This meeting of the
County Commission was called to order by
Chairman Gary England.
Notaries approved were
Robert Lee Hauther and Dolly June Merritt. All
budgetary transfers suggested by the Budget and
Finance Committee (see UNL 4/10/06) were
unanimously passed by the full commission. The
County Mayor’s report for the period ending
3/31/06 showed a very healthy Undesignated Fund
balance of $1,200,608 to see the county through
until property tax income is received in 2/07.
This is the best Undesignated Fund balance that
the county has had at this time of year for
several years. This is probably due to the
increase in sales revenue and property tax
assessments as well as to the diligence of both
the Budget and Finance Committee and the County
Commission. The Quarterly County Mayor’s and
the General Purpose School Funds reports were
unanimously accepted. The Quarterly Revenue
Committee and Highway Dept reports were tabled
until the next County Commission meeting on
5/8/06.
Len Padgett of the Warwick
Chapel Church requested that the commissioners
consider the church acquiring the Community
Center. “I’m not going to tell you that the
building can’t be fixed,” said Mr. Padgett.
“But it has been sitting idle for a very long
time. Our church has been talking about
building a Fellowship Hall. We have property
but it is very steep and we could use this land
for that Fellowship Hall.” Commissioners felt
that, as a Fellowship Hall, the community would
utilize the property and that presently it was
not being used at all. Commissioner Johnny
Merritt made a motion that the Community Center
property be sold to Warwick Chapel Church for
$1. This passed unanimously.
Mayor Larry Lay was
concerned about the county running out of room.
The county eventually will have to build a
larger more modern jail. Two pieces of property
(one owned by Peggy Steiner and the other by
Janet Moore at 904-908 Main) are up for sale.
Mayor Lay suggested that the commissioners
consider purchasing these properties for future
county development. After some discussion, it
was decided that the subject of purchasing one
or both parcels should go on the 5/8/06 agenda
for inclusion in the FY2007 budget.
County Attorney David
Myers reported that Mayor Lay did sign a
contract with Barge, Waggoner and Sumner and
Cannon, Inc to start the jail remodeling
process. Commissioner Lynn Beeler asked if Mr.
Tharp was comfortable with the fact that the
remodeling would not meet the TN Correctional
Institute code. Mr. Myers responded “No, as I
understand it, Mr. Tharp will state that the
space is of a certain size and he will let John
Duffy (the attorney assigned to Union County by
the insurance company) explain it to Federal
Judge Jarvis on 6/20.”
The Resolution to request
the $60.32 of unclaimed balance of accounts be
returned to the State Treasurer under Unclaimed
Property Act passed unanimously.
Commissioner Brenda Jessee
provided an update on the Beeler Lane Water
Project. The Luttrell-Blaine-Corryton Utility
District has forwarded all of the necessary
paperwork to Nashville. Twenty-eight residents
have signed contracts and others are planning to
join as well. The residents are very pleased
with how well this project is moving along and
grateful to the County Commission for their
assistance.
Commissioner Johnny
Merritt reported that construction has begun on
the road in the Luttrell Industrial Park that
will connect Corryton-Luttrell Rd with Tazewell
Pike. He noted that the road may look a little
strange because of the location of the Buckeye
lot, but it appears that Clayton Helms will not
have to move as much dirt as he initially
thought he would. Mr. Merritt believed that the
construction may come in under budget.
The school board requested
financial assistance for school roof leaks from
county commission on 2/13/06. A committee was
formed to review the roofs on all the schools
and make a recommendation. So far, this
committee has not met. Glenn Coppock reported
that Dixie Roofing examined all of the school
roofs in order to make a recommendation. Bid
packets were drawn up and the bid notice was
published in the UNL.
Commissioner Charlie Cox
mentioned that the county maintenance man was
not getting any assistance from jail inmates.
Mr. Cox reminded the commission that they had
voted to allow prisoners out of their jail
sentence one day early for every two days worked
on county projects. Sheriff Willie Evans stated
that the prisoners do go out on trash pickup,
but the TN Dept of Corrections court judge has
to approve a shorter sentence for work completed
(and that the jail currently does not have a
“2-for-1” program approved).
Nothing further to
discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
