County Commission

11/14/2005

 

This meeting of the County Commission was called to order by Chairman Gary England.  Absent were District 6 Commissioner R.L. Jones and District 7 Commissioner Joyce Meltabarger.  The minutes of the previous meeting on 10/10/2005 were approved.  Angie Denise Merritt and Cody Jarrett Haynes were approved as notaries.

 

Stanley Boles, Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, presented that committee’s report. The committee had recommended transferring an insurance payment of $2500 to the Sheriff’s Dept Motor Vehicle purchasing fund and transferring $5000 from the Drug Enforcement Vehicle Parts to the Drug Enforcement Motor Vehicles purchasing fund.  The motion passed with Charlie Cox and Rodney Patterson voting NO.  The committee had recommended nonpayment of an unauthorized bill from Coleman’s Trophy and Awards.  County Attorney David Myers advised the commission that any county employee who purchases from a third party is acting as the county’s agent and that bill must be paid.  Voting NO to paying this bill were Elmer Bailey, Brenda Jesse, Gene McBee and Rodney Patterson and the motion to pay the $805 bill from the undesignated fund balance passed.

 

A motion was made and seconded to terminate Wilson Park and Recreation Director Jessica Humphrey.  Voting NO was Trevor Warwick stating that he felt that this was under the county mayor’s authority and not the county commission.  Motion passed.  It was decided that the Parks and Recreation Board would determine whether to rehire that position or to use those salary funds for other Wilson Park needs.  A motion was made and unanimously passed that all expenditures and purchases for Union County parks must be approved by the county mayor.

 

The County Mayor’s report, the County Trustee’s report and the Highway Department reports were all read and accepted unanimously and without discussion.  Gary England reported that the Cable Committee has been working with Comcast to get cable into the unincorporated areas of the county.  Commissioners Kenny Hill and Wayne Collins requested that District 5 Sharps Chapel be excluded from this agreement.  It was their opinion that it would be easier to get cable from Claiborne County.  Cable revenue to the County General Fund will be increased from 3% to the 5%.  This amount will be reflected on the customer’s bill.  Comcast requires 20 houses per mile in order to run cable.  The committee attempted to get the number of houses per mile reduced, but could not.  This will be an 18-year agreement with the cable franchise, but is not an exclusive agreement. Other cable companies may come into the county, but must be offered the same terms that were offered to Comcast. The cable franchise will go as far as 125 feet off the road before charging the customer to run cable to a residence.  Voting NO to this agreement with the cable franchise were Brenda Jesse and Charlie Cox.

 

Commissioner Pam Ailor will check with the city concerning the issue of repair of a city street near a dumpster.  Mayor Lay is still negotiating with Claiborne Hospital for a lower rate for jail inmates.  These items will be added to next month’s agenda.

 

Bell South has offered the county a discount for phones in departments under the General Fund (Courthouse, Sheriff’s Dept., Libraries, Senior Centers, Health Dept. etc). This discount would be a substantial savings of about $700 a month.  But to qualify for this discount, the county will have to sign a 36-month contract with the company.  Any contract over 12 months and/or $5000 has to be put out for bid. The commissioners agreed to do so.

 

Commissioner Johnny Merritt met with Road Commissioner Clayton Helms concerning the completion of the road in the Luttrell Industrial Park.  The present road starts at Corryton-Luttrell Rd and ends at the Industrial Park.  Mr. Merritt and Commissioner Jessee both felt that the road needs to be completed to go all the way to Tazewell Pike – a distance of about ¼ mile. Additionally, the existing road needs some repair.  Both commissioners felt that having the industrial road connect these two main roads would make the industrial lots more appealing.  Mr. Merritt has a promise of a donation of stone for the road and felt that the rest of the project, which would include repairing the existing road, could be completed for less than $55,000.  These monies would come from the Capital Projects Undesignated Fund balance.  Mayor Lay objected to the idea of spending these funds on an unused road that goes to unsold lots. He stated that the road that is in there now was built with state funds and the water and sewer were funded by grants.  So far, he said, the industrial park has not cost the county anything.  Mr. Lay further stated that the county will not need that road until some of the industrial lots there are sold.  “If you are going to do anything”, said Mr. Lay,  “just blacktop where the Luttrell Park is.  Don’t do the rest until you get someone in there that needs the road.”  Mr. England asked “Won’t the completed road sell more lots?” to which Mr. Lay replied that he did not believe it would have any bearing on the sale of lots.  Ms. Jesse stated that a road might bring some businesses in.  “We don’t have anything in Luttrell right now but a post office”, said Ms. Jessee.  Mr. Lay responded,  “You already have a road and it hasn’t brought in a lot of business.  You would do better to use those funds to build a spec building”. Trevor Warwick asked what the county was doing to attract industry.  The mayor responded that the county has an industrial board that meets once a month and there is a representative of every city on that board.  The County Commission is also charged with bringing industry into the county.  Elmer Bailey asked Mr. Merritt if the decision to complete the road now could be tabled until next month and Mr. Merritt responded that it wasn’t advisable to wait as bad weather was about to start.  Mr. Helms could begin on the new road in the next 2-3 weeks.  The motion was made to approve this expenditure and it passed unanimously.  “I thank every one of you,” said Mr. Merritt.

 

Commissioner Charlie Cox had requested a discussion with Sheriff Willie Evans about leaving county cars on the county lot by the Courthouse instead of having the deputies take their vehicles home with them.  Additionally, he wanted to discuss the Fleet One gas cards that the department uses to charge gas.  Sheriff Evans was unable to leave his duties to attend this meeting.  County Attorney David Myers stated that the policy of taking the cars home was completely up to the Sheriff’s discretion and not that of the county commissioners.  He also noted that the Sheriff could purchase his gas anyway he chooses to.  Further discussion was tabled until next month.

 

County Attorney David Myers informed the commissioners that he had a Professional Services agreement from Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon, Inc (BWSC) that was being reviewed.  Project Manager Grant Tharp was available to answer any questions the commissioners might have.  The project proposes renovating the present UT Ag Extension Services area as jail space. Many issues must be addressed such as the state fire marshal requirements, a required outdoor recreation area, a family visitation area, sewer requirements of a larger jail population, space per inmate, and other requirements of TN Code Annotated 41-4-40. The Federal lawsuit, with a court date of 1/17/2006) may also have some bearing on renovations.  BWSC would provide architectural and renovation services, perform a thorough code research throughout the entire facility, meet with the mayor, sheriff and others to determine the scope of work to be performed, draw up preliminary sketches including electrical, plumbing and architectural.  When asked what this would cost the county, Mr. Tharp stated that the complete code review would cost $1000; meetings with the mayor/sheriff $250; preliminary sketches $1000, bid documents will be 4.5% of construction costs and the construction phase will run 1.5% of construction costs.  It will be 8-10 weeks before renovation can begin and construction will take about 6 months.

 

(Note: On 7/11/05, the County Commission voted to hire Southbuild architects to do a feasibility study for jail renovation or construction, their fee for this study not to exceed $3000.  Southbuild does only one thing – they serve rural detention needs in a comprehensive manner using modified architecture and construction management that minimizes staffing.  After performing the feasibility study, they reported back to county commission that they had looked at renovation of the existing courthouse every way that they could and it was their opinion that trying to renovate the building would be a mistake.  It was their opinion that renovation would be a quick fix and would not allow for a growing inmate population.  Their recommendation at that time was to build a new jail.)

 

Mr. Merritt asked if BWSC would be duplicating what Southbuild was already paid to do and Attorney Myers stated that Southbuild had not provided drawings.  Mr. Merritt then asked if hiring BWSC could be contingent upon the Federal judges ruling and Mr. Myers replied that the Federal judge will want to see a good faith effort when the county goes to court and BWSC will not work without a contract. After much discussion, it was determined that Mr. Tharp and BWSC  would perform the code review and the preliminary design and floor plan. He will report back to County Commission in December and they will decide then what the next steps should be.  Committee Chairman Gary England requested that Attorney John Duffy (of the Knoxville firm Watson and Hollow) who will represent Union County in the lawsuit be present at the next meeting as well.