Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. March 16, 2026 county commission meeting and welcome all of our guests here tonight. crowds down a little bit from last month and um but we do appreciate all of them being here tonight. Um the Heritage Christian Academy American Government class, we welcome you tonight. Would you please stand and be recognized at this time? Appreciate you being here and taking a part of our meeting tonight. I know there's others that are here tonight that will be recognized a little bit later on special recognition. So, I'll leave that to them. At this time, I'll introduce Commissioner Tommy Jones, which will have our prayer and pledge. And if you would please remember tonight, um Commissioner Terry Scrugs

lost his dad last night. Uh if you would remember him and his family in your prayers. And also, Mr. Jim Ashby, Mary Ashby was a teacher with me at Lebanon High School, special ed special education teacher, was later a principal at the adult high school, but she lost her husband last night as well. Commissioner Jones. I'd like to welcome all y'all to the West County Commission meeting, March 2026. I'd like to introduce a man to come up and lead the prayer. Uh, Mr. Phil Baker. Uh he's one of our elders at Gladeville Church, a lifelong friend. Uh I just can't elaborate enough on the what I think of this man. Um I will say this, I don't say a whole lot, but uh I don't know if he's left or right or red or blue or up or down, but he is a Christian. And if we'd all apply that to the every decision we make as a body here, we could make Wilson County a much greater place than it already is.

And um anyway, and one other thing, I'd like to congratulate all the employees on their award tonight. Uh especially the ones I've worked with for 30 years. They probably deserve a little extra for staying around me that long.

Amen. But uh anyway, I'll I'll turn it over to Phil. Lead us in a prayer and a pledge. If he doesn't mind, please rise. Before we get started, I just want to say one thing. I'm a longtime resident of Wilson County and I really do appreciate your service. Um, I know that it's it can be challenging and I know that it can be uh rewarding and I just thank you for your service as representatives in our county. So, I just want to say that. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, we come before you with gratitude for the opportunity to serve and to seek the good good of our c of our county. We ask for your wisdom and guidance for for our commissioners and all who participate in this meeting tonight. Grant them clear minds, humble hearts, and a desire to pursue what is right and just. Help them listen carefully, speak with respect, and work together for the welfare and peace of our county. May their decisions reflect integrity, fairness, and concern for everyone they represent. Your word reminds us if any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all. So we ask for that wisdom tonight in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you brother. Appreciate it. Thank you sir. appreciate you being here tonight. Yes, sir. If you will now press yes on your panel to record your presence tonight's meeting

24 present, one absent.

24 present, one absent. Resolution passes. This time we'll have public comment. Um period will be open. I have two people on the slate tonight. I'll start with Mr. Michael Swope. I do not see Mr. Michael. So I'll go to Mr. Perry Neil. Thank you guys. Um Perry 1000 Murphy Lane. Uh generally I'm up here kind of asking for a little something another but anyway for change I'm not uh just wanted to let you guys know that um the uh let's keep it country group is having a political rally at the Tucker's Crossroads Ballpark on uh April the 18th. Uh it starts at 12:00 uh with the U speakers being at 2:00. Uh each and every one of you guys are invited. Um, uh, we'll try to send out a little more details. We're going to have, uh, inflatables and things for the kids to do. Uh, free hamburgers as long as they last. Uh, possibly have a cakewalk toward the end of it, or cake auction, I guess I should say. And, uh, hopefully Sheriff Robert Bryant may be there to MC it as well as some other people that you may know. Uh if any of you, particularly some of you because we're on the east end of the county at Tucker's Crossroads, any of you that aren't going to make it or can't make it or don't want to make it for whatever reasons, if you want to get a sign out there, we'll be glad to put a sign up for you. So, I just want to throw that out there. April 18th political rally. Um one more thing is I just wanted to u um this is just for me. Uh thank you guys for um what y'all did in December of uh not last year but the year before when the uh there was a push as you're well aware of

it by to put the warehouses at the Lynwood Road exit and thanks to you guys those are not there today and and hopefully they won't be there in the future and I just want to let you know how much that means to the community and the people that lived out there regarding what happened a month ago. know up here regarding what what was what they wanted to do with warehouses at 109. If we had had warehouses being built by Ross Perau Jr. in our backyard, I fear we would have that that we would have had that in our backyard. And I just want to thank you guys for that. Uh and thanks for everything y'all day. Thank you. Michael Swope.

Okay. Uh his name was on the list. So we'll close public comment period. We'll move on now with the report from my steering committee. Commissioner Fields. Yes. M the steering committee met a registration on Thursday, March the 5th in the upstairs conference room. A copy of those minutes are in your packet. I move that they be received and filed. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. I. Adoption of the agenda. Commissioner Fields. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Everyone should have a copy of the agenda without any uh corrections or additions. I move that the agenda be adopted. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. Special recognition. Commissioner Evans. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, sir. I could ask the uh Wilson County parliamentary procedure team to come join me up at the podium and chaperones and adviser. Y'all get your responses. Thank you. Resolution of the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, honoring the Wilson County 4H team for their success in the national 4H parliamentary procedure contest at the Western National Roundup. Whereas the Wilson County 4H team became national champions in the parliamentary procedure contest at the Western National Roundup in Denver, Colorado on January 7th to 10th, 2026. Whereas in this contest, 4H members are tasked with utilizing practices from Robert's rules of order to conduct an official 4H club business meeting. And whereas six Wilson County 4H members participated in the contest representing the state of Tennessee against four other teams from across the nation. And whereas Wilson County is only the second team from Tennessee to compete in this contest and claim top honors. And whereas members of the Wilson County team included Lincoln Klein, Watertown High School, Elijah Hancock from Leman High School, John Hancock from Leman High School, Sarah Pal from Watertown High School, Samuel Cordray homechool, and Tiffany Jenkins home school. And whereas the Wilson County team was coached by volunteer

coach Monet Hancock and 4H agent Grace Harbble. And whereas adult chaperones for this trip included Jennifer Cordray and John Hancock. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, that we hereby recognize the Wilson County team representing the state of Tennessee in the national 4H parliamentary procedure contest held at Western National Roundup in Denver, Colorado, January 7th to 10th, 2026, and congratulate them on their national championship title. Move to approve.

All in favor say I. I. If y'all would like to come to the podium, introduce yourselves. We got copy of the resolution for each of you. Each of us. Hello. My name is Elijah Hancock and I'm our vice president for the parliamentary contest. Hello, I'm John Hancock from Lebanon High School and I was our secretary for the Parley Pro Contest. Thank you all.

My name is Tiffany Jenkins and I was a member for the Parliamentary Procedure Contest. Hello, my name is Sarah Powell. I'm from Watertown High School and I served as a treasurer for the Parliamentary Procedure Contest. Hello, my name is Samuel Cordre and I was a member for the Parliamentary Procedure Contest. Hello, my name is Lincoln Klein and I was the chairman for the Parley Pro Contest. Thank y'all.

My name is Grace Harville and I serve as one of the 4 extension agents here in Wilson County. Thank you all so much for recognizing our team tonight. It was a fabulous honor to be able to be represent uh Wilson County and the state of Tennessee. Thank y'all. Thank you all and congratulations. Thank you, Commissioner Evans, for making that happen tonight. This time, we'll have a public hearing and ask Christopher to come forward, please. Motion to go out of session.

A motion to go out of session. All in favor say I. Thank you.

A public hearing will be held before the Wilson County Commission on Monday, March 16th, 2025 at 7 p.m. or thereafter in the county commission room of Wilson County Courthouse, 228 East Main Street. Item for consideration tonight um was an applicant made by property owner David User requesting a land use plan amendment from lowdensity residential area to high density highintensity commercial area. The applicant is also seeking a reszoning of the same property from A1 agricultural to C3 highway commercial. The property contains approximately 4.66 66 acres and is located at 3503 Murphy'sboro Road and is further referenced at as parcel 35.14 being tax map 114. This request has been on file in the Wilson County Planning Office and has been available during regular business hours. Anyone wishing to speak tonight is requested to attend.

Anyone here to speak on this property? If so, step forward to the back. State your name and address for the record, please. I'm Diane Jernel, 3571 Murphy'sboro Road, Lebanon, actually next door to the property. And I'm just here to speak on behalf of this applicant. We are surrounded by industrial and commercial property. We're three doors down from the recycle center. where across from a huge industrial when you pull out of my driveway or his driveway, you're looking at a big industrial park, plaza, I don't know what you want to call it, but they sell commercial um equipment. Um next door I am reszone commercial C3. I am directly beside of him. The neighbors on the other side of me are C3 and there is a landscaping company there. On the other side it is a construction company and the other side of that is the recycle center. Behind us is a wedding venue. So everybody around us is commercial. So I'm just here to speak on his behalf. it to me it seems crazy that he is not reszoned. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much. Anyone else to speak on this property? My name is David Usry and I'm here if you have any questions or need anything answered according to what the plans for the property are, what we desire to do in that. Thank you, sir. All right. Anyone else wishing to speak on the property? Seeing none, we'll close public comment period. We'll go back into session to hear a motion. All in favor say I. Christopher.

Um again, this um this property is located at 3503 Murphy'sboro Road is parcel 35.14 on Wilson County tax map 114. This is a land use plan amendment from lowdensity residential to highintensity commercial and a resoning from A1 agricultural to C3 highway commercial. This resoning request was presented to the Wilson County Planning Commission on Friday, September 19th, 2025 and is being forwarded to the Wilson County Commission with a positive recommendation. Um the delay in getting from planning commission to you all. There were um two deferral requests um one by or both by the applicant after speaking with the commissioner of that district and that is the reason it is just now coming before you today.

It's in Commissioner Evans's district. I'll go to him. Thank you, Mr. I have received a surprisingly large number of uh concerns from the neighboring community. Um like Mr. Ustri, he's a nice gentleman. Um but I'm going to have to make a motion that we uh deny this request based on staff recommendation. If y'all disagree, vote your conscience. Thank you. Got a motion to deny the request. Is that what I heard? Correct. I hear a second. I got a second. Any other discussion or comments? Commissioner Gentry?

Yeah. Did I hear you correct? Was it recommended denial by the committee? No. The planning commission had a positive recommendation. Well, the planning committee had a positive res recommendation. Correct. The planning commission did. Yes, sir. Thank you, Commissioner Breeze. Can you explain the reason why it was a negative recommendation from the planning office? Uh, the 231 corridor at present that far south does not have commercial land use direction um based on the 2006 master gateway plan that we currently abide by. Okay. And that's where staff's recommendation comes in negative for that. Okay.

Are you asking about my recommendation or the planning commission's? No, yours because I think it was based on staff recommendation that you were talking about based your denial was based on that recommendation. So I was asking for clarification of that recommendation. That recommendation came based solely off of the existing land use plan for that corridor and a lot of that corridor as Mr. Nell um stated has been reszoned. That recommendation from staff has been the same for all of those properties. Understood. Okay. But all those went through. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Kurts.

Just want to clarify the young lady that spoke in favor of resoning, is that the only property on that side of the road that's not commercial? Uh, no. Um, there's probably half a dozen more parcels to the north of this one as well. Um, her property is directly to the south of this one. and it is zone commercial and then every property subsequently to the south has is zone commercial. Yes, they've been going parcel by parcel north. This would be the next step. Commissioner McFarland,

your your recommendation making recommendation based on the 2006 antique antiquated plan that we've been working to update all this time. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Costley. kind of what Jerry said, but uh so this place is surrounded by other commercial. I mean, there's commercial everywhere out there, correct? It has commercial directly to the south and then there's a there's a couple in light industrial property zoned on the west side of 231. And ain't like this would be the first one just pop up out of the blue. Uh no, there's been a precedent there. Commissioner Glover,

what's the plan for the property? What What does he want to put on there? Um I It's a blanket reszoning to C3. We don't ask that when it's straight zone. Um I believe Mr. S3 was in the car repair business at one time. I don't know if that was the intent for the property. I know we discussed it office at one time, but for straight zone parcels, we don't request a use table. He would be allowed anything under the C3 zone district at that point. and Commissioner Dao. So what you're saying is your negative recommendation is you're just playing by the rules that was given to you from the 2006. Is that what that's what you're saying?

That's those are the rules I have to play by. Yes, sir. Any other comments or any questions? Commissioner Denton. Yes. U Commissioner Evans, would you state your reasoning? Could you tell us I I may have maybe you did and I didn't hear it, but could you tell us why you you would ask us to reject this?

I've had a lot of concerns from the community about further commercial development along this corridor. Um the properties directly to the south that Mrs. Jernelle was referencing hers and the neighbor to it. Uh we reszone those in October 2024. Um I was torn on that one. I think that we've done enough re I've done enough reasonzonings that I hope that y'all know that I don't take them very lightly. Um there's a lot of a lot of thought that goes into them because once it's reszoned, it's reszone forever. Um the reason for their approval that I recommended approval on that was because they were in a situation where the county had caused a problem for them. um the properties directly beside them to the south and the properties directly across the road that she was referencing, those did get reszoneed. They were there before they before that was reszoneed. This property w up until well this property was bought as a two bed, two bath residential property. Um the concern from the community is where does it stop? And there's been a lot of concern from the community as far as not wanting further commercial development. As far as the um far as the use of the property, um I I've had several conversations with the with the owner. Um some of the uses well originally the uses I didn't have as me much concern with. I've got a lot more concern with C3 than I did the uses, but then some of the uses kind of changed over time. Uh I'm not completely opposed to reasoning it at some point, but I would like to have more conversation and a better idea of exactly what uh what we're looking at out there and I think the community would too. So, does that answer your question?

Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Got a motion and a second to uh deny the reszoning request by the district commissioner. Commissioner Hall. Yeah. I just wanted to ask uh what was the what was the vote from the planning commission? Was it unanimous or was it split? I do not believe it was unanimous. Um I did not pull those records from September. I don't get that question a lot up here. I can start bringing that with me if that's a a request. Um, but I I I do know for a fact it was not unanimous.

Any other questions or comments? I got a motion and a second to deny the request from the district commissioner. Uh, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote yes if you want to deny it. No, if you don't. Hang on. I don't have a I didn't put it like that. I thought you were going to do a voice. Whoops. I can try a voice vote if you want me to. That's what I do. I got motion and second to deny by the district commissioner. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Yeah, I think we better do that. That's okay.

It's okay. Motion to deny is what you're voting yes on. If that's what you're wanting to vote for. If you don't want to deny, vote no.

Sorry. Who made the motion? Commissioner Evans made the motion and Commissioner Hop seconded.

Are we ready? There you are. Okay. If you want to deny, vote yes. If you don't want to deny, vote no. Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. What did you just We're voting to deny it. Yeah. And if you want if you want to deny it, vote, you vote yes. If you don't want to deny it, vote no. I didn't understand that. Sorry. Okay. So, if you want We got a motion to deny. If you want to deny it, vote yes. If you don't want to deny it, vote no. Are we still good with our vote? Please record. You got six. Yes. 18. No.

So, the motion to deny fails. You got to have another motion if you want to approve it. I hear a motion to approve it. Motion to approve. Second. Got a motion and a second to approve it. Any other discussion now? We made the motion to approve. Commissioner um Chandler and Commissioner Costa made a second. Thank you. Any discussion at all? Are you ready to vote? She will be in a second.

Yep. Consley costly was a costly was a second

please you can cast your vote voting yes if you want to reszone it no if you don't all hearts and minds good with your vote please court got 18. Yes. 69. Resolution passes. Anything else, Christopher?

Uh, no. We are moving forward with the land use plan. We've finalized our last steering committee meeting or for editorials. Those will be sent off to GNRC to make those final corrections. Um I'm hoping to get those back around the third week of April and then we'll start the process to get it advertised and get work sessions and the planning commission meeting scheduled for that um for the new land use plan. If there are no further delays that should be around the June planning commission meeting.

Just to add to that, thank to Commissioner Beth Bowman for leading the steering committee. Uh it's been a long process but a good process. Uh we will have work sessions for the county commission as well as for the planning commission before we vote on those. Uh I'll send you a timeline out this week sometime and let you know that so you'll have a good idea of what's happening with the land use plan. Okay. Thanks Christopher. Appreciate it. Report for the minutes committee. Commissioner Fields. Yes, Mr. Mayor. The minutes committee met in regular session on Thursday, March the 5th in the upstairs conference room. The copy of those minutes are in your packet. I move that they be received and filed. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Reading of the minutes. Motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes. Second.

All in favor say I.

This time uh we would like to do um if we could uh our employee recognition. Um you know, the taxpayers pay the dollars. Um and you guys govern where that goes, but the people that we are honored and are the people that actually put these services into play. Uh and we started this a while back uh with honoring our 30, 35, and 40year employees. Uh in our world today, people don't stay anywhere hardly uh 10 years, much less 30 and 35 and 40 years. And so it is an honor that our office has decided, not me, uh Sarah Davenport, Christy, uh Kiana Scrugs, Bethany, everybody involved to really make this happen. They they did this and I think it's it's just a a credit to the government, but a credit to these people here. So tonight, uh March is a little bit soon. Uh but we meant the last one to be in March and logistics kind of kept pushing it back. So that's why you're seeing March will be our annual date from here on out. So we want to take just a few minutes to um recognize these people. Uh I do not believe that Vanessa Williams is here from Rackley Roofing, but Rackley Roofing has been a proud sponsor. There's no question you guys would have paid for this to honor your own employees. I understand that. uh Rackley Roof and just said, "Hey, we would like to do something to honor the employees that serve our county." And that's how they got involved in that. So, we're thankful for that. So, at this time, uh I'm going to start uh if we can. Circuit Court Clerk would be the first one. Miss Kim Stewart. Miss Kim is a 30-year employee currently working in the circuit court clerk's office. Presenting her award is Miss Debbie Moss. And uh now you can you're you're welcome to say something and Miss Debbie, you're welcome to say something as well if you'd like to. We don't have as many as we didn't have the first time.

I know it's St. Patrick's Day and I know you want to do that. Go ahead.

I just want to say thank you. Thank you. I've got some of the girls that I work with and guys that I work with and I just want to say thank you to everybody. I do have to say this about Miss Kim Stewart. Her mom was Linda Shehan. Worked here many, many years. Uh true valued employee of Wilson County government. Everybody she saw and she wanted to work for Wilson County government. And then her husband later on after retirement, we called him Slick. Uh he would come and deliver the mail uh to the different offices. So, this family is fully fully involved in Wilson County government. Kim, thank you for your service. We really appreciate that. Thank you. The next one will be from the library, Miss Alicia Burnley. Dedicated 30-year service to Wilson County through the library department. Tonight, Commissioner Rick Brown, which is with the library board, will be presenting her award.

Presented with that certificate and this award. Oh, thanks. And if you would please join me in not only celebrating but congratulating.

Excellent. Just appreciate uh working for the county. They've been really good to me and good to all our employees. Thank you.

Thank you, M. That job is not an easy job when you think about the the libraries she serves all across our county. Uh she does an outstanding job there with those and I know they just got through working on a grant that seemed like it lasts forever, but it was definitely something that helped our employees out with putting hotspots in a lot of homes and some computers there as well. We'll now go to the road commission. We have three employees tonight uh from the Wilson County Road Commission to get their 30-year award and Mr. Steve Murphy will make that presentation. The first one will be Mr. Jody Bowman. Here we go.

You got you're limited to 10 minutes, Mr. Bod. Thank you, sir. And Mr. Chad her is our next 30-year recipient. Yes. You want to say anything? Don't I appreciate you guys. Um, anybody had anything to do with this? I think it's a great thing and I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

And our last one, Mr. Keith Jernigan.

He needs to make a speech. I thank you. Five minutes, Mr. Keith.

I will say this about those guys and I I got a chance to ride with Mr. Murphy back during the the ice storm that we had and just watch them work and watch them communicate and uh you know very thankful for them and and and those people that have tenure. I know you told me really makes a difference when you got people out there trying to navigate a storm and navigate the snow. That's not something for the newcomers and I know you have to have newcomers but we're thankful for those guys and what you guys do for us and we count on you when the storms get here. Sheriff's department tonight. Thank you Mr. Murphy. Sheriff's department tonight, Mr. Chris Hodgej was a 30-year employee. He was not able to be with us tonight, but we want to thank him for his service there as well. And then we'll move on now with the solid waste. Um, Miss Heather Christian will be um in place of Miss uh Cindy Lynch tonight. It's a little under the weather. Our first one will be Mr. Randy Lykins who has 30 years with the solid waste department.

Thank you for being here, Miss Heather. Thank you. Ricky, you want anything you want to talk about, Randy? Thank you, sir.

And our only 35-year award person tonight is Mr. Mark Prim. Uh, also with the solid waste department, sir. Again, I appreciate our employees and and will continue to do this. I think it is a just a great dedication to the people that have spent a third or better of their lives here working for Wilson County government. So, I thank them for that. I do want to say this, and I know there'll be other times for this, but uh um Director Lrol had announced his retirement, and uh I can't say how much I appreciate working with you over the past few years. and u you know you're you're one that grew up here, coached here, principal here, played at Cumberland, um and you've done a fantastic job as a superintendent, superintendent of the year just a few years ago. Um I know our commission loves education, but I know they respect you uh and respect what you say and when you say something to us, we take it to heart. Um and you have led us well. So I thank you for for that. I know there'll be more times for that, but I just want to take that opportunity tonight. as well as Karen Moore. I don't believe Miss Karen's here, but she announced her retirement and the 911 board this last month. And uh appreciate her. She took over after J.R. Kelly, which uh really was pushed hard to make that department going and Karen didn't let it miss a beat. She continued to push us forward there, help with the collocation that we have knowing now at the sheriff's office and uh so very thankful for her and her dedication there, but wish them both well in their retirement. Mr. Steven Goodall, I'd like for him to come forward right now. You got a resolution tonight in front of you about reappraisal. Uh that's coming up. We do have a a special session that we've been putting on looking into the future series that's going to happen on April the 14th out at the maiden Tennessee building where we're going to talk about this to the public. We'll YouTube it so

everybody else can hear it. But we'll talk about that the land use plan. Hopefully Miss Beth will be there uh and we'll talk a little bit about growth. But reappraisal is always kind of confusing to a lot of people. But tonight you're going to have that. talked to Commissioner Breeze earlier today and one of the things she thought might be good for you guys to hear a little bit. So, Stephen was very thankful to come in and just give us a little bit overview of what we're going to vote on tonight. Sir,

I appreciate you uh giving me the time, mayor, to come here. Um yeah, there's a resolution later on tonight uh you're going to be voting on and I and I I hope that you consider it. Um it's uh very this speech I was going to write just the information. It's it's it's not going to be too long, but it's not very short. Uh but it's very important. Okay. And I thought it was I should come here and and be here and be available to speak on some things. Um and I and I'm not going to insult your intelligence and um your the commission because you you know what reappraisal is. You know what certified tax rate is. But I'm talking to you guys and I'm talking to the people in the public and on TV as well. Um, I always try to keep in mind that uh the language we we use every day, uh, we're used to it because we we do this every day, but the general public, they don't know what you're talking about sometimes. So, I try to talk to them like I want to be talked to and not just use long words and stuff. So, um, there's about three things that I want to talk about. And, uh, number one is what a re what reappraisal what what does that mean? Uh then number two, how often does re Wilson County have a reappraisal plan or reappraisal? And number three, why moving to a more frequent re reappraisal is a good thing? Uh and the state and the division of property assessments, they're kind of pushing other counties uh all 95 counties to to move to a more frequent reappraisal. And um after I speak, uh you'll realize that it is beneficial to the taxpayer. more work for the assessor but more beneficial to the taxpayer uh more beneficial to disabled veterans and more beneficial to the elderly lowincome tax relief people. Okay. So, uh reappraisal or re-evaluation is just a fancy word for the process of reassessing all properties in Wilson County to reflect current market value.

Reappraisals are are revenue neutral and not intended for tax hikes under the truth and taxation laws. When values rise, the certified tax rate must be lowered and that generates the same total revenue from the for the county as the year before. A lot of people don't know this, but um the tax rate which is set by the county commissioners and your city commissioners of your city can determine the tax amount and that rate can be voted on every year, not just in a reappraisal year. the state will send the certified tax rate to the county commission and they can adopt that certified tax rate or you can go out of session and go to a special session and decide to raise it or lower it. And um a lot of people don't realize that you can vote on that every year. Um number two, the reappraisal is statemandated which means all 95 counties that you must do it. Um it's the law and and the counties have no say so if you if you do it or you don't do it. Um we just the assessor just decides and the commission on your approval we decide what what cycle we want to adopt how often. Um it doesn't matter who the who the assessor is. Um it makes you be a fence post and they would still make you do it. Okay. Um so I'm nothing special. Um but for some reason um you know if the assessor if I said I'm not doing a reappraisal u you know Wilson County we're fine. we don't want to do it. Well, the this is what would happen. The controller's office would take over um the assessor's office and the the state staff would perform a reappraisal and when they complete that reappraisal, the state would then remove their office from the county and then send Wilson County the tax bill to pay for it. And uh um so when people ask, you know, why do we have a reappraisal? Why do we do I don't want to do it. Um but that's the reason because you have to do it. Okay. But, you know, we have a good working relationship with the and and we partner with the state and we

work alongside them and they we share information um and we help each other out and get the reappraisal reappraisal completed and it's a group effort. Uh Wilson County, uh we've been on a 5-year reappraisal since 2016. Um which means um so 16 to 21 and then from this 5-year reappraisal from 21 to 26. Um all the data and market sales from qualified sales of properties are collected which really means all the homes the vacant land that's bought been bought and sold between those years of the reappraisal cycle is by a willing buyer and willing seller are the ones who determine your your values and the assessor's office doesn't make up those numbers. The values are backed up by sales data facts and how your values are determined during reappraisal are just adjusted to current market value. And what current market value is is when people hear that, they're like, "What does that mean?" It's all all the current market value is what a willing buyer and a willing seller in a in in normal terms uh would would would say your house is worth. Uh it's not not a foreclosure, not a short sale, not you, hey, my brother got more inheritance and he owes me this money, so he's going to sell me this house cheaper. It's it's just what a normal person in a normal in a in a regular market would buy a house for. Um, and I tell people basically, you know, the assessor is just basically a historical record keeper. Uh, we we record what you have on your property. You know, I'll go to you and say, is it two stories instead of one? Do you have do you have a pool, a driveway, a deck, a patio? Um, how much did you sell your house for? We'd look at the deeds and was it a good sale? Was it a good qualified sale? Um, and all that information is in between that five-year window. And that that's what the reappraisal is, okay? Um, and that's where the data comes from because people ask you, you know, how do you get this data? Well, the reappraisal is just from 2021 to 2026, all those buyers and

sellers of the properties and vacant lots and houses, and you take that data, put it in a tank, and that generates your value based off those sales. And so, that's basically what the reappraisal is. And I know you guys know that, but I'm just trying to set the backdrop for why we should move to a more frequent reappraisal. So, what are the benefits of a three-year reappraisal cycle? Well, you have a smoother tax adjustments. So, instead of a massive valuation jump every 5 years that we hear about all the time, you know, how did it go up that much? Well, um the property owners see smaller, more manageable increment updates uh that track the actual market more closely. So, that sticker shock is is going away. Um, number two, you have enhanced tax equity. So, more frequent updates prevent that lag where homeowners in the booming areas pay less while the others in stagnant areas effectively pay more. So, it eliminate the tax shifting where you have owners that in a stagnant area effectively are subsidizing those rapidly growing neighborhoods and because we all know that certain areas of the county grow faster than the others. Okay? So, the west is going to grow faster than the east just because it's closer to Nashville. Uh number three, you have accurate revenue projections. So this is where you guys should be okay with it. Uh it's going to it's going to be u Wilson County commissioners. Okay, government Wilson County can better predict tax revenues and budget more effectively by capturing real-time growth and up-to-date info rather than that four-year outdated figures. So it's going to allow you guys to make better decisions and better judgments on budgeting. Uh this is a big one, elimination of the equalization ratio. Uh shortening the cycle can eliminate the need for equalization ratios which are state applied adjustments that often lead to loss revenue for counties and higher burdens for certain taxpayers. That would automatically remove one equalization ratio that would otherwise be applied to personal property and public utility assessments. And I can talk about that in a minute because

that's a big one. Um protects vulnerable populations. So more frequent reappraisals ensures that tax relief payments for the elderly and disabled veterans are based on current accurate data rather than outdated inflated assessments that and it also protects them from being negatively impacted by equalization adjustments in a longer cycle. Um and then the revenue neutrality uh projections uh protections under the Tennessee truth and taxation law as property values rise that the tax rate must be lowered to ensure the county does not receive a windfall. A shorter cycle ensures this adjustment happens more often, keeping the tax rate closely tied to current values. Um, you will also have better data integrity, fair appraisals, and reduced appeals. And there's several other rapidly growing counties that have already moved to more frequent appraisals. So, we're not the first. We're not jumping out there. There's there's some that's already doing it. And um, some have already adopted a three-year appraisal cycle or less. Davidson County officially transitioned to a three-year reappraisal cycle beginning in July of 2025 following a massive 45% medium value uh spike during its previous cycle. Blunt County also adopted a three-year cycle, making it one of the first in the state to move away from the traditional longer schedules. Sullivan County went further by adopting a two-year cycle and that's the most frequent in the state and that that ensures that the assessment stay close to current market value as possible and that's what we're really looking for. Knox County shifted to a two-year cycle. They were actually at a four. They moved to a two because they were growing so fast. And closer to us, Williamson County, they were on a five just like us. Moved to a four, realized they were growing so fast they actually went down to a three as well. Um but just to recap on on that, um more frequent reappraisal cycle will be better for the taxpayers because we will always be closer to market value. Um

everyone will pay what they should. We will eliminate one equalization ratio and the county will be able to keep more of its tax money and not lose revenue and reduce the tax burden to certain taxpayers. It will eliminate sticker shock associated with longer cycles. and the time between longer reappraisal cycles hurts the low-income elderly and disabled veterans because the data is outdated. If the assessments are more up to date, the tax relief will have um will be more accurate. Um the the the ratio um so what that is is the the assessed value versus the market value. And the longer you get away from that, um, this is where I could spend two hours on on just a ratio and I'm trying not to get too far into it, but um, so basically personal property and state assessed property get reappraised every year. Well, industrial, commercial, and residential every 5 years because we're on a reappraisal cycle, five years. Well, the the guys who get reappraised every year said, "Hey, wait a minute. That's not fair." you know, so over the years they apply a ratio to be fair to them to commercial and um residential. So what we run into now is during the appeals process um these big box stores uh big big ware factories, commercial people come have these tax reps and they'll come into our appeals lawyers and they say we want the ratio applied to our values and by law you have to give it to them. So ratios is what this is what the state says. Ratios is what causes tax increases. And I've heard I've heard Aaron, you may and mayor, you we've talked about this before. Um you know, it seems like some years we bring in less money than others, but the assessor's office is doing as most as we've ever done, and you're like, hey, where's the money? And I think we you

made the comment, hey, are you doing are you slowing down? Um, no, but it's the ratio that's eating the money up. And I I can I was just back there earlier and I was scribbling something and I and I I'll show you an example what that means, but basically the big thing about moving to more frequent reappraisal is helping the the the disabled veterans, low-income uh families on tax freeze. And the main thing is that that's better for the taxpayer, harder on the assessor's office is to eliminate that ratio. It's very important. And so what I did is I just took a big box store on South Cumberland and I'll explain it to you. So the total appraisal on this one is 9,243,900. So what that means on a how do you f figure a regular tax bill? So you take that 9,243900 in value uh divide it by or times it by the their uh assessment or their rate which is or 40% a commercial rate and that gives you 3,697 divide it by 100 assessed times the tax rate 36,975 times the 1.981 and I know this doesn't make sense to everybody out there but basically their tax bill is $70,000. Okay. But when you apply that ratio of seven of 30% that we're missing off the top because of the the state assessed property, the personal property and that and that it's so it's 30% off of the assessed value to market value. You have to apply that ratio and they come in. So that same property, if they come in and apply for the ratio, they're they're only paying $49,000 in taxes. So that's a $21,000 loss just on that one property that the county the money's just gone. Tax money, not value. That's 21,000 in tax money just missing from one property. And imagine every

commercial property they they come in those tax reps represent more than one company because they know that they know the game. And so we're losing all that money, but if we eliminate that one ratio, then we get to keep it just that one property and all personal property. So that's that's just one. and and I'm I'm available to you can come talk to me uh come see me in my office or I can stay here tonight we and I can show you like how just how much money that that by eliminating that ratio we would save and so um that's basically all I have. I'm just ask you to um uh it's a good it's a good thing and I and I hope you vote to pass it and um anything else I can do for you. Any questions I can take now if that's appropriate u you can let me know.

Any questions at all? Seeing none. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here and explaining this tonight. Thank you. All right. Thanks for your time. Yes, sir. Election appointment. Mr. Goodall. Any more to be added to the notary list? Nope. Okay. Motion to approve notaries. Motion to approve. Second. All in favor say I. I. Okay. Now we have on our agenda election of the county attorney. Do I hear a motion on the floor for nominations? Nominate Mike Jennings. Second. I got a motion and a second from Mayor Jennings. Do I hear any other nominations? There's a motion nomination to be closed. I got a motion to decease. Second. All in favor say I.

And now vote by acclamation for Mayor Jennings. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Let the record reflect it was unanimous. Director of judicial commissioners, uh, Commissioner Gentry. Uh, yeah. Good evening. Uh, we have one reappoint of the judicial commission officer. That would be our director, uh, Corey Buler. He's been there for a year. He's done a great job. He's had recommendations from each and every judge, and we've only had good feedback. I make a motion that we appoint him for a four-year term. Second. Got a motion to second. Discussion. You sure? All in favor say I.

No, he does outstanding job. Congratulations. And I will say the same thing about Mayor Jennins as well. Very thankful for him and his leadership here in our county. Appreciate what you've done for us. And a round of applause. report with merg management committee commissioner Bernard mayor EMA met Tuesday March 3rd at 5:30 upstairs in the conference room minutes in your packet I move they be received and file second any discussion seeing none all in favor say I

director Cooper is a little under the weather tonight uh and second in command is out as well at this time so pack the the his packet is in your uh packet so if I can get a motion to approve second approve any discussion Once again, all in favor say I. Report from law enforcement committee, Commissioner Curts. No report. And sheriff's report, Chief Deputy BJ Stafford.

That does not look good.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commissioners. Um, sheriff's office information and stats are in your packet. I think you've all got that. Um, calls for service was a little bit lower this month compared to last month. Uh, probably due to the colder weather. Um, call should start picking up as it gets warm. Gel occupies remains the same for this time of year. It's about average. uh our smart training uh exercises for the schools is getting ready to fire up. So, we're getting prepared for that. Uh getting that rolling. Um that's about all I have. Thank you for your time and your continued support. Any questions?

Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Thank you, Mr. Stafford. Yeah. Report from education committee. Commissioner Marlo. Education Committee met at March 5th 5:00 conference room minutes in your packet. Move they be received by second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Director of schools report, Mr. Jeff Leil.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, thank you for the kind words. Um, I have announced my retirement. 32 years. I believe I've earned it. Uh, it's went by quick. Uh, huh. you you don't get to accept it. It's all right. Uh I've enjoyed it. I I wouldn't go into any other profession. Uh I've really enjoyed it. Been really enjoyed all the roles I've had, especially the last five. It's been one of my greatest honors to lead this school district. I think it's one of the top districts in the state and I think in the country. It takes a lot of people to make that happen and you play a crucial role in that. and and so I want to thank you, take the opportunity to thank you for what you've done. In my report tonight, we will start off with enrollment 20,870. Uh still enrolling a few more students every month. Going to be close to hitting 21,000 before the school year. Definitely think we'll hit it uh beginning of the start of next year. uh are coming off school. We're just coming off spring break as you are well aware included your high school graduations um dates and times and our high schools are all MTSU except for Watertown High School. I encourage you uh if available and you want to see part of what you're funding to participate in these or if at all possible I know a lot of you will you have families that that you'll be supporting but also Barry Tatum Academy May the 12th and adult learning center May the 14th we're splitting those up. Uh it's two of my favorite graduations just just the people involved. you know, in recent years, we we had a mother and two children graduate wait, get their uh diploma on the same night. So, that just adds benefit to our community and and and a big part of what we do. So, I would encourage you if you get an opportunity to to participate in that.

Uh want to make you aware of on February 26, uh we celebrated our fourth annual fifth grade math contest. Something I wanted to do when I got into office is really push academics. We give our athletes a lot of talk, but we got some great academic students. And so, uh, I task our our team with developing this. And this year was was our fourth year, and we went to a head-to-head bracket of 14 elementary schools on solving math problems. And if you could have been there to see the excitement, it was really, really a good event. And we'd like to congratulate West Elementary School for being the this year's Mini MW Challenge Champions. It's a great event we started and hope it continues for years to come. On a on a side note, the 4H group back there, I know many of them are are students and I would encourage if you ever get a chance to go watch one of our one of their teams or one of our high school a teams do their parliamentary pro procedure uh competition. It would be very very much worth your time. uh they know Robert's rules better than we do and and know how to do it and do it in a timely fashion and still make their points and thank the adults that work with them. That that's just another example of the type of students that we're putting out in Wilson County. Uh February 14th marked the opening of the annual Wilson County School student art exhibit. I know Miss Sarah has has brought that here uh kind of with some of the things that you've done as a county commission, but the Fris Fris Center dedicates that time period. It's open till March 4th and uh it's it's a truly professional art gallery experience and highlights activity or talents of of our students uh with student artwork from every school being on display there that will be seen by thousands of people in the next few days. And so I would encourage if you get an opportunity in Nashville, you want to stop by, it'll be worth your

time as well. Uh we will be hosting a Wils County spring teacher recruitment fair Thursday, April the 9th. We do that at ATC. Just want to give you an update on that. You know, a couple years ago, we and not just us, but nationwide, there was a what looked appeared to be a shortage of teachers, and I think it's still a real issue for young people looking for uh that profession going into, but I can say that that we have all of our special education uh jobs filled in Wilson County now, certified teachers. We only have less than 20 openings in in certified positions in our county. and and and you know just a couple years ago I stood up here and we started school with like a hundred openings. So again, thank you for your efforts, our board, board of education, what we've been able to do with pay, our benefits and making this an attractable place and we're starting to see that. So I look forward to that event and see who what young people are interested to come to Wilson County to start their career or those that are looking to transfer and we're getting more and more of that. So we're we're in really good shape. Another another important day is March 24th. Uh in partnership with Drug-Free Wilco, Lemon Special School District and Tennessee Department of Health and Substance Abuse Services. Uh we will be hosting a under the influence screeners at the Capitol Theater at 6:00. If you've never attended one of these events, it's things we started a couple years ago out in the community to make awareness and and and the vaping problem is a problem in school age students. And so, uh, when you look at the the harm of vaping drugs and alcohol combined with the digital age and how it gets promoted, it is very worthwhile uh uh worth your time to go and learn. It's a very good presentation. I think I

think as a parent or grandparent or custodian. Very good event. Uh it's only open for parents and teens ages 12 and up. We get pretty serious about the presentation talks about what they're facing and it's things that we weren't faced with and and ways getting brought to them. So, I'd encourage you if you have have a a moment uh if you can't stay for all of it, it'd be worth your time to catch just just part of it because we're seeing this every day in our schools and and and we've got to educate uh our our parents, our communities about some of the challenges. Uh also another another student moment, March 3rd, TSBA hosted their annual student congress on policies and education. It's called the scope conference. We've really began to push this more and more and it's an opportunity for our students that are selected to go attend this event and it's they participate in mock schoolboard meetings, group discussions, they have debates. It's about developing sound policy and TSBA does a good job with it. This year we had nine students that participated and uh this is several years that we've really promoted this in our schools trying to get our our student leaders involved early on and understand the importance of public policy and you know the importance of it. I know the importance of it but public policy good public policy is is very very important and the process is important of how you develop good policy. So proud of our students that participate in that. Will Central High School has been awarded a grant of $10,000 to to support students in the cost of attending the model Unice Nation conference and youth and government conference. Uh congratulations to our Wilson Central High School social studies teachers for applying for this grant. Courtney Weekes and Sierra Shackleford uh that they put this grant together. They've received this grant and we'll be working with our students to get them ready to go to that uh conference. It's a great conference.

again is dealing with with government policy and and and it allows them to learn but also to develop their leadership skills because it won't be long till they'll be leading us and and so that's important. Um did did include a capacity report like I always do. Don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I think we're in good shape. There is a bill and I didn't put it in my report but I want to make it known for you tonight. Uh there's a bill that has has already passed the Senate and will be heard tomorrow in subcommittee that would drastically change uh has the potential to drastically change enrollment and and that bill Senate Bill 032928 I think and I don't know the House Bill virgin but I've been watching it. this bill and this is is is a part of school choice and uh it would require student or leas to open up to out of district students if they have capacity. The money would follow there's been some good amendments made to it that that made it a better bill I think than what was introduced. Uh our policy has always been where we're at to not accept out of zone students out of district students just playing into the hand of that capacity. Now, there's a lot of debate about this bill and they've done some things to make it a better bill. It's a better bill than it was when it was introduced when I first looked at it. But still, in a growing district, I think you as as county commission needs to be aware of this bill because while they're going to say you don't have to build any more new schools, there's a lot of questions if if you let 500 kids in out of district, even if you charge them tuition, I don't believe you're going to remove them the next year when you need that space. And I have a fear it could potentially lead to building of more schools than what we already have on hand. Uh so again, a better bill than what was introduced, but I want to make you aware tonight. It will be heard in subcommittee tomorrow and and there's a lot of support for this bill and I

understand school choice. I'm not against school choice, but I wanted the funding body to have this information. If you got any questions, uh reach out to me and I I'll further explain it. I was looking just back there a while ago to make sure no more amendments got put on it that that I didn't know about. Uh but but it has a potential if you look at how many counties we touch. Uh always before it's been a permissive for a county you could charge tuition, let them come in and and we've always said no to that. Our policy has been no. Uh and and you you understand. I don't want to beat the dead horse, but when you're funding what you're funding, I I think you need to at least be aware of the bill. How you feeling the bill, that's your business, but I want to make you aware of it. Uh, speaking of construction update, Board of Education did approve site plans for the New Watertown Middle School and Lake View Elementary uh, renovation and with some improvements at the March 2nd board meeting and they're they're working through that. That is my report. I'll be glad to answer any questions. I got a motion there. A second. Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Thank you, Director Lel. I'm sorry, somebody pull up. You good? Okay. Report from buildings committee. Commissioner Weathers report. A center management report. Commissioner Glover Center Wednesday March 4th conference room. Minutes are in the packet. Second. I got a motion to second for two sets of minutes. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. Animal control. Commissioner Breeze. No report. Audit. Commissioner Glover. Audit met Tuesday, March 10th at 5m in the upstairs conference room. The minutes will be in packet. So we'll approve it. Then broadband commissioner um Franklin. No report.

Developing tourism. Commissioner Brown. No report. Ethics. Commissioner Dao. No report. Finance. Commissioner Costley. No report. Health and recreation. Commissioner Smith. No report. Insurance Commissioner McFarland. Judicial Commissioner Gentry. Judicial Committee met March 3rd upstairs in the conference room. Make a motion these minutes be received and file. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Legislative ad hoc. Commissioner Cosley. Planning and zoning. Commissioner McFarland. Rules. Commissioner Keith. No. Urvin Tac facility board. Uh, Commissioner Bernard. Urban facility board met March 5th at the Wils Road Commission. I'm managing. I move that we receive a file. Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Finance director report. Mr. Aaron Maynard. Commodores made it to the SEC championship.

Almost. I'm dying to tell my favorite property assessor story, so I have to bear with me just a minute. Y'all remember it wasn't that long ago that uh people were offering over the asking price for houses. Like if you wanted to buy a house, you had to offer over what was being asked. Well, during the height of all that reappraisal going on, and by the way, Steven didn't tell me this. I won't do somebody else. Somebody calls in and they wanted to argue about what their property was worth, of course. And so they were having a conversation with this person on the phone and they're thinking, well, he's probably owned the house for 10 or 15 years and it's gone up in value quite a bit. And they look up the property and they say, "Sir, this property just sold 6 months ago for $700,000." He said, "I know I bought it for that, but it ain't worth it." Anyway, budget worksheets are out. Um those in include uh requested internal control documents from the various departments. Uh there are self-inventory of assets. Um some of you may have questions about fuel budgets. So far those are holding in pretty good place. We do not allow people to move money out of fuel lines at budget time. So um both sheriff and appear to be in good shape for for now. Um, looking at the financial statements, we've received almost 93% of property tax, uh, by the end of February. Last year it was only 88%. So, we're a little bit ahead of schedule. Um, sales tax in fund 121 is up over a million dollars from what it was last year. Actually, about 1.3. So, uh, all in all, uh, happy with where we are. Ambulance revenue is down just a little bit. Um, not surprising really overall. So really kind of happy with where we are on the broad scheme of things. That concludes my report unless you have any questions for me.

Any discussion? Again, all in favor say I. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Report from budget committee. Commissioner Marlo. Budget committee met February 6 p.m. in the conference room. They be received. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Resolutions. Commissioner Marlo. Okay, Mr. Michael Swope. Resolution 26-3-2. Um, resolution of board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, establishing the rate of compensation for the Wilson County Attorney.

Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 24. Yes. One absent. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-3. Excuse me. Authorizing the uh continuous three-year reappraisal cycle. Motion to approve. Second. Discussion. See none. Are you ready to vote? Yes sir.

I guess this is a question. Every time we have reappraisal we get calls. We tell people that we just tax rate town where they're not having a problem that but we still ultimately get calls from people saying my taxes did go up. So ultimately if we do it every three years instead of five, we're going to be hurting people in that regard. Can you explain why that happens?

Uh, well, I think Stephen addressed it. You know, you get areas where property values increase more based on geographic location than others. He talked about the west end of the county versus the east. And obviously the demand for housing is greater on the west end. And even in Lebanon, Lebanon and Mount Juliet, the demand is greater than the farther east you go. So, uh, you know, from a appraisal standpoint, those properties are going to appraise for more than a house that's out in a area that's, you know, less in demand. So, what you're going to see is if you're in a high demand area, those pro those appraisals are going to go up faster. And so, your property tax bill, even though the rate goes down, your individual property tax bill is actually going to go up, but somebody else is on the other end of the county is going to go down.

Commissioner Hall. I'll just speak to that as well. Uh, a lot of times what happens is people will buy a house. Let's and you can zoom out a lot. So, zoom out 15 years. So, let's say you bought a house 15 years ago and then you go to sell it this year. Well, hopefully, especially in Wilson County, you've at least got seen a large increase in the value. And that's what's happening if you're doing a five-year reappraisal instead of a three-year reappraisal. on a five-year reappraisal, your values go up a lot more than it would on a three-year reappraisal. And also, uh, as far as the tax increase is concerned, as long as your value goes up, um, less than or a little bit equal to what the tax rate gets adjusted to, if that makes sense. So let's say the tax rate has to go down from the state certified rate has to go down by say 15% and your value only went up by 12%. Then your tax rate or your tax bill itself will not actually be that affected. Now if your value goes up because it's a 5-year reappraisal period your value is going to go up maybe 50 to 70%. Well that certified rate will will also reflect those larger increases anyway. So, I think it was um in 2021, I think uh the average increase in value was about 31% for Wilson County from 2016 to 2021. And the uh tax rate went down at a certain ratio. It was, you know, it wasn't a full 31%. But, uh, if your value was less than, uh, if your increase was less than that 30-ish percent, then your tax bill did not go up or shouldn't have gone up too drastically. And that's kind of how it works out.

So, it would have gone down. Yes. Any other questions? Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record. 22 yes. Two no. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-4 expressing formal opposition to the proposed federal immigration detention facility near Lebanon, Tennessee. Move to

approve. Second. Any discussion? Commission. Commissioner Denton.

Yes, sir. I just like a right of privilege here. Make a point of privilege. I I'd just like to say after what I I gladly signed this resolution. Have no problem with the resolution because it's it's what I believe to be the right thing for our county. But I didn't know about this resolution until I showed up last at the last commission meeting. And some of us didn't. And I just want the Wilson County to know but I don't identify with any of the insane lunacy that went on here last last commission meeting that insane philosophy and uh I do not go along with that and I didn't my decision to sign this resolution was based on none of that and I signed this resolution because we were being proactive here as a commission and um even though it may have been a little premature because I done the same thing for us anyway when they looked at what we looked at, they put put it out. And so I I just want to know I was that did not intimidate me one bit in the way that and in and the action that I took, nor did I think we even have to take any action um based on all the two and a half hours of insults we took the other night. So, I just I don't identify with that at all in any form or fashion and what I think and it's a good reason why I could never be a Democrat. But that's a um I just want to let the county know I did not I did not feel that sentiment that was expressed here last week from majoritywise uh from the from the crowd that was here. So, uh, and I'm grateful for us being proactive here, but I also think somebody put property out there for sale. When you put property out there for sale, people's going to look at it. And so, I don't know if that's been mentioned by anybody. So, I think we have more folks to blame than just a few. But I just want to make that

comment that I I I will not be intimidated by that kind of action. Any other comments? Commissioner Gentry? Yeah, as you notice, I did not sign this resolution. I just wanted that to be known. Thank you, Commissioner Smith.

Mr. Chairman, real quick, I just want to say thank you to your office for helping with this. Uh, the ladies doing the behind the scenes. I want to thank each and every one of you commissioners in here because like what brother Glenn said that u there, you know, the emotions in the room are high and I respect that. I believe that everybody, you know, that they they have a voice and now do I do I agree with, you know, a lot of things that was said? No. But I do want to thank you guys and and ladies in here that that that the phone calls, the text messages, and the emails that we were able to exchange in support of this. And just I want to thank uh the sheriff's office. Uh I know uh Sheriff Robert Brian's not here. I want to thank his deputies. Thank you guys for keeping us safe. Uh you guys were very professional. And just um just know that we we support you guys and girls that that that that serve us. And u with that said, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Any other comments or questions? Mr. Mayor, yes, sir. Like to par what Justin said. I was very I felt perfectly safe last week with our law enforcement. I thought they handled theirel very calm, patient, powerful, and exactly the way we want. I was proud of them last week. So, thank I thank God for him.

Commissioner Franklin. Uh yeah, I'm I'm very much in favor of this based on Wilson County and um our unemployment rate and the fact that we pay uh through the JACDB to go locate people to work for people that we recruit right now. And I felt like this this would uh totally disrupt our uh our recruitment of other businesses and and uh just be very very difficult to find law enforcement people and would disrupt our economy. Um the the reason for my point of order was more towards the the crowd in the 60-y old building. We had the equivalent of a weight of two tractor trailer trucks pulling in here and hitting the air brakes fully loaded with the amount of people that were here. And I hope that we can work toward limiting and uh abiding by our structural capacity, our fire codes and things like that because uh freedom of speech isn't free if you die doing it. If your building caves in on you, I don't know how much this building was was uh made to to hold up, but uh with 650 700 people on the second story, it it could got it could have been real messy. And that's a reason for my poor order. Thanks.

Welcome. And I sent you an email that we did discuss that. We were not ready for that uh last month at all. Uh but we are today uh and the next time it happens and we'll be ready to move forward with that. Uh and there will be a rules meeting u scheduled this coming month uh to discuss signs and public comment period as well. Uh that will be on the docket to address that for you. uh as well. We met with the DA, the sheriff, uh Commissioner Keith, Mayor Jennins, uh in the office of today to discuss that and so we will be bringing that to you. Any other comments before we vote? Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote, please record.

23 yes, one no. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-5 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to make an appropriation general fund to WEA. Discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record. 24. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-6 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from a center fund to a center. Second

discussion. Second, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Weathers, Commissioner Weathers. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 24. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-7 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution for line item transfers in Wimma. Second.

Any discussion? See none. Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner McFarland. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record. 24. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-8 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to appropriate appropriate funds from general debt service fund to general debt.

Got a motion and a second discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Dow, all hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record 24. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-9 to amend the budget appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from rule debt service fund to rule debt.

Got a motion in a second. Discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record 24. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-10 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from general fund to the county clerk and line item transfer.

Got a motion to second. Any discussion? Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record. 24 years. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-11 to amend the budget appropriation resolution by approving board of education budget amendment 26-10. Motion approved. Second discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast. Oh ho. Commissioner Denton.

Yes. U can I ask is this real? Is this new money or is this just a reallocation of already uh education budget money or is this new bud? It says it's an amendment to the budget, right? Uh director Lel,

yes, that money is coming from outcome money based on student performance. Uh we we budgeted some of it last year, but we're way over. Uh the big highlight of that is uh because we had 50% of our schools that received an A. Uh we received I don't have it in front of me 1.8 million. I think we took that money with what we received over budget and we're giving it back in form of onetime bonus to our teachers and all of our employees, bus drivers, aids, everybody. So it is new money. Thank you.

Any other questions before we vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record 24. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-3-12 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution by approving board of education budget amendment 26-11. Second.

Got a motion, a second. Any discussion? Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds are good with your vote. Please record 24. Yes. Resolution passes. Any old business to come before the body? Any new business? One more motion. We are adjourned. Thank you. On how much Thanks for hanging with me, Chief.

Well, I did say vote your conscience, but kind of didn't expect it to go quite that bad. I didn't bite you too hard. Well, that's what I didn't fight. I got a question. What's that? I tell you

I was originally going to go with that whenever it went to plan commission that he completely changed what he was going what his intentions were and then when it went to plan commission he didn't