Commission - Regular Meeting

oh yes oh yes oh yes this meeting of the washington county board of commissioners is now in session pursuant to adjournment the honorable chairman greg madeline presiding come to order or remain standing thank you sheriff our first order of business this evening is our prayer led by commissioner carter and the pledge led by commissioner malone commissioner carter

Please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this day. We give you thanks for so many blessings that we have right in front of us. I thank you for giving us the opportunity to honor our fathers yesterday for Father's Day. what a blessing it is to have a strong male figure in our lives. And Lord, I pray for those that don't have that, that they can find that in you. We know that you are the ultimate father for all of us. And we thank you for that. And tonight, Lord, we get to, uh, get to think about our seniors and all that they've done for us. And, uh, We get to have a discussion on stuff that might benefit them. Lord, help us to remember that they're the ones that helped build this county, that they've sacrificed, they've invested. And really, they're the ones that made this a place where it seems like everybody in the country wants to move to. And we thank you for that. Just give us the courage if something's right to vote. vote for it and if it's not right give us the courage to not vote for it and Lord next week we get to celebrate 250 years of our great nation and we thank you for the many blessings over all that time that you have given us just help us to remember those principles that made this country so great and for us to honor those that sacrificed their lives to make our future so bright. Just guide our discussions tonight, Lord, and we love you. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in honoring our nation and its flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with

Madam Clerk, if you'll switch us to the roll call screen. All right, if everybody will go ahead and sign in on the roll call screen.

I did that. It hasn't come up yet to show present or absent. It's hard to vote.

So we've got eight commissioners. We have down 100.

Is this please wait until roll is called?

Maybe it's smarter than us, Madam Clerk.

The chairman does something wrong. So does Mr. Stout.

The chairman's here. That's the main thing.

We're still missing several after that, though, Q. I'm Clark, you'll just call the roll that will move us all.

Here. Here. Here.

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Here. Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here. Here.

Here. Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here.

Here. You have your agenda in front of you for this tax freeze workshop this afternoon. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Motion by Commissioner Huff. I'm seconded by Commissioner Fitzgerald. Any questions about the agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the agenda, signify by saying aye.

Aye. All opposed?

And the agenda's approved. We'll move right on into our agenda for our program this evening. Mayor Grandy.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So tonight, we're going to... consider a learning about a little bit more information on an item that we thought about we talked about for really really several years probably and over the last few months it's come to at least the budget committee from some citizens who say you know maybe this is something that the county or consider to help I've seen your population has been talked about in his prayer. Some of the folks that have really been important to the county tonight we have from the comptroller's office can and they all to really minister this program to the 27 counties across the state that have implemented it over the past few months. Rick story. And Robin wire the 2 officials that really will have the most to do this program have interviewed some of the counties and but most specifically what County because they seem to be more similar to us in size there in our region and they've been operate they've operated this program for a while. So again tonight, this is really just an opportunity for all of us to learn some of the mechanics of it, what it potentially might cost the county moving forward, and how it will help a specific class of individuals. So Rick, if you just sort of step up and introduce Ken and Dale, we'd appreciate it. Thank you.

his video is not this long i just need to carry it just had that in my hand well uh thanks for coming this evening i i my job as a trustee tonight is just give you a 30 000 view of what the county offers now the city i'm going to hit tax freeze tax relief very quickly that's what we offer now tax raises a program that set up with the state that washington county participates in that's for the elderly 65 and over disabled or 100 disabled veterans so there's three categories that go in there Washington County currently matches the state jurisdiction. This past year, if they qualified, the state paid $140 to the disabled and the elderly, and Washington County matched up to that, so they could get $280. On the 100% disabled veteran side, they're... the elderly and disabled, there's an income level on theirs. Their income last year, or 25, was 37,530. It's going up to 38,470 next year. But I'll jump to the 100% disabled veterans. They do not have an income level. But they get, the state matches, the state pays $748 and Washington County matches that. So they get a total of 14, can get a total of $1,496. If we're taxed at just $1,000, all they're gonna get refunded is just $1,000. But that's, we've got about 2,500 folks on that program. what it cost the county this year, I think the latest figure I saw was like $773,430. So that was pretty much the end. We still probably got a couple of DVs out there to come back in to us, but we got the majority of those in. But I mean, that's what we're currently offering now. But you're going to hear a little crossover between tax relief and tax freeze, kind of parallel programs. But I'm not going to steal any thunder from Ken, but I'll let him talk about that. Right now, we currently offer tax relief. I've got too many going. Tax relief, that's what we offer. And this will be an additional program once you hear the information. No decision being made on tonight. But I would just like to take this moment to thank Ken and Dale. Ken Morrell is the Special Projects Director for the Comptroller Currencies Office, and he's come up here this evening. I think he has a little roots here back in Washington County, but I'll just turn it over to him, unless you have any questions of me on the tax relief program. With that, Ken, welcome.

Thank you, it's really good to be with you tonight and I appreciate the opportunity to come and share information with you about the property tax freeze program. And that's my purpose here is to provide information on something that is a local program, a local option program. And with me is Dale Maxfield of our staff. And Dale kind of leads the tax freeze support for our division. And so he's a key person in the process of helping people in jurisdictions that adopt the tax freeze, getting them the information. connection up to systems and so forth that help the administration of that. So Rick mentioned that I have some roots in Washington County and that's true. I was born in Washington County. and lived here for a total of four months before my family moved to Nashville. But alongside that, I had many occasions to visit relatives and loved ones in Washington County and Carter County and all the way up to Saltville, Virginia, where my mom grew up. a lot of happy memories in this part of the state. And so I have a fond place in my heart for Washington County. But anyway, just to, you know, we're going to cover some high points and probably some detail. I'll probably try to, I'll try to not overload you with detail if I can help it, but that's my nature to do that. So I apologize for that in advance. If I do, you can feel free to wave at me or something, you know, if you want to have me slow down or speed up or something. Anyway, so Who we are, I'm part of the Comptroller's Office. I work for the Division of Property Assessments, which is in the Comptroller's Office. As you know, there's no state property tax, but the Division of Property Assessments works to assist county assessors of property and monitor the work and try to ensure equity and uniformity as much as possible. And so we've had a vested interest in that for over 40 years in that type of work. The mission of the comptroller's office is simply stated to make government work better. And as you know, there's a lot of auditors that work for the comptroller's office. Property assessments is a different kind of group within the comptroller's office. But it's all of our mission to help make government work better. So we're going to cover some aspects here. We're going to start with some basics. And if you get anything out of what I say in this presentation, it's this one statement. It's the tax amount that's frozen if you adopt the property tax freeze. And so that's important. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. But if you get one fact out of this, that's the one to get. So it is local option for counties and municipalities to qualify. A homeowner must be 65 years old by the end of the year for which they are applying. They apply to freeze the tax on their primary residence. and they must meet certain income requirements and file an annual application. And so tax freeze is administered by the county trustee and if the city adopts it of course by the city collecting official. But the assessor's office also plays a role in tax freeze administration. And so it's really important for those offices to cooperate. And we have systems that help them pass data back and forth and so forth. But it's effort from two offices that is needed. And so the legal basis for this is a constitutional amendment was adopted in November 2006. Enabling legislation was passed in 2007 and it was effective for 2008. Administrative rules were adopted and are in place And so like tax relief, there's an income limit for property tax freeze. So the minimum amount, the tax freeze income limit, by the way, is by county. And so the minimum amount it can be is equal to the tax relief income limit. And so as Rick stated, that's $38,470, the amount for TankShare 2026 applications. the income limit is adopted or is adjusted annually by the Social Security cost of living adjustment, just like the tax relief income limit is. So in terms of counties that aren't at that minimum level, then it's a higher income limit calculated by the state, by our office every year and adjusted by the Social Security COLA each year, the cost of living adjustment. So for tax year 2026, those county limits go all the way up to 69,150, which is Williamson County. But there are 52 counties at that minimum income limit. But, and I'm pretty sure you won't be able to read any of those numbers on those counties on the map, But Washington County is one of those counties in dark blue, which means it's got a higher income limit than the minimum. And so the income limit for tax year 2026 for Washington County is $45,100. So you would have some people to qualify for property tax freeze that don't qualify for as low-income elderly recipients of tax relief. And so that's just something to understand. Again, all of those are adjusted annually by the Social Security cost of living adjustment. So in recent years, there's been a second option adopted or authorized in statute to have an optional local option, an optional income limit that's higher than that. And so it started out in the first year it was available, it was $60,000, so it was $60,000. whatever the standard income limit was, or $60,000. But that's also adjusted by the Social Security COLA. So it's adjusted upward over the last three years. And so it's $63,470 for tax year 2026. So you do have an option if you wanted to adopt that higher income limit. That's an option as well. and there's a list of participating jurisdictions. To show the whole list, I'm sorry it had to be that small, but I will, so I think there's already a copy of the actual presentation. one of your computers. But in addition to that, I'll create a PDF of that and provide it sometime tomorrow. But anyway, there are 27 counties that have adopted the local option tax freeze and 36, I think, counties. I can't read that from here either. But just to review the fundamental concept, it's the tax amount that's frozen. Okay, it's not the property value that's frozen. It's not the assessment. not the tax rate on there, it's the tax amount. And so that's a little different concept for people that deal with property taxes, you know, on any kind of regular basis, because it's also, well, I've got the assessment and the tax rate, and so the tax amount comes from that. And that's true the first year someone applies, because that sets their frozen amount, that first year they're on the program. But... But what's really frozen, though, moving forward, is the tax amount. And that, again, is weird and different in some ways. But as long as you get that concept and accept it, then it really simplifies things down the road in terms of, you know, You know, five years later someone puts an addition on their house and how do I, what do I do? You know, try to adjust with the initial tax rate, the new tax rate, it's not that. And we'll talk about how to do those things further in the presentation. But I do want to talk some about how tax freeze compares with tax relief. As Rick stated, there's a statewide property tax relief program, and it's required by the Constitution for the low-income elderly. And it's authorized in the Constitution for disabled persons, such as low-income disabled or disabled veterans and their surviving spouses. But in terms of how these two programs compare, property tax relief was established in 1973 so property tax freeze is a lot more recent than that 2007 tax freeze does not replace tax relief and it doesn't replace a local supplemental tax relief program such as Washington County has and that's what Rick was primarily talking about And homeowners can be eligible for both. They're not mutually exclusive, those two programs. And so some jurisdictions have adopted these optional local supplemental programs like Washington County has. Some have done that instead of a tax-free. Some have done that in addition to tax-free. So you have all the options before you. You already have one of those things in place. So there are many differences and similarities between those two programs. So we're going to talk about those similarities. They're, again, authorizing the state constitution, which they would have to be. They have statutes that govern those administrative rules promulgated. The application deadline is the same, 35 days after the delinquency date. So if you have a March 1 delinquency date, For instance, the application deadline for tax year 2026 tax freeze would be April 5th of 2027. There's an annual application or requalification required and documentation of age and income and ownership is required of the applicant. These programs are for the principal residents of the applicant. Neither of these programs affects the assessed value of the property. And so that's important to know. Properties are valued just like any other property. And again, the income limits are adjusted annually. So some differences, tax relief, Generally speaking, from our perspective, our perspective is the state program, but it could not operate without county trustees and city collecting officials because they take the applications, they do the initial verification and qualification, and then they send those on to the state for a final confirmation. But then, of course, you have a local tax relief program as well. these bullet points primarily talk about the state program but you'll see a couple of references to local programs but of course that program is statewide and available in all counties and cities that collect property tax so tax freeze against local option 27 counties have adopted it since its inception and 36 cities It's funded by state dollars except any local programs, of course. And tax freeze, of course, is funded by local dollars as it's a local, it would be a local program. Tax freeze, tax relief, excuse me, I do that too, Rick. I say relief when I mean freeze and vice versa sometimes. But tax relief is administered by the state with assistance from collecting officials uh... tax freezes administered by collecting officials with uh... considerable assistance from the assessors applications are proved by the state for tax relief applications are proven local collecting official for tax freeze potentially for the tax rebate for credit on the property tax amount and of course with tax reasons that the tax amounts frozen so they're they're some court similarities but very much some core differences between those two types of programs. Tax relief is available to low-income elderly, low-income disabled, and disabled veterans and their surviving spouses. But tax-free, of course, as we've said, is available to low-income elderly taxpayers that meet the income limit. So tax relief, the state program, of course, is revenue neutral at the local level, but obviously it's not for a local relief program. And so tax freeze would could ultimately result in some foregone local revenue. Sometime down the road, you know, when you have people on the program and then there's a need for a tax rate increase, you know, then those people would not pay that increased amount. Their taxes would literally be frozen at what they were previously. Tax relief is an annual benefit. Somebody gets some relief beginning the first year on the program. So with tax freeze, due to its nature, then the benefit starts when a tax rate increase or a tax increase would occur. And so that first year they're on the program, again, that sets what the frozen tax amount is. And then moving forward, if there's a tax increase, they're protected from that. We talked about the income limits. There's a property value limit for tax relief. So tax relief, the state program pays the tax on the first $33,600 of market value for tax year 2026. So it winds up paying a portion of the tax for most recipients. There is an acreage limit for tax freeze. The law specifies that no more than five acres of land can be frozen. And tax relief doesn't affect the local tax rate. Tax freeze potentially could affect the local tax rate if... uh depending on the the amount of people on the program the amount of total assessed value among those people and the amount of increase you're talking about then you can obviously see a scenario where you might have to add a little bit more to the rate to make up the difference that the tax freeze people are not paying in that increase that is needed So tax relief, tax relief doesn't shift the tax burden in any way, but tax freeze can shift it. Again, it's a matter of quantities and what the details are as you get into a specific situation. So just some really quick tax relief basics, and I don't need to spend much time on this. You already have a local supplemental tax relief program, but it is paid on the amount of tax due on the market value up to the property value limit. And we covered ABLE and that the elderly and low-income disabled are subject to that income limit. and property value limit. And then disabled veterans and their surviving spouses do not have an income limit and they have a higher property value limit of $175,000. So this is the statute, TCA 675701J, that authorizes the local tax relief programs. And I won't read that for you, but we do have some bullet points you can skim through. And just one feature that I'll point out, that the total relief provided by state and local government combined cannot exceed the total tax amount so that's a good point to know but basically this covers anybody that's on tax relief then they could they could qualify anyone on state tax relief could qualify for the local tax relief program So some additional tax freeze points. The county or city governing body either adopts or terminates the local option tax freeze by resolution or ordinance. That's pretty straightforward. We don't know of any government that has adopted the tax freeze that later rescinded that. So they have to file the resolution or ordinance with our division. It says within 45 days. we would we would accept it whenever you know whenever somebody realizes that it needs to be submitted if they didn't know that but uh but anyway so um we get a copy of the resolutions the county trustee then accepts the applications determines eligibility based on that age ownership and residency and income the central property determines the portion of the property subject to the freeze how much of the property subject to the tax freeze and so this is where you get into some details within this overall broad concept of tax freeze some properties uh... the entire properties is frozen the taxes frozen on the entire property on some uh... we for lack of a better word, we say well this is a partial freeze. And so that can happen when you have mixed use property got my principal residence and I've got an auto repair shop on the same on the same property well obviously it's the part that that goes with that principal residence that can be where the tax can be frozen on that portion of the property but it also includes things like farm property and greenbelt property you know agricultural forest or open space because those by definition are a different use they're not that residential use, they're not part of the principal residence. And so if I've got a greenbelt property that's agricultural, for instance, then you have a home site, a portion of land that's designated the home site that goes with the residence. In most counties, that's one acre. I'm not sure what the practice is in Washington County. and you've got the dwelling, of course, itself, and you may have some outbuildings or other improvements that naturally go with that principal residence. You may have a swimming pool or a gazebo whatever you know those types of things um obviously a detached garage or something like that you know that that's obviously part of that principal residence but then you have all this land out there that's uh if it's on greenbelt it's receiving a lower value and lower appraisal because of its use as agricultural land and so that that is not subject to regardless of that acreage thing, that agricultural land is not subject to it. You may have barns or grain bins or any number of farm types of other improvements out there as well. So that's how the assessor would determine on a property like that. how much of it is subject to the tax freeze. And so within the computer system, the state computer system that Robbie uses, then we have things built into it where they can say, okay, is this land entry or this percentage of this So they can specifically identify the things that are subject to the freeze and the system calculates and tells you how much the assessment is on the frozen portion and how much it is on the non-frozen portion. So, along with that, the assessor would determine adjustments to the frozen tax, what's called the base tax in the statutes. And so, that's a... simple concept some people have trouble you know understanding it at first but basically the frozen tax amount if someone makes a physical change to the property the frozen tax amount should be adjusted by the same percentage that the value of the property changed from whatever was done to it. In other words, if someone builds an addition on their house and the value goes up 12%, for instance, then the base tax should be adjusted likewise. It should go up 12%. So that's where freezing the tax amount helps it be simpler is you don't have to go back and figure which appraisal and which tax rate do I use. And it's not all of that. For the frozen portion of the property, how much did the value change? Because I added something or because I took something away. I sold off some land or tore down a garage or whatever. So it works both ways. And then obviously as they're doing their work, they would observe if there was any question about the ownership of the property as opposed to the applicant. And I'm not gonna, I'm not going to take time to go point by point through this timeline. First of all, it's really hard to read. But secondly, it really just says persons legally can apply for tax freeze being January 1 of the tax year for which they're applying up through April 5th of the following year, but through that 35 days after the delinquency date. As a practice, a lot of jurisdictions kind of wait until they get through with one year before they really start taking applications for the next year. And that's an administrative decision, but it kind of has a logic to it and seems to make sense to a lot of people. If you care to read further, then... We've got a copy distributed to you of this in electronic form and read more deeply. But anyway, again, local governments are going to bear the cost, any cost associated with tax freeze for administering the program or foregone revenue because of the program, which one would naturally assume it would increase over time. It would start... more modestly and then likely build up because you would have more people on the program over time and certainly there would be attrition involved as well. But the state doesn't pay any cost for the tax freeze program but we do provide a computer system that the trustee can use. It's a web-based computer system. We've had a system in place since tax freeze began. We did a complete rewrite of it last year and it can pull information from the state tax relief system. If somebody on tax relief applies for tax freeze, then the trustee can pull in most of the information for the application from the tax relief application and not have to rekey. They have to enter a few more things, but not a great deal. But anyway, there is a state system that counties and cities can use free of charge to administer tax frees from the part of the county collective official, the trustee. And then it's a secure web-based program. And then the assessors use the state, there's 86 counties that use the state impact system in the assessor's office, and so again, it's got functionality built into that system for the assessor to enter in the information from their responsibilities. And so data is passed back and forth between those systems every night, and so applications that are entered then show up into in the assessor system and they can pull up a list of things ready for them to work you know they're waiting some action there and then when they they do their part on that and and set the status back to where they've done their part where it's assessed then some information of what the assessor did goes back to the tax-free system so the trustee can see that So you've got online interaction between those two offices. So how tax freeze works, and I've probably gone through this before, but maybe this will state it more simply. So you have a frozen portion of the property, which is the principal residence with supporting land and other improvements. Now, most of the time, this means that the entire property is frozen, because most of the time, it's a house and a lot. You're not dealing with acreage tracts so much or farm and greenbelt properties and those things. But the simple house and lot, those total freezes statewide amount to about 90% of tax freeze applications. See, I was telling you the truth. And so the taxes remain the same even with a tax rate increase or even if a reappraisal occurs, their taxes stay the same. unless they've made some physical change to the property. We're not talking about a judgment call like, well, it's the quality of this or, you know, and those are decisions, those are valid judgments that are made in the appraisal process. It's just a matter of, we're talking about a physical change and not that it would change because Someone decided, oh, this shouldn't have been below average, this should have been average. Whatever, you know, whatever type of judgment call might be made. So on the non-frozen portion that we're talking about, farm or commercial agricultural land, other land or other improvements that are not part of the principal residence, basically stuff supporting another use, land or improvements, then, or even if there were two residences, only one of them, of course the principal residence, would be subject to the freeze. What happens there is that that portion is calculated with the current assessment for that portion, because the system calculates that, and the current tax rate. So that never gets different. It's gonna always be the current tax on the assessed value of the non-frozen portion of the property. And we talked about those adjustments for property tax for physical changes. Again, it's the same percentage that the value of the frozen portion changed. You see some examples of different scenarios where you might see an adjustment that needs to be made. So, requalifications, simply stated, applicants must requalify every year. You just have to ensure that they still qualify for the program. So I mean this is true for the trustee's office as well as the assessor's office. Most things are easier the second time around when you do this. It's verifying information that's already in the system, although income still has to be verified. I don't want to minimize that there's effort involved in both offices in administering this program. In a reappraisal year, properties are revalued just as if they were not on tax breaks. They're revalued like everyone else. So there's no difference in what happens in establishing the value. And those are all statements that just emphasize things I've said before. So what happens if the taxes go down? If the tax winds up, for whatever reason, And I'm not talking about a situation where somebody sold off some land and tore it down. I'm talking about if you ever have a tax rate decrease. I don't know if that's in the realm of possibility. but sometimes in reappraisal programs, for instance, you see, particularly if the certified tax rate is adopted to keep the revenue level between before and after the reappraisal, then you see some values, some people's taxes, go up some some people's go down some because you've got areas where values didn't increase as much as the county overall did or they increased more than so you can see those kinds of things happen uh in a reappraisal year so what if that what if the taxes go down then the taxpayer first of all pay always pays the lesser of the calculated tax or the frozen tax so every year when tax billing amounts are calculated that calculation is done. What would the current tax be on this property and what's the frozen amount and those are compared and they always will pay the lower amount that's specified in the statute. On top of that, it resets the frozen tax amount to that lower amount So moving forward, it's the lower amount. So if someone gets on the tax freeze and that year their tax amount is $800, and then maybe the next year it goes down to $700, they would pay $700. And on top of that, their frozen amount would then be set at $700. So if it was something higher after that, they would still pay that lower amount. There is a reporting requirement to our division of some different totals and so forth for properties on the tax freeze, but for counties where the assessor's using the state system, we can produce that information so there's not really any effort required on the part of the collecting official to come up and produce those totals. So, property tax freeze, remember some important things, is that the entire property may or may not be frozen due to acreage or used to use or whatever, and frozen taxes or tax amounts are adjusted by the assessor to reflect physical changes, and you knew that sentence had to come up one last time, right? It's the tax amount that's frozen. So I bet if we had a pop quiz right now and asked what was the most important statement in this presentation, I bet all of you would get that right. So this is contact information for Dale that's with us this evening, Dale Maxfield, and also William Nelson, who's knowledgeable about this as well. And so they're available to assist and answer questions And also there's information on our website and these links will be functional if you receive a PDF of this presentation. And so there's a page on our website dedicated to property tax freeze and it has the constitutional language and the statute and a link to the rules and what all the income limits are for all the counties and some explanation of tax freeze. So I've done a lot of talking and you may have some questions of something I didn't cover. And so if so, please feel free to let me know. Yes, sir.

One, I just want to make sure I heard you correctly. So there is a limit of five acres, the primary residence and five acres.

Right. Other than five acres.

You had eight acres in your house. The first five is all the calculation.

That is correct. Yes. Right. Anything more than five acres, they would have to. to put a percentage in there to reflect, okay, if all that was saying one land entry, what percentage? Yes, and so the one acre probably comes in, if you have a home site on the property, then that's probably what the land portion is going to be, is that home site. But if you had just one small tract of something, it's what I've identified as going with that principal residence, which is what a home site would be.

Is there a residency requirement? So if you move here from wherever, how long do you have to be a resident before you can apply and go into effect?

So to qualify as the owner of a principal residence for tax freeze, you have to own the property. just at any point during the year you have to acquire it you know or own it for you could buy it on january 31st and and qualify for it but the other the other end of that is you have to own the property you have to retain ownership of it up through the application deadline okay uh so um the the part about how long how much of the year do you have to own it's pretty easy really any part of that of that year but you do have to own it up through that that deadline.

Yes, so kind of

kind of repeat what your question was sort of in the process of answering it and that will be sure everybody can hear uh so yes uh you can purchase the property someone could purchase property anytime during the year even in december and qualify for the program as long as they owned it up through april 5th of june i assume your delinquency dates march 1st and so as long as they owned it up through april 5th of if they bought it in 2026. So there's not a requirement of how much of the year they need to own it, but there is a requirement that they would have to own it up through the application deadline.

Okay. So if your home's owned by two people, mine's owned by me and my wife, there's a three-year difference in our age. Do we both have to be 65?

You do not both have to be 65, but... You do have to count the income of the owner and... Household income, but as long as one of us is 65, then we could apply. Yes, sir.

and it's not the property tax that gets frozen. It's the person that owns it. In other words, if you sold the property to somebody else, then the new owner would have to reapply for the tax freeze program.

That's a good question. And so what is frozen is the property tax, but if that person sells that property, then they you know you're in during the tax year they're not they haven't owned it up through the application deadline so they would come off the program that property and so for that property to be on the tax freeze with a new owner that new owner would have to qualify and apply and all of that sort of thing but another part of that is if that owner that sold it that was on tax freeze if they sold the property then they would have to put in a new application for the new residents and so there wouldn't be any tying to you know historical amounts because it's a different property but um but they could apply on say a new home that they purchased and qualify and then establish their frozen amount on that property in that first year

Is the tax prorated for the new owner and the one that was frozen? If it was sold during the year.

If it was sold during the year, then the tax amount would go back to whatever the calculated tax was on the property.

Okay.

Now how they work that out of closing I think happens in different ways in different situations, but there would not be any prorating of the frozen tax for the portion that the first owner owned it. It would go back to the regular calculated tax amount for that tax year. That's a good question.

This question may be more for Rick or Robbie, but hopefully. How... is it for us to calculate what that impact would be to the county? Identify who is eligible.

We have a lot of conversation about that. There's probably some data out there that says who's 65 years old on Social Security or anything like that, but are they in nursing? You get that off your census. Are they in assisted living? Do they own homes? We know we've talked to other counties. We've talked with one county. and they've had like a $300,000 impact. They've been on it for several years, I think. Your first year, you have zero impact. If you go to next year and you don't have a tax increase, you have a zero impact. If you go to the third year, you still have zero impact. You know, not until you have a change in the value of the property. And go back to that question that the commissioner asked over here. If you have a young spouse and an older one and the one that would qualify 65, should they pass away? Does it automatically stay with the surviving spouse although that is not 65 or do they lose it?

That's a very good question. I think I heard that discussed recently and I don't recall what I heard about that so I might have to research that one. to get back to you can you help me remember to do that. Do you have any special knowledge of that scenario.

In Texas. I was less than sixty five and my husband was over sixty five. The exemption continues. So we know what happened in Texas.

I had maybe two questions, one for the mayor and then maybe one for our trustee. Mayor, just last week we approved the budget for Washington County for the upcoming fiscal year. I'm assuming we did not budget anything for this. We did?

Well, we did. i'll let the mayor speak um if i'm missing misunderstanding we i think put some money in rick's budget for a position to help

That was actually my next question. That was my next question, but in addition to the existing money we budget for tax relief, we did not budget any new money for tax freeze.

There will be no impact in the first year.

Well, because we had no tax increase, right? So that was my question of the trustee was just any idea. I just heard our speaker reference several times that all of really the bulk of the administrative work is on county departments, the assessor's office and the trustee's office. And so... I mean, I'm not sure how much time gets invested now in the tax relief program, but I wonder what the additional administrative burden.

I mean, we got, I want to say 2,500. We may have 2,700 on tax relief right now. Well, you can assume, you know what you get when you assume, but you can assume those 2,500 people are going to sign up or come and have a conversation. So now you're talking to 5,000 people, and I got a part-time person to do that. And, you know, it's... deal with it. It may be that we have to come back next year to tax and say, look, we need to make that a full-time because we have four people, our full-time staff. One of them works in the Johnson City office, so you've got three full-time plus myself there.

Hey, just remind me, thinking about our neighboring counties, our contiguous counties, am I correct that Washington County is the only one that participates and provides a match to the tax relief program?

Let's see here, Carter County does, I think they do, well that's on tax relief, they do up to $40. Greene County, they match, they go 100%. Sullivan, let's see, Unicoi, Sullivan, Unicoi County They don't have a match Solon County does $85 up to the tax amount so And there I think Ken said there's the 79 counties that I have on here 23 of them does tax freeze and Some people, I mean, like the city of Johnston, they may just pay whatever the state jurisdiction pays. They don't pay anything. I'm not sure what Jonesboro does on tax relief. But tax freeze, there's no check coming back. You're just freezing your appraisal, right?

All right.

So let me make sure I understand from a budgetary standpoint. The expense side would just be whatever the additional administrative cost is.

Correct.

Then you'll have to do an adjustment on the revenue side of what's coming in just wherever it freezes at that point. So you're doing one expense and one revenue. So this would actually come off of the revenue line.

The expense would be in personnel. The cost of the program will be implemented whenever there's either a reassessment or a tax change.

Ken, I just had a little question. So you talked about several different numbers for the income limits. Is that something that the comptroller's office will cover with us, how you do the income limits, or is that something that this body will consider on income limits?

The income limits are calculated by the comptroller's office. And so the... The ones that were established when it first passed were done using a specific formula, using census data, a specific formula put into that statute, that enabling legislation in 2007. And since then, it's been adjusted annually by the Social Security cost of living. So it's a... a really straightforward calculation of what the standard income limit is and that's at 45,100 for Washington County for tax year 2026. Then the new option that came into being for tax year 24 was $60,000 but then since that time it's been adjusted forward also by the Social Security cost of living adjustment and so it's up to that 63,470 amount.

So would that be the income limit that the comptroller's office would use, or would the 45-100 be?

Well, please understand, this is not a state program. This is a local program. It's a local option program, and so the state doesn't direct you to use one or the other. It's your choice as to if you wanna adopt the standard income limit or if you want to adopt the new higher income limit, that's certainly an option as well. And so far there are a handful of jurisdictions already on tax freeze that have gone with that higher income limit, but not the majority. course it's something new and something kind of meant to be beyond and I think I think the thought behind that legislation if I could interpret what I thought I was hearing you know was some jurisdictions felt like they had of citizens with generally higher incomes than a lot of the rest of the state. And so they were feeling the need to have a higher income limit in order for people to qualify. given the cost of living in some of those places so i think that was sort of where maybe the thought originated for that yeah and that's a that's a combined income is it not is that a combined yes it's combined for all owners of the property and also the spouse if there's a spouse there includes income for the spouse all right thank you question do i have to do they have to reside in tennessee maybe you can yes they must this has to be because it's for their principal residents as principal principal residents i mean you you got to live there and and that that's your place of abode on a regular basis and i think there's some who determines that i mean could i have a home in virginia and declare this my I think I think it might be I've seen some things that sort of tied to I think there's some general statutes about determining that and I think some of that gets tied to where do you vote so long each year for that to be your primary residence

You can't live in New York and pay Tennessee taxes and live here at least with the federal government with that in. So I would assume this would follow similar.

A lot of it's usually six months, one day. It's something. But that may vary by state or whatever.

I guess I'm sure with most things where things start getting into a gray area, it's going to depend on the facts of the situation. But I think there's some guidance in that statute, perhaps if not the statute, the rules.

All right.

All right.

Anything else? Appreciate you coming up. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. It was a great session.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. We appreciate you having me.

Yes, sir. All right, let's take a – we are running a little bit behind, but let's take a little bit of a recess and come back in about 6.10. We'll get started back. We'll stand in recess until then. Go ahead and get started back.

I know everybody's come to order. Back in session. Thank you.

We'll go ahead and get started. Thank you, Sheriff. We do have sharing. We'll move. Go ahead and move into our roll call. Make sure you've initiated your presence here this evening on the screen. Madam Clerk, do we have a quorum? Yes, we do have 11 present, 4 absent, so we do have a quorum. You have your agenda in front of you this evening. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda? Motion by Commissioner Fitzgerald, seconded by Commissioner Wexler to approve the agenda. All in favor of that motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? We'll move right on into public comment. Remember, with public comment, you'll be given three minutes to address the board. If you are here this evening, I noticed several people have signed up for public comment. hearing the public hearing will follow this public comment time you don't have to sign up for public hearing so when I call for against your rezoning if you'll just step to the podium and give your name and address to the clerk so if I don't call your name rezoning comment these comments are it's not a public hearing but you'll have your opportunity to speak in just just a moment Our first speaker tonight will have a total of four, and then we also have four signed up to speak under rezoning. So our first speaker this evening is Shelly Van Camp. Shelly, if you'll come forward and give your name and address to the clerk, please.

Shelly Van Camp, 156 County Farm Road, Jonesboro. I live about half a mile up the street from the county farm. In December of 25, Commissioner Tomita was quoted as saying, we're in charge of the taxpayers' assets, so we've got to be a whole lot more careful. Almost two years ago, the county farm was declared surplus, but you hadn't decided what to do with it. And then once Helene hit, the highway department's block two was no good. So you gave the farm to the highway department. Now, according to Google, block two was about seven acres. You voted down giving 10 acres of the farm to the highway department and instead gave them about 40. Now the whole farm, except for the part across from the street, is what you gave to the highway department. So the highway department took a rundown farm, cleared out the overgrowth and all the farm fencing so you had a nice clear view into the property. They put up a chain link fence around it and topped that chain link fence with three rows of barbed wire. which is both intimidating and it reminds me of a prison. And then they proceeded to fill that up with enough gravel and heavy machinery that it looks like the entrance to a strip mine. All lined up across the street so you see it. This took over a year for them to do, about a year and a half by my count. And then you auctioned off the residential property across the street. Now that's The highway department had over a year to turn that into an industrial site before you auctioned off the property across the street. The property that was declared surplus almost two years ago, the property limited to single family housing. I wouldn't want to build a house across the street from that. like driving in front of it every day. It makes me want to cry. So it's no wonder that the top bid for that property was about a quarter of the estimated value. Doesn't sound a whole lot more careful to me. Now, I'm assuming that the Highway Department is here to stay, so I've got questions. Are there plans to mitigate the eyesore? Just some shrubbery along the fence line would do a whole lot to improve the neighborhood aesthetics. Are there plans to widen the road? they did fix the potholes that the highway department caused in the first couple of months but those dump trucks are too wide for the residential roads that they are traveling on and i know this because i've got stuff behind them leaving my neighborhood and they are definitely encroaching and taking their half out of the middle now the next thing is how do you just plan to dispose of that brush that y'all are planning on storing on the farm I remember reading that a lot of the brush after Helene was contaminated with sewage and other toxic chemicals. These things concern me. I'm not happy with what you did with the county farm. I'm not happy with what happened to my neighborhood. Please don't make me more unhappy. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman. All right, our next speaker is Haley Williams. Haley, if you'll come forward to the podium and give your address to the clerk, please.

Haley Williams, 124 Mary Street. Commissioners, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I've come to talk about my experience with the county farm property. Last semester at UTSU, I took on an independent study for what was known as the Washington County Farm or Poor Farm. I had studied newspapers, census records, archives, books, and more to unlock the county farm's history. Within my findings, the county farm had shown itself to be a rich fragment of a lost Jonesboro history. Despite the many lost stories, people, and practices, I was able to scavenge the few that remained. Visiting the county farm in the ways that I could, I could feel the land holds these lost memories still. Regarding the county home cemetery on the property, previous surveying in the mid-2000s concluded that there were at least 141 identifiable burials according to the depressions present. No scanning was performed. Roughly 10 years later, ground-penetrating radar was performed 10 feet around and outside of the known fence-dense cemetery area. Recently, it has come to my attention that some older burials are possibly further outside the fence in the area proposed allocated for emergency storm debris. Considering this, I would like to propose that further ground surveying be carried out before the area is disturbed. We are only aware of 60 names, 51 of which are confirmed through death certificates. Identifying where they're buried is impossible, even with the latest surveying technology. In 1951, an unknown baby boy was buried in a pauper's grave at the county home cemetery. So sorry. Monroe Netherland, an African-American man, died from chronic rheumatism and heart disease in his early 20s. He was buried at the County Home Cemetery in January 1914. Lizzie Hopper Spade, 1843 to 1928. Her husband, George P. Spade, a Union soldier from the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry, would die as a veteran at the National Soldier's Home, Johnson City, October 1918. Dying a widow, Lizzie Spade would be buried at the County Home Cemetery in November 1928. Clarence Gray registered for the draft in October 1940. Not too long after, Clarence acquired pulmonary tuberculosis. He would then be assigned to work in the vet's facility a year later in 1941. Five years later, he would pass on Christmas Day in 1946, then being buried at the county home cemetery. These individuals hold their own human idiosyncratic stories, and the many unknown individuals at the county home cemetery hold just the same. Regardless of your decision tonight, I welcome you to remember the individuals buried here.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Ernest McKinney. Ernest? Ernest, if you'll give your address to the clerk, please.

Good evening. Ernest McKinney, 119 North Lincoln Avenue, Jonesboro. I'm here to talk about the cemetery at the county farm. I think it should be preserved in the best way it can be cared for and because of its historical value. If you've heard others talk about much of the area around it, I think should be turned into a green space. It's beautiful out that way. If you've ever been out there and looked at it, it's beautiful. I'm with the lady about the, what the highway department has done. You need to widen the roads if you're gonna put heavy equipment on it. I understand that I am a direct descendant of one of the people that are buried there. And the history of this area should not be erased because we've only got two lines, we're born and we die. How we live it, that's up to us. And if we're, and at that time I believe, you know, it was called the Poor Folks Forum or whatever, they should be just as dignified. It should be preserved for future generations to be able to know what happened there, why things happened there. So just show your humanity and benevolence of Washington County and preserve this area. We cannot turn everything into a nickel or a dime. There are some things that, and land is one of them, they're not making any more land. So use it wisely. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. King. All right, that'll conclude our public comment on the county farm. And we will go ahead and move into public hearing on rezoning. Roger Broadwater, were you speaking on the county farm or the rezoning?

I spoke on the county farm.

Okay, come on up, Roger. When you said it said rezone and slash county, I was like, hmm.

Yeah, time to hit both. Good afternoon, Commissioner. I'm Roger Broadwater. I live at 369 Blackley Creek Road in Limestone. As you can tell, a lot of people here are concerned about the history of this place being erased, as I think we all should, because if we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat its harsh lessons. If you're not educated on the place, I do recommend going to get some education on it. It's actually a good read. To sell it off and bulldoze it, it's to erase the chapter of this place, and it's wrong. Why not start with taking down the old Jonesboro courthouse? It's a cornerstone of our town that clearly has value and use, but you won't touch that one. Just because some don't personally value this farm doesn't mean it lacks worth. Its true value lies in the historical facts it holds. The struggles overcome, the community's support it provided, and the lives it touched. It's a cornerstone of local history, every bit as important as any downtown landmark. To erase it is to erase everything that happened on that land, and everyone that was on it. I don't think that's fair to them or their bloodline or their lineage. I urge you to reject any rushed sale and to choose thoughtful, community-driven options that honor its past and respect the neighborhood. I ask that you preserve this piece of who we are. Thank you.

All right, we'll go ahead and move into our public hearing for rezoning. Our first resolution, that's 260604. It's a resolution rezoning the tax map in the fifth civil district owned by BRSTX Investments. Do we have anyone here to speak in opposition to the request? Do we have anyone here to speak in favor of? If you'll come forward, ma'am, and give your name and address to the clerk.

Melody Seafelt, 1705 Brentwood Drive in Greenville.

Proceed.

Commissioners, the only reason we're applying for rezoning is because we've already constructed a building after receiving a building permit or permit. We're not sure whether it's just a permit or a building permit. But in December of 2025, we submitted a zoning compliance residential application to place a single wide manufactured home on this lot. And in January of 2026, after confirming receipt of a permit from the county, we proceeded to purchase the building and have it constructed. In April of 2026, we received notice of the violation stating that the building couldn't be there and that we were told we either needed to apply for rezoning or remove the building. As you can imagine, removing that building would be tens of thousands of dollars of damage. It is a fully constructed home all the way down to seed and straw. And we have people waiting to move in. Every time we have something like this, people are happy to see a new home available. And we've come here to apply for another residential district, an R3, which we've been told would allow this type of home. We have no intent of putting the number of buildings that somebody suggested to be put there. I don't have the imagination for that. I do think that the language they used was mobile homes on single lots, which would mean for this three acre lot, we would have to split it. And I think if we tried to split it, we don't even have the road frontage to do that. I just don't think it's possible. And again, the only reason we're asking for R3 is so we can keep the building that was already constructed and that we built in good faith, believing that it could be done. The zoning resolution say that in an R1 you can put a single family residence. That is what this is. But we're being told you can't. So we're asking for approval for this R3 just to keep the building. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of the rezoning? You'll come forward, sir, and give your name and address to the clerk.

My name's Shane Williams. I live at 168 Stockyard Road. The property they're talking about is supposed to be mine. It was my father's and Stanley Givens is my lawyer. We've been talking, me and the other person. There's a lot of messed up paperwork. But what my stepbrother did, he was not even entitled to do what he did. Don't know how he done it. But it is tied up in the double-wide that my father has. And everybody keeps saying, well, they keep saying that they can't find nothing. My lawyer's all over it. I tried to get him to come here today, haven't heard from him. But I'm trying to be good with these people, because when my dad died, he was supposed to get split three ways. my stepbrother took it upon himself and took it all and i'm still living on the property i've got septic i had power and i went to help my son come back my place is destroyed okay are you are you living in my shed are you speaking in opposition to the request i don't i don't think They should be able to take it from me, but I don't want to take it from them. My stepbrother did wrong. I still think they should be entitled to the property, but I'm entitled to mine too. But I don't want to take it all from them. I just want what was supposed to be mine to begin with. But nobody wants a trailer park. It's been a rumor going around the town over there. And that's what everybody's scared of. All the neighbors. All I can go by is what she says. You don't want to put a bunch of houses in there. There really ain't road frontage and it's all hill. I want to build a nice A-frame on top of that hill up there.

All right. That's all I got. I appreciate you coming. All right. Thanks, sir. Thank you so much, Shane. All right. Anyone else here to speak for the request? Now, this is speaking for the rezoning. Sir, if you'll give your name and address to the clerk, please.

Scott Albright, 1443 Bryant Lane, Johnson City, Tennessee. And I signed up on the list further down so you can take me off on there. Sorry. I didn't know I'd get an opportunity to speak. So I am a citizen of Washington County. Been so for about 10 years. And I am a real estate agent, property manager. And my clients are BRSTX Investments, LLC, Ms. Melody that you heard speak earlier. I manage their rental property. We have at least 10 in Washington County, provide housing, usually on the lower income spectrum. This is a manufactured home, so it helps fill a need. It's a three bedroom, two bath home, going to be affordable. And that's what they do. They buy property, fix it up, clean it up, make homes for people that they can actually afford, not $2,500, $3,000, $4,000 a month, like some rentals that you can barely find. Don't gouge people. So they have done their best to take something and make accommodations for our citizens that can have a place to live. Brand new home. So they did everything that they thought they were supposed to. had the company go and talk to the county, pull the permit, got an approved permit, and after the building's already constructed and there, are told, oh, you can't have this here, then what is the purpose of a permit? Is that not permission to build a structure to do something? And you follow the letter of the law? So I would implore you to please, if rezoning this is the path forward, let's honor what the agent of the county had did to give permission for this home. Let's make it happen to make it work so that my clients aren't out money that somebody isn't out of a home and we have wasted land and wasted opportunity. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Our next resolution for consideration is resolution. Resolution 260605 is a resolution rezoning the tax map in the third civil district presently owned by Martin and Elizabeth Malone. Do we have anyone here to speak in opposition to this request? Seeing none, do we have anyone here to speak in favor of? Seeing none, we'll move on to resolution 260606. It's a resolution rezoning the tax map in the seventh civil district presently owned by Wayne Darnell. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this request? Seeing none, is anyone here to speak in favor? If you'll come forward, sir, and give your name and address to the clerk.

My name is Wayne Darnell, and we're 139 Fordtown Road, but we actually live in Kingsport, you know. Me and my wife, Lisa, we bought this property just to, I guess, for a hobby farm is what we're wanting. And what we're wanting to do is just construct like a 30 by 50 building on the property, and it's zoned A2 now, my understanding, and I was told that we cannot build a property like a building without having a house first or a garage or whatever without having a house first and that's the reason we're asking for the rezoning and for rezoning the a1 because we we have no intentions of ever you know building a house maybe our kids will down the road someday but not us we just want to just get permission to you know the builder building all right thank you mr darnell thank you

And our final resolution is resolution 260607 is a resolution amending the Washington County zoning resolution regulations for accessory structures. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to that request? Or in favor of? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and go back into regular session. I'll now call on Ms. Charles, our Planning and Zoning Director, to answer any questions you may have.

Good evening.

We have four items for you tonight. The first one, we'll give a little more detail and talk about a little more since you heard from public comment this evening, public hearing. Our first request is a rezoning on Stockyard Road from R1 to R3. The R1 is a low-density single-family residential district. The R3 is a high-density or multi-family residential district. and this request as you heard the permitting portion of this request began back in december so in december of 2025 a permit was issued for this property for a double wide mobile home and a double wide is an allowed use in the r1 district In January of this year, the petitioner who was not the applicant for the rezoning, the petitioner for the permit was Preferred Choice Homes, LLC. So they are the ones that initially pulled the permit. It was issued for the double wide, and that was December 17th. And in January, The petitioner called the zoning office and advised that it was not a double-wide that was going to be placed on the property, that it was going to be a single-wide mobile home placed on the property. So not a stick-built single-family dwelling constructed, but a single-wide mobile home. So the zoning office, the permit tech, was notified that it was going to be a single-wide. that the zoning district was A1, not R1, and that the address had changed on the property. So the permit tech updated the information, updated the fields at that time, and issued a new permit for the single wide mobile home. So those are the facts of that. Fast forward to April, the zoning office receives a complaint that a single wide has been placed on a property from a neighbor. So our code enforcement goes out and does our inspection, discovers the single wide on the property. We issue the letter of zoning violation since the property is zoned R1 and doesn't allow the single wide. And that's when we notified the preferred choice homes of the violation and advised them that they had a time period to bring the property into zoning conformance or they had the option to apply for a rezoning if they wanted to go that route. So that's where we are today is we now have a rezoning request in front of you for the property. The R3 district that they are asking for is one of them that would allow a single wide mobile home on an individual lot. The R3 does also allow multifamily and a smaller lot size than the R1. So when the planning commission considered this request, it was considered in the same manner and the scope and the same process and procedure as any rezoning request. So we looked at the R3 district, what uses are allowed and whether or not they would be appropriate on this location. The other properties on the same side of the street, on the same side of Stockyard, are all zoned R1. So this property, the R3 would allow a lot size that's half the size of the R1, and without sewer available to it, if you wanted to develop it with multifamily, it would allow outright permitted 17 units on the land, would be the maximum density allowed per the zoning in the R3. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to deny the rezoning request due to the uses in the R3 not being similar in character to the uses in the R1 on the same side of the Stockyard Road and that the district could allow inappropriate levels of development on the local street. So that is the recommendation was for denial from the Planning Commission. Would you like me to answer any questions or anything else on this item, or would you like me to move on to the other items and give you... that information.

Can you clarify the permit issuance issue again? How did that happen? Yes, sir.

The permit was issued in December for a double-wide on the property, which wasn't allowed use. In January, the petitioner for that application called the zoning office and advised that they had gotten the incorrect permit, that they needed a single-wide permit. that the zoning district needed to be changed and the address needed to be changed on the permit and the permit tech went in and updated all that information based on the phone call why did the address change that I don't know

respectfully, I feel rather confident that nobody has ever claimed this is an A1 lot. We've in fact not wanted to even rezone to A1, so we would have not claimed A1 in an attempt to sneak a single wide on it. But... It was 116 on the application and error there wasn't that close. Instead of 166 on the application, sorry, instead of 166, they had typed 116 Stockyard. And we contacted them because they had told us they had gotten a permit. We knew we were ready to buy. We said, can you send us the permit, and we're going to plan to come to your office to purchase a building. sent us the permit in january and that's when we noticed hey that says double y that this is a single line and the address isn't correct so that's when they contacted in my opinion that's an extra opportunity for somebody to have noticed that you're not supposed to put a single rather than we can understand if they accidentally issued it for a double wide the first time and But they did send it back to us So the original permit application

said single wide on the application, but it was issued for a double.

It was issued for a double, but before we actually went to purchase and construct, we wanted to see the permit, because we don't want to just buy something without a permit. And when they sent it to us, we said, hey, there's a couple of issues here. And I can even show you a text message we sent to our contractor, and it was an email. Thanks for sending the permit. There's a couple of issues. Can you get with them about this? And they did. They came back to us as a single wife, and we thought we were fine because it's a single family residence. We just saw no reason why you couldn't do that.

Commissioners, if I may, the question that's in front of you this evening is whether or not it's in the best interest of Washington County and its citizens to rezone a specific parcel to a specific zoning label. And so that is the question in front of you.

Thank you.

Making evidence, reviewing documentation is completely outside the scope of the county commission. The county commission is not a tribunal. It's public record that this applicant has stated that it is their intention to litigate. I'm not going to comment on any facts that have been presented. I think that would be for a court of law. Nor will I comment on any misstatements of what Tennessee law does and does not provide with respect to the issuance of a permit or what the facts show as to the timing of a permit with respect to the acquisition of a single wide trailer. So that being said, I would ask you to limit your scope to what is in front of you, and for purposes of any litigation that does pursue, Washington County would object to any statements put on the record that are inconsistent with simple public comment or representation of facts.

Just tell me to shut up.

I would never do that, Commissioner.

I'll tell you that. Do we need a motion?

David, I had the same question.

I guess my question's a little different. We're talking about an R3. Is there any other zoning that accommodates this we can't do that i mean i know that's a planning commission decision but um i'm i'm not sure about that but that just leaves me thinking you know this is r3 is there something i mean a1 i shouldn't be thinking out loud should i but anyway it's it's I don't want to get Allison back up here on me, but I'm just saying it does come to my mind. Any further questions on any of these rezonings before we vote? It's here and available for any questions. Oh, Commissioner Malone, I didn't see you.

Ms. Charles, I just want to make sure I understand, but the staff's recommendation to the Planning Commission specific to the rezoning was a denial. Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

And then the Planning Commission unanimously recommended to this body, the County Commission, denial. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Thank you.

Commissioner England, did you have?

No, I was just letting you know. He's helping me out there. All right.

All right. Angie, thank you very much. We appreciate all the hard work you do for us. All right, we'll go ahead and consider these. The first one is a resolution 260604. It's a resolution rezoning the tax map in the 5th Civil District, presently owned by BRSTX Investments. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch us to the voting screen. Do I have a motion?

No. So if we vote yes, are we backing the recommendation, which is to turn this down?

The Planning Commission was for denial, so yes would be to deny. But we need a motion. Is that correct?

I think that the resolution states that it would be to rezone the parcel. Ms. Charles would confirm that for us. The resolution is to rezone the property. And so the motion... for example if there is no motion then it would not go to a vote And if you state your motion, then you need to have a, whether you've determined the rezoning request does or does not promote the health, safety, and welfare. So rezoning it would require that it does promote. So a motion is typically to approve the resolution. So that would be to rezone the parcel, which would be inconsistent with the Planning Commission and the, or you can vote the other way, but then you need to make clear that your vote, if you were making a motion that is separate. Does that make sense, Mr. Chairman?

No. So if it's, if you're voting yes, would be the Planning Commission's Recommendation.

I think I could clear this up. Could I make a motion?

Mr. Huffine.

I'll make a motion.

Would you please? I move that we follow the planning department and planning commission's recommendation and do not approve rezoning this parcel.

Alright, we have a second. Second by Commissioner Davenport.

Call the question.

Questions been called? Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please.

To confirm, a yes vote is in favor of the denial resolution or motion. Confirm, yes it is. Thank you.

Yes is no. A yes is no.

Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote, 10 yes, one no, four absent, and the resolution passes. The next resolution is resolution 260605, is resolution rezoning the tax map in the third civil district presently owned by Martin and Elizabeth Malone. Do we have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Fitzgerald, seconded by Commissioner Wexler to approve the resolution.

Mr. Chairman, for the sake of good order, I'll just point out that there is no family relation that I'm aware of.

Thank you. So we have a motion and a second.

Call the question.

The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. The next resolution is Resolution 260606. It's a resolution rezoning the tax map in the 7th Civil District, presently owned by Wayne Darnell. We have a motion. Motion by Commissioner Malone to approve. Second by Commissioner Wexler.

Call the question.

Question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. The last resolution is resolution number 260607. It's a resolution amending the Washington County Zoning Resolution regulations for accessory structures. Do we have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Wexler to approve. Second by Commissioner Huffine. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

Question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. All right, that'll conclude our public hearing and zoning and report. We'll go ahead and move on into our special recognition. We do not have any special recognition tonight. Our Board of Commissioner minutes, an opportunity here to accept and receive minutes from our May 12th meeting and our special called Board Meeting of the County Commissioners, if you'll find that on page 39. Do we have a motion to accept the minutes? Motion by Commissioner Huffine, second by... Commissioner Wexler. Question or discussion? All in favor of accepting the minutes, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? The minutes are received. We have no elections or appointments this evening. And we will move right on to the county mayor's report. Mayor Grandy. thank you no report from the mayor our county attorney miss wilkinson nor do i and i appreciate your indulgence earlier all right our director of the health department director mcclellan are you here this evening i don't think she's made it uh the director of schools director boyd i've written report that's submitted all right Thank you, Director Boyd. Any questions for Director Boyd? That's a great report you do. I appreciate that. I get a lot from that. Our Administrative Elections. Mr. Vest, I don't know, I didn't see him here this evening. So we will move right on to the Beer Board Committee. Commissioner Malone.

No report. Actually, we did not have a quorum for, I think, the meeting that is referenced here. We did finally meet, I think, Thursday morning, but no minutes or no action from that meeting.

I guess that'll be next month, huh, Commissioner Muller? Correct. Yes, thank you. We have a CIA committee did not meet, but you will see the May 2026 marketing report on page 45 for your review. The Communications Task Force, Commissioner Huffine?

Yeah, you'll see our minutes on page 46. If there's any questions, I'll be glad to answer those. If not, that's a gap, sir.

All right. Any questions for Commissioner Huffine? Seeing none. Our county owned property committee, Commissioner Tometa.

Your minutes are in the package on page 51. We have two items for consideration tonight. The first one is consider resolution number 26-05-06. Resolution amending resolution 24-11-06. And allocating a portion of the county farm for use by the highway department. It comes to you as a recommendation from the committee, and I move for it to approve.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Camita. Do we have a second? Second by Commissioner Davenport. Question or discussion?

Follow the question.

Questions have been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch us the voting screen, please. Madam Clark, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. Commissioner Tameda?

The next item is resolution number 26-06-17, resolution accepting bid and authorizing sale of a portion of county-owned property located at 115 County Farm Road, map 068, parcel 199.00 on the southerly side of the county farm road, white right-of-way. That comes to you as a recommendation from the committee, and I move for its approval.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Tamita. Do I have a second? Second by Commissioner Malone. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll take us to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes.

That's all for us.

All right. Next item is the Health, Education, and Welfare Committee. Commissioner Carter.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. We have no items to consider this evening, but our minutes are on page 70 if anyone has any questions. Thanks.

All right, thank you. Now, the Public Safety Committee, I had Commissioner Edens here. I didn't know he was not going to be here this evening. I know Commissioner Jones is the vice chairman.

I've got the list if you're going to ask who's after that.

Well, I know it's Commissioner Johnson. I don't think he's here either.

Who's left?

Commissioner Fitzgerald, can you bring us out of this hole?

Yeah, I'll do it. We have three. You can find the minutes on the June 4th meeting on page 77. Consider resolution number 26-0608. Resolution amending resolution 260308. Authorizing distribution of the Washington County Sheriff's Office surplus property on govdel.com.

you can find a mess on saving on a before approval motion by Commissioner Fitzgerald seconded by Commissioner Malone to approve the resolution question or discussion called for the question question has been called madam clerk if you'll switch us to the voting screen wouldn't cast your vote blocking in madam clerk if you announce the vote 11 yes for absent the resolution passes

Our second resolution is considering resolution number 260609, resolution approving memorandum of understanding between Washington County, Tennessee and East Tennessee State University ETSU clinical affiliation social work. You can find the minutes on page 85. I'll move for approval.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Fitzgerald. Second by Commissioner Huffine. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

Question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. Eleven yes, four absent. The resolution passes.

Number three, last one. Consider resolution number 2606-10. Resolution approving memorandum of understanding between Worcester County Tennessee and East Tennessee State University ETSU Counseling. You can find the minutes on page 92, and I move for approval.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Fitzgerald, seconded by Commissioner Wexler. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

Question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch us to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote, 11 yes, 4 absent. The resolution passes. Anything else, Commissioner Fitzgerald? I think that's it. All right. Thank you. The Public Works Committee report. Commissioner Davenport?

Yes, you'll find our minutes for our June 4th meeting on page 103. We have one resolution coming for you tonight. It comes in the form of a motion, resolution number 260611, resolution adopting the revision to the Washington County road list to allow the closure of a portion of Boat Dock Road and constructing a turnaround at the newly proposed end at the developer's expense.

All right. Motion by Commissioner Davenport to approve. Seconded by Commissioner Fitzgerald.

What's his name? Call the question.

Question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent. The resolution passes. Anything else, Commissioner Davenport?

That's all I have for you, sir.

All right. Rules Committee Report.

Mr. Chairman, our minutes are on page 107. We did have a meeting. We discussed a couple of potential items or rules changes. Those may come to you next month, but no action items tonight.

All right.

Thank you, Commissioner Malone. We'll go on with our Notary's Resolution 2606-12. It's a resolution approving the election of Notary's public for appointment and a reappointment for Washington County, Tennessee. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve by Commissioner Wexler, seconded by Commissioner Huffine. Call the question. The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Commissioner, have fun. There you go. Thank you.

Sorry.

We have 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. We'll move right on to new business. Resolution 2606.13 is a resolution amending the fiscal year budget of 2526, Washington County Schools Nutrition Budget. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve by Commissioner Wexler, seconded by Commissioner Davenport. Questions, discussion?

Call the question.

The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. The next resolution is 2606.14. It's a resolution amending the physical year budget 2526, the Washington County Schools budget amendments on page 118. Do I have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Huffine. Second by Commissioner Wexler. Question or discussion?

Called questions.

Questions have been called. Madam Clerk switches the voting screen. Go ahead and cast your vote. Lock it in. Go ahead and announce the vote. 11-4. Resolution passes. Got ahead of myself, Fair Commissioner Davenport. Consider Resolution 2606.15 as a resolution amending the fiscal year budget 2526, the final budget amendment for fiscal year 2526. That's on page 131. We have a motion by Commissioner Fitzgerald to approve. Second by Commissioner Wexler. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. Next item is Resolution 2606-16, a resolution adopting the revised fund balance projections for the fiscal year end June 30, 2026, on page 139. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve by Commissioner Wexler, seconded by Commissioner Fitzgerald. Question or discussion?

All the questions.

Questions have been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. The final resolution is Resolution 260618. It's a resolution approving and authorizing the transfer of funds, ARPA Special Revenue Fund, to the Capital Projects Fund on 145. I have a motion. Motion to approve by Commissioner Wexler, seconded by Commissioner Huffine. Question or discussion?

Call the question.

The question's been called. Madam Clerk, if you'll switch us to the voting screen, please. Go ahead and cast your vote and lock it in. Madam Clerk, if you'll announce the vote. 11 yes, 4 absent, and the resolution passes. All right, cutoff date for the next Mudd's County Commission agenda is July the 16th at 12 noon. All those in favor of adjourning, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed?