Commission - Regular Meeting

Good job. Oh,

call to order the August. August the 18th, 2025 county commission meeting. Welcome all of our guests. Glad you're here with us tonight. Come back at any opportunity that you can have to be with us. This time I'll introduce Commissioner Scrugs for the prayer and pledge. [Music] If Doug would have come, somebody's car would have broke down because every time I see him, my car tears up. He worked for DNR for a long time.

All rise. Bow your heads. Dear Lord, heavenly father, thank you for bringing us here safely today. Like to ask you, Lord, please bless the meeting that is now before us. Like to ask you, Lord, to please keep everybody safe. meeting over as we all go on our separate ways. Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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, sir. Thank you'all for being here tonight. Thank you, Commissioner Scruggs. If you will press uh yes on your panel to record your not your present tonight's meeting. Commissioner Bernard said when y'all get through if you want to come out and get some cinnamon bread he would give you a cinnamon bread. Probably would charge you but he said he would give it to you. I tried to get him to give it. He wasn't going to go for that route. So 22 present three absent.

22 present three absent. And uh so we'll move forward now. At this time we'll have public comment period. Anyone that's wishing to speak for the county commission can come forward and state your name and address for the record. If you're here for the reasonzoning, uh we'll do that one a little bit later. So, if you want to just have regular public comment period, this would be your opportunity to speak.

Are you here for the reasonzoning? I am. I'm not.

Gotcha. Um you should all have a uh booklet on your desk, the mayor and the attorney as well. I'm Ken Young, 1221 Shop Springs Road. The problems caused by the water and wastewater authority have become more expensive, more public, and much more serious. In your booklet, you'll see a table of contents describing six sections. The first section shows 11 county commissioners linked to water authority problems in their district. Onethird of our step systems are underperforming. Sunset Harbor recently drew a $50,000 fine. The shop springs and Ford projects are now under a T- deck consent agreement with fines. The treatment system at Ridgewater Estates is a problem for every commissioner and for every citizen in your booklet. Ridgewater is found beside the yellow sticky note in section three. The Southern Environmental Law Center, the SEC, notified the Water Authority, and its operator Adenus that they could both be sued for quote long-standing and ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act. Discharging affluent into the Cumberland River is a federal offense. This won't be decided in county court. SELC is the most potent environmental advocacy group in America. They pursue only the most egregious polluters. The TVA, British Petroleum, Dominion Energy, now the Water and Wastewater Authority of Wilson County. Let that sink in. If a settlement is not reached in 60 days, the Water Authority is going to find itself in a federal court answering very difficult questions. But a settlement could be costly for its customers and this could bankrupt Adenus. Then what? Why are so many step systems failing with a high failure rate? Why hasn't the

authority changed vendors? Why does the authority promote Adenus and their step systems? Remember, it was the authority alone who lobbied you to cut in half lot sizes in A1. With so many problems, why has the authority not demanded better performance from Adenus? Why haven't you demanded better perform performance from the water authority? How bad does it have to get? Since I first asked you for help, all I've done is connect dots using public records and then ask simple questions. Mr. Jennings may not have had time to study the recall process. Ironically, he's been too busy cleaning up the mess the water authority made at the new school. Again, for the good of the county, get your lawyer's advice on recall. bring the chairman of the water authority here to this room to get answers to these questions and account for the problems his authority has created. Until you do, it's only going to get worse. Thank you. And I'll answer any question. Thank you, sir. Anyone else wishing to speak before the county commission? Seeing none, we'll close public comment period and we'll move on to the report from steering committee. Commissioner Fields. Mr. Mayor, the steering committee met in session on Monday, July 21st, 2025 in the upstairs conference room. A copy of those minutes are in your packet. The steering committee also met in regular session on Thursday, August the 7th, 2025 in the upstairs conference room. Both sets of minutes are in your copy. I move that they be received and filed.

Motion to second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Adoption of the agenda. Commission. Mayor, everyone has a copy of the agenda. However, we need to make u some of changes under resolutions 8, five, and 86 need to be moved prior to voting on resolution number four. So, I'll make the mo motion to amend the agenda to move five and six before resolution number four. Any discussion on that? All in favor say I. I. Okay. Anything else? Commissioner Fields. No sir. Motion to adopt the amended agenda. So now we'll adopt the a make a motion to adopt the amended agenda.

Second. Motion to second. All in favor say I.

Okay. You're good. Consent agenda. There's none. So at this time we'll have special recognition. And Commissioner Fields, I'll turn the floor over to you. Before I begin to read this, I'm going to say that the gentleman that we're recognizing is not responsible for the blizzard conditions we're undergoing. Okay. resolution of the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, honoring News2 meteorologist Davis Nolan for over 40 years of dedicated service. Whereas Davis Nolan began his television career in Tallahassee, Florida as the weekend weather forecaster at WCTV. At that time, he was working toward the BS in meteorology from Florida State University. He's a seinal. He then served as a weather anchor at WTVT in Tampa, Florida. And whereas in 2005, Davis became one of the first in the nation to earn the new quote certified broadcast meteorologist end quote designation from the American Meteor meteor meteorological society. Although Davis has held the AMA's broadcast seal of approval since 1979, this is an upgrade. He has also held the National Weather Association seal of approval since 2001. And whereas he recently became one of the few broadcast meteorologist in the nation to earn the quote certified consulting meteorologist in quote designation from the American Meteorological Society. This requires writing a technical paper, completing a

written exam, and then an oral exam administered by the AMS board of consulting meteorologists. Currently, there are only 239 active CCMs worldwide, most of whom work in public industry. And whereas Davis has been forecasting weather in Middle Tennessee for over 40 years. And whereas he takes great pride in his accuracy of his weather forecast, especially during severe weather where he has tracked storms on air over several hours. And whereas although born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Davis has made Mount Juliet, Tennessee is home. And whereas Davis has a great love for music, for fishing, and for sailing, he has become quite well known for his fishing hobby and can be found on the water on his days off, weather permitting. And whereas he is also very active in the Middle Tennessee community. Since 1981, he's made hundreds of visits to area schools explaining weather to their students. And whereas after more than 40 years of weather forecasting, Davis has decided to journey into the next chapter of his life and enjoy a welldeserved retirement. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, that we hereby recognize Davis Nolan for 40 plus years of dedicated service to the residents of Wilson County, Tennessee by providing the most up-to-date, accurate weather forecasting in an effort to keep our citizens as safe as possible. We encourage all citizens to join us in this worthy observance.

Move to approve. All in favor say I. [Applause] sing a song. Oh, no. You going to introduce your family and

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I sure will. Thank you so much. Um, I'll try to be brief, which I'm usually not. Uh, first of all, I wanted I I feel like um it's sort of strange because I think I'm a newcomer to Wilson County and I just realized I moved here in 95. My wife and I were talking it's been 30 years. So, you know, I worked with Lisa Patton for 25 years and there's a, you know, people that a lot of you grew up here and your parents grew up here. So, I'm a newcomer as far as you're concerned when I realize that gosh, I'm not as much of a newcomer as I thought. But, so this is a real honor. I got to be in the parade the other day as a grand marshal and I want to thank everybody for allowing me to do that in this great honor here. But my wife Amy and my daughter Amanda uh both both have been here with me in Wilson County for the for quite a long time. Of course Amanda grew up here. Went to Lake View Elementary School, went to uh of course Mount Juliet Middle, and then of course we'd be zone Green Hill now, but back in those days she she's a golden bear golden bear. So uh

yeah, and validictorian at that too, right? Yeah, I don't want to brag too much because she's going to New York City next week to get to sing it tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow. Excuse me. Uh what what's the name of that famous place? 54 Below.

54 Below. Something to do with a bunch of Broadway things in Hamilton and stuff like that. So, she's an aspiring singer. Like, oh, no. Nobody around here does that, right? But, uh yeah, I I aspired to it. But I tell people that there was two things that I loved and that was meteorology and music. and God actually let me do one of them for a living and have fun doing the other one and then pass on the music to this one. So, uh, and again, this is such an honor. I want to thank you all so much. And hopefully, like Jimmy Holt told me years ago, not about the life jacket, but people say, he said, people think I'm always fishing. He said, I hardly have a chance to fish at all. You see it on TV, but I hardly have time to. And they think the same thing about me, you know, because I'm hardly ever out. I either got a doctor's appointment or mowing the lawn on my days off. Well, now I'm actually going to get out there and do some fishing. So, um, anyway, thank you very much. I really appreciate this great great honor.

Wish I had your voice.

Thank you so much. And congratulations on retirement. This time, we'll turn it over to Commissioner Bowman. And at this time, I'd like to invite team Tennessee up and their coaches. This is the 12U team that represented Wilson County and went on to represent the state of Tennessee at the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series. We can do a few of y'all on this side if you want to spread out.

Oh, few of y'all stay on this side. There we go.

Perfect. All right, I think we got you guys all in the shot there. A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, honoring team Tennessee 12U on their outstanding achievements in the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series. Whereas team Tennessee 12U had an outstanding season, resulting in their appearance in the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series. And whereas team Tennessee 12U was D1 Ozone district champions with a district tournament record of 2-0. And whereas team Tennessee defe defeated Pleasant View 17 to0 and Greenbryer 3 to1 and advanced on to the state championship. And whereas the state championship the team had an impressive record of 5-0 defeating Kingston once, Savannah twice, and Fairview twice. And whereas team Tennessee 12U went on to represent Tennessee in the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series in Lexington, South Carolina. And whereas playing hard and leaving it all on the field, the team walked away from the World Series with a tie against Louisiana and losses against Georgia and Arkansas. And whereas players on the team included Marshall Johnson, Mason Craighead, Luke Walden, Cooper Jud, Aan Maghert, Jack Saunders, James Thomas, Jackson Hulkcom, Jacob Rezinss, Colton McCarthy, NJ Carbanell, and Maddox Hudgens. And whereas coaches included head coach Ben Johnson, and assistant coaches Kyle Craighead and Nathan Hulcom. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Wilson County, Tennessee, that we hereby recognize team Tennessee 12U for their outstanding postseason run and appearance in the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series. We wish them many years of success as they

continue on in their athletic journey. All in favor say I. and head coach Ben Johnson, if you want to say a few words. Sure.

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone in the room and just all the support the community was to us. Um, these kids did a lot of hard work. Uh, they earned every bit of the time that they uh that they were rewarded with, the opportunities they were given. Um they put a lot of work in, a lot of sweat, a few tears along the way and broken bones and different things like that, but uh they they represented this this community, this state uh very well. Very proud of them for their accomplishments. Um as coaches, I know we we didn't reach the uh the level there that we would like, but we left a memory for these kids that they'll remember the rest of their lives that, you know, it wasn't at the top of our list, but it's going to be one of the top memories they share with their buddies for the rest of their lives. and they'll talk about when they're our ages and having a good time. So, thank you again for all of your support. Uh the community was huge in just uh helping us out and getting us there and all the different ways. But, but thank you and thank you for the those that are involved in uh Mayor Hut and just keeping the uh the league running and uh just all the things that we need. It could be better. So, there's there's a lot of rooms for support out there. If you're looking for an area to help with the league, um we could use some help out there. But thank you for all you've done. Thank you. [Applause]

All right. And athletes, as we head out, I'm going to let each one of you come to the microphone. We'll start with this side if that's okay. We'll have you say your name and the position that you play. I'm in Jake Carbanell and I play catcher and outfield. I'm Cooper Jud and I play catcher. I'm Maddox Hudge and I play AFU. I'm Colton McCarti and I play first. I'm Marshall Johnson and I play second. I'm Luke Walden and I play third. I'm Jack Sonners and I play outfield.

I'm Jackson Hulcom and I play shortstop. I'm James Thomas and I play outfield. My name's Mason Crackhead and I play pitcher. Other other two coaches if you guys want to come and say your name. Yeah. Yeah. Calrahead. Thank y'all.

I'm Nathan Hul. Most of y'all know me. Thank you all for everything that you've done for us. Congratulations [Music] guys. At

this time, we will hold a public hearing uh prior to considering an amendment to the land use plan as well as reszoning request for properties located on Mcquary Road. I'll ask Mr. Christopher Lawless to come forward. I need a motion to go out of session. I think move.

All in favor say I. All right, commission. A public hearing will be held before the Wilson County Commission on Monday, August 18th, 2025 at 7 p.m. or thereafter in the county commission room of the Wilson County Courthouse. Application has been made by property owner McCree IOS Ventures LLC requesting a land use plan amendment from lowdensity residential area to highdensity highintensity commercial area. The applicant also seeks to reszone the same property from R1 rural residential to C3 Pud Highway commercial plan use development. The property contains approximately 5.01 acres and is located at 3 3410 McCree Road and is further referenced as map 36.01. 01 on the Wilson County tax map 137. The second case is the application has been made by um property owner McCury Ventures East LLC and Tanny Mattingly requesting a lenius plan amendment from low density residential area to medium to high density medium to high intensity commercial area. The captain also seems to reszone the property from R1 rural residential to C2 general commercial um with a planned unit development overlay. The property contains approximately 3.98 acres and is located at 3 3266, 3290, and 3320 McCree Road and is further referenced as parcels 3609, 3610, and 3611 on Wilson County Tax Map 137. Copies of this request have been on file in the Wilson Clint County Planning Office and have been available to see during regular business hours. Anyone here wishing to speak on these properties, please step forward, state your name and address for the record. Have a Nathan Gwyn. Is that correct?

Quinn with the Q. Excuse me.

Okay. Uh Nathan Quinn. I'm here representing both uh land use amendment and reszone request. And I just wanted to give a little bit of color behind the request. We're actually the same developers that are working on some industrial development along Mccur Road. And we're the same developers that committed to making significant roadway improvements from the Lo's gas station at Couchville Pike all the way to and including replacing the existing bridge over Hurricane Creek. And this request was driven in large part due to our pursuit of the roadway widening and realignment of Mccur Road and Couchville Pike. It was also driven by our commitment to the flood improvements and to provide an overland channel all the way from where that intersection floods today all the way down to Hurricane Creek to give it a actual way for that water to get out to where it over tops the road to plus or minus 10 ft today. And the these improvements and these reszone requests and land use amendment requests are tied to those improvements in both instances. The one on the corner is tied to the road improvements to where we wouldn't be able to pull a building permit until the roadway improvements were completed. And then secondly, the McCra GCP is tied to those improvements as well to where we would not be able to have access to McCra until those improvements have been made. and I just ask for your consideration on these matters and uh we're actually asking on the McCury GCP for a one meeting deferral, but I'm here to answer any questions while the items on the agenda this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak before the county commission on these properties? Seeing none, I have a motion to go back into session. Second. All in favor say I. Christopher, I'll turn it back over to you.

All right. Um, I want to handle the deferral request first. Um, um, unless there wants you want to have conversation on that as well. We can answer any questions. But this is the McCury IOS Ventures LLC case. It's the C3 PUD. Um, it's the 5.01 acres located at 3410 Mccur Road. Um, the applicant is requesting a one-mon deferral for that case and that'll be that'll come back up at your September county commission if granted. Do I hear a motion that effect? Do I hear a second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Christopher.

All right. The second case, um, the following application will be presented to the county commission August 18th. Again, this is property owner McCury Ventures East LLC and Tana Mattingley requesting a land use plan amendment from lowdensity residential area to medium and highdensity/medium and highintensity commercial area. The applicant has also seeks to reszone the same property from R1 rural residential to a C2 planned commercial use development. The property contains approximately 3.98 acres and is located at 3266, 3290, and 3320 McCree Road. The land use plan amendment and the resoning of this property request was presented to the Wilson County Planning Commission on Friday, June 20th, 2025. And both are being forwarded to the Wilson County Commission with positive recommendations.

I'm going to go to Commissioner Hobbs first. It's in his district. this one project here.

Me and Commissioner Evans have been working on this a few months now. The problem is we've passed so many projects in this area right here. Us as commissioners, we're trying to do some due diligence. Just kind of sit back a little bit and let the infrastructure catch up to us. Our infrastructure is not in place to go approving anything else right now until we get some kind of pro projects done. Right now we haven't had no projects completed. Um we have met with Mr. Quinn numerous occasions and met with the planning planning um director on Friday of last week. We're not I don't want to kill this project because it's a great project, but I would like to defer it until we get some more of our infrastructure projects put in place that we were promised. I had a motion and a second on the floor. I didn't take those because I normally go to the commissioner of his district to let you hear what he said. I ask our attorney. He said that the motion to defer, if that's what you decide to do, would take presidents. Is that correct?

That's correct. So I wanted I wanted to be sure that both people that said that understood why I didn't take that. And so if that's the case, you have a motion on the floor to defer. Yes, sir. For 90 days. I don't think I think I'm going to take the 90 day off and just see when they can get back with us. So motion back faster. So motion to defer. Is there a second for that? All right. Now discussion. Anybody? All in favor say I. I. Are there any opposed? No. Got one no. Got two nos. Who was the second? Okay,

that was Mr. Gentry and Mr. Fields were no. Everybody else was yes. So, the motion to defer passed. Okay. Thank you, Christopher. report for the minutes committee. Commissioner Fields, the minutes committee met in call session on Monday, July 2021, 2025 at 6:45 in the upstairs conference room. A copy of those minutes are in your packet. The minutes committee also met in regular session on Thursday, August the 7th, 220 in F conference room. Both copies of the minutes are in your packet. I will say that we need to make some changes to the minutes. There are two uh name corrections that need to be made. On page one, the the player was given by the pastor Phil Wilson, not Will Kins. So, it's Wiltson. And on page two, Commissioner Bowman said that her son's name is Dylan Dylan N, not Joe Joey. So, we can make those two changes. I I'll make the motion that we amend the minutes to make those changes.

Second. Got a motion to pass the minutes as amended. I hear a second. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. Any opposed? Reading of the minutes. Motion to dispense with amendments. Second.

All in favor say I. They have Cumberland signs and stickers in the back that were dropped off for you to take if you'd like to take those tonight to put out at your home or other places. Want to let you know that. And at this time, I'd ask Miss Cara Quarter if she would come forward. Uh she's here to talk to you just a few minutes u five I think she said uh about Habitat for Humanity. She actually came uh back when we had the long night uh before and had to so we let her go early just so she didn't have to stay for all that. So, she come back now. Thank you for being here.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Hut, commissioners and guests. Thank you to the mayor for inviting me to be to speak on behalf of Habitat for Humanity in Wilson County. My name is Carrie Corda and I'm the philanthropy manager. It is a privilege and a pleasure to join you. I must say, as much as I love peaches, upon entering this meeting the last time I was here, given that I'm not nearly as talented a speaker as the mayor, I was concerned this could become an ancient Rome situation, particularly when I saw one of the commissioners holding a rather large tomato. Habitat is most grateful to Wilson County for their long-standing support. I'd like to thank the commission for the generous grant that was recently awarded to Habitat for the home we are building here this fall at 314 Sycamore Street in Lebanon. We had a total of 46 applicants and our homeowner services department is currently reviewing them. Habitat for Humanity seeks to put God's love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat began work in Wilson County in 1992 and has now built or renovated 99 homes. Our vision is a world where everyone has affordable home ownership solutions. We accomplish this by partnering with families who help build their home, pay affordable mortgages, and by engaging sponsors and volunteers to fund and help build the homes. Habitat is part advocate, part construction. We are a home builder, an educator, a mortgage lender, and a retailer. There are many ways to become involved. We are always looking for affordable land and build

sponsors. Sponsors work with the future homeowners and our construction team on the build site. We provide the equipment and training. Sponsors are listed in our annual report and are welcome to be a part of the future homeowners journey from the start of the build through the home's dedication. Our restore in Lebanon is a wonderful place to shop, donate, and volunteer. If you've not been, I encourage you to visit our restore. It looks like a Lowe's and has beautiful brand new items. A few examples are kins linen and sheet silk, excuse me, bedding, outdoor movie screens, and new sofas from Ashley Furniture. We carry everything from art, antiques, construction materials, and homeg goods and accept donated items in salailable condition. We have a wide selection that changes daily. Another way to become involved is by spreading the word, applying for and or qualifying for Habitat home ownership. Kindly direct anyone who may be interested in owning a home to the Habitat Greater Nashville website and to sign up for alerts for open application periods. Habitat just recently celebrated the culmination of a very unique project. You may be aware of the community revitalization of the Parkwood Ballpark in Nashville. Habitat originally planned to build 26 homes here. Our CEO, Danny Heron, and Sher Stinson, our vice president of public relations and communications, worked with Thurman Bryant, the board president of Parkwood, to renovate the ballpark that has been here since 1966. In 1984, it was the only minorityowned ballpark in the country. They worked closely with community leaders,

philanthropists, Morgan Wallins Foundation. He actually donated $500,000. It's my understanding that's his largest donation to date. The Nashville Sounds Music City Center, and many others. This project is an excellent example of the power of showing up and building a trusted organization. Diane attended every single opening day for several consecutive years at the park. Don't quote me, but I think it's 15. He listened to the community, cast the vision, told the story, and leveraged relationships to build 26 affordable homes, revitalized the ballpark, and helped build a 59 acre metro park. If anyone is interested in learning about becoming involved as a sponsor, I would be more than happy to arrange to meet with you to answer any questions you may have. Thank you again for your time, consideration, long-standing commitment, and support of Habitat for Humanity. Wishing you all a wonderful evening, and may God bless you always. Thank you

being here. Thank you so much. At this time, Commissioner McFarland would be to talk about the history book for Wilson County.

I'm Representative Lennon Grandstaff down at the archives. Uh most of you know that she has four pictorial history books out. Well, the fifth book has just hit the shelves. It's a wonderful, wonderful u book with a lot of photographs, historical photographs, a lot of historical notations in it. And I'd certainly encourage you to get it. And on the very back cover of it is our uh poster that we had for the 225th birthday of of Wilson County. And it's a special thing on page 144. There is a gentleman used to serve on the county commission here uh by the name of Haskell Evans. And I believe that's the great uncle of our president Haskell Evans. And they called him in this book Squire Evans. And the only difference in this Haskell and our Haskell, the one in the book's a little bit better looking. So, thank you.

A lot better. Doesn't have any tomatoes, though, Mr. Goodall. All the notaries. Good. We're good. A motion to approve a notary list. Approve. All in favor say I. Judicial commissioners. I will turn it over at this time to Mr. John Gentry.

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. We have a young man working in our judicial commission office, Kyle Jacobs. I believe he's in the audience. could you please stand up, please? He's been he's a part-timer right now and he's also a uh he works at Amazon as a supervisor, but he's decided he's going to give up that career and try to become a judicial commissioner full-time. He's very reliable, resoriented, and I highly recommend I make a motion we elect him to be a judicial commissioner for one year beginning September 1st. Second discussion. Anybody? All in favor say I.

I. Any opposed? That's a record reflected unanimous. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Gentry. Report for the emergency management committee. Uh I'm going to go to Commissioner Smith. Sorry for that. That is my bad. I should have warned you. You're good. Uh let's see here. Said the minutes from August the 5th in your packet. Uh we met August the 5th Tuesday in the upstairs conference room. Your minutes are in your packet. I move that they be approved and filed. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say I. Emergency management director's report. Director, Mr. Cooper.

Thank you, Mayor, county commissioners. Good to see you. Uh, we have been working like bees, which work pretty hard, don't they? Uh, this a busy busy month for us. Uh, not only are we helping with the fair right now, of course, we have the Indie Car race coming up, state horse show along with regular cause. Um, we're trying to survive the heat oursel, which is a big deal in our line of work. Um, you know, I have put out criteria during heat advisories and extreme heat warnings for people, especially in turnout gear. Um, so just know that I I have things in place for that. Um, other than that, still maintaining. um new hire class is finished. Uh most of those are doing their FTO rides. So at the end of this month should have um full staff back up to par. Uh other than that, that concludes my report unless you have any questions.

Discussion. Seeing none, all in favor say I. Thank you, Director Cooper. Report from law enforcement committee. Commissioner Kurts. Law enforcement committee met on Thursday, August 7th at 5:00 p.m. up here in the conference room and it's in your packet. I move that you receive and file. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Sheriff's report. Sheriff Robert Bryan.

Thank you, mayor, county commissioners. Your reports in your packet, uh, the numbers are pretty much typical summer numbers. They're all pretty much consistently up. Uh it's just uh that time of year. U the numbers of calls really sticks out to me up to 5,000 126. So, but like I said, it's summer and another one was the civil warrants and uh up three or 400. It's just that time of year. Uh as Director Cooper said, he's working like bees. We're working like a swarm of bees. U all of us are. the fairs going on. We got the race as he said coming up. Uh probably got 50 something personnel at the fair as we speak. Uh and it's hot out there and uh it's it's crowded out there. So it's been a successful fair so far. Hope we keep it that way. Uh there's on the second page I would like to address this. You you see the roadside pickup. Uh that's another typical summer where them where them number number of roads goes down because we're tied up at different areas, the fair, different things like that. So as quick as I can get them inmates back away from all these other special projects, I will be getting them out on the road. And BJ Stafford, stand up just a minute. I may have never and this is I apologize. BJ Stafford is my I say new. He was appointed chief deputy about two or three months ago, two months ago. Uh I just want everybody to put a name with a face. So uh Lance How has not stepped down. He's uh moved down to a more uh less stressful job at his request and he's still with us. But if you need anything, BJ Stafford or me or any any of us are here for you. So I told him tonight I was going to make let him make the report, but he got a little jumpy on that. So but his time's coming. Uh, but I just

want to mention there's a packet in within the packet. Okay, it's in every one of these packet. I don't know if who was at the meeting, law enforcement meeting, who wasn't, but them numbers there are in there for your consideration and and viewing. And I would ask each of you take a look at them. But that concludes my report unless there's any questions. I got question. Yes, sir. I've got two moreies do you have? How many what vacancies? I had I didn't check today, but I can say I'm I'm probably five or six. Uh in in in patrol uh corrections is is probably seven or eight. Okay. Thank you.

Don't quote me on them numbers. I can get you definite numbers if you can call me tomorrow. Okay. Commissioner Breeze,

I just wanted to say thank you to both the sheriff's department and um we had a country singer who announced on social media that they were going to have an album debut in TwoFoot Cove and we didn't get any notice. So, we found out through social media, as far as I know, and both the sheriff and and Joey Cooper with WEIMA put together a plan very quickly and had boats on the water and made sure that there weren't any issues in the streets in my district. So, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the great service that you provided to District 18 for Gavin Adcock's um album debut.

I think he posted on social media, don't mess up in Wilson County, you'll get arrested. Okay, we did arrest some people. We told some cars. Thank you. And we was at We had no clue that was going to happen that week. Okay. It was a surprise to us. It just popped up on social media. But in saying that, there was another event out there last weekend if nobody knew that we had to deal with it. Was it was a more laid-back, but there was a bunch of boats in that cove. Okay. Well, there Yeah, there's usually a bunch of boats out there, but I didn't know there was a lot. So, thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Denton.

Yes, Sheriff. I just was I just just for clarity, I I know y'all are working hard now and this number uh five the highest inmate in population or the average daily it looks like is like 525 and then 144 state prison. Is the state prison inmates included in that 525 or is that plus the Yes, sir. They are included 525. That still puts you way up toward capacity, doesn't it? No. With with y'all's help, I mean, our jail is is we got capacity. Okay. Now, we may c Chris D. We won't have to deal with it no more. I mean, we can put some more people in jail,

but but but yes, uh but them numbers are are are including the state inmates. But that's a high that's a high number. You would you you're going to have to staff and and and pay and take care at some point. Yes, we're going we're going to have to do that. Yes. And then they will come. Uh you brought up state inmates. Uh yeah. Yeah. I'd love to send them down there. Okay. Send them to the prison, but they won't take them. They ain't got room either. But we're getting paid for them state inmate numbers. And uh it's is it enough? No. But we got that raised a couple of years ago where it's helped. So them numbers are included, Mr. D. They're not going down. The jail jail numbers are not going to go down, are they?

No. Commissioner Abins, one question I have for you, Mr. Chair, looking through the packet that you put together, the pay comparison, it it would have been it would be helpful to compare if we knew what our numbers were along with those. I'll gladly give I'll get them to I figure that you would. Yeah, I would. I will. Yeah, I'll gladly get them to you. You email me those. And I will say this, I think there's some discussions as we speak to try to address this. I would hope so. I will get you the numbers. Thank you. Mhm. Commissioner Fields. Yes, sir.

Uh u how how long does it take and how much does it cost to process someone? I know the Mount Juliet Police Department sends a lot of people that they catch coming from Davidson County over and we have to, you know, book them into jail. What's the total cost and hours involved in that for for Well, if Davidson County would do their job and arrest them, we wouldn't have to deal with them. Okay, I'll be honest. But here TV Land. Uh but in saying that, yeah, it's costly. Uh but I commend Nia Police Department, Lebanon Police Department for what they do. Uh somebody's got to catch them

and but but it is costly. It's time consuming. Yes. And and it's a it's a hinder. It's it's on on Wilson County citizens. Yes. No exact figure. I can't give you that. Any other questions? Anybody? All in favor say I. Thank you, Sheriff Bryan. Report from education committee. Commissioner Marlo. Education committee met August 7th and upstairs conference room. Turn your packet. I move they be received and filed. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I.

Director of schools report, Mr. Jeff Leil. You do have a copy of my report in front of you. First thing, Sunday afternoon. August 24th at 2:00 be the ribbon cutting at Lagardo Elementary. You're invited. Love to see you there. We'll cut the ribbon, have a little bit of brief program, and then uh open that building for the community and for you as well if you if you want to take a look at it. Uh it's been very smooth there. Also been very smooth at West. Uh the actions of course twofold of getting the turning lane in has helped and also of course getting students out has helped the traffic situation there. Uh 10th day of school last Friday. We're up 253 students from where we ended the year. We're at 20,760 students. knocking on the door of 21,000. Um, and expect to see those numbers increase to really Labor Day. Uh, personnel update, some had some last minute moves right before school open. Uh, Patricia Iquis, Miss Hire's principal, Carol Oakland. David Sever was hired as assistant principal at Carol Oakland. Lance Mallister, assistant principal at Glaive Elementary. and and Lisa Fear, special education coordinator, and that's district-wide position. Got those filled and uh excited to have them to to join Wilson County. Uh in your packet, you're going to see a lot of data. I'm not going to bore you with it. I'm going to hit on three points. Our achievement data is back from uh last school year. We did put a pretty extensive uh data packet for you. So, you can see going all the way back 201617. This is achievement. This is not growth. This is did you pass the test basically in all subject areas and all grade

bands. Happy to report we have the highest achievement ever in all content areas in Wilson County schools. And I would encourage you to look at that data. You're going to it's pretty easy to follow. Uh outstanding achievement performance last year in Wilson County Schools. Second thing I want to point out, we also increased the percentage of of students that scored at the exceeded level. those high-end kids and you've often heard that's a challenge for that top 10% but but their data is even improving and then probably the one I'm the most proud about achievement gains for all s subgroups. We gave you a chart outlining that all and I'm big about giving every kid an opportunity in Wilson County schools regardless and and that's probably the point I'm the most proud of. We still got some work to do in those, but if you look at the gains over the last three or four years in those subgroups, we have some subgroups performing uh as high as some districts in this state of all kids. And and so uh shout out to our teachers, our administrators, our students, and our parents for for buying in. Um, if you go into that data, and I won't spend a lot of time on it, but I I'm proud of it, you're you're going to see some proficiency levels district-wide, 60 and 70% in some subject areas. If you drill it down to some schools, you're going to see some grade bands, 70 75% success rate. So, I encourage you look at that data. If you have any questions, I'd love to spend more time, but I won't do that tonight. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to meet with you and go over it and go into what that means. Uh, but very high performance last year. We will have growth data in in a couple months and I look forward to being able to present that to you once the state gets it and turns that loose. That that that's different than achievement. That's saying where's the kid at? Where did they end up? And we're

expecting to have excellent scores in in those as well. So very proud of Willis County Schools and everybody involved and thank you for your commitment. Some of the things we do, I'll be going in the morning or I guess it's Wednesday on my calendar one day this week to to personally thank some coaches. We put I made a decision to put our instructional coaches, get them into the schools, out of out of the central office and put them in the schools helping teachers teach. and we've seen a tremendous jump in elementary scores because that's where they go to every day is helping those teachers with instruction and and so I'm going to personally thank them this week for for their hard work. Uh other than that did include oh big news podcast. I was on a podcast and I try to avoid that stuff uh at all costs but I got caught bart the other day. We've started a podcast called Wilson Live. you're going to see it and it's a way that we're going to do it with through our uh Bart Barker and Carter Nolan or Carter is is our fine arts supervisor and and that's going to be where we start communicating with this community through a pro podcast type measure to get out maybe questions you get calls on hopefully we're going to address that. I was on last week and we just talked in general, but we we've had one previously talking about restoration uh how to how to how to get a student registered, enrolled in in a school, but we think it's it's it's what we need to be doing. It's how a lot of people communicate and it's where they're getting information. So, if you're into into that, start looking for podcast Wilson Live. Uh it'll be out on several platforms and we're going to do it on a pretty regular basis just to get information out to about our schools. Included is high school football schedule, dates and times, home games. They'll start I guess next Friday. This Friday night will be be opening night. Encourage you if you get an opportunity. Also have a lot of other fall sports on our campuses. Uh soccer is going big

right now and they're getting ready to kick off and so encourage if you get an opportunity. I know we're all busy, but it means so much to our students and our schools when they see us at those events. Uh construction report, Central Pike Elementary. Uh you have pictures in your package. It is it is moving along nicely. Uh and that'll be another school that we'll be opening next school year. This time, I'll answer any questions. There a motion to approve the report. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Thank you, director. Report from the uh buildings committee. Commissioner Weathers, no report.

A center management commissioner Scrugs. Animal control. Commissioner Breeze. Animal control on Thursday, August 7th after the law enforcement committee. Minutes are in your packet. I move that be received and filed. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Audit. Commissioner Glover. Commissioner Keith. No. Thank you. Broadband access cable TV. Commissioner Franklin, no report. Developing tourism, Commissioner Brown, no report. Ethics, Commissioner Dao, no report. Finance Commissioner Cosley, no report. Health and Recreation, Commissioner Smith, no report. Insurance Commissioner McFarland, no report. Judicial Commissioner Gentry.

Judicial Committee met August 6th upstairs in the conference room. The minutes are in your package. Make a motion to receive and file. Second. Any discussion? 10. And all in favor say I. Legislative ad hoc. Commissioner Cosley, no report. Planned and zoning. Commissioner McFarland. Plan zone met July 22nd 5:30. Move approved. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Rules. Commissioner Keith. Urban type facility board. Commissioner Scrugs. Urban Facility Board. Packet be received and filed.

Any discussion? See none. All in favor say I. I. Finance director's report. Mr. Aaron Maynard.

You should have all had budget books on your desk tonight. Um, I'm really proud of the way these turned out. I have to thank uh a lot of people. Uh, specifically, I have to thank Lauren Breeze. I have to thank Joe Good. I have to thank LeBron Horton and the budget committee. And we tried to keep the best of what we were doing before um the online version uh and and still um you know go back to a budget document that felt a little bit more comfortable. Uh I think I think it'll feel more comfortable for department heads and for everybody. So I'm just really proud of it and u I hope you guys uh like it as well. We're open for comments. If this is not what you want to see, if you want to see something different, let us know. We'll work on it. Um, I don't really have anything to talk about tonight unless you have questions for me. So,

approve. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Report from budget committee. Commissioner Marlo. Budget meeting. August the 7th in the uh conference room. Minutes are in your packet. Move they be received and filed. Discussion. Seeing none. All in favor say I. Resolutions. Commissioner Marlo. Resolution 25-8-2 to amend the budget appropriation resolution approving board of education budget amendment 2601.

Got a motion. I got a second. Uh discussion now. Commissioner Hall. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to uh publicly acknowledge that I am a employee of Wilson County Schools and this budget resolution includes the $2,000 uh bonus from the state of Tennessee. This is not county money. This is just coming from the state. But I just wanted to acknowledge that and uh just say that I will be voting my conscience on this even though I will be accepting the $2,000 bonus. Thank you.

Anyone else? Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote, Commissioner Marlo. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record 23. Yes. 23 and0. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-3 to amend the budget appropriation resolution to make a line item adjustment and return money to the general fund. Discussion seeing all are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote.

All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record 23. Yes. 23 and0 resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-5 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from general fund to sheriff's department. I got a motion and a second. Any discussion? See none. Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 23. Yes. 23 and0. Resolution passes.

Resolution 25-8-6 to amend the budget appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from courtroom security litigation tax fund to sheriff's department. Second discussion. See, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record. 23. Yes. 23 and 0. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-4 to amend current contracts with Axion. Do I hear a motion?

Second. A motion and second. Discussion now. Ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 23. Yes. 23. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-7 to amend the budget appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from general fund to juvenile services. Motion to approve.

Got a motion to second. Now discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Curts. Curts. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 23. Yes. 23. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-8 to amend the budget and appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from general fund to judicial commissioners.

Any discussion? Seeing none, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Scrugs. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 23 yes. 23 yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-9 to amend the budget and appropriation resolutions making an appropriation from general fund to finance. Discussion. Seeing none, are you ready to vote?

Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 23. Yes. 23. Yes. Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-10 to amend the budget appropriation resolution to make an appropriation from general fund to circuit court. Motion to approve. A motion and second. Any discussion now? See, are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. All hearts and minds go with your vote. Please record 23. Yes.

Resolution passes. Resolution 25-8-11 uh to increase the adequate facilities tax for new commercial and or industrial development. Second. Got a motion, a second now. Discussion. Commissioner Dao. Yeah, we talked about this in the road commission

and um and it we was talking about upping it and spending some money for the roads and all that stuff. So, uh I know it come up to 50 cent. I had to leave that at night before it actually come up or whatever, but I just don't think that's enough. And I mean, of course, you know, everybody's got their own opinion or whatever, but I just don't think that's enough. We're looking at east of Vision Street down there and you put the buildings down there. Of course, yeah, they did it in front of their building and they're upgrading roads or whatever, but who's going to take care of the rest of it? You know what I mean? And so, we're fighting and having to scrap for money uh to take care of these roads. And so, if we start putting some of this money to the side to take care of these streets that are dangerous, school buses are driving over them and they just keep falling further and further back. So, um I don't it might not be the way that everybody else wants to go, but that's just my opinion. I'm going to throw it out there that I think that it should be a dollar. So, it's just my two cents.

Commissioner Rich,

I watched the uh video of that meeting the the other day and it it was very apparent that this body is torn on this. Um I definitely think that there is more that we can get out of this. Uh and I would like to see it go for more than just roads. you know, if we could get a dollar, then we can put the some of that towards employees, maybe uh that we've been trying to find an avenue. If we can't, then we can find other avenues. Uh I know one thing that was mentioned was, uh if we go in at 50 cents, we can always go up. Well, if we go in at a dollar and it stunts our growth, we can always go down. So, that works both ends. And I'm going to be voting against the 50 cents because I think that our county is worth more than 50 cents a square foot.

Commissioner Jones, I like Commissioner D. Y'all know my feelings on this. So 50 cents is just not enough uh to achieve anything that we want to achieve. Um like Commissioner Rich said, if we was to make a mistake, we can always remedy it. I'd love to see it be a dollar or more. Commissioner Vice.

So I think the intent of facilities use tax is to help with infrastructure based on growth. It's not there to be the only revenue stream to be able to deal with, you know, with streets or anything else that we're dealing with from a, you know, a capital project perspective. Um, we also need to remember that AFT is a onetime revenue at which point you can only use it for one-time expenditures, meaning that you can't use it for personnel or employees or pay of any kind. Um, so just keep that in mind as we move forward. Um, I think the most important part of this is this was in our private act in 2003. And in that private act, it just says that we have the right to be able to charge a commercial aft based on a twothirds vote of the county commission. So there's our parameters right there. Now, the county commission at the time tied this to building permit fees, and I don't think any of us were aware that that was by resolution, but it was. So, I think that the most important part of this as we move forward is to make sure that we actually untie this from building permit fees for a couple different reasons. First off, because it's not as a county tax or fee, however you want to call it, it's not consistent across the county. It's based on building permit fees of the local jurisdiction where you're building. Meaning that our building permit fees are what it's based upon within the county. If you're building in Mount Juliet, it's based on their building permit fees. If you're building in Lebanon, it's based on their building permit fees. And they're all different. So, I think it's really important as we move forward, we make sure that we actually do something to untie this. I think 50 cents is a good starting point. I think it puts us in line with our main

competitors, which are Robertson, Murray, and um Rutherford, who all have adopted the 2024 version of County Powers Act. And the County Powers Act allows them to charge a $150 per square foot up to 150,000 square feet. So they're capped at 225,000. what's in front of you is 50 cents a square foot, but with no minimum and no maximum. So, the other situation that we find ourselves in currently is because of the way our building permit fees are structured, anybody who's building something 10,000 square feet or less right now is paying 90 cents a square foot. So, that's all your small businesses. And then there's also a $5,000 minimum that our this body passed in 2023. So, for example, I know there was a business that added a bathroom. I think their building permit fee was about $600. They paid a $5,000 minimum for aft. So, the 50 cents a square foot would allow us to give a break to these smaller businesses. It also gives a break to people who are building 10,000 to 30,000 square feet because at this point in time that's 60 cents a square foot. But if you go back up and continue to look at the scale as you keep going 400,000 square feet plus, we're only charging 10 cents. So the burden here is lying on our smaller businesses, not the larger warehouses and things that are actually really are stressing our infrastructure with trucks and so on. So the 50 cents making it consistent makes it fairer across the board in general. So just keep all that in mind as we as we move forward. And if we if

we price ourselves out of the market, then we don't then have the businesses here that will then pay property taxes to be able to help offset the cost of doing business in the county in general, mean doing business, meaning the services that we provide. And more of that burden is going to lay on our residents. So, we need to be careful and make sure that we're a business businessfriendly county because I believe right now, I think the statistic is about 30% of our property taxes come from businesses. So, we need to make sure that we continue to be business friendly so they will help carry the burden so it doesn't end up on residents. So, I know that's a lot of information all at one time, but as we make this decision, because it's a big one, I think we need to keep in mind all this information. And I understand the idea of trying to go to a dollar. And I understand that we can go backwards, but we can't gain back what we've lost if we lose projects. And we can't gain back what could have been property tax in perpetuity every year that can be used for employee raises and employee pay and benefits. So just keep all that in mind as we move forward in this process. And it does take twothirds to pass this.

Commissioner Franklin.

Yeah, this this thing has been talked about a little bit. I don't know how many of you watch the planning commission meetings, but I guess we worked on this about four months. So, I want I want to thank Commissioner McFarland because he invited Lauren Breeze, a researcher uh in the finance department, and I don't know if we'd ever unscramble these eggs, to figure out how much we were actually getting because it was a mess. I mean, it really was. We didn't know where we were. We we figure we were 8 to 10 cents a square foot, which is horrendously low, lower than anybody in Middle Tennessee. But 50 cents puts us the highest in Middle Tennessee. Absolutely. and above 500 above 450,000 square foot. It puts it real it puts us a lot higher because it's not capped. It does two things. It uncaps the top, but it caps the bottom. And so if somebody wants to build another pizza restaurant on the other side of Lebanon that's been doing good on the other side of Lebanon, they can do it for $1,500 instead of 5,000 minimum. It'll help small business, but it'll also charge large business. I want to say another thing because when when I come to these meetings, everyone has has background in law enforcement and school teachers and construction and

firemen. Yeah, don't forget firemen planning. But for me, I I was an economic developer in Mount Julie for seven years. And when I first got the job, my boss, he did my budget before me and I I looked and I had $10,000 of travel expenses and I said, "Where am I going?" you know, you said you're going to move me around. And and he said, well, you're going to follow Don Fox and Sue signs around. That's what you're going to do. And I said, Don Foxed in the military, didn't he? I don't I don't know that I really want to do that without some hazardous duty pay. He might not appreciate me following him all over this country trying to figure out how to get retail, but I did. And and uh and and he was rather gracious, although he never introduced me any of his customers. But I did watch Don Fox, who I will say on the record the greatest retail economic developer this county has ever seen. He is. He was. He knew how to do it. He worked. It was just hard work. And that's what I want to tell you guys. Economic development on retail is extremely hard. We have two cities that are punching way above their weight. They do better than most any city in the state with the demographics that they're out there selling with the income levels and the density. They don't have a they don't have a great hand like Brentwood and Franklin, but they get new things in here. You've got a lot of things coming to Lebanon. I I know a lot of you have heard of them. A dollar choke it. And if you choke these two cities, you're going to choke the school system because half of everything they get, the other half goes to the school system. I I've been on the JCDB now 18 years. Seven years for Mount Julian, 11 years for the county and I have never seen but maybe one or two months compared year before that our sales tax has ever gone down. That's incredible. You know, most cities look like a cardio in the hospital and the ER room up and down every you can't plan on anything. But in Wilson County,

our retail sales tax collections have gone up almost at a line like that. We don't want to kill that. I I I don't This isn't perfect for me. I'd cap it at 500,000, but I I would rather leave it alone at pass than mess with it and us go home with 8 to 10 cents. So, I would urge the county commission just vote this straight up like it is. And if it's if it's not enough, we'll come back later. We're already the highest in middle Tennessee if we pass this. Thanks, Commissioner Rich.

You know, you just said that, you know, we go home and we go back to eight. uh we don't necessarily have to do that. Uh we don't have to start over. We can we can work this out tonight and come to a resolution between us and understand that hey maybe a dollar's too high, maybe 50 is too low, but we can start throwing some numbers out there and make this thing happen tonight and we don't have to lose ground. Uh I would love to see an amendment at 75 cents. Second. So got amendment on the floor for 75 cents. So, I got a second. Uh, other discussion. Take a take a um Go ahead, Commissioner Smith. Mr. Chairman, is that 75 cents still with no cap?

Yes, Commissioner Franklin. I'm sorry, Mayor. I'm going to retract. I'll wait till the vote. Commissioner Jones, would the low end still say at 50 cents up to 12,000 like we originally proposed? I think what his amendment was 75 cents flat. We could we can work it to where your smaller businesses are going to

that would help the small businesses and uh I could go along with personally I could go along with the 75 cents over 12,000 and that would protect our small business owners if we would keep it at 50 cents up to 12,000 square ft. So, you want to change your motion to um 50 cents uh for 12,000 square feet and under 75 cents for 12,000 for 12,01 and above with no cap. Uh so, you made a motion for that and you will accept that one. Okay. We're still in discussion. I'm going to go to Mr. Marlo.

Okay. Um, you can't only change that because you got other things down here in this motion that deal with um, uh, percentages or certain cents going to um, roads and schools. And so that's going to have to be changed as well. You can't leave that the way it is. Um, and we and it's already been stated more than once that if we change it to 50 cents, we're going to be higher than anybody else around us at this point in time. If it's not good enough, we can go up. But if it's too much, we're going to lose first. And there's no sense in losing anything. And there even at 50 cents we may may lose a little bit but there's no sense in changing anything in this resolution at this point in time until we see how it affects Wilson County as a whole. Um there's been a lot of discussion on this. We've had people to give us information that really know about this sort of thing and we need to adhere to what we have been told. Do we want more money? Of course we do. Well, what a kind of aggravates me, I'm sorry I'm getting off point here, but kind of aggravates me is that for two years I tried to raise the aft for homes and I couldn't get it anywhere. And now we see that there's a problem. So, we're going to skyrocket our aft on our commercial and retail and industrial people. and

kind of shoe them future building projects away just because we want more money. Yes, we we need it. I'm not I'm not saying we don't, but this is not the place to get it. The other thing is this is going and this has already been stated also, getting it higher than 50 cents is going to hurt our small business. It's going to hurt our retail. Um, it's going to help our small business, but it's going to hurt our retail and it could likely cause us to have to raise our property tax if this flops. I do not want to go there. And I know there's a lot of people in this room will not vote for a property tax unless it's absolutely necessary. Uh, I would I would hope we would leave it alone for now and see how it develops and see how it affects our county. And I'll quit there. Commissioner Kurts,

M. stated and that we're going to be the highest around at least we're the highest around in something because we're sure not in salaries and we're all sitting here talking about where to find money, where to find money and it may be onetime money, but we're going to have to rob Peter to pay Paul at some point. And you know, we're we're way behind in a lot of things, roads, uh flooding problems. I I'd love to take this money and fix everybody out there in the Couchville Pike area. Uh but I I just we sit in here and we toss things around and we never we never have a solution and we finally get a solution and none of us want to apply it. Uh I think it's time that everybody makes a decision on what we would need to do in the county and these are hard decisions and we were elected to make hard decisions. Of course,

Commissioner Breeze,

I just ran some math just so you know what you're looking at. So, at 50 cents a square foot for a 500,000t building, you're talking about $250,000. At 75 cents, you're talking $375,000. So, what we're arguing about here is $125,000 one time. And if we position ourselves where people don't even want to look at our county, we're losing property tax ongoing for not only real property tax at a 40% assessment rate for commercial. You're also losing your um tangible personal at 30%. that could be in that 500,000 square foot warehouse all over one time difference of $125,000. I'm not prepared to risk that. And for me personally, I'd rather have the additional property tax ongoing money that we can then turn around and try to take care of our employees. Whereas with this, it's one-time money. So, it's great for infrastructure and I think we need it and I think we need to restructure like what we're discussing, but I also think we need to be really mindful to make sure that we stay within the market or we're going to lose projects right across the county line at Rutherford.

Okay. So, um, what I've got on the floor right now is it will take a 12 majority vote, uh, 13 majority vote to pass. And I have a motion for 50 cents below 1,200 feet square feet, 75 above. And then to deal with the rest of the resolution, the way the resolution was written up, that we were getting 10 cents to begin with and we're putting that in a certain place and the rest of it was going to go into another fund. So in this case, I'm assuming what you'll tell me is that you want the 10 cents to stay where it's at and the 65 cents to go in the other fund. That would be consistent with what we passed. Are you agreeable with that? I would agree with that.

Okay. You you accept that one? Okay. So, we're still there. I had a call for the question. I had two people in the hopper. I think one of them is Commissioner Hobbs. And I'm not for sure if Commissioner Gentry is still in or not. Commissioner Hobbs. Every month for the past four years, me or Mr. Evans right here has gone through some kind of zoning. Of course, we're going to feel differently than y'all do on some of these projects. We are built out. We're done. They keep coming. They're not stopping coming. They're calling us every day. Every day they call another developer. I'm all about raising it. I think it's the best idea we've ever had. They're not going to quit coming. Go to Rutherford. They're fixing to develop the whole other side of 452 right now. And guess what? They're fixing to be hired us. sit back and watch. So, yes, I'm all about it. I'm going to go along with Commissioner Jones and now on this one.

Seeing nobody else, are you ready to vote on the amendment? All in favor with the amendment, uh, we probably need to do a Can we do with you? I'm ready. Okay. You're ready. So, here's what you're voting on. Are you ready? The second. Uh, Commissioner Dao. Mhm. So what you're voting on is yes if you want to amend this resolution 50 cents below 1,200 ft 75 above and the split on the money 1200 12,000 and uh the split on the money is 10 cents of where it was going the 65 going to where we had the other one going. Uh so if you want to vote for that

I think what you just said is different than what's on the screen. Did you say 50 up to 12,000 and 75 over 12,000? That's what I said. 1201. That's different than what's on the screen. Well, give me just a second and I will I just wanted to I wanted to clarify what we were voting on. That's all. Okay.

Hang on. Just to rehash what we got. 50 cents at 12,000 square feet or below. 75 cent at 12,0001 square ft or above. 10 cents, Mr. Maynard, is going to go into what fund goes into 189 and 151. It'll be split between those two funds. And the 65 cent would go into what fund? 189 will go into a different line to be kept separate. Okay. To be spent on roads as we are discussed. Okay. take 12 votes to pass that and then we'll come back in about 13. Then we'll come back and get the other. My bad, Mike. Whenever you're ready.

All right. I had to reset it. I could do a voice, but I know that ain't going to work, so I ain't going to do it. question mayor about where the funds are gone. They will be isolated where the road department would have to come before the county commission uh to get approval to use them for a specified road project. That is correct. Road improvement. That's correct. Okay. And in talking with the road superintendent after your meeting, we explain that to him and he'll take that through the road board first and then come to you guys next and you'll know exactly where those dollars go. Does that read correctly now?

So, Commissioner Hall, I just have a question because we're dealing with inequalities in my class right now. Okay. And uh if we say 75 cents for 12,01 square ft and over and then 50 cents for 12,000 square ft and under, where are you with between 12,000 and 12,01 square ft? says feet in and ha it's got and under. I understand that. But if you're at 12,000 ft and under up to 12,000 and then you're at 12,01 square ft and over. What if somebody comes in with 12,000 92 square ft?

They're they're over 12,000. Yeah, they're over 12,000. Why don't you just say over 12,000? Yeah, vote over 12,000. It's up there. Yeah. want to argue it. Yeah. So, anything over 12,000, we'll put that in if we need to. All right. If you're ready to vote, ready to vote. Please cast your vote.

Commissioner Mar all hearts and minds good with the vote. Takes 13. Please record. 14. Yes. And I know. Now you're going to come back and you're going to vote on the resolution as amended and that takes 17 for you to pass that one. And um any other comments or questions? Not. Are you ready to vote? I am ready. Okay. So we can make that adjustment. I don't think that's an issue. Anything above 12 to answer to take care of that issue again. Excuse me.

We're fixing to vote now. It takes 17 to vote on the same thing you just voted on. Right. You you you have something to say? Yes. Oh, commissioner like to make an amendment to cap this at 300,000 ft. Okay. Motion on the floor to cap it at 300,000 square feet. Second. I got a second. Okay.

The reason that I'm wanting to do that is at 75 cents. that that's going to be the county powers act and Sar County is considering it. Rutherford County's already adopted it. So if we go over 300,000, we're basically going to forgo everything over 300,000 square feet. The way I look at it in the county, we're not going to get anything. This is going to be the let's improve Sumar County, Rutherford County Act, school system. You know, let's make let's make Rutherford County schools better again act. But if we, in my opinion, if we want to save our bacon on this, we cap it at 300,000 ft. At least we won't be giving up big retail and big commercial to our neighbors.

It's got a motion and second on the floor. We'll take 13 to amend the resolution as we just passed to cap uh the footage at uh 300,000 square feet for 75 cents. Yep. Got it. Um I got three people in the hopper. Commissioner Fields now four. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to give Mr. John's uh opinion on this from the joint economic development committee. We don't normally reach out to that, do we, Mike? If you do, you you got to vote. If we're going to follow our rules, you got to vote. We'd have to vote to do that. Okay. Well, I'm going to vote no.

That's okay. All right, Commissioner Jones. If we kept this, we're going right back to where we came from. The idea is to generate revenue. You put a cap on it, you're not generating revenue when once you reach the cap. Commissioner Hall, does anybody have any idea how many commercial properties have been built in Wilson County in let's say the last five, three to five years over 300,000 square feet? I wouldn't have that knowledge. I think it was in the packet maybe they put out at one time uh in our planning zoning meetings. I think he put together some but I don't I don't have the knowledge of that. No sir, sorry. I don't have it with me.

Do what? I don't have it with me. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it was there.

Commissioner Denton. I think I've thought about the thing both sides. I think we're dancing on dangerous ground by raising it. I understand it though. Um I personally don't think an AF tax on residential may even be ethical, but when it comes to commercial, I definitely think that we ought to get we certainly ought to be much higher than we are right now. And when I did some more research on it, I found that we're on the top end of that. And I ran one of the big places here. If we cap it at if we're going to raise raise it up to 75, we want revenue. We capp it at 300,000. I ran one of the buildings that was sold not too awful long ago. It's been quite profitable for our county. 619,000 square ft. They paid $50,000. I think under 50 cents they would have paid $39,000. We are still a quarter of a million to the good uh from that point. So to cap it at 300,000 mean you get a large company like this we lose half of our aft and that's just if we're raising it just for revenue that's that's our reason it's not to deter it's not to ex and I I do I did look the fact there is studies to show that an aft will sometimes help growth um but it also if you at too large. Studies show that it hinders it. So if we think 75 cents will work, then that that's one thing. I think it's a little dangerous, but if we cap it, I think we're taking away what we're trying to gain.

Commissioner Breeze. So, just to give you yet another data point, last year for fiscal year 25, we made $349,000 in total in commercial aft with an effective rate of somewhere between 8 and 10 cents. So, anything we do is going to increase the revenue that we're bringing in whether you cap it or not. But if we raise this to the point where we don't actually have projects come in, then I mean 75% of zero is zero. So you got to remember that we've got to be able to come up with something that actually is sustainable in middle Tennessee. And if we're not careful, we're going to price ourselves out of the market. And I understand what Commissioner Hobb said about his area, but his area is not the only area in this county. I mean, that's something that we've talked about with the land use plan is that we need other commercial districts in this county. I mean, we're projected to gain another 100,000 people over the next 25 to 30 years, at which point we need places for them to work. And if we price ourselves out where there's no additional commercial development, then we're going to end up as a commuter county first of all and then all the tax base or all the you know the taxes are going to land on top of residents because we won't have commercial development. So it's we need to be really cautious with this that we don't price ourselves out of the market and and especially for a one-time fee. And I think we're we're losing sight of that. That this is a one-time fee, which is great for infrastructure, but that doesn't help us with ongoing

revenue. And if we kill the project from the get-go, there is no ongoing revenue, which puts us in a much worse situation than we could have been. So, just be cautious. Mayor Jennings,

let me make a comment. There's some comments being made tonight that concern me, and that is we're you we're talking about this as a revenue raiser. Okay? It's not it's not a property tax. Section three said, "It is the intent and purpose of this act to authorize Wilson County to impose a tax on new development in the county payable at the time of issuance of a building permit or certificate of occupants." Here's the key. so as to ensure and require that the persons responsible for new development share in the burdens of growth by paying their fair share for the cost of new and expanded public facilities made necessary by such development. So I think the the whatever you do, I don't care, but whatever you do, you've got to understand that it's to take care of stuff like schools and jails and roads and and those type of things. It is not a supplement to your general fund budget. It can't be. If we say that it is, we're probably going to be subject to being attacked in court over how we do it. So, make sure it is related to the fair share of the cost of new and expanded public facilities.

I had Commissioner Jones, you're out. You're on my docket, but you're Nope. Okay. Commissioner Gentry. Yeah, there seems to be more than one motivation here. Some motivation is to keep people from coming here and building. And that that's a definite motivation for taxes. Another motivation would be to raise revenue. But if you raise it to 75 cents with no limit, something like Costco or Sam's or something like that, I guarantee they wouldn't come here. As a matter of fact, some of the cities are paying people to come here. I know Mount Juliet paid Costco to build there. Paid million.

Yeah. They paid them to build there. So all I'm saying is if we want to price ourselves out of the market not to build, that's fine if that's what you want. But if you're wanting to raise money and that's a one-time fee, but you really want to raise money on property tax that is over and over again, it it's like you got to make up your mind what you want. salaries are predicated on property tax typically, not onetime fees like marriage license or something like that. But any that's what I have to say. Last one in the hopper. Commissioner Chandler.

Yeah, Mr. Gentry and and even Mayor Jennings made very good points. And I'm afraid what we're going to do is if we continue to raise this even higher or where it's at at 75 cents, we're going to take away the revenue generators that are preventing us from having to tax our citizens every day. I know Lebanon, Mount Juliet, Mount Juliet for sure, we really rely on sales tax and shopping. So that's good quality retail developments. Mr. Gentry mentioned it with Costco. That's a great revenue generator for our community. And we didn't have to raise our property tax as high as the city did, which to me, District 10, who I represent, the burden was less on them because we have good quality retail in that area. I'm afraid the talk I hear tonight seems like it's going to be a quick fix and get us to where we need to be. But reversing this is going to be a lot harder to do than our quick vote tonight. And we're going to lose the ground that we have and it's going to begin to affect our citizens because we're going lose the quality developments, the quality retail, the quality restaurants. that for my constituents, that's what they want to see is that quality stuff. Now, I get how Mr. Hobbs's constituents don't want to see the warehousing. What I'm also afraid of is because we can't agree on something, we're not going to get anywhere because I'm not going to vote for 75 cents. But I think we can probably all agree on something which is 50 cents because it gets us ahead,

you know, and I'm almost I think we're at a loss because I don't think we're think we're anywhere. I think we're going to continue to be 8 8 10 cents for growth and we're going to be in the same situation we were in uh before we walked in this room tonight and I know we can come together. I think 75 cents is too much but it seems like everyone has an appetite for 50 cents. So what you have on the floor right now is to cap uh the amendment that you passed previously at 300,000 ft. So, if you want to uh if you want to amend that amendment at 300,000 ft cap, you'll vote yes. If you don't, you vote no. Uh we ready to vote? Please cast your vote.

Take We'll take 13 votes. Commissioner Hall, Commissioner Keith, all hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. You got seven yes, 16 no. So, the amendment failed. So now you'll be voting on which will take 17. Um again 50 cents for 12,000 square feet and under. Anything over 12,000 square feet would be 75 cents at no cap. Uh and um this is I'm in the queue. That'd be great. But let me let me finish. Okay.

All right. Oh, no. Not not yet. Yeah. So 65 cent would be going into the road fund and 10 cents would stay in the fund that it's in right now. And that's what you're about to vote on. Take 17 votes. Commissioner Breeze, before we vote on this, I'd like to actually amend back to the original version that you have sitting on your desk to 50 cents exactly as it as it reads. Second. Got a motion second and we can vote on going back to the original amendment as it was. Original resolution resolution. Resolution as it reads. Yeah, exactly.

Commissioner Breeze and Commissioner Chandler, how we started. Okay. So, we're going to go back to square one is what you're voting for here. Takes 12 of you to do that and 13. Gosh mighty, what's the matter with me tonight? I don't know. I don't want to vote. I don't want to tie for sure. Uh, Chand Commissioner Chandler.

Yeah. So, again, I as you think about this, I don't think we have it to get 75. I think we at least have it to get 50, right? So, though all of y'all who have wanted to raise it, to me, this would be your opportunity to raise it somewhere beyond the eight and the 10 cents that what we've tried for. So, to me, this is strategic for you. because I definitely think we all have the 50. Commissioner Franklin, I want to agree with you. Um,

we got two absent, you lose six votes, it's done. We're back to 8 cents to 10 cents. And, you know, I just want to make that point. I would I would rather I would rather go back to 8 to 10 cents and not kill property tax going forward. You're not going to you you killed the golden goose here on this retail. You're not going to revive it with a can of Narcan. It takes a decade sometimes. Ask Chetm County. It's it I hear this kicked around. Yeah, we can go up. We're up too high. We can go down. Yeah, you can. After the developers all planned projects for their next five budgets and Wilson County won't be in there. That's what happens out there, guys. I mean, I've been out there. I begged, borrowed, and stolen to get somebody to develop in Mount Julia when there was one stoplight down there. Um, and it's hard and you know, just leave it leave it there. I think we got the votes for 50 cents. I don't think you got them for 75. You want to go back to eight or 10? Make your mind up. Thanks.

Had a call for the question. I have three in the hopper though at this time. Commissioner Fields. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I just want to go along with Commissioner Chandler and Commissioner Breeze and Commissioner Franklin. We kick this thing around a lot in P&Z and 50 cents was by far the best solution. So I beg you to vote for the 50 cents as written in the resolution. Commissioner Costler, is that 50 cents with with a cap, correct?

No cap. No cap. And just for the record, we're talking about like Costco and them. You're talking about 195,000 square feet. So it wouldn't affect them anyway. That's all I got. Commissioner Hall. Commissioner Franklin, I've just got a question if you'll answer it. I don't know if you can or not, but I'll ask it anyways. Uh when you were negotiating with businesses to bring them to Mount Juliet, how many of them were saying, "Well, you know, the adequate facility tax in this county is this, but y'alls is this and vice versa." And we'll go with y'all since y'all are lower. Did that ever happen? Isn't that? Yes, sir.

You know, it's like when you get a bad meal at a restaurant, you vote with your feet. You never see them again. They don't tell you. You just have to know the market. You have to know who you're competing against. You have to know what's around you. And I just like to remind everybody this. We worked on this for four months. We brought in the JCDB. We pay them almost 600,000 out of this county to know what they're doing. They're on the front line. They're the ones they came up with 45 cents. We went to 50. Um they thought wouldn't hurt anything. We'd still be the highest, but it probably wouldn't kill us. I mean, you just got to know. It's an educated guess. I guess I guess that's my answer. A gamble. It's a gamble. I mean, you don't know.

So, we're about to vote uh to go back amended back to 50 cents on the original resolution. Takes 13 votes to get that done. So, if you want to go back to the original resolution, say yes. If you don't want to say no and it's time to vote.

All hearts and minds good with your vote now. Please record.

15 yes, eight no. 15 yes, eight no. Now we're back to the original U resolution uh that was on the floor to begin with. It'll take 17 votes to pass that one. Uh, and are you ready to vote? Call question. Yeah. Nobody's in the hopper. Just going to vote on the original resolution. Okay. Take 17. If you want to vote for it, that's 50 cents. Uh, no cap. Vote yes. If you don't, vote no. Are we ready? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Evans, Commissioner Keith. So the just for clarity, Mr. Chairman, sir, just for clarity. Yes, sir.

What's the what's the vote? You're voting for the regular resolution that was on the floor of 50 cents uh with no cap on it and it takes 17 to pass it. And if it doesn't pass, does that mean we don't have another opportunity? If it doesn't pass and it we just start all over again. You don't have one tonight, but you not tonight. Not tonight. Take it back. All hearts and minds good with your vote. Please record. 18. Yes.

Resolution passes. We're ready to move on. Commissioner Merlo. Resolution 25-8-12 to separate the amount of adequate facility tax on new commercial and/or industrial development from building permit fees. Motion to second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Are you ready to vote? Please cast your vote. Commissioner Denton, Commissioner Curts, Commissioner Costsley. All hearts and minds good. Will you vote? Please record. 23. Yes.

Resolution passes. On old business uh tonight, uh Mayor Jennins needs to speak to you. Yeah. We uh in July, we brought a resolution to you that night and suspended the rules and voted upon it for some improvements out of the Yag Center. I forget what they were. Do you remember what they were in the expo? The AV equipment 650,000

and questions have been raised about that about whether or not it was on the agenda and whether or not we get did it properly. So I have had discussions with the person who's been raising that issue and we're going to put that back on the agenda in September for you to confirm your vote. Okay. Um, we couldn't get it. Well, let me put another step in there. It was intended to be in on your agenda tonight and somehow it didn't get there. So, we could vote on it tonight, but that doesn't fix the problem. We would just be complicating it. So, we're going to bring it back to you in September so you can vote on it. Any comments or questions on that? Any old business? Other any new business? One more motion. We are ajourned.