles. And each mile represents someone receiving care, maintaining independence, and staying connected. So thank you all for being a part of those 250,000 miles and for continuing to support our mission. And we look forward to celebrating Wilson Ride's appreciation today, again on September 23rd, as proclaimed by this great city and our mayor. So thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ralph Cook, 426 Cobblestone Way, Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

Thank you.

I'm here for Lantern Lane Farm Counseling Center. My wife, Joni, and I founded Lantern Lane Farm almost 21 years ago. as a nonprofit and i'm here to tell you that we have never turned people away due to their inability to pay so i'm very very grateful and the way we've been able to do that is because of people like you who faithfully support us have supported us through the years understand our mission we are there for children preschool all the way through senior adults and what we have what we have done with the funds that you've given us in the past is we've used it Basically for our children's department. So right now what we are seeing a lot of, and this would probably not surprise you, we are seeing an influx of grandparents, aunts, uncles, or whoever ends up with children that they had not planned to have, to be raising. And so those grandparents, those aunts, uncles, they rely on Lanterling Farm to help them walk through the difficulties, the trauma that these children have gone through. We have kids that we work with who have been sexually abused, physically abused, abandoned by parents, and pretty much you name it, and we see them. So we have a therapist who has stepped into the role of our Children and Families Clinical Director. And again, this is what you offer us and what you have offered us in the past has been used to provide those services and not to have to turn anyone away. So I just want to thank you. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for referring to us. I have brochures here. I don't know what protocol is, but I'm happy to leave them. on the table if you'd like to you'd like to have those or pass them out but again i'm so grateful for your willingness to contribute to our calls thank you sir

Hello, I'm Tracy Horvath, and I'm representing the Mount Juliet Library, 2765 North Mount Juliet Road. And I'm here with Amy Byram, and we are just here to request that you consider our additional $2,000, which we need to meet our rising utility costs. When we expanded the building in our first full year, our utility costs have gone up about, I figured out today, $4,200 since then. It's been about eight years. And partly that's because of rising utility costs, and partly that is because of rising number of people. We've had over 155,000 visitors this last year, and that's an increase of 32,000 people. So if you would just help us meet the gap a little bit, we would really appreciate it. And thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Kylie Ferguson and I'm with the Mount Juliet Help Center. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your continued support of the Mount Juliet Help Center and for considering us in this year's community grant funding. We're incredibly grateful for the partnership that we have with the city and your investment in the work that we're doing to serve families here in our community. Your support makes a meaningful difference in our ability to provide essential services to our neighbors when they need it most. We're proud to be a part of strengthening Mount Juliet and being there to support our neighbors, and we couldn't do it without your help. So thank you so much for your continued support of the Mount Juliet Help Center and the families that we serve.

Thank you.

I'm terrible at speaking. Okay. But I work good. All right. My name is Brett Linville. I'm here for West Wilson Basketball Association. I think about five or six years ago, whenever the tornado hit at Torquay School, y'all let me use the community center. And I told you it's time if you let me use it for a 16, 1500, 16 kid, I'd take care of it. And I'm married every Wednesday night, Thursday night, Saturday, and Sunday. And we ain't had a better problem. And that's, you know, you got to give these kids something to do or they might be in trouble. So for four months, I give them something to do. And y'all allow it. Every kid that we have is Wes Wilson Manjulia. Every one of them go to school here. There's no out-of-county kids or anything like that. That's why I think that our organization is so good. When I started trying to help, we had about 12 or 13 kids in the Challenger League. Last year, and we don't even ask for that. We don't even count that. Last year, we had over 100. And that's special needs people. You should come one time and watch them play. They're much fun to have. And I run into Kenny every once in a while running down the road. I'm at the help center five days a week. And I just like to help. Okay. That's what I do. And the money y'all give us, we pay. For the referees and stuff, we have expensive. We don't have a bunch of people paid to do what we do. And I've been doing it 36 years. And I appreciate what y'all give us, and I know the kids do. Thanks.

Thank you, sir.

Is there anyone else here to address the Board of Commissioners?

Seeing none, we will close citizen comments and we will move to commissioner reports and comments. Commissioner Giles, you're recognized for five minutes, sir.

Okay, thank you, Mayor. Hey, I want to thank, we recently received a grant many of y'all know for the widening of lebanon road and i don't want it to go unsaid it was a fifteen um thousand dollar grant it was we received uh 12 and we're gonna have to put three so that's what it is we have to put 20 but i don't want to i want to make sure that people know that we appreciate the gnrc and the transportation board for giving this grant to us Um, we have consistently tried to be on a plan and we'll continue to try to, um, to do that for projects. But anyway, we, we had to go out and get it. So I'm just very thankful to them for what they did for us here in that Julie. And I know you are too. I also want to, and I think the mayor and my fellow commissioners as well for voting for this to receive this grant. and Matt White for applying for it because this obviously is in my district. And this is one of the key things that people are always calling or emailing or texting or something. And it is, it's terrible over there. So I, as well as the rest of us, in my opinion, have done the best we can to get it. So we're moving forward and it's very exciting for our city. truly um and i also want to to mention that if you look on the monitor it should be up there a um our annual greenway walk uh is this coming thursday night at six o'clock pm at charlie daniels park so we sure hope that you'll come out and join us at six we're gonna have a grand time I know it's hot, and I know it's humid, but most of this walk is in the shade. So please come and join us for this annual Greenway Walk that's sponsored by the BPAC here in Mount Juliet. And, Mayor, that concludes my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We'll recognize our Vice Mayor for his comments.

Thank you, Mayor. And Commissioner, I think it was 15 million, not 1,000.

Did I say 1,000? It's okay. It's okay.

I don't want anybody in the audience.

Yes, sir. 12 and 3.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. No, no. It's okay. I don't want you to be attacked by anybody on social media. Just look it up for my commissioner. Thank you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. well anyway so back to the uh to the folks in the audience and the folks that are online first of all uh thank you all for coming out uh to tell us a little bit about where the taxpayers money is going whether if it's from basketball programs for the library versus uh even you know a lantern lane sir so it's great to see those programs i know some of those students out there whether if it's you know you know therapy through you know through the horses the farm and everything else very familiar with it and it's a great program out there so thank you all for uh sharing with us where the taxpayer dollars go because uh we always wonder as we're approving these things you know What's the impact? And you guys taking your time out tonight to share with us, we greatly appreciate it. And I hope the citizens that are watching also online get a chance to just look up some of those different programs. Obviously, you know, we're closing out the summer. We've got... Charlie Daniels Park movie night at Friday night. We just wrapped up one Friday night this past Friday and the next one's coming up for next month. Again, go to the park's website. Look at all the different activities. We've got movie night. We've got a community yard sale. We've got the different events for the walking track and bicycle track. So We're all about community, and the best way to meet your neighbors is at these beautiful parks that we support. Last thing is for the students that are back to school. I know some of the folks are going back to college, but for Mount Juliet, the students are already back. Some new rules, what I've been told for these school buses, still a lot of learning for these students. So be patient as parents, be patient as neighbors. If you're heading into work, Take your time. Let these kids figure out the first couple weeks on getting across the street and just be aware of those big yellow buses. With that, Mayor, that concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We'll recognize Commissioner Mullaly for her comments.

Thank you. Will you call that flyer back up? Just one other quick thing about the Greenway Walk Thursday night. Please come. It's open. Bring your family. It's open to the community. I don't think you mentioned this, it's about a three mile walk and it's mostly flat. So we don't have any major hills to climb. So that's a good thing. So bring your kids, bring your family. You can even bring your dog. So please come out for that. So one of the things too for BPAC, it has a non-profit called Friends of Mount Juliet BPAC. And so it allows for grants that we can apply for. And so we did apply for a grant and we got, um, $15,000 for a missing sidewalk connection. That's going in right now. It connects blend the parkway to the, uh, walking track behind, uh, Rutland elementary. So, uh, city put in 10,000, so it's a $25,000 project. So this is just one. a perfect example of how Mount, or BPAC can, you know, friends of Mount Duluth BPAC can make these missing connections on the sidewalks. So this was a great project there. All right, so a couple of things, and also, you know, when we have construction, a lot of the construction, all of the construction on Bender's Ferry is, development projects paid for by the developer, not tax dollars. And it's, you know, it's aggravating. It is. Anytime we have construction, it's a pain. It really is. But people want infrastructure. So when we do get it going, whether it's a development project or city project like old Lebanon Dirt Road that took 10 years, please be patient. We're growing, we're working on the infrastructure, and it's hard to sit in traffic. It really is. Everybody wants to avoid it. And sometimes, depending where you are in the city, you can't avoid it because there's no alternative roads. So please, please, please, we'll do what we can, but please be patient. The couple of things on the agenda tonight, one is home rule, and the other one is, which I'm excited about, because the Belinda Parkway sidewalk project phase one went in. That took five years, actually, but that went in around 2019, 2020. Took five years to get to construction. So that's in, of course, phase one. And we've been looking for a grant for phase two, which will connect at the Monday Park Trailhead on Belinda Parkway, go all the way to South Rutland and connect to the walking path where the church owns South Rutland. So anyway, we applied. I think it was three years ago when we actually applied. It takes a long time to find out, and it was well over a year, I think, we found out we did not get that. But another one has come up, and Matt White, our public works director, he's very good at grants. So One came up and BPAC voted to move ahead with the application. So it's on the agenda tonight to be voted on by the board. It's a resolution to approve that application. And so this would be phase two. I'm very excited and just really hoping we get it. These type grants don't come along very often. And, of course, they have the whole city, I mean, the whole state, you know, that we're up against. On home rule, I don't know how much time I have left, but I just want to say a little bit about the home rule. repeal, which is our charter. And then when it comes up on the agenda, I have a couple of graphics to show you. So if you follow me on Facebook, I'm very active on Facebook. So I did post it. And so I answered all the questions that I could. And, you know, I don't have the answers to everything, but I was compiling a list from people to try and get answers to. So some of those answers I'm going to address when this comes up on the agenda, but I want to go ahead and say this right now. And first is I believe in limited government. That's my platform. And that has not changed. We are not the same city as we were in 2006. So we need to reevaluate and look at options for the long-term future of the city and plan for it. And I believe now is the time little would change, uh, About the repeal, going from home rule to general law charter, little would change in my opinion. The biggest would revolve around private acts from the Tennessee General Assembly. So under home rule, we cannot request private acts. Mount Juliet is the last city over 50 years to adopt home rule, except Knoxville in 1986 and two years later, they completely overhauled their system. So since the 90s, the state has not changed any laws regarding home rules charters. There is a history of home rule law, in case you didn't know how it came about back in 1953, when the state was abusing their, not the state, well, whoever it was. Anyway, it has a history, and the purpose of it was cities were being abused where the state would overreach their power in targeting cities that they didn't like. So since then, though, protections have been put in place, so that cannot happen. It served a purpose at the time, at the turn of the century, and rightfully so. But That is just not the situation these days. There are still questions to be addressed, and if this passes tonight, it will be on the November 3rd ballot for the voters. The city will hold at least five public meetings, so I'm gathering more questions to get answers to in preparation for those meetings. in plenty of time before early voting. The mayor and I sponsored a public meeting back in December to take a look at options for a smarter approach to growth as well as a sustainable future for the next 20 to 40 years. That was based on the Strong Towns concept as opposed to continuing the sprawl approach. In my opinion, repealing home rule would be the next step toward a more sustainable future. In that public meeting, I showed a PowerPoint that modeled Franklin's structured impact fee system that included sewer, water, roads, and parks. If the home rule is repealed in November, we would have the ability to create a structured impact fee system to help cover long-term maintenance for the impacts of growth and development. and have developers fairly share in that. Again, we're not the same city as we were in 2006 when this was adopted. We've grown and we need more revenue alternatives because basically our budget relies on sales tax, which cannot be raised because it is maxed according to state law. and property taxes. There are others, but these are the main two. So I believe the developers should fairly share in the future maintenance of maintaining their developments well into the future. It costs taxpayers to maintain these developments over time for roads, sewer, and stormwater. Personally, I would like to see an impact fee for parks as well to help maintain our parks into the future. So that's all I'll say now, and I'll wait until this comes up on the agenda.

you commissioner i'll just i'll just tack on the home rule um find the shorter answer if you think we should have um fair and equitable impact fees that more accurately capture the cost of continued construction and development then home rule needs to go in order for us to have a mechanism to interact those that's my simple example and with that i'll I'll recognize our city manager for his comments.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Thanks, everybody, for coming out tonight and those watching from home. Really appreciate you being out here. I want to give a shout out to all the civic organizations and the wonderful organizations that not only spoke tonight, those that couldn't be here tonight. I'd like to give a shout out to our commission for stepping up and supporting these organizations and all the work that goes into it, like Commissioner Lely puts into it. That means a lot. I think it's what makes our community special. And I know most everybody that's here tonight and have been to these different places, and they're absolutely beautiful. And, again, I think that's what sets Mount Jewel apart. So thank you for what you do and for what your staffs do and your teams do. And changing lives for people is the right thing because, like I always like to say, Mount Jewel is just a place on the map. The people is what makes it home. So thank you for that. And speaking of Mr. Limble, who's back there, I used to have to get his wife up in the middle of the night. She was a principal here at the school, and the alarm would go off because some kid would leave a door open, and we'd have to get her up in the middle of the night. She'd show up in her pajamas, and we'd wake them up. And it's funny because Commissioner Malayna and I were just born in 1990, and that's the first year that he started volunteering. That's phenomenal. I think that was the year I was born, 1990. I was like, that is great. But no, in seriousness, thank you for what you do. That's why shopping local is so important. And just real quick on a few businesses that are coming to town, people ask routinely, they'll see a construction site somewhere or something and they'll ask about it. But a few businesses and Commissioner Malaysia are good about putting this in their newsletters.

Einstein Bagel is going in the old Kentucky Fried Chicken location.

They're doing a remodel there. Horizon Bank is going in the old Waterburger location. And Slick City is going up by Costco. It's a big building, about 50,000 square feet. So as adults and kids, it would be a great place for you, your kids, and your grandkids to have fun. Jim and Nick's is going over on Golden Bear. That's the new building that's under construction close to Costco. And then up here on Pleasant Grove Road across from the credit union, I can't think of it, Sand Credit Union, is there's a new Nissan dealer. So we've got plenty of car dealers in town.

So if you're looking at buying a new car, just wait if you want to buy a Nissan and get it there.

We appreciate what our citizens do. We appreciate all of our departments and the wonderful work they do, and that's why we think Mount Juliet's the best city on the face of the planet and definitely the best out of the other 345 in this state. And God bless Mount Juliet, and that concludes my report.

Thank you, sir.

8A, which is a resolution approving the award of the on-call maintenance contracts for concrete maintenance, road resurfacing, and traffic signal maintenance, and authorizing the mayor to sign the contract. 8B, which is a resolution approving task order Number six, to master agreements to the city of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and CDM Smith Incorporated for the West Division Street Stormwater Drainage Project and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. 8D, which is a resolution approving an agreement to the agreement between the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and Kimberly Horn for bid and construction of engineering and inspection services for the City of Mount Juliet. I'm sorry, for Mount Juliet Road ADA upgrades. Phase 2, project and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement 8E, which is a resolution supporting A grant application for the Belinda Parkway Sidewalks Phase 2 project by the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee for the Tennessee Department of Transportation's upcoming TAP grant cycle. And 8F, which is a resolution to approve an agreement between the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and Kimberly Horn for engineering design services for the Safe Streets for all implementation project and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. 8H, which is a resolution approving an agreement for Excuse me, improving an amendment to the agreement between the city of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Transportation for the Mount Juliet Road ADA upgrades phase two project and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. Eight, aye, which is a resolution to approve an agreement between the city of Mount Juliet and Motorola Solutions Incorporated for communications equipment and services and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. Hear a motion. All in favor of the consent, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The consent agenda does pass. 8C, a resolution approving grants by the City of Mount Juliet, Tennessee as previously budgeted in the 2026-2027 budget ordinance 2026-48. Motion second, 8C is on the table. I'd like to start off by proposing an amendment. I would propose that after Section 2 and right before they be further resolved that we insert the language as Section 3. The Board of Commissioners approves an allocation to RTA in the amount of $30,000. The City Manager is currently working with RTA to resolve an outstanding issue concerning a pending license agreement related to the City's use of RTA property. An additional allocation of $52,000 for a total allocation of $82,000 is approved contingent upon resolution of these issues and subsequent approval of license agreement by the Board of Commissioners. If the license agreement is not approved by the Board of Commissioners, the total allocation to RTA shall remain $30,000. Motion to second. Any objections to the amendment? Seeing none, we're back on 8C as once amended. We're ready to vote. Commissioner Giles, you're recognized.

So, Commissioner Mullaly, I want to thank you for so diligently doing all this work for it. have to say i'm glad i don't i can't do that because of non-com because i would there be a conflict of interest but um and i also cannot vote for that i won't make a motion but i also cannot vote for this tonight because i do have a financial um conflict of interest because of some of the non-profits that i insure so i can't can't vote for it but we can uh but anyway so one of the things i wanted to do i want to make a motion that we give the soccer league um Correct name is Wilson United Soccer League, Inc., at least $1,000. Their field is in my district. I go by there obviously constantly, and I look over there, and these kids are playing, and it's a good sport. I know nothing about it hardly, but it's a good sport. But anyway, so that's just my motion.

Okay, we have a defined budgeted amount, Commissioner. I know. Any recommendations for other items to cut?

Well, there's one on there, but Commissioner Mullaly had explained why. The only way that we could do that would have to have a budget amendment. It would have to be another time. But at least I wanted to bring that forward. I just think that we should try, and if we can't this time, maybe in the future, allocate even more for these programs and be able to contribute to them.

Commissioner Mullaly.

When I was doing the grants, thankfully this year, we had a little bit of extra money to work with. So I was able to increase substantially. All the sports programs are based on the number of participants at $25 a head, the ones that are on there. I did not give two sports anything because one is Tennessee Flyers baseball, which is a travel team. The other one is Wilson United Soccer League. They also had asked for something last year as well. They're asking for $45,000. The city did donate the land of where they practice, and I think that that should count for something. But the reason is Tennessee Flyers Baseball has 25 participants. And I talked to the ones who run both of these organizations. Tennessee Flyers Baseball is fairly new. They've not really gotten established. They practice at Mount Juliet High School. They don't have anywhere to... play here in Mount Juliet, and they also don't hold tournaments here. They travel around Middle Tennessee. Now, they do hope to get two tournaments here in Mount Juliet, and I asked him, I said, okay, is there anything in concrete? And he said, no. And I said, what about this upcoming budget year? And he said, no. So that's the reason I chose, because they practice at Mount Duluth High School, and that's pretty much it. They travel outside the area, Middle Tennessee, for the travel baseball. So that's the reason I chose not to give them any. Now, Wilson United Soccer League, I did talk to both of the guys that run that. Here's my problem with that. They have 904 participants at $25 a head. That's $22,600. So, of course, they're asking for 4,500. I mean, 45,000. So, again, I talked to both the guys that run it. This is a big outfit. It's a big organization. They did not submit financial statements. All they submitted was in 2004, they had the list of their expenses, which totaled 350,000. They didn't list any revenues, okay? This year, they submitted a list of expenses that totaled just under a million dollars. It topped $900,000. Now in 2004, which currently they have one paid position, and that position is $60,000. and which i have a problem with the list of expenses they submitted for this budget totals again just under a million dollars now in their list they also include a long list of salaries and hiring more people so if i'm and i told him this it's not anything i just said didn't say to him If I'm trying to decide who to give grant money to, you know, to help kids play sports or something, you know, it's a volunteer organization. And then, you know, you got, say, Meals on Wheels, you know, Feeding the Hungry, the Help Center. I mean, and then I'm looking at this that's got all these salaries. I just have a huge problem with that. Because to me, if you really need the grant money, cut the salaries. I just can't digest that. And the reason they do that, and again, they're a big outfit, is because relying on volunteers is a problem because they don't show up a lot of times. So that's the reason they want to hire these positions. So they practice on those fields that the city donated to them. They don't play games here. They go to Lebanon to play their games and their tournaments. The only thing they do here in the city is practice, okay? So those are the two reasons that I did not allot them any grant money.

commissioner can i don't just want to say publicly say thank you for all the effort and the work that you put in to put this together i know you did a lot of a lot of leg work on this and it's and you're basically a volunteer yourself when it comes to work yeah basically uh one one suggestion if i could instead of trying to make changes to this i know there's a lot of organizations we'd like to help i'm I would suggest we just amended to add a Section 3 for the RTA piece here. I would suggest that maybe we amend that again to say if it is not resolved by Columbus Day, we'll free that $52,000 up for reallocation here locally. And that way we wouldn't have to. Well, we already got a motion and we already got an amendment on the table here, but if that would be agreeable and the person making the motion and the person who seconded it were agreeable to that and would draw theirs, I would submit that as a motion. So we're going to redraw the amendment on the table and i'm gonna i'm gonna add to section three that if we have not received an agreement by columbus day then the addition the fifty two thousand dollar difference uh would come back to the board of commissioners for reallocation for local grants second any questions or comments on that amendment Commissioner Giles.

Sorry. Really, I agree with that. I just wanted to, again, echo what you said because she does an incredible job on this. And, again, you know why I can't. And I do appreciate everything you do. I appreciate you explaining it and everything. You do great. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? All right. All in favor of 8C as twice amended, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? It does pass. Next item is 8G, a resolution declaring the City of Mount Juliet Police Department property a surplus to be disposed of at GovDeals auctions. Motion? And a second. We have a revised copy here that was submitted at the table. It's requesting the resolution be amended to allow the donation of 30 taser batteries to Tazewell Police Department, and forgive me if I mispronounced your name, but a small department, I'm told, and this could be a big benefit to them. So I want a motion to amend and accept the substitution language that includes the 30 tasers. Second. Questions or comments? All in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Any other comments on this? All in favor of the resolution as once amended, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That does pass. The next item is AJ, a resolution to approve an image management agreement with Novatec for the use of copy and printing equipment and authorize the city manager to sign the agreement. I have a motion and a second. I'm going to suggest an amendment here that I'm going to make, which is that the city manager can sign the agreement. contingent upon the city's name being spelled correctly in the agreement. Is there a second? All right. All right. Any questions or comments on the amendment? All in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Any other questions or comments on 8J? All in favor of 8J as once amended, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? It does pass. The next item is 9A, an ordinance to submit to the voters of the city of Mount Juliet. The question, shall this municipality repeal the adoption of home rule? Motion and second. Items on the floor. Any questions, comments? Commissioner Lely, you're recognized.

All right. Just a couple of graphics to show you. Okay, so it's just a visual to kind of explain what I said already. I did get some answers to some of the questions that I gathered on, let me find where I did one. Okay. On social media that I collected. So you see here a side-by-side comparison. So what changes and what stays the same? So today we're under a home rule charter that we, the voters adopted in 2006. So Mount Juliet basically controls its own charter. which means the voters have to vote on a charter change. And so nothing where it says voters down, none of that changes. You still have your voters who elect the mayor and the board of commissioners. You still have the board of commissioners that sets policy, adopts ordinances, approves budget. You still have, because we appoint the city manager, Uh, that stays the same. That will not change. The city manager is basically the boss of the city, uh, over staff. Um, and on the right proposed is a general law, a city manager commissioner charter. as opposed to the home rule, this would be a Tennessee general law. The charter is established by Tennessee law. And again, from the voters down, everything stays the same. So it's the same basic form of government, the different, but a different source of the charter. So again, policy is still set by the board and the city manager runs the city. All right, number two, who controls Mount Juliet's charter? Well, home rule is the Mount Juliet voters because there cannot be a change, again, unless the voters vote on it. And the way that happens is what you see happening here. If we recommend a change for the charter, then we go through an ordinance process. to get it on the ballot. So that's what's happening here. So charter changes are local. Changes to the charter ultimately require voter approval. On the right, you've got general law. So the Tennessee General Assembly It has the Tennessee Code City Manager Commission charter, and the charter framework is established by state law. Changes made by the Tennessee General Assembly to the general law charter can affect cities operating under it. So look down at the bottom where it says Mount Juliet, our community, our choice. I'm going to come back to that here in just a second. All right, number three, if the state changed our charter, what would happen? Mount Juliet still has the final say. If it's a private act, the only way we would not have a say is if the state amended its TCA, but that would not just affect Mount Juliet. That would affect every city across the state. So the way that would happen was, The Tennessee General Assembly proposes a change to the general law charter. The proposed change to the charter down to step two, the Mount Juliet Board of Commissioners, again, if it's a private act, the Mount Juliet Board of Commissioners must vote on whether to accept the change. It would require two-thirds majority vote of the full Board of Commissioners to approve the change. Step four, change takes effect in Mount Juliet, only if steps one to three are completed and approved. And again, these are based on private acts. So the bottom line is the state can propose, but Mount Juliet decides. Local control remains. And again, two-thirds majority, and we have a final say on private acts. Number four, if home rule is repealed, we can build for the future. And all of this has to do about our future of the city. And again, like I said earlier, I feel like this is the next step based from our public work session that we had in December about looking toward the future. To me, this is the next step. If so, if it's repealed, we can build for the future without burdening taxpayers by returning to general law. And by the way, when Mount Juliet became a city in 1972, we were under the general law city manager commission charter. So we were under that. And then, uh, The BOC at the time in 2006 put it before the voters and the voters by majority vote voted to adopt the home rule. So that's how that came about. And again, we're not the same city. So in order to look at our future for a sustainable future, my opinion is this needs to be repealed by returning to a general law and securing a private act. So Mount Juliet can establish an impact pack system. So what happens? Let's say if this is repealed in November, what would happen is Mount Juliet would return to a general law city manager commission charter. So the board of commissioners authorizes a request to the state, invokes the votes to seek a private act. So then that request is sent to the Tennessee General Assembly and And we ask them to approve a private act allowing an impact fee system. So we'll say they approve it. So the impact fee system then would be in place, and we could have that structure. to where we could have developers fairly share into the future maintenance of the development. So it's about responsible growth, strong infrastructure, and a better Mount Juliet for today and tomorrow. On the right, you see an impact fee system helps fund long-term needs such as roads, stormwater, sewer, and personally what I would like to see, parks. So based on the work session that we had back in December, it was about growing wisely in Mount Juliet for sustainable growth and infrastructure responsibility, about creating a comprehensive framework for fiscal stewardship and smart development. Now, the impact fee structure that I showed in the PowerPoint, this is Franklin's. Now, ours doesn't have to be. Exactly the same. I personally like theirs. As you can see, it's roads, water, sewer, and parks. To me, that would help. So incredible to take the burden off the taxpayers. Because let's say now there's a development that gets approved, and say 10 years down the road, Those roads need to be resurfaced, milled and repaved and whatever. So that comes out of taxpayer money. So this system here would help with that so that developers would fairly share in that in removing the burden off of taxpayers. So that's my opinion. Oh, I was going to read some questions. Well, am I out of time? We could go and then I'll come. I could come back around.

I have a question for the attorney. When it comes to home rule, the Board of Commissioners can basically propose any question they want to to the general public, and as long as it passes, it becomes law. Is that not correct?

That is not correct.

That's not correct. I thought we could do whatever we wanted under home rule.

The city cannot do whatever it wants under home rule. It has to have authority.

wait a minute so if it's not already in tca the only way to be able to do it would be to get a private act correct correct but those don't apply to homeless but they don't apply to home rule cities okay so if we wanted to do an impact fee now or increase it that's that's found under general law correct we can just set it whatever we want as long as we change our charter under home rule correct

The state would have to pass a private act for us.

Okay. All right. I just want to clarify some questions because somebody said, why do you need to repeal home rule? If you could just put a charter amendment out there under home rule, then it would be so. We do not have the authority under the Tennessee Constitution. Oh, we're like a Dillon's Law state or something, so we only have the authority granted to us. I got you. All right. Anyone else? Commissioner Mullaly.

Hello. Yeah, I promised I was going to get some answers for you. So if I run out of time again, just let me know. Um, and again, that will address what the mayor said to, um, if the city is approved for an impact fee structure, how much would the state get? What would be their portion? And would we have to share it with the county? The state would not get any portion of the city's impact fees and the city would not have to share it with the county. What protections would prevent unrelated state interference down the road in the future if HR is repealed? Repealing home rule would not grant the state the authority to enact private acts for the city without the city's permission. which would require approval by at least two thirds of the board. Like we said earlier, it's also important to note that the state already enacts general laws that apply to municipalities, including those operating under home rule. The city is already required to comply with those laws and repealing home rule would not change that. Do we have a general idea of what kind of revenues could potentially be generated from an impact fee structure? Well, you see Franklin's there. And of course, ours would not be the same. So what about the model Franklin has? The city will have, currently, we did an impact fee study about, I don't know, three or four years ago. But because we're home rule, we couldn't do anything with it. So I don't know if this gets repealed, if the state would accept the one that we did three or four years ago, or if they would require a new one. I'm not sure. But anyway, regardless, we would do an impact fee study and complete that. The study would evaluate the cost of mitigating the impacts of new developments on public infrastructure and services, including roads, parks, public safety, and other government facilities to help establish and appropriate the impact fee structure. And by the way, all of these answers here come straight from the Tennessee State Constitution in relation to home rule. I've been told that if we repeal, city commissions can change as in the state has authority. How so? The state can and always has been able to enact general laws that apply to municipalities, including while the city has operated under general home rule. The city is already subject to those laws and would not change if home rule were repealed. How many home rule cities in Tennessee, of those, how many have tried to amend their charters? Mount Juliet tried to amend, and this, again, they just stated that. So there's 346 incorporated municipalities in Tennessee. There are only 14 that adopted home rule going back to 1953, and that includes Mount Juliet. So besides Mount Juliet, no Tennessee municipality has adopted home rule since 1972. Now, Julie, it cannot amend its charter to ask the state again, as our city attorney said, for more flexibility. That's not allowed. How could the state potentially control our charter if repealed? The state has and always will have the ability to pass general laws affecting all municipalities. Repealing would not grant the state the power to enact private acts for the city without the city's permission, again, by two-thirds vote. The state would have the authority to amend the statutes governing general law charter, which would apply to all cities across the state. Therefore, they could not single out Mount Juliet. If the state passed a private act of some sort after the repeal, what would that mean for Mount Juliet? The private act would apply specifically to Mount Juliet, and it would be subject to the, again, approval of two-thirds of the vote. I got a little more time. Could the state control our zoning laws, annexation, elected terms, and pay if repealed. The city's zoning and annexation regulations are already controlled by the state. That will not change. The state will not have the ability to pass a private act removing the incumbent from any municipal office or abridging their term or alter their salary prior to the end of their term. Further, repealing home rule would not grant the state the power to enact private acts for the city without the city's permission. So the state has the authority to amend the statutes governing the general law charter, which would apply to all cities. So right now, voters can amend our own charter under Home Rule. If repealed, would that mean only the state could amend after that point? The state has authority to amend the statutes governing the general law. charter, which would apply to all cities. Again, some of these, these are different questions I got, but some of the answers are kind of the same. Let's see, what are the unintended consequences of repealing? There are no unintended consequences of repealing. Unless the city wants to restructure how its city government is set up, then home rule does not largely benefit the city. And keep in mind that only 13 other cities have implemented home rule and that goes way back there. So there's a reason over 300 other cities don't use it. Can you provide the portion of the city charter or state law that prohibits Mount Juliet from assessing impact fees or other fees to builders, new homeowners or businesses? There is no general law allowing Mount Juliet to collect impact fees and according to article 11, Section 9 of the Tennessee Constitution, the General Assembly shall act with respect to such home rule municipality only by laws which are general in terms and effect, meaning private acts do not apply. I've got two more. Can you provide proof from other jurisdictions that the state hasn't stepped in and gone against the will of local voters? The state will always have and have and has always had the ability to step in and enact general laws that affect all cities. Can you provide a list of corporate interests, private interests, and other parties that will benefit from this change and are bankrolling the effort? The purpose of this effort is solely to help ensure that the cost associated with new development are not born disproportionately by the existing residents of Mount Juliet. This proposed change is being considered by the Mount Juliet Board of Commissioners through the city's normal legislative process. This was not funded or directed by any outside individual, organization, or special interest. If the ordinance is approved, the city will conduct public informational meetings at minimum of five to further explain the proposed change and answer questions from residents before the reference referendum so stay tuned on the dates that we set for the meetings they've not been announced yet so just heads up on that cool you want some more we'll have meetings on that right yeah

Boss Mayor.

Just real quick, Commissioner. So my understanding that we're going to have one meeting for each district and then one meeting that will be more generalized just in case somebody didn't make the first meeting. Is that correct?

There will be one in each district and then a citywide one.

And our city manager will be scheduling this. Is that correct, sir?

and our deputy yep thank you so much appreciate you both and thank you uh commissioner for all the detail i appreciate that all right where were we oh 9a any other questions or comments on 9a all in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed Any abstentions? It does pass. I'm going to make a motion that we reconsider 8C. Second. All right. 8C, a resolution approving the grants by the City of Mount Juliet as previously budgeted in the 2026-2027 budget ordinance 2026-48. Is there a motion? Is there a second, anyone? I'll second. All in favor, are there any other questions or comments on 8C? We're reconsidering number 8C. Okay. Yes, which is the resolution approving grants. All in favor of 8C, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? All right, let us pass. The next item is 10A, an ordinance to amend Ordinance 2023-14 for McFarland Farms, located at 5238, 5266, 5404, and 0, Old Lebanon Dirt Road, Map 77, Parcel 2322, 22.01, and 22.03, by removing public works condition 10C. Motion second. Questions or comments on 10A? All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? 10A passes. 10B, which is an ordinance to reason and adopt the preliminary master development plan for the property located at 115 Oakmont Drive, approximately 10 acres. Map 72, parcel 5.01 from RS-40 to RS-20. Motion to second. The item's on the floor. Ms. Mullaney, you're recognized.

Okay. I would like to make a motion that these streets and sidewalks be private, meaning that the HOA would have to maintain them rather than the city. Again, this is another way that the city could save money on long-term maintenance. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me get a second.

I'll second you.

Okay.

Okay.

So, yeah. So that... to help alleviate long-term maintenance costs on the city. I would like these to be private streets and sidewalks.

Any questions or comments on private streets?

No, I just want to comment on that, too, because this is something we're trying to get the developments, especially when they've got the cul-de-sacs and stuff like that. I think this one's a prime one for that, and so I think that's a good motion.

Yeah, number seven under engineering says streets shall not stub. Any other questions or comments on that? All right. All in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Back on the ordinance as once amended. Commissioner Raleigh.

All right. I have, let's see, you answered my question about the curved road. On page three of the plan, it doesn't appear the, unless that's something else, it's hard to tell. Well, on this one, it looks like. The sidewalk completely goes around both cul-de-sacs. OK. All right. Because on one sheet I had, it didn't look like it. What is the plan for the stormwater runoff? I do see a detention. Two detention ponds in here. Some plans you see a stormwater runoff plan. I don't know. What is the plan? And the reason I'm asking, so that it doesn't run off into the neighbor's property.

Name and address, please. Or just a name. Name and title, please.

Shane Schemner, Director of Engineering, City of Mount Juliet. At this time, they're not required to provide a comprehensive drainage plan that will be evaluated at FMDP. So what they've got is conceptual, but I'll have to defer to the engineer on what their plans will be, and then we review it, obviously, at FMDP.

Yeah, okay. So when I first came on the BOC, we were dealing with some projects that had been approved from years before that were still under construction, and we're dealing with stormwater runoff on the back end. So anytime we can fix these problems on the front end, I would like to do it. So if we can make every effort to fix these so that it won't happen. I do see two ponds, okay. On the I see a private fence is to be added on the west end, the west side of the cemetery. It looks like currently there's a barbed wire fence with the little X's there on the line. I assume that means barbed wire. It was... I don't know. So if this is a barbed wire fence, this is going to be removed and a private fence is going to be added. Can I have you look at this? Oh, John.

John Boffman, city planner. That line with the X as you see on there is the proposed privacy fence.

Yeah.

If there's one out there, I don't think that they're trying to illustrate that there'll be a privacy fence there.

All right.

Yes. Right here and right here is where the privacy fence is going, those two lines. Yes. And then on this end is where the landscaping boarder picked up.

Okay, so what is behind these cemeteries?

I don't see anything there.

What do you mean, like homes?

Yeah, I didn't see any indication about a privacy fence there.

There's nothing on the north side of the cemetery.

Nothing? Yeah. All right. So just curious why this privacy fence wouldn't continue around to meet the landscaping buffer?

I don't think they put the fence there as like a privacy just to kind of isolate the cemetery, delineate the perimeter of the cemetery. They aren't required to have a fence around it.

Okay. And I noticed that according to Google, all that is wooded back there. And I know that there's a, tree vegetation survey too, which is good. Is there anything that states that all of those trees shall remain?

Not unless there's a condition in there. I don't recall. I don't think we had it in here. I think his intention is to leave the cemetery alone, maintain access to it, and fence it off. But it's not his to maintain.

So is the cemetery, because I can't really see on these maps, is the cemetery within the wooded area?

It is. I think he had somebody go out there and survey it. The applicant might speak more eloquently, but I don't think they even, they didn't find much out there.

We looked into it with the state, too, trying to figure out who maintains these, and it's tough.

They're just kind of derelict, some of them out there. But I don't know what his intention for the cemetery is.

I can't remember.

I don't even know if he owns it. It's not part of this pod. It's not included in the footprint.

Where the trees are around the cemetery?

I don't think he'd be getting into the cemetery with any... It's not part of the pod.

Oh, it's not part of the pod? That tree wooded area?

No, no. That border you see with the fence along it is the boundary of the PUD. They are maintaining access to the PUD, or to the cemetery, rather. Public access to it.

Okay. All right, well, I'm glad there's a tree vegetation survey, so let's see. Okay, well, that's all I had.

Commissioner Giles?

Yeah, I think that i think what's happened they went out there remember us talking about this in planning quite quite a lot they got they hired whatever the the state guy is and this was for better words they thought they were graves there they didn't find any if i'm not mistaken so they didn't find any and an access to this area for better words is already there and that's what's on the plot it goes from curd road up to there so that's why a lot of that's a little different than a lot of times when we have a cemetery that say a quarter of an acre or less and we put a fence all the way around it this is just for better words and they tried to find heirs of those those possibly people that were buried there so They really did their due diligence on this.

I'm going to make a motion under engineering number five. The following variances are granted. The variance for the CODISAC to exceed 700 feet. The second one, which is B, a variance to the CODISAC to exceed 25 units. And then C, which is a variance to allow permanent dead end within 150 feet of the boundary of the property. I'm going to make a motion to adopt those. Questions or comments? All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The next, the next item is here under engineering. It says the planning commission recommends only utilizing gravity fed sewer for the development. But then when you get to four, it says request sewer availability prior to the second reading at the BOC. So that needs to be done before second reading. It says the side has two options for sewer routing service. The routing shall be determined at FMDP, um,

yes sir i know you may have a thoughts on this just to fall in line with maintenance um the existing homes on oakmont drive were served by ford spain That's what it is. The ability of this site to be gravity fed exists going through the Oak Hall HOA property and to be tied into the sewer that serves Oak Hall Timber Trail. In an effort to minimize those maintenance costs and the future maintenance, I had suggested to the Planning Commission that we go gravity. And topography conditions exist. We can deal with those at FMDP if a grinder or two is needed. I don't think they will be. I will have to defer to the engineer of record and work with him through that at FMDP. In an effort with the new development, we want to try to have as many homes that are being built tied to gravity as possible to keep our resources for homes that are still on grinders and making sure we don't expend our staff. So that alignment based on this board's decision shall be set at FMVP based on your decision.

So would you recommend striking number three, which just says it's a recommendation for the Planning Commission, and possibly number four, too, and just saying, sir, shall be gravity?

I would recommend that. That's the will of the board to reduce maintenance, yes.

Is there anything else in four? Because it's got an A, B, and C. A is connection to gravity surgoing North Oak Hall development will be attained to applicable easements. And then it's got the topographical prohibitions that you mentioned.

Yeah, as long as if those topographical prohibitions exist, that for every grinder they use, they provide the city a redundant system if we have to go that route but i don't think we will but is that in code or do you want that in the pud i would like that in the pud sir okay

And number C, if either option, the public sewer minus lateral shall be within 25th, that's standard. Leave that.

Yes, sir.

All right. I will make the motion to strike. Or actually, we can just do it this way. We'll just amend C to say this shall be served by gravity sewer. Okay, then just strike the recommendation from planning commission. Say so there shall be gravity and then on. Should we just add a D under 4 for the redundant pumps?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Then I'll make a motion that we change the language in number 3, which says the Planning Commission recommend only utilizing gravity-fed sewer for the development. I recommend we change that or make the motion that we change that and say this will be gravity-fed sewer, and I'm going to add under 4D if for... if for reasons some lots cannot have gravity fed so that they provide a redundant pump yeah and you're correct we got it covered under 4b So I'll just make this single motion that at three reads, this development will be served with gravity, sir.

And I'll coordinate with the engineer to make sure that availability is requested before this comes back for second reading.

All right. Is there a second? Questions or comments on gravity, sir? All in favor of changing the language in three to read this development shall be gravity fed or gravity served. All right. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. We're back on the ordinance. I believe it's twice amended. Or excuse me, three times amended. Are there any questions or comments?

All right.

All in favor of the ordinance, this is three times amended. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Does pass on first reading. the next item is 10c an ordinance to amend the city of mount julia code of ordinances chapter 28 traffic and vehicles regarding u-turns and authorize the city engineer or public works director to designate and sign locations where u-turns are prohibited there's a motion and motion second questions or comments on 10c

Yes, sir. So this basically, of course, I've read through it. And if I'm not mistaken, the state of Tennessee, the law is you can make a U-turn unless there's signs that says you cannot. So it does have to be, it should be signed. So that's all this is basically doing is saying you can do a U-turn unless there's signage that says you cannot. Okay. Okay. They're illegal, but I've said this for many years. Somebody could contest that if they got a ticket for that because it's not posted. You go anywhere else and you can make a U-turn. So I appreciate you bringing this because it gives some clarification.

worked on this for a while and so anyway we feel like the language is good and he added some verbiage to it so we just we feel like this is the route to go i i want to add though the state law does allow for what the city currently does which is posting at the entrance of the city that u-turns are prohibited here that's the second piece to that code Generally, they are allowed, but we've adopted that second option to post that they're not allowed currently under city code. I believe we're probably one of the last cities in Middle Tennessee to have a blanket outlaw of U-turns. I remember I made the news a few years ago when the city of Franklin repealed their U-turn ban or did a U-turn on their U-turn ban.

Most people don't know they're posted anywhere.

Right.

That's the problem with

Got to pay attention to that small print when you cross the city limits line.

Yeah.

All right. Any other questions or comments on 10C? All right. All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? It does pass. The next item is, we'll call it 10D. which is an ordinance to amend the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget ordinance 2026-48 to appropriate funds for the stormwater fund for emergency repair of a roadway. I have a motion. Second. Motion and second. This was added at said agenda. This is, like it says, an emergency repair of a roadway dealing with storm damage at 1265 South Bass Road. is damaged in a flash flood overnight on the 21st through 22nd of July, and we feel it's in the best interest of the city to make an emergency allocation of funds to address that. Any questions or comments from anyone? All in favor of the ordinance, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? Any other business? Hearing none, without objection, we are adjourned.