City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, children. All right, I'm going to go ahead and call the August 18, 2026 meeting to order. It's obvious that we may need a sergeant at arms to keep things under control, at least on the left hand or your right hand side of the table. Welcome everybody tonight. It's good to see everybody. I'm glad everybody is doing okay through this weather we've had. I want to make one announcement. Well, I want to make more than one. April Pearson has submitted her resignation as a city councilperson. We accept that reluctantly. She said some mighty nice things about everybody here, and I'll say the same thing about her. We will miss her. She's done a good job being a councilperson, and we thank her for her service. I want to call out to all the people on staff here at the city, including firefighters, police officers, anybody. During this time of extreme heat, we have taken care of each other. They've gone out, checked on people, some by request, others just that they know to check on. And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to love our neighbor as ourself. But they've done it. And in a small town, that's the beauty of a small town. The downside of that is everybody knows everybody's business. But the good news is everybody takes care of each other. So we appreciate everybody with the city that's done that, and I know they'll continue to do that. They do that all the time, but they do it especially during times of heat or cold weather or big snow or ice storm. So we appreciate that. I will let you know that I have to leave at seven to go to my real job, my pan job. You can hold your applause. You don't have to clap now. The Vice Mayor, Steve Casey, will take over and finish out the meeting and do it very capably. And I just wanted to let you know that. So if I get up and run out, I promised them I'd be there at 730. If I get up and run out, nobody's made me mad. And I don't think they will have anyway. Not anticipating that. So if you would, if you bow with me, we'll have a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we're thankful for this day and the opportunity to gather. We're thankful to live in a free country and on this beautiful earth, Lord, and we're thankful for all the blessings that you give us each day that we probably take for granted most of them, but we're very thankful for them, and we probably don't say that enough. Lord, we pray that you'll be with this meeting. We pray that you'll be with everybody here. We pray that you'll continue to bless this community, keep our people safe from harm, and go with us and forgive us of our sins. Amen. All right. Got minutes from our last meeting.

I've got a pen somewhere.

Y'all happy with the minutes? Do we need to make any changes to them? Okay. Is there a second? Second. Second. Any discussion on the minutes? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Aye. Okay, the minutes are approved. Come to public business and comment. This is the time that if you've got something you want to address us with, we'll be glad to hear it. Tell us your name so we can get you in the minutes so 40 years from now they can figure out who spoke on August 18, 2026. Whoever.

My name is Ron Appel and I own and operate the Farmhouse Coffee Shop at 408 Public Square. When we purchased the building, we inherited an existing stairway that had been built by the Taylors many years ago. And as the population's aging in this area, we have heavy use of that stairway. And as it exists now, there's a parking space directly in front of it. And if a car does pull in front of it, it prevents the access to the stairway. It's not necessary. 100% for our business, but it also serves the salon next door, also serves the drugstore. They actually have more elderly people and more use. The only other ADA access or access to get up onto the walkway is either you've got to walk down to Casa Amigos and then walk all the way up to the drugstore or the hair salon or our business, or the other side, come in from Wilson Bank. And I know I've discussed with local people here, and I've also had some discussions with you, Mayor Jimmings, about just marking exactly the, I'll call it the roughly 10 or 12 feet wide where the stairway is for either doing no parking zone or somehow designate that so that we have enough space to allow access for that stairway.

Let me say to you, we discussed it at our last meeting, and I was supposed to do a couple things on it. Actually, it was three things in a minute that I didn't get to, so I apologize, but that's on our mind. Sure. And we're going to do our best to fix that and resolve that tomorrow. Not only to be ADA compliant, but just with folks like myself who may have a little trouble getting around and make it a little easier.

It's got the handrail, and that's what a lot of people need to hold on to to get up those stairs there.

But we need to. And they'll come a day, believe it or not. And I know people are saying this. Like I'm thinking I'm crazy, but believe it or not, there's a day coming we're going to do some paving, and the square will be repaved. And so when we do that, we'll have to be careful about flooding, because the last time we paved in 97, we had some concerns about that, and we had to make some alterations. So all of that will calculate in. So thanks for coming over. Yes, sir. Mr. Bowles.

All right. Zach Bowles. I live over at 723 Grand Avenue, N.H. Can I push the button on the mic for you, please?

Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Zach Bowles.

I live over at 723 Grand Avenue, N.H. I am a member of Roundup Baptist. So, two things that I love pretty big in my life, and you can attest to. I love the Lord, and I love Blake Baldwin. To put those two things together, what we're wanting to do, we're wanting to see if we get one of three Saturdays in October to host a tournament, and all the proceeds will go to our youth group at Brown Lake. We held one for Carthage not too long ago out here, had a pretty good turnout, and it raised a pretty good amount of money for their youth. We brought a waiver. This is the same one we ran for when we did our church league. over here last year and it seemed to be in compliance with everything we needed if we need any other paperwork or anything to submit to y'all let me know that and i'll get it to you i'll get it to your office mike okay but the three saturdays one of the three saturdays are the third uh 17th or 31st of october i know the 31st is obviously halloween We understand that was probably out, but that's one of the three that a lot of the teams that we know we can get to commit to play, would be willing to come out and play.

The third's the Mountain Lions.

So it's 17. 17 then, I mean, if nobody's using the park that day.

And truthfully, we just need the softball field.

We don't need those. Will you need the lines?

going to tell you probably not because the goal would be to start early like we did for the carcass when we did a couple months ago and try to be done before dark if we were to run into the need of the lights let me know what the cost is our our rule has been i think i'm right on this i don't see bob or cody either one

You can use it all day long as long as you don't use the lights. If you use the lights, we have to make a charge because obviously we push that. But, of course, keep in mind days or at least daylight hours are going to be shorter. But you know what you can do and what you can squeeze in there.

If it gets to where we have more teams, because most teams won't see a guaranteed amount of games they can play before they do it. And we're going to try to do at least a two or three-game matchup. We're quick.

You're going to play some kind of round robin?

We can play an hour a day.

Most normal sanction tournaments are an hour game time.

So what's your preference, 17th or 31st? 17th because parents are going to want to take their kids to retreating and do all the things. And I don't want to interfere with that. And we'd like that. The bigger the turnout, the more money we raise for our kids.

So y'all are telling me Halloween's on Saturday this year?

It is.

We haven't had any problems with Halloween for years, but Saturday is always right. Okay, so you'd like the 17th? Yes, sir. What's the pleasure of the council on this? I know these fellows, they'll do what they say they do.

I'd like the motion to approve.

One quick, one question. I know you said you had your waiver. Yes, sir. But we have to have the insurance liability. Absolutely.

With the city added. We have to go back and get all that from the guys at church.

Right.

But I just wanted, we have this on hand. Just for the indication, I need to look at it again. But it's the same one we used last year.

Well, as long as the city is a secondary insured, we're good. Yeah, absolutely. We understand that fully. And I'll second Laura's motion.

Okay. Is there a discussion on this? Okay, if not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I have to tell y'all, you know what I'm going to say. Mr. Bowles played baseball for me many moons ago. I had hair and he didn't have a beard. And at that time, the guys on Fox News, Big Papi was playing for the Red Sox. I called him Big Papi. He was a ball magnet. He'd go to the plate and they'd hit him every time. He'd get on base, but they'd hit him. So he was a ball magnet. He's been a good kid all his life, and I'm glad to see he stayed in this community. He's putting it back now. He's paying it forward because he grew up in this league.

Just for record, I

Yeah, you married what? Yeah. She did, too. Thank y'all, guys. Before we get off public business, let me just go ahead and skip down to something. On our agenda is a request to use Three Forks Park on September 26, which is the last Saturday. And that is for the J. Carey Scholarship Fall Festival, call it first annual pre-admission, from 1 to 5 will be cornhole tournament, games, chili cook-off, pumpkin carving contest, arts and crafts. And Kim Clark, Jake's mother, has asked us for permission to use the entire park that day from 1 to 5. And she understands, April, about the insurance and all of that. So I recommend that to you. 26.

I make a motion to approve that and they provide the insurance.

Yep.

They know about the lights too, which I think they're not. No, 1 to 5 is what she says on here. I'll second it. We've got a motion and a second. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, appreciate that. We'll go back to public business. Anybody else want to address this? I know there's some people here who are going to talk to us on some other things. All right. Anybody, Mr. Producer, anybody out in T. Leland? We're good. We're good? Okay. Thank you. Chief Decker's not here. He was up first tonight. He's got a fire report in there. If you all have any questions, you can... address them to him by email. He's good to respond. And I don't know whether he'll get here or not. If he does get here, we'll jump back to him. Dale, you're next up. Sura report.

I don't really have a whole lot for you this month. Nothing exciting on my end, which is probably a good thing.

Well, it is. Now might be a good time to go ahead and say this. We were in a meeting last Tuesday about the ongoing sewer project. And we were told that by the end of this week, we will be cut over to the new line and the line in the creek will be killed. So there's still some cleanup and some punch list and that type of thing. They did run into a little problem right behind the city shop there. And I think they've gotten that resolved. Have you heard Bob say, April, did he say whether or not they got that fixed? Okay. But Brian Conrad told us that he thought he'd be cut over by the end. Isn't that what he said? Did I recall that correctly? So hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel. Anybody got any questions today?

All right.

Thank you, sir. Chief Henderlight, come on up.

I have so much, I'll let you all start.

I'm just kidding.

Don't do that to me. My heart's not as strong as it used to be.

Got any questions about the reports or anything that's pressing or you want me to know about the police department?

How are we on staffing? I know we had one that resigned.

Yeah, so we've got three that's resigned. But we have some candidates, like the mayor said, we were in a position where we didn't have to get in a hurry. And kind of made some of the other employees upset because they had to change their shifts. You know, that's part of being in law enforcement. We hired one gentleman full-time, Michael Agee. He started last week, and hopefully he'll be on his own this weekend. He's got 25 years of experience. Seems to grasp our system really well. He's been approved by POST. All the things that have to be done, we've got him approved. We have a couple in the pipeline. One of them has not been to the academy but there's a you know i've got to send the mayor some things about what we want to do and then one of our part-timers quit when we had to but one of them quit and we have another person in line for a part-time and she was a certified officer she worked for the county and she went to mount julia and she's going to do part-time after having a child and that's kind of what we need she's an sro and that'll be good for my day shift i can bring her in on days and put her make her go into school have her go into the schools and just create a better community bond so yeah all right do we you want us to go ahead and approve michael yes sir please okay

I recommend that to you. I think he's worked here before, has he not, several years ago?

So, yes, a lot of years ago when Joe and I think we had it on the square. Yeah. And he worked for Carthage or one of those full-time and was helping Joe part-time. There was some paperwork things, but he worked for another place full-time when he was helping Joe when he come down and helped at that moment. So, yes, sir, that is accurate.

Okay. So we'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Motion to second. Discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Hey kids, do you need us to approve your part-time? Yes, please. Okay, give us her name.

So her name's Felicia Deck. Again, she worked at the county. It was an SRO. She worked at Mount Juliet. She is certifiable. The minute you're not full-time, you're not certified anymore. But I think it would be a good asset for us to have. And, you know, she knows it's part-time, and that's what she needs and wants. Sometimes this stuff gets in your blood and you can't get out of it.

Okay. I'll recommend that to you. Thank you. Second. Got a motion and a second to approve employing Felicia Deck as part-time and she understands the hour limitation. Yes, sir. I'll explain it to her very well. Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. Questions of the chief?

What about the other Tahoe?

So all three Tahoes have been downed? We've had to put top of the motors on all three of them. One of them's in the shop now. The black one, driven by Fed, probably had never been over 35. But the heads, lifters and cam broke. They're all out of warranty now. They have the powertrain warranty, but we timed out on years instead of mileage. And so I'm having to be very, very, very careful because a repair of those are super expensive. But we got one back today. The other one has to go in the shop that was involved in that accident. Crash probably, you know, it's been a little bit. I think we already have the check for reimbursement for that. And Chevrolet said that they would have the other one back by Friday. We were without one with a transmission for 11 weeks.

But it wasn't on us.

It was Backorder Parts. Again, I sent you an email the other day about checking stuff. Maybe there's some different options at some point, and we can still get really, I'm not saying we'll do it, but we can get some really good value out of them because they're low mileage. But again, they should all be back in service.

My concern is just what you said there, being honest with you, is if they're low mileage, why are we having trouble with them? so it doesn't make any sense and i years ago recommended that we purchased two escapes and we did and the officers never liked them they ran them hard and they kept talking about them blowing up they weren't any good and at that time i was driving one with over 200 000 miles on it and one with 120 000 miles just got to take care of it yeah i will say unfortunately

GM has been having atrocious problems with a lot of their cars. They've had this quality control problem now that has lifter problems, cam problems, and transmission problems. I have a buddy who has a shop out in Murrisboro. He's got 15 cars in the rack in there. 13 of them are triple A's for transmissions. All good issues. So I don't know why or what's going on, but I know they've had multiple different lawsuits through it. of colors and I don't know how that plays out for us if we can use any of that to do that but it may not be a bad idea they are about knowledge and you will get the most out of them

they're going to continue to be lens unfortunately and I appreciate what you're saying I'm not questioning that but how are you going to get the most out of them if they're not running so they will all be running because they'll all be fixed within the next couple weeks but again I also see that it is expensive and like who would ever dream to have these kind of troubles and you know we do change the oil regularly I've taught them all how to check it and And, you know, Mayor, you've had, you know, as all of you have called me and said, hey, man, we saw this car speeding around town. And you're 100% right. They were. So then I put limits on it. So, you know, I've tried to do everything on the backside of electronics and stuff to say that because now that they go over, you know, 50 miles an hour, everything in the vehicle starts recording and their body cam. So, you know, I'm trying to, you know, regulate that. But it was the cheaper option at the time to buy Chevrolet Tahoes rather than Ford Explorers. And they got them to us a year late, so they actually honored the price. So, you know, I don't think it was a lose-lose. I just think that I'm trying to just be proactive. I'm not coming to you and telling you that we need to buy three new vehicles. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just giving you so that way you're informed and you know what's going on. We're managing. You know, we had to put an alternator on one another day. April's like, just turn it down. I was like, no, I don't want him to send me one of those emails. But it wouldn't run, so I had to. I mean, it wasn't astronomical, but it kind of was. And it should have been covered, because in my mind, they had some electrical issues. They had to replace all the fuse panels on all three of them. That's not an abuse problem. You know what I'm saying? Again, They've been run hard. There's no doubt. I mean, they're police vehicles, but again, we've tried to take some measures when the concerns would come in to try to correct some of that.

Yeah, and I'm not anti-police at all. The department, we have the best department we've ever had, biggest department we've ever had. We have good relations with our community. Yes. And I and everybody here should be proud of that. But, you know, when it comes down to it, we're covering two square miles. And how hard can you run a car in two square miles?

We'll help him on the idea. I've got to watch the money, guys. That's what it's all about. The running hard part isn't totally there. What these new cars have at the Chevrolet, they're still trying to use pushrod motor. Some of the people went to Delaware Cam with the different aspects. The pushrod motors have a special lifter that cuts out part of the cylinder deactivation on those motors. are giving everyone grief and it doesn't matter if you throw them. Honestly, running the piss out of them is probably more helpful than running them soft because it seems to make them work better.

Is there a recall? No. So what they told me was there wasn't a recall because they went away from that word. They're bulletins and there are releases that fix them But you're still down the vehicle, just like the transmission. The transmission should have never went out. And that's the bottom line.

It doesn't matter what kind of vehicle it was.

And it went out. Because I try to look into all this stuff, because at the end of the day, I'm the one that's responsible. You all are too. That's not what I'm saying. But you all would come to me, and I'm like, hey, why is this? And she goes, well, there's a nationwide shortage. It's three months out. I was like, why? She goes, I'm surprised the other ones haven't went out. You know, and again, they may not have known that when we got them. You know, again, we got it a year late. They honored the price. They did do that. But that's why I sent that email. I'm just trying to stay ahead of the game. And, you know, it's hard on, it would be extremely hard on me or anybody. But, you know, those vehicles are still worth probably $40,000 apiece.

Those vehicles?

Absolutely.

We didn't pay for them at all. We didn't pay that much for them. No, we did not.

That's my whole point.

Oh, well, now you're talking about a top-down.

Yeah, I'm not talking about something we're going to lose on because they're still low mileage. They're four-wheel drives. That's why we got that.

Now, I can get a lot more interested.

And, you know, like I said, I've already found some things that we could potentially replace it with a V6 and some mileage. But, again, I'm not coming to you with that. I'm just telling you what's going on right now.

Well, based upon the history you've gotten and the feedback, I know Kyle is very knowledgeable about the auto industry. It seems to me like we need to stay away from Chevrolet whenever we move forward.

Well, it definitely has not. They look amazing. We've won some awards, per se. They look amazing. And, again, it's happened.

Well, to be continued, let me, the story you were telling there, though, about what we paid for and what we get for, I'm probably the only person here, Hal may remember, April does, we used to buy our cars from state surplus, and we gave $650 for it. We had one burn one time, got $1,950. went and bought another one this is a true story went and bought another one a few months later said 650 a few months later it burned got 1900 the third we went bought a third one said guys we can't pull this anymore they'll put us in attention but look we did we so that we start talking numbers like that that are above what we yeah you get me get my attention we'll talk we'll talk some more about yeah Thank you, Chief. Appreciate you. Anything else?

Thank you.

All right. Anybody here? Is Jeff Tonks or Jonathan here? Okay. We had our youth leagues, the girls playing girls flag football tonight. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the first game. I don't know if Jeff came and got some money earlier today to run the concession team. All right, Chris, Railroad Museum, and you've got a special guest, and I'll let you introduce him.

Two things real quick. The new whistle post is out.

Gave you each one of those.

This one was, as I mentioned before, kind of Watertown-based focus.

There's a lot more Watertown info in this one. The first one was Tennessee Central.

This one's Watertown. The next one should be more... Steam-oriented. Some business stuff. Terry reached out to me after the last train down on the west side of the sidewalk, on the west side of Central. There's a section that has separated, and they had customer fee triple in the last week. So he just wanted to point that out to us that, you know, it's something that we attended to at some point. It's on the rail yard side, so I don't know how that fits into the whole thing. Just to kind of understand what it means, I had somebody from AFS come out and look at it to do repairs. So he looked at it, told me all what it was, what it would take, to give us a quote so we could just kind of know what it is. So they would do some filling and lifting and settling and all that kind of stuff that they do. Basically, it's $4,800 to do a fix to get it settled. The big problem being they were poured as 10-foot, 20-foot sections. So you're trying to deal with 40 feet of sidewalk. And that's what makes it a little bit more unnecessary. Anyway, in the short term, for the next year in September, we're going to get with the city guys. We're just going to put some cones there to make it very visible. But it's something that needs to be addressed in some fashion before somebody does get heard in front of someone in a different situation. So he just mentioned that, you know, hey, just so you all know kind of thing. And I went down and looked at it and the federal looked at it.

Is it the last piece or is it in?

It's kind of maybe three sections down from the pavilion kind of thing. It's kind of right in the middle. So it's not, it's two sections right in the middle. One just looks like one jumped up and kind of went over the other one. And he said it's normal just because they're big slabs and moving that kind of stuff. So I'll forward you the quotes. So you have it all kind of thing, but again, we can mitigate it in the meantime with some option area that comes or something.

My question is going to be, is that area going to get torn up anyway when we start construction on the turn?

I don't know the answer to that. The reason I asked about it being the furthest down there than I thought it was, we could block it off temporarily, but I don't know.

Well, I'm just curious if it is an area that's going to be torn up, if it's buckled, can we take a concrete saw and cut out a section and have Bob and Cody know how to pour concrete? Yeah. Just cut out a section and put a temporary patch in. Do a temporary... Because if we're going to be digging it up within six, eight months from now anyway... Do we want to spend $5,000 to fix an uneven side?

That was my question. I just want to get this so you have it so we can let Terry know, hey, we're looking at it.

They don't come again until September 3rd, September 12th? September 4th.

September 4th.

Okay, Saturday. Tomorrow or that weekend?

I mean, later that weekend. So Stephen Hook is here. He is with National Steaming. I know we all talked about last time they had the steam test, got the certification for it last night. So I asked him to come and just kind of give us a little update on, you know, where the engine's at, what that means kind of thing. If you have a couple questions, you know, just about the steam engine. And I'll kind of let him take it from there. So, Steven?

Thank you, Chris. Good evening. My name's Steven Hook. Chris does a good job at introducing people. I'm serving as the project foreman for the Nashville Steam Preservation Society, and I also have the privilege of acting as the vice president for the Watertown Railroad Museum. As Chris mentioned, we completed a successful steam test with the witness of federal inspectors. It was on July 15th is the first day that we fired the steam engine up. That event was the first time aside from some smaller tests that had taken place beforehand, that was the first time that we have fully fired up the locomotive's boiler and tested all of the work that has been done to the locomotive since we removed it from Centennial Park in 2019. For those of you, if you're not familiar, we have been working on this endeavor since 2016. The nonprofit was founded in 2015, and then we began work in the park to begin restoring the locomotive to operation. So 10 years later, here we are, and we have now verified not only that the locomotive holds pressure and boils water, which is what you need a steam locomotive to do, but the inspectors had some very favorable comments about the work that had been performed and the outcome of the test. So not only did we pass, per se, there's not really a pass or a fail, it's more of an observation. However, the inspectors did remark very kindly on the work that had been done and stated that they were impressed with how – with the amount of work that we did, how – of course, there's always going to be some small items to look at and small – changes and tweaks, bugs that need to be worked out, but they again were impressed with the work that we did. And so now we get to begin kind of the final, I guess you would say, phase of the restoration, and that is putting the final pieces back together and beginning an actual live operations test. Now, as we're moving forward, We are hoping to start to begin those tests sometime in the first quarter of 2027. That is, of course, going to depend on our last fundraising campaign. To date, we have raised over $4 million, spent over $3.3 million of that on the restoration, and we are doing a final fundraising campaign that will kind of help us push it over the line, not only finish the project, because we're we're doing pretty well uh as far as our finances go but more money makes it happen faster basically um and so you know we've been doing this now for eight years and we're excited to bring this experience to watertown uh wilson county uh and davidson county in nashville and really kind of bring this this piece of history to life and you know complete the dream that a lot of people have entrusted us to make happen So we're really excited to begin these tests in the beginning of next year. I just wanted to get out here and announce that to you all and answer any questions that you may have. But we're coming and we're really excited about it. Watertown has always been our primary goal. for operating the steam locomotive. There's not a lot of places out of the 185 or so operating steam locomotives in the country, there's not a lot of places that have the unique elements to an operation like Watertown and the Nashville and Eastern Railroad and other factors like the Tennessee Central Railway Museum and now Chris and the team here at Watertown Railroad Museum. There's not a lot of organizations that have the amount of depth and possibilities to do an operation like this. You know, there's a lot of places that operate steam locomotives at 10 miles an hour for a mile and a half, two miles, five miles. So us getting to operate a locomotive that is not only as large as it is but also at decent speeds over a 45 mile piece of track to get from Nashville to Watertown is really a unique circumstance and that's something that we're very excited to get to bring here. um chris has done an awesome job at fulfilling uh and helping us as we kind of move into the last phase of this restoration um he has really helped us and the museum uh here in watertown has helped uh both us at nashville steam and the folks terry and brenton and the fellows at uh tennessee central railway museum uh kind of opened the communication and uh and we're excited that we're getting to have the conversations that we're having now about you know bringing the show to town so If anybody had any, hey, we're excited to be here. So I'm happy to answer any questions if any of you have any. If not, we're just letting you know we're excited to be here.

You guys raised $4 million. I might want to talk to you about some things I'd like to do here.

Well, the nice thing about that number is that's all the money that we've raised without turning the wheel. So once the locomotive begins operating, not only do we get to potentially look at and invest in new projects, But we also get to begin generating revenue not only for our society, for the Railroad Museum, for Watertown's Railroad Museum, for the city of Watertown, but for all the communities in the area around us. People are going to travel from all over the world to see this. I've had the pleasure of being a part of several organizations across the country who have done a lot more with a lot less. And so we have a genuinely incredible opportunity to make this into something incredible. And the team of people from all three organizations and in the communities surrounding us, we want to take this to the highest level that we can. So that's what we're looking forward to.

questions of Stephen thank you for the report you're welcome here anytime thank you all for having me yep all right Chris you got anything else thank you so just to let everyone know that the bluegrass

festival will be September the 5th when the train comes in they will we've already approved it but those inside five parking spots closest to the gazebo is typically where we put the bleachers and we've approved for them to have that but we've not approved for when the bleachers can be set there so I don't know what they did what they did last time but we need to Kind of get that in stone of when the bleachers can be moved over there and set in that area, in those five parking spots that face the gazebo.

I don't remember what we did last time. I want to say it was Friday after the majority of the businesses had closed, like five.

It was right before the guys went home because we don't really want to pay them overtime if we don't have to. I think they kind of moved it over right then.

Okay.

then they couldn't put it right where they wanted to yeah and then brian wilson that morning had to move them kind of with his truck to get them where they needed to be he got over there at 5 30 in the morning kind of move them where they needed to be okay so yeah we need to get that approved and i would have brought that last time when i gave y'all the report but we just approved the parking spots not the bleachers so motion to approve that i'll make a motion

All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

We're getting there. Okay, good. September the 19th is the train robbery. We've already approved everything for that. Just letting you all know that that's happening. September the 26th is the Founders Day. Nothing needs to be done for that. It's that morning.

People won't interfere with Kim's thing.

No, actually, I think it would be a good thing that We kind of have some community members out that can just pop on over to the across the highway. My long yard sale is October the 3rd. No changes in anything there that we've already approved everything. The beer garden music area is going to be in Bob McComb's property there where the red building is. And the music stage is going to be set up on the city property right there under that tree kind of back in that corner so that area will be kind of the music festival and some tables and chairs set up there um the beer garden is getting approved we've talked to miss april there last night and she said everything's on the go for for that to be said had somebody in earlier this afternoon um So then October the 31st is Halloween on the Square, and the Chamber is planning on providing the candy like they usually do for the businesses, along with the businesses helping to provide, too.

That's a great event.

Yes.

And I mean, there can't be that many kids in this community.

Well, I know when I lived in Lebanon, I would bring my kids to Watertown because it's safe. The candy's safe, the traffic's safe, the people's safe.

And people here seem to genuinely enjoy how long they can go up into the night.

We go through six bags of 300 pieces in one night.

You've got a good location there. As soon as they come into town, they eat you. I used to live up there too. I know how that is. Yeah, that's a good event. I appreciate the chamber so much, everybody that works there. It's a lot of fun.

So that was it. We had already kind of approved everything but these bleachers and then waiting on the beer garden, sir.

Okay. Thank you, Laura. Let me run through some items of business here before I have to go. We have the second and final reading was the budget amendment that amended last year's budget. We voted on it. First reading in July. And nothing has changed. I'll recommend that to you. And that should conclude everything we have to do with last year's budget. Thank you, sir. Don't leave me out there. Got a motion and a second? Discussion? All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, also we had the one on the certified tax rate where it was increased. It does not bring in any more money, but I asked for an explanation and I didn't have it last time, but here's what it is. The preliminary rate was calculated using preliminary assessment data and provided for planning purposes. The certified rate was calculated by the comptroller's office after all appeals, corrections, and assessment changes were finalized. Any difference between the two rates reflects changes in the assessment role that occurred during the certification process. So that's how we got from .3417 to .3802. But we need to approve that on the second reading so they can get the tax bills out. I know that'll make everybody happy.

I make a motion to approve the certified tax rate increase per the comptroller's request.

Second motion.

Okay. Discussion?

The rate is just a .04. Yeah.

A little less than 4 cents. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Yeah, I wouldn't expect a real boisterous vote on that. on the tax rate. Already mentioned street paving, just turntable. We normally have a meeting on the third Thursday with the folks in Washington. I hadn't seen anything saying we're meeting, hadn't seen anything saying we're not, but hopefully we'll be meeting at 11 o'clock. We have been told, what, two months ago that we're there? Three months ago. Yeah, three months ago. So I'm not sure if the... bar has moved or what but hopefully we'll be reporting that back to you mention to you the sewer project and hopefully we're getting some conclusion to some of these things before we start some others laura you've pretty much gone over our events list so i'm going to skip that when i presented the budget to you for this year I put the same amount of money in there for the library that we have done the last few years. They asked for an additional $1,500 this time, and I meant to put it in the budget. I did not. I forgot to. So you have a resolution tonight appropriating that money from this year's budget to bring that up to $31,572. Libraries are real, as y'all know, is a real benefit and asset to this community. And from what I read in the paper and what I see on Facebook, it seems like more and more people are using it. And I'm glad to see that and I'm glad to recommend this money. Keep in mind what they asked for us county puts in two to one what we put in so when we put in fifteen hundred dollars the county puts in another three thousand to be spent here so uh i'll recommend that to you on first reading you'll see that one again in september a motion is second do we have any discussion okay not all in favor say aye aye budget report you've got there nothing unusual 49 days into the year but if you see something there you have a question about let me know and if I don't know the answer I'll find the person that does but we are we are renewing a certificate of deposit here in a couple of weeks at 3.80 percent for eight months and Got that yesterday. We have a list there. Bob has given us some items to declare a surplus that are water and sewer. You've got a list of them there. What do you want to do with them, Michael? Do you want to sell them or scrap them? Okay. I think most of them were metal and used. Yeah. All right, we need to declare this surplus to scrap. This list.

I make a motion we approve Bob's list of surplus requests. I second. Go ahead.

We have a motion and a second. Discussion? All right, hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The money that's raised from that will go back into the general fund budget. We need to talk. Well, I didn't say while I go, but let me go ahead and make this announcement for the folks out there. I received April's notice one day last week that she needed to resign. Yesterday, I got a letter from our city judge, Julie Robinson, tendering her resignation. But she has agreed to stay on to the next court date because we can't appoint a judge until our September meeting. And today, I got a letter from our city attorney, Tim Davis, tendering his resignation. And so, whatever's going on out there, folks, y'all stop here. You're the attorney in the room.

Who'd you upset?

I don't know. I leave them alone. I never come to court over here. I don't want any part of it. But anyway, I'll have to bring you... recommendation for a city attorney too and in September I gave you a copy of the Charter it says in there that the city recorder can track cases and be the judge I know and it says if she can't the city mayor can unless they're both incompetent So I'm making my announcement right now. I'm in confidence. Maybe further than that, but at least. But anyway, we've got three positions we're going to need to fill. And let me say to you, first of all, we need to declare a vacancy on the council so that we can consider this in the near future. So if you would make that motion to accept her resignation and declare a vacancy, that's what I need. I'll make a motion to approve her resignation. Second. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Discussion? If there's none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, we officially have a vacancy. And our chart, well, first of all, when I was advised of it, I called Tammy at the election commission because I assumed we could add this into the election in November. We cannot. because our charter provision says that when a mayor or alderman dies, resigns, or moves out of the city, that office becomes vacant, and the vacancy shall be filled by the city council at its next meeting. Such person so elected to fill such office for the unexpired term. So the person elected will serve a little over two years until November of 2028. So that will be on the agenda for you in September. There had been some discussion about holding that off until after the election. I think our charter requires us to fill it. So I guess what we're saying is anybody out there that's interested in this, Let me or a council person know so that we can place your name and nomination.

In September, will we recommend people or will we vote on something?

No, you'll vote together. Now, let me say this. Steve Casey and I have communicated by email. He's going to be gone the week of our September. normal September meeting date. I'm going to be gone the next week for three days. So the importance of that is we need to find a date in September when all six of us can be here if we're going to elect somebody else. That needs to be a full council decision. So I'm thinking tentatively, but y'all tell me if you can't be here the fourth Thursday. I'm thinking that may be... The fourth Thursday? Yeah, I'm thinking that may be the 24th. That's the 24th. 22nd. 22nd, so Tuesday. No, Thursday the 24th. Yeah, I won't be here on that Tuesday. Steve won't be here on the 15th, which is our regular, and some of y'all may not be either. But if you think, and let me know if a date doesn't work for you, and we'll find a date that does so that everybody can be here.

We'll tentatively go with the 24th unless y'all tell me different, okay?

Well, Mike, as I indicated in my conversation with you, I will be back on the 17th in time for an evening meeting. I get back Thursday. My flight on the 17th gets into Nashville before noon.

Let me take a look at that. I may have a conflict that night. I meant to check today, and I didn't because you did suggest it. All right, that's a possibility, too. I'd prefer to get it done earlier than later. Okay. There'll be more discussion on that. I'm not going to say anything without y'all being okay on it. And I'm going to get out of here in just a minute, but I just want to remind everybody that we will be having our September 11 observance on September 11 at noon. I believe that is a Friday, if I'm not mistaken. And I am open for... speakers if you know somebody and we've been doing this now 25 years and i've about exhausted my list of speakers uh i hate to go back and hit on them again but i'd like to have somebody new every time so if you got somebody you think i'll make a good eight to ten minute talk with they don't have to make a long talk nor do we want them to we'll have the bands here in the choir here the county mayor be here police chief Fire Chief and all those folks. If you've never been to one, come on down and join us. It makes you feel better about your country, I think. As far as I know, we're one of the few places still doing it. I don't know. I think 11 of you have stopped and the county's not doing anything at any event. I didn't hear anybody throw a name in there. If you've got one, email me. I'll be glad to talk to them. And I need to get out of here, so Steve, if you don't mind, and if y'all got to, if anything, you need to talk to me or anybody, send me, call me, send me an email or whatever, and I'll get back to you. I don't like leaving tonight, but we do have a matter of litigation that I've got to, that they've asked that I meet in private session rooms. I've got to do that. And I'll see everybody soon, I hope.

You almost made it. We just got the round table left.

Y'all may want to, y'all may do some really good things while I'm gone. And I'll be glad to give you credit for it.

No. Like I said, we're down to the round table. How are you getting your first this month?

I haven't got anything.

And I don't have anything. We may be out before he gets out.

on some parts for our trolley. But it's going to be fairly easy, I think. I just have to get some free time that I can come actually work on. So I don't think it's going to cost us too much to make it where it will at least pull under its own weight.

I've heard a lot of great things about y'all. I know people in town are kudos to you for at least attempting this and looking into it. I mean, there's lots to do.

I didn't mind working on the trolley. It was the wasps. I definitely think that.

So thank you, Kyle. We appreciate that.

Yeah, we'll get it back running. I'm just going to take a little ingenuitive work. Everything's full of diesel currently, so I'm going to try to figure out the best way to not make an absolute mess over there trying to get the pump changed.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but when people ask about it, it's going to be fairly easy to fix.

It looks like it will be. From what I can tell, everything seems to be functioning. It's the low-pressure copper pump is not feeding the high-pressure pump, but the high-pressure pump is working. So I just put a little gas to it, to the high-pressure pump, and it took over and it started, and then it cut off. and the body looks good i think that works okay yes it needs some tlc yeah i think i think it'll be okay and someone had mentioned we possibly may need to do something about a step up to make it safer we might have to look at some tires i'm sure the tires are close to dry rotting as long as this makes it

I had a couple things. Someone brought to my attention the horse thing over here. Looks like they hadn't boated or weed-eated inside there. I know our city guys don't do that, so I didn't know who that falls on as far as doing it. Cody said something to me about... I actually had a call. I think they called me two weeks on another matter, and I said we had to, like,

Okay.

Thank you. And then the other thing I had was maybe us potentially looking into some speed bumps on some of the roads because I've had I've now had numerous people call me asking about it. Some on my side of town in East Main, some on West Main, some on Elm, going out to the dump, just people speeding. I know on my side of town, one of my neighbors, their dog got hit. People didn't even slow down. I know that, well, he's gone, but, you know, there's only so much patrolling the police do, and, you know, it's been an issue ever since I can remember, which is you pass the police on that end of town, and you know from that end of town you can haul butt, so... I don't know any other alternatives, but I don't know how expensive they are, but I just wanted to bring it up as maybe an option.

We mentioned speed bumps before, and I think he had said when we pay, that's something that we can look into. I'm not saying we couldn't look into it before then, but I know that was on the radar for when we get ready to pay, especially mainstream. Okay.

Yeah.

Especially when the roads get tight and they're smoothing. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I was about to say we probably need to include that as part of the repaving effort because it will eventually happen in the square and Main Street are going to be on toward the top of the list. And I think all three of those are going to be on our list. And those are the three that get the most traffic.

Yeah. So that's odd.

Motion. We need one more motion. Second. Aye.