[0:08] Welcome to the Block County Workshop meeting for Tuesday, February 11th, 2025.

[0:14] Commissioners, please rest your presence while we play the emergency evacuation procedures.

[0:46] to see the way you're out of the book.

[0:49] It was a line of all other society moving

[0:51] and having a vote for a specific person.

[0:55] Madam Quart, can you please take the role?

[0:57] Mr. Chairman, you have 18 members present through your accent.

[1:02] Commissioner's been it, Kailer and King

[1:04] at a conflict and not be with us tonight.

[1:07] That I'll stand for a motion to set the agenda.

[1:11] Have a motion from Commissioner Anderson,

[1:13] Stake it from Commissioner Carver. Is there any discussion?

[1:18] Mister's please rest your boats.

[1:27] By the

[1:51] way, this here, we're having some technical difficulties.

[2:01] It's not this.

[2:05] The chair person.

[2:07] Do you see the chair person?

[2:13] Can you go get that?

[2:17] Just write my skin.

[2:24] Thank you.

[2:42] Okay.

[2:43] Now we can vote.

[3:03] Chairman, 18 yes votes.

[3:05] Thank you.

[3:05] With that, the agenda is set.

[3:07] Moving on to public input for items on the agenda.

[3:10] I have a card here from Miss Pat Jenkins.

[3:17] We're Mr Pat Jenkins.

[3:19] Sorry.

[3:20] Yeah.

[3:21] You're not the first person.

[3:24] If you could state the district that you live in, okay. My name is Pat Jenkins. I'm the commissioner at City of Townsend. I'm here representing the citizens of Townsend and the community are there about.

[3:38] I want to address the last item on the agenda.

[3:44] The current swinging bridge in towns and it's located on Highway 73 in towns and it's

[3:50] a historic structure serving blunt county residents for over 75 years.

[3:56] I will have four houses upstream.

[3:58] The dark island swinging bridge in towns and complements the swinging bridge that

[4:03] that is located in the sunshine community about three miles downstream, both are on the

[4:10] blunt county historic trail. The swinging bridge enhances towns and blunt counties, well known

[4:18] walkability and bikeability status. The U.S. Department of Transportation walkability policies

[4:25] include promising promoting bicycle and pedestrian policies in transportation plans and encouraging

[4:33] transportation agencies to go beyond minimum requirements.

[4:40] The Dark Islands Swinging Bridge provides a pathway for the Dark Island community, children

[4:46] and adults to safely attend activities and take advantage of towns and services.

[4:53] The Dark Islands Swinging Bridge provides a vital emergency pathway for Dark Islands residents

[5:00] in case of emergency evacuation.

[5:04] The Dark Eye One Swinging Bridge is a strategic part of Townsend's plan to establish a

[5:10] resiliency hub in the community.

[5:14] The Dark Eye One Swinging Bridge is a popular destination for individuals visiting Townsend

[5:21] and exploring its 125 history, 125 year history.

[5:27] The City of Townsend has been providing minor maintenance of the Dark Island Bridge by removing what they call love locks, cleaning up later under the bridge and replacing an occasional board.

[5:41] The scope of the repair needed is beyond our capability.

[5:47] Please help Townsend and want County preserve this hidden gem of East Tennessee.

[5:53] Thank you.

[5:54] Thank you.

[5:56] Does anyone else wish to speak tonight? I'm on the agenda.

[6:02] Now, we're going to move on and I'll stand for a motion to approve the minutes.

[6:07] I motion from Commissioner Martin,

[6:09] sake it from Commissioner Mack, my hand.

[6:11] Is there any discussion?

[6:13] Not Commissioner's please register your votes.

[6:24] Sir, Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[6:26] Thank you. The minutes will be moved forward before Commission.

[6:29] That next one, the consent calendar.

[6:33] I have a motion from Commissioner Mack, my hand.

[6:35] Thank you from Commissioner Martin. Sir any discussion on the consent calendar?

[6:40] Not Commissioner's please register votes.

[6:52] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[6:54] Thank you. The consent calendar will be moved forward to the full commission.

[6:57] We have no unfinished business. I'm moving on to new business.

[7:01] Madam Court, will you please read the call?

[7:05] Resolution number 25, 2, 0, 0, 1 budget increase civil defense,

[7:10] $2,758.95, except and appropriate additional funds for emergency management performance grant received from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

[7:23] Refer to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the Budget Committee for zero.

[7:29] Have a motion from Commissioner Jiles, second from Commissioner Reagan, sir any discussion?

[7:36] Not, Commissioner's please register votes.

[7:46] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[7:48] Thank you.

[7:49] Resolution 25, 2, 0, 0, 1 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[7:54] Resolution number 25, 2, 0, 0, 0, 2.

[7:58] budget increase civil defense, $2,562.50, except and appropriate additional funds for Homeland Security

[8:07] program grant received from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, referred to full

[8:13] commission with a favorable recommendation by the Budget Committee for zero.

[8:18] Now, a motion from Commissioner Carver, second from Commissioner Jiles, sir any discussion?

[8:36] Thank you, resolution 25202 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[8:42] Resolution number 25203, budget increased general services, $127,072 in 40 cents.

[8:52] appropriate funds to upgrade the county security cameras and access control systems,

[8:58] referred to full commission with the favorable recommendation by the budget committee for

[9:02] Steve Row. Motion from Commissioner Carver, second from Commissioner A.Card. I've got

[9:08] Commissioner Carver at first.

[9:12] The cameras is going to be all county building schools and all

[9:16] or could you give an explanation over the cameras

[9:20] are going to be upgraded?

[9:24] Mayor, would you like to answer that or Brown?

[9:29] Just.

[9:30] That too.

[9:31] Or just a.

[9:37] Yeah, so this will be for the NVR servers

[9:40] that actually take the video and record it.

[9:44] It will be for all county buildings,

[9:46] basically we're taking the old servers

[9:49] that are in various buildings,

[9:50] It's consolidating them down to two servers, which we'll have redundancy in a backup capabilities

[9:57] at that point, which we don't have now.

[9:59] So, is that going to be the schools also, or-

[10:01] No, no, no.

[10:02] No, no.

[10:03] No.

[10:04] No.

[10:05] No.

[10:05] Thank you very much.

[10:08] Is there any other discussion?

[10:11] No commission.

[10:11] Please register your votes.

[10:21] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[10:23] Thank you.

[10:24] Resolution 252 003 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[10:30] Resolution number 252 004 budget increased general services.

[10:35] $70,600, except inappropriate funds from the efficiency and conservation block grant for the purchase

[10:45] and installation of 3-8 HVC units, referred to full commission with a favorable recommendation

[10:50] by the Budget Committee for Zero.

[10:52] Have a motion from Commissioner Carver, second from Commissioner French, sir any discussion?

[10:59] Not, Commissioner's please register votes.

[11:10] Chair, I'm there, 18 yes folks.

[11:12] Thank you.

[11:13] Resolution 252-004 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[11:18] Resolution number 252-005 budget increased general services.

[11:24] 36,762 dollars appropriate funds for painting the stairwells and the county courthouse.

[11:31] Referred to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the budget committee for zero.

[11:36] have a motion from Commissioner Wav,

[11:39] second from Commissioner Carver,

[11:41] sir any discussion?

[11:43] Not Commissioner's please register your votes.

[11:45] Hold on, got Commissioner Michaels.

[11:51] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[11:54] What is the same as it's like an awful lot of money for

[11:59] stairwells? And I know stairwells are high.

[12:03] Obviously four stories have.

[12:06] So, can we get some explanation on the bed that was put out for this, and maybe square footage, and what the bed includes, I'm sure, paint, material, but

[12:20] good explanation on that.

[12:22] Brian, would you like to answer that?

[12:36] Yeah.

[12:36] Mr. Chairman, I would just say that this process was put out, quotes were obtained.

[12:41] It did not meet the need for a bid threshold, but three quotes were provided.

[12:47] They are in your packet, but it is all in one solution.

[12:53] It start to finish prep paint, get everything done, and then be done with the paint and the

[12:59] stairwells.

[13:03] Is it just

[13:06] the open stairwells, I mean, the closed stairwells, or is it also the open

[13:13] luck out here in this hallway. You know, it's it's the close stairwells and there's about four of them around the courthouse. Okay.

[13:20] All right. Thank you.

[13:24] Anyone else?

[13:26] Not commissioner, please register votes.

[13:36] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[13:37] Thank you. Resolution 25, 2, 0, 0, 5 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[13:43] Resolution number 25, 2, 0, 0, 0, 6.

[13:46] budget increased general services, not 10,324 dollars, appropriate funds for modernizing building

[13:54] automation system that controls the HFAC units in county buildings, referred to full

[14:00] commission with the favorable recommendation by the Budget Committee for Zero.

[14:05] Now, stay on for a motion.

[14:08] Motion from Commissioner Carver,

[14:10] Thank you from Commissioner Aikert, sir any discussion?

[14:14] Not Commissioner's please register votes.

[14:24] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[14:26] Thank you. Resolution 25206 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[14:31] Resolution number 25207, budget increase county clerk.

[14:37] 62,000 in one dollars appropriate funds by use the fund balance for an additional counter

[14:42] clerk to support the increase of customer transactions.

[14:46] We referred to full commission with a favorable recommendation by the Budget Committee for zero.

[14:51] Have a motion from Commissioner French.

[14:54] Second from Commissioner Web.

[14:56] I got Commissioner Wales at first.

[14:59] Yes, thank you, Mr Chairman.

[15:00] On one, I want to ask a quick question of having listened to the presentation. I just want to get some clarification on the position from Ms. Haley on not just the why, but the fact that I think this is a new position and there's some mention of retiring person. That sort of thing in the previous conversation. There's one clarification and then number two.

[15:26] If there's a new position, this budget amount seems to be the amount for a four-year

[15:33] where we should probably should pro-rate that for just the five-month period that we are looking

[15:38] at between now and June to be appropriate. That is correct.

[15:45] We took the salary for the four-year,

[15:47] which will be at the new budget year, what that cost will be. So this current year would be

[15:54] provided Brian said six months. So it would be half of that amount. But it will increase our

[16:00] staff from 21 to 22.

[16:05] Yeah. So what should we consider modifying this resolution request to

[16:13] the correct amount would that be the right thing to do?

[16:18] Brian, would you like to give a closer

[16:21] dollar amount and then we can make the amendment to that? Happy to. Five months amount would cover

[16:28] that amount is 25,834 dollars. I'd like to make a motion that we modify their requests

[16:38] for appropriation to be pro-rated to that amount.

[16:45] I have a motion from Commissioner Wales,

[16:47] second from Commissioner Carver. Is there any discussion on this amendment?

[17:11] Not Commissioner

[17:17] As there are any other discussion.

[17:21] Now, commissioners, please register your votes.

[17:32] Mr. Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[17:34] Thank you.

[17:35] Resolution 252 0 0 7 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[17:41] Resolution number 252 0 0 0 0 8 budget increase county clerk $20,840.

[17:49] Appropriate funds from the other state revenue vehicles reserved to update and replace credit card machines.

[17:55] barcode scanners and signature pads allowing more payment options for customers

[18:01] referred to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the budget committee

[18:05] for zero.

[18:07] Have a motion from Commissioner Davis.

[18:09] Second from Commissioner Jiles.

[18:11] I'm sorry any discussion.

[18:13] Not Commissioner's please register votes.

[18:22] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[18:24] Thank you.

[18:25] Resolution 25208 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[18:29] Resolution number 25, 2, 009, budget increase county clerk, $4,830, appropriate funds from

[18:39] the Electronic Insurance Verification Revenue Reserve to create two new work stations

[18:44] and purchase the new Lawson's Flight Cabinets, referred to full commission with the favorable

[18:49] recommendation by the Budget Committee for Zero.

[18:51] have a motion from Commissioner Aekord, second from Commissioner Carver, sir. Any discussion?

[18:58] Not, Commissioner's please register your votes.

[19:07] Chairman, there are 18-US votes.

[19:10] Thank you. Resolution 25-2-0-9 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[19:14] Resolution number 25, 2, 0, 1, 0, budget, and increased juvenile court, $220,000.

[19:24] Reappropriate opioid abatement grant funds to continue services with Helen Ross McNab in support

[19:30] of journey court for at risk children.

[19:33] Referred to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the Budget Committee for

[19:37] have a motion from Commissioner Davis, second from Commissioner Reagan, sir and a discussion.

[19:45] Not, Commissioner's please register votes.

[19:55] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes. Thank you. Resolution 252, 010 will be moved forward

[20:01] to the full commission. Resolution number 252, 012, budget increased juvenile court,

[20:08] $100,000, except inappropriate funds from safe baby court,

[20:12] The early grant awarded to support coordinator position and the salary supplement to the

[20:18] juvenile court services director for oversight of the program.

[20:22] Referred to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the Budget Committee

[20:26] for Zebra.

[20:27] Have a motion from Commissioner Carver, second from Commissioner Davis, is there any discussion?

[20:34] Not, Commissioner's please register votes.

[20:47] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[20:50] Thank you.

[20:51] Resolution 252, 012 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[20:56] Resolution number 252, 013, budget increase highway.

[21:01] $1,500,000 appropriate funds for asphalt hot mix to allow the highway department to pay additional roads for the county.

[21:10] Refer to full commission with the favourable recommendation by the budget committee for zero.

[21:14] have a motion from Commissioner Davis, second from Commissioner Bowers, is there any discussion?

[21:21] Not, Commissioner's please register your votes.

[21:30] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[21:32] Thank you. Resolution 252, 013 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[21:39] Resolution 252, 014 budget appropriation, BCSO, 687,141 dollars.

[21:48] appropriate federal opioid funds for 25-27 fiscal year for eligible expenses in the Blunt County

[21:56] Sheriff's Office, referred to full commission with the favorable recommendation by the Budget

[22:01] Committee 40.

[22:03] Motion from Commissioner Aker, second from Commissioner Carver, sir any discussion?

[22:09] Not, Commissioner's please red-share votes.

[22:23] Mr. Blitz,

[22:27] so that's okay.

[22:31] Mr. Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[22:34] Thank you. Resolution 25, 2, 014 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[22:40] Resolution number 25, 2, 015, budget decrease, Blent County Sheriff's Office,

[22:47] $229,047. Decrease funds originally budgeted during fiscal year 25 with local revenue sources

[22:54] that are eligible for the use of federal opioid funds,

[22:58] referred full commission with the favorable recommendation by the budget committee for zero.

[23:04] I have a motion from Commissioner Aker,

[23:06] sake it from Commissioner Davis, and I've got Commissioner Aker at first time.

[23:11] Thank you, Mr Chairman.

[23:14] We don't see these very often.

[23:19] So I just wanted to try to figure out what happened.

[23:23] why, why we're seeing it now, uh, somebody can tell me what's going on. I'm sorry. I'm in the

[23:30] dark, but I, but I like, I like that word that, that decrease word there. It's, it's a good word.

[23:38] So, Ron, can you answer that question?

[23:43] For Meyer. You mind if I answer that. That's perfectly fine.

[23:46] And the reason I'm going to answer is because, uh, I think a lot of the credit goes obviously to our

[23:53] officials, but also a lot of the credit goes to Brian and what he's been able to do to work with

[23:57] our elected officials. When you start seeing these grants and some of this money come in,

[24:07] then he's been able to set down with elected officials and determine in their budget where they

[24:11] can reduce and they have absolutely done a great job of accepting that and putting that money

[24:19] back into the general fund and I didn't want him and I wasn't trying to steal his thunder

[24:24] but I wanted to make sure because he would not have taken credit for it but a lot of it has to

[24:29] do with the work of relationship he has with the elected officials what they're what they're

[24:35] willing to do and what they're doing but a lot of it has to do with moron and the relationship he has

[24:43] with the elected officials and the fact that they're able to work out and make that work.

[24:47] Good

[24:49] afternoon, if you question Commissioner.

[24:53] Not really.

[24:54] No. Okay. Well, I got that.

[24:56] I said what I wanted to.

[24:57] I'm going to turn it over to Brian with Adam.

[25:02] Thank you, Mayor.

[25:05] Commissioner.

[25:06] What I would tell you is that the amount of money you approved you move forward

[25:10] to next week on your last.

[25:12] Was a collaboration with the sheriff's office on items that are opioid.

[25:17] funding eligible from the federal opioid lawsuits, and so we were able to partner and find savings

[25:24] in their budget that will be able to offset. So this is basically this is three years of funding

[25:29] that will be able to this year take this money out of the general fund and use the funds to offset.

[25:37] But then we'll also program this into the next two years as well as that 687,000 will also roll over

[25:43] of the next two years for three years of funding.

[25:46] Also, feel free to bring that word to me anytime you want to.

[25:50] It's greatly appreciated.

[25:55] Anyone else?

[25:57] Mr. Patres, please register your votes.

[26:21] I was trying to figure out who did not vote.

[26:39] I'm still in 18. I'm sorry.

[26:41] I don't know.

[26:51] There we go.

[26:56] Oh.

[26:57] Can we send her back and hand?

[26:58] Give us to vote.

[27:05] Okay, so you vote yes on that?

[27:16] Okay, is your yes vote?

[27:20] Yes, 18.

[27:22] Mr. Chairman, thank you.

[27:24] Resolution 25 to 015 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[27:30] Resolution 25 to 016 budget increase animal center $14,000.

[27:36] appropriate smack if reserve fund balance to help cover expected operational cost

[27:44] referred to full commission with the favorable recommendation by the budget committee

[27:48] for zero motion from commissioner anchored second from commissioner carver sir any discussion

[27:55] not commissioner's please register votes

[28:05] chairman 18 years

[28:07] votes thank you resolution 25 to 016 will be moved forward the full commission

[28:13] Resolution 25, 2, 017, budget and crease elections, $110,000 appropriate funds for convenience voting centers due to the increased number of registered voters.

[28:27] Referred full commission with the favourable recommendation by the budget committee for zero.

[28:32] Have a motion from Commissioner Davis, second from Commissioner Carver, is there any discussion?

[28:41] Thank

[28:45] you, Mr. Chairman.

[28:48] We've been down this road about every year for the past,

[28:52] I don't know, four years.

[28:56] And here we are again.

[29:00] Does anybody else not feel like we're putting the cart before the horse?

[29:07] It's finding convenience, voting centers, we don't have convenience voting centers.

[29:19] So we probably need to have a discussion on, is that what we're going to do, I'm sure

[29:26] that everybody up here as well as myself has been contacted by our election commission

[29:35] or um

[29:41] so we're going to have this discussion or we're just going to pass it to next week and

[29:48] everybody kind of figured out going down then. I do not necessarily um am I correct on what I'm

[30:13] Thank you very much. Thanks for your question, too. Yeah, we've been down the path before. And it's time to

[30:25] on the path with the elections, do we continue to go to the path of voting centers, do we continue

[30:30] the path we're on? As far as we need to, this has got to be done at the state level, state legislation,

[30:40] and it has to be a plan, has to be approved by the state election commission. It's the timing

[30:46] of this is quick. I understand that, but we need an answer to move forward. I need to path to move

[30:53] forward. We need to pass the move forward. And the answer, yes, it's worth the discussion,

[30:58] and it's worth the debate. And let's pick the path and let's roll.

[31:06] Okay. Thank you for that. But I'm still concerned why the commission

[31:12] doesn't have anything to say about it or doesn't want to have any discussion about it because

[31:17] in times past and this is nothing, I'm not taking this out on you or, you know, but it keeps

[31:24] getting brought to our attention and thrown on our plate and talking to you, my old to be

[31:31] fair,

[31:33] from what I understood from you, the reason you're bringing it now and it's kind of

[31:38] a, you know, something that needs to be addressed fairly quickly is because it has to be

[31:45] It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it can't wait until the next year. We try it again. The other factors that are involved are voting machines, voting machines that you deal with if your pole pads that are being, they're obsolete.

[32:00] We've kind of discovered that that's a good thing. We didn't find that out come August going into next year.

[32:07] Right. We've got to deal with those faux pants. We've got populations and we've got to deal with

[32:14] maybe added precincts. So it's it's again, it's it's a short term, short term cost savings,

[32:21] long term significant cost savings, but again, hey, I'm all for you. That's I've seen it in turn.

[32:29] I've been an officer and I've been an officer in a precinct. I've worked within the election office

[32:34] and now I've supervised an election over the course of an election cycle.

[32:40] In my mind, maybe not everybody's, it's time.

[32:43] We need to, we need to go that direction if we can.

[32:45] But that again, the debate and the discussion is worth having now,

[32:50] to again, to find our path for where we go.

[32:53] And we got it.

[32:54] When we're, I got it.

[32:55] Neither way, we're, that's so, this $110,000,

[33:00] that would do with that by the equipment.

[33:04] to go that direction. That's the voting center direction. Right. If we go the voting centers,

[33:10] that's what we come up with as a realistic figure. You know, it's not. That's a realistic

[33:17] figure moving forward to the voting centers. Yeah. So, so what would the figure look like if we

[33:21] stayed the course of where we're at? That's been working for a long time. We say the workforce of

[33:27] where we're at. And it's within your pack of things and stuff we presented. You're looking at

[33:30] I would say a worst case scenario over $300,000 and again, it's within your path that there's numbers of being laid out within them.

[33:39] But it just seems like we just appropriated funds in the last couple years that and we were told that no, we won't have to buy this.

[33:49] This will get us up to power up to speed where we need to be.

[33:54] And then now we're being told that well, no, you know,

[33:59] I personally will do some more digging on this and look into what we've passed in the last

[34:08] couple years.

[34:09] Please do.

[34:10] It's doing good with me.

[34:11] Yeah.

[34:11] Let me do that.

[34:13] But I want to point out just in a quick research Republicans in Arizona, just on January 22nd

[34:23] of 2025, the news says, and I quote, more convenient to have, okay, so they have voting

[34:32] centers as of 2019.

[34:35] They've been trying to get voting centers since 2011.

[34:40] They've been pushed on them.

[34:44] In 2019, the legislature passed the law to have voting centers.

[34:50] And they're already trying to get rid of them because of, now let me go back to what I was quoting,

[34:58] more convenience to not having voting centers, they were less convenient.

[35:06] And going back to polling precincts will restore confidence in the system.

[35:11] quote, Googling,

[35:18] and then one led to slight, led to slighter says voting centers, disenfranchised voters in his district.

[35:29] Some of the problems they see with these voting centers is, quote, long lines, and fewer printer errors if they got rid of.

[35:42] So, I'm, and then I also look, you know, what states have these Washington state?

[35:52] Illinois's California.

[35:55] And, and they've been pushed into Tennessee since 2008.

[36:02] It was a pilot project for some municipalities, I'm going to assume Davidson Hamilton meant

[36:15] and in another pilot program in 2011 and then it expanded to some counties in 2017 and I think that's about the time they started kind of pushed them on us.

[36:30] This county is being pushed towards

[36:36] what's happening in Nashville.

[36:38] We are being pushed in every facet to be just like what's happened in Nashville.

[36:45] We can sit back and we can let it and we can accept the reasoning and we can accept all that,

[36:53] but our county's changing and we're just going to keep allowing it to change because somebody

[37:00] says that's what's best, but Arizona and I know we're not like Arizona, but that more conservative

[37:12] legislative body in Arizona is trying to change back what they didn't

[37:17] 2019. So I just think it's it's worth maybe us looking into this and I

[37:24] know the majority of us have not wanted this. Every time it's come up it's been

[37:32] pushed back. So will we push back again or are we going to

[37:41] appropriation for the money to move forward has been put on our plate before we've even talked

[37:47] about it again. And again, this is not anything towards you. I just, we're supposed to be a voice

[37:56] for the people if we continue to get rid of community, we're not going to have it anymore.

[38:04] Thank you.

[38:06] Thank you Mr. Chairman,

[38:11] we did not carry enough of a majority for this to be forwarded to state legislature the last time it was heard by this commission and I think a lot of the reason that we didn't is because

[38:28] Several of us were hearing from members of our community wanting to maintain the individual

[38:36] precincts and the sense of community that those have because we know all the people

[38:43] that when we go there and they know us and it's kind of, it's really getting close to the

[38:58] telling us that we, that they didn't want to. So I'm in agreement that pursuing the funds

[39:05] for it, before it gets, before it gets a nod from this commission is probably not their

[39:12] outweigh to do it, because it's sending their own message to ourselves.

[39:18] I was one of the

[39:20] no votes last time and will be another no vote again this time, because I know that it's special

[39:26] when I go to my voting precinct and see the people that know me by name and I mean it's just

[39:34] just family. It's my town here. It's what we're all about and I like that idea of keeping it that way.

[39:42] So that's what I'm all about and that's why I'll be saying no but it's not that you didn't do a good job.

[39:48] Thanks, sir. I'd like to address, I'd like to answer a couple of those questions or address a couple of those things.

[39:53] Number one, when you're talking about Arizona and Washington, Illinois, my suggestion would

[39:59] be talk to Tennessee, talk to Rutherford County, talk to Williamson County, talk to Wilson

[40:05] County, talk to rural, talk to weekly county, talk to Henry County, those are the counties

[40:11] in Tennessee that have done this.

[40:13] Now, the reason there haven't been a whole lot of Tennessee counties to do it is because of the

[40:17] infrastructure in place, the security in place with the IT now, I'm not about to, I didn't

[40:23] it all in express last night, so I got to defer to Justin, but we're in better shape than even

[40:28] the ones who have it, we're convinced that we're in better shape. To Mr. Aikert, thank you. One

[40:35] of the things I would say to that is, you know, the sense of the community, we had the move,

[40:41] oh, view, pre-sync. We had the move at that old community center for the last election cycle.

[40:46] We moved in the heritage high school. Now, the commissioners from that district could express

[40:52] If they heard anything negative, I heard nothing but thank yous.

[40:57] And that's, again, that's just me and what I get.

[41:00] But I didn't hear any negatives.

[41:02] What have you done?

[41:02] Why have you done this?

[41:04] And so there to address those two points.

[41:08] Next I've got Commissioner Jiles.

[41:11] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[41:14] And again, my understanding is we are not voting

[41:16] and whether or not we're going to voting centers this evening.

[41:19] You've got a budget, you've got a budget increase,

[41:22] request for $110,000. I think I heard, you say, if we stay the way we are, without going to voting centers,

[41:33] what would that dollar amount? Instead of $110,000, the election commission, do you have an estimate

[41:38] is to what we are not? You're looking at potentially over 327 is the figure, and that's with additional

[41:45] pre-sinks with the machine, the whole pads that we have to replace things like that,

[41:50] is that what you're doing?

[41:51] And I don't need all the detail.

[41:53] Yeah, why so much more?

[41:56] The increase, the, we, needing additional voting machines, number one, which are the,

[42:01] the actual machines that you cast your votes on the scanners and the printers and those

[42:05] things, because we have additional polling sites we'd have to do.

[42:08] Whole pads which have to be replaced, but you need additional ones if you need additional

[42:12] pre-sinks, the additional poll workers that would be needed, so that's roughly 10, I think

[42:18] that, if I remember, sir, that's about per election that comes up to about $25,000,

[42:23] pretty close.

[42:24] Over $24,000, needing extra savings per election.

[42:29] Yeah, cost avoidance per election going forward with voting center.

[42:34] So, again, there are more factors that are kind of coming together at this moment.

[42:39] Yeah, we've seen it before, but those factors seem to be coming together in a time frame that, you know, what now's now's the time.

[42:48] Yeah, been here before, but now's the time to see what you think again.

[42:52] I don't like to assume things, but I'm assuming that you say we would have to have an increase in the number of pre-sings because of population growth population growth is part of it.

[43:08] the number of registered voters from 2016 to this past election.

[43:14] Right now, currently we're sitting at 100,000.

[43:17] And in November of 2016, again, a lot of numbers,

[43:22] if memory service would be correctly, we were at 79,000,

[43:26] in November of November 16 to 24.

[43:28] If you go back to March of 2016,

[43:31] I believe that was even, I think that was 69,000.

[43:34] Now, again, what are we going to see in the future?

[43:37] I don't know. I can't predict the future, but we're certainly on a path to, we're on a path to steadily grow.

[43:45] Plus then we hit those November election cycles and it jumps again because of, right?

[43:50] And you know, this no, in 26 we're coming up on, I would say the Tennessee gubernatorial election will probably

[43:56] pause us to jump pretty well.

[43:58] You know, so again, just our, just my.

[44:02] Right.

[44:02] I'd like to reserve the right to come talk between now and next Thursday if we can.

[44:07] I would love for anybody to walk in good collar at me and come on down and sit down and go through it.

[44:13] Because yeah, it's a bit of a, it's a, there's more involved than meets the eye.

[44:22] You know, it's a little more complicated and I'm happy to go into the details.

[44:28] But, yeah, I appreciate the time and I appreciate being here and hopefully we can see what we can do.

[44:37] At least give me some guidance.

[44:38] Mr. Wales.

[44:40] Yeah, just a very fast question.

[44:42] Are we going to be able to see a voting center in each district?

[44:47] You'll have a voting center in each district.

[44:49] What we would do and one thing again, we're set within the county.

[44:54] We're set for voting centers in multiple places.

[44:58] Since we've got a long way to go in, pin.

[45:00] Those down yet. However, you're looking at potentially 15, there could be more, but potentially 15, there'd

[45:07] be one in each county commission district than others that were strategically placed, depending on

[45:11] population or, you know, the paths of travel, things like that. So, but again, the nice thing, we've got,

[45:20] you know, we've got it in place and we can put those things in strategic locations.

[45:26] I'm going to ask you a very, I don't think everybody here knows the answer to what I'm

[45:31] getting right to ask, but the voting centers, obviously the attraction is that on election

[45:37] day you can vote at any of these voting centers you're not relegating to.

[45:40] Early voting, early voting on election day.

[45:44] You'll see a bunch of numbers toward the back of the information I gave you that are

[45:47] into that are kind of internally what we experience.

[45:50] And it doesn't mean a whole lot, but I finally was able to take those numbers and put

[45:54] to get phone calls that we receive. How many people left a polling place? How many people,

[46:00] you know, the different things that we're finally able to grasp in November? They're significant.

[46:06] And what we don't know is how many people got frustrated and left one polling place and never showed

[46:11] up at the next. And again, it's November numbers. Those are big numbers. And we're dealing with a

[46:16] smaller scale in May of 2006, which is first time this would take effect. But okay, in your position,

[46:25] How many people walk in a way from the voting, from the polling place, and what I'm not going,

[46:31] could that affect you or could that affect anybody?

[46:34] Because all the proportions are smaller, or can you understand what I'm saying?

[46:38] You may think of another couple of questions I apologize.

[46:43] The fact that, well, generalize for us, the percentage of voters, like in this past election,

[46:50] that voted on early voting versus voted a election, wants the percentage different.

[46:54] Yeah, thanks. Great. That's a really good question on a typical election. There's one exception to this and I'll explain it on a typical election and we had 70%

[47:03] No to turn out in roughly 70% in November 70% of those voted early and you'll see that through almost every election cycle 70% early and roughly 30% on election day really it's like 27% on election day because 3% vote absentee

[47:24] The exception to that is a March presidential primary.

[47:28] Those numbers will more equate because people are waiting to see if somebody drops out or whatever.

[47:33] But a typical election, you're going to see 70, 30 early voting to election day.

[47:38] That's what the voting center is.

[47:39] It's an early voting location.

[47:42] How many early voting locations do we have currently?

[47:45] Wow.

[47:46] We did four in August.

[47:48] We went to end five in November.

[47:50] to only five locations and said,

[47:53] that's a good point to five locations.

[47:56] That's a roughly two week period.

[47:58] OK, let's don't, yeah, unless this is a statistic,

[48:00] you may or may not have, but do you know

[48:02] how many of that 70% voted out of district?

[48:06] How many of the 70% voted out of it?

[48:08] Well, good question.

[48:11] No, not necessarily all of them.

[48:14] Oh, no, I couldn't.

[48:15] It was all of them.

[48:15] No, I'd have to think about that.

[48:17] And I don't know.

[48:19] Obviously, come up.

[48:19] But I love him, dude, because they're, they may have voted in their district that happened to be at a location.

[48:26] Yeah, but the beauty of that is this, the library line, and logistically, the library calls us long lines, but everybody knows the library.

[48:33] Ever, it's the same way, everybody knows every.

[48:35] A lot of people go to Ever because they've always gone there.

[48:38] We haven't, I can't tell you how, there are many, many people who, because the Operation Center was such a logistically,

[48:45] It worked out to be such a logistically better place to go, and Pelle Cippy, the logistic,

[48:51] we had some going from one place to go.

[48:53] We have people call us, hey, wins the best time to go.

[48:54] Things like that.

[48:55] So it's a map they could see the line one place in hop to another place.

[48:59] Same thing.

[49:00] I do know that all of my district voters voted out of district.

[49:04] Because there isn't an early voting location in my district.

[49:08] So I know that was the case for them.

[49:10] So thank you for answering my questions.

[49:12] Other questions I didn't think of ahead of them.

[49:16] Commissioner Bowers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, just a statement. I appreciate the job that you're doing, Mr.

[49:22] Click. I've never really been for vote centers.

[49:28] I just feel like we just keep taking community out of our communities.

[49:31] I grew up in OPE about an OPE. I did hear a lot of people say I miss voting. It would like to say I do appreciate the early vote in places.

[49:41] the one at Providence. A lot of people might be able to use that and I would really like to see

[49:47] this move more in that direction to the early voting, but I won't be supporting this because

[49:53] I just don't like moving toward the vote of Sanders.

[49:58] Mr. Anderson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just

[50:01] wanted to clarify some things, just everyone's aware and MoCred me if I've misstated something.

[50:07] So the resolution that we've gotten front of us does both the appropriation and it does the approval of the voting centers.

[50:17] So if we vote, yes, we're voting in favor of the appropriation and in support of the idea.

[50:23] And assuming that this would pass, if it passes, by a two thirds vote next week, then this is going to go to our state legislative tours who are then going to have to pass.

[50:35] A bill in Nashville to make this happen in blunt counties. That path is open should it be should we make it event that path is open

[50:46] But the resolution's both a statement and support and an appropriation. That's yes. Okay. Yeah. Thank you

[50:54] Commissioner Michaels for the second time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I also I mean, I need you all to understand

[51:04] And

[51:07] what Commissioner Anderson just kind of laid out there in front of you.

[51:15] Within this budget increase inside of it, you're approving voting centers, not just

[51:25] a budget increase.

[51:28] So with it, having some opposition and never passing this commission before, I just

[51:35] find it very convenient that we have to do this right now. And I find it very

[51:45] methodical that it's come in the form that it's come. And I need you to think about that.

[51:58] And ask yourself why it came like this. This is not just by chance. Oh, yeah,

[52:07] we need to do this. That's not what happened right here.

[52:11] we didn't even have the discussion to get to this point. It's all balled up in a budgeting

[52:17] increase, which we mostly pass every time. So just think about it and I encourage you and I'm not

[52:25] saying that Mo has anything up is sleeve, but we dealt with this just about every year, if not ever

[52:35] the year since I've been on this commission. And while it seems like it may be better,

[52:47] what we're doing is we're asking for a change with this resolution that's going to change

[52:54] the way people vote in this county. You're not going to be able to go on election day and

[53:00] and it's your precinct and see your constituents and talk to them

[53:09] or encourage others that may vote for somebody else or have that opportunity to speak to them.

[53:19] That this right here in my opinion is a push to be able to not be connected to your constituency and your community.

[53:34] One other thing, Mo is how many, and you may have already answered this, I apologize if you have.

[53:46] How many voting centers, I think you said 15?

[53:50] Possibly, give or take.

[53:51] Again, possibly.

[53:52] That's what we would be looking at as an essential 15.

[53:56] And then how many precincts do we have?

[53:59] You've got 27 moving toward 31, quickly, 27 moving to 30.

[54:05] But what's happening in 24 moving toward 31?

[54:09] What causes the increase and is that what we're having to spend money on?

[54:14] One of the registered voters is the answer to that question.

[54:17] Once you get, you can only have 6,000 people in a precinct.

[54:20] Right.

[54:20] There's never sure in front of you too.

[54:22] You can dig into that.

[54:22] Look at that too.

[54:23] So now once you, once you pass that thing,

[54:26] So I'm going to significantly pass 5,000 voters now, we're pushed into, okay, I can't go past 6,000,

[54:33] we're going to start adding and that's where we are. So is that where, because I'm going to

[54:40] dig up where we appropriated the funds for the new voting equipment, we weren't going to have to

[54:47] add anything or buy more and this was going to get us through for a while, but you're saying the

[54:53] increase if we stayed with precinct voting and I'm just catching this with

[55:00] our conversation is going to be because the increase of registered voters and

[55:06] the precincts growing to where we have to add precincts correct which

[55:11] would necessitate new equipment right in those kind of things. I can't speak to

[55:17] the past I can't speak to a lot of the past stuff that you mean so at the same time

[55:22] Right, at the same time, ultimately, I would say anybody has any doubts, call me, come

[55:28] see me, come sit down with me and I get it, I get it, but come see me and I'll be happy

[55:34] to it.

[55:35] Would be happy to dig into it farther and see whether which way you think is the best.

[55:40] So let me clarify the 300,000 that it would cost us to stay with precincts is just for the

[55:49] addition of equipment additional whole workers yeah this equipment additional

[55:55] whole workers just additional those additional needs for the for the

[55:59] precincts okay I go ahead and move forward you're talking about the the

[56:03] poll worker piece of that continues on each election so yeah yeah so okay

[56:11] that helps me thank you Mr. Branch thank you

[56:17] Chairman,

[56:22] I guess first common I've got is if we push this forward, we're not voting for

[56:28] anything, we're just moving it forward to where we can act on it next week, which gives

[56:33] this time to come in and talk with you.

[56:38] I have the next question I have is, if we don't pass this next week or pass it not pass

[56:49] moving into the future. And I'm looking at three, four, five, six, eight years down the

[56:56] road.

[56:59] What kind of, what kind of cost factor are we looking at later on down the road with,

[57:06] with the population increase we're getting every year. What kind of increase are we looking

[57:13] That's a good question.

[57:18] I don't know.

[57:19] You would be looking at what would be looking at.

[57:23] I don't know.

[57:23] Because the things would have to say the same,

[57:26] you know, what we don't know what happens with.

[57:29] And again, let me, let me back up.

[57:31] So the answer is I don't know.

[57:32] But again, one of the things we look for is what was going to happen

[57:35] in my mind is we're approaching November.

[57:37] Okay, in 2016, we heard one side go crazed and for, for exact, forgive me, the crazy part, but go, you know, have really health concerns.

[57:49] In 2020, after the November election, one side had significant concerns.

[57:54] So, as I'm moving forward into November 2024, my first thought is, what's going to come down the pipe that's going to happen here?

[58:01] Well, we got through this pretty, pretty unscathed.

[58:05] We don't have any, you know, we don't have any real objections to what happened already,

[58:09] but you know, so again, a lot of that would be with, with the current climate and with

[58:15] things that are, the way things are happening, yeah, you'd progressively be adding here and

[58:18] adding here and adding here as we move forward. If something changes, in other words, what kind

[58:23] of change could happen? There's, you know, there's a push, there's a push for, we've got to go back

[58:28] to, we've got to go back to all paper ballots and we've got to hand count things and we

[58:33] Okay, that changes the whole game, and that's I don't even want to think about something like that in not from my perspective, but again, that's an extreme example, but what's going to change over the years of things as we progress.

[58:44] I don't know, but we're looking at this again, we're looking at a steady we're looking at a steady increase, a steady clock in my opinion.

[58:51] So, so if we move to precinct, are we are eliminating some voting machine if we're going to have the same number voting machine.

[59:03] If you go to the voting center model, keep the machines you've got.

[59:07] If we go to voting centers.

[59:09] If you go to the voting center model, you keep the machines you got.

[59:12] You could add additional machines at each voting center location to continue.

[59:18] Again, a lot of things I will, our lines are going to get long.

[59:20] I would say no to that.

[59:23] Also, just because of the, a lot of the, a line problems are caused by people who are in the

[59:28] wrong spot and either have to stop and feel like it causes everybody to stop,

[59:33] fill out new registration papers or get to set to a new precinct. So a lot of that stuff is caused by the fact that you got it, you're in the wrong place.

[59:41] You got to go somewhere else. New machines are going to, the logistically, this is not going to cause.

[59:46] Along lines along, like you got a big turnout, along lines along, but this is not going to cause longer lines in our estimation.

[59:53] Yes.

[59:54] Last question.

[59:56] If we move, I think 31, please thank you now.

[1:00:00] 27 now, 27 now, 31. And we need to move the 31 to handle the increase in population. We're heading that direction. Or if we move the precinct, we're moving the, I mean, voting standard, we're going to move the 15, maybe, maybe one or two more, we could, yeah, we present with that or plenty of that. Well, that decreases the working, the poll working population.

[1:00:29] Yeah, you're talking, you have about average of 10 poll workers at a precinct.

[1:00:34] If you go to voting centers, let's say that goes to 12 probably, something like that.

[1:00:38] So those numbers, we had, we had, we're going to move from, you're going to 300 in to roughly

[1:00:48] 120 in, maybe 180, but, yeah, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good,

[1:00:54] we'll increase the poll worker.

[1:00:56] Well, the increase of folks that is correct, but Mr. Davis, thank you, will this eliminate the early voting all the way?

[1:01:07] No, no, no, no early voting stays. It just turns election day into what is early voting. But think of it that way. That's ultimately that's what you're talking about is election day now turns an early voting where you just go to your most convenient spot, cast your vote and go.

[1:01:23] So if we got 70% that's early voting, that leaves our 30% that is assigned to go to the voting poll.

[1:01:30] Right now.

[1:01:31] So that's just leaving 30% to vote.

[1:01:34] And you're telling me that the reason we need to move toward this is because it's causing the

[1:01:41] lines to be longer, but we've only got 30% of the people voting in there.

[1:01:48] Well, that's not the reason to move to the end.

[1:01:51] The more it's not as much as the the convenience issue is if if you go to the we people don't

[1:02:00] people don't update voter registration is in the numbers we in the past we've all it

[1:02:05] hey we move we update voter registration okay we that kind of doesn't happen anymore folks are just

[1:02:11] we just don't see that so we have significant numbers again those numbers are within the information

[1:02:15] very if you can kind of follow them doing. So the significant number of people that go to the wrong

[1:02:25] precinct and they end up on election day, like, sorry, you can't vote here. You'll have to go,

[1:02:30] sorry, you can't come into a friendsport. You're going to have to go to a near. And so what do we

[1:02:35] lose in that? Now, in fact, I estimate, I think it was one of the estimations I looked at. I think the number

[1:02:40] of people, and I know there were more than this, but the number that I could count the people who

[1:02:45] sent to other precincts on election day in November, equated to the number of people that voted at Lewis.

[1:02:52] And that's a significant number when you think about it. So that's, that's kind of weird.

[1:02:59] What are some of the counties you mentioned that have moved to this and they've been successful.

[1:03:04] And do you know the first thing that the people that's increased their voters?

[1:03:09] Yeah, let me get to the counties that may not only forget that.

[1:03:12] One thing that's a little bit, I don't want to lead people,

[1:03:15] I don't want to lead you to believe that if you do this voter turnout's going to increase.

[1:03:20] It's more matter, yeah, it's going to be more convenient. So you might see an increase.

[1:03:24] But for me to say, oh, it's going to increase things by 10, 15%. That's not holding.

[1:03:30] That's not necessarily holding true. So I don't want to lead you down that road.

[1:03:34] The county's in Tennessee that do this. And again, this is more driven by

[1:03:37] That he infrastructure and security than it is, they build it.

[1:03:41] None of your large count, the large count at Knox, Davidson, Hamilton, Shelby, they do not

[1:03:46] do this.

[1:03:48] And they would be hard pressed to do anything like this at this current currently.

[1:03:53] Rutherford, which is Murphy's Burrow, Williamson, which is Franklin and Brentwood, Wilson,

[1:04:00] which is Lebanon and Mount Juliet, weekly, which is Martin in northwest Tennessee, that Martin

[1:04:06] in there. And Monroe doesn't hear locally. Monroe's your closest one that does that and the one

[1:04:14] Henry was the one who just got that and did it in the 20 just this election cycle 2024. Henry

[1:04:20] is Paris laying between the lakes that it better. Thank you very much. Mr. Aker for the second time.

[1:04:29] Thank you Mr. Chairman. I like the way early voting works. We're anybody can go anywhere they

[1:04:36] to go, but I just can't get past the

[1:04:41] the sense of community that is in the individual voting

[1:04:47] precincts. I think it was a big mistake when we

[1:04:51] can nominate all of our hospitals together and got rid of

[1:04:54] our community that way, and I think it's a big

[1:04:57] mistake to get rid of our sense of community this way.

[1:05:02] We do have a bunch of workers that work those polls

[1:05:05] And it's the same workers that have been working those polls pretty much my entire voting career.

[1:05:15] And I think it's a big deal to those people.

[1:05:18] And they get some benefit from that employment and sense of community a lot of pride in it.

[1:05:29] I don't want to take it away from, I really don't, and I've heard from a bunch of people, I mean it's not, it didn't get any press this time because of the way it's been presented to us.

[1:05:41] They got a lot of press last time because of the way it was presented to us, and we heard from people.

[1:05:46] We would have heard from people before tonight, if they had realized what was on the agenda.

[1:05:51] And I think that's what another commissioner was, was alluding to when he was

[1:05:58] explaining that it's kind of come in here a little bit, a little bit sideways.

[1:06:03] And again, I,

[1:06:08] first of all, I don't think that the number 300,000 is going to be what

[1:06:13] happens in the May 2026 elections.

[1:06:16] I think the 26 elections are going to be a whole lot lower numbers than what we just had and therefore probably not going to be as high as what we just had.

[1:06:27] But everybody's going to be getting paid more and we do have to have data equipment.

[1:06:33] I believe we just replaced basically all of our equipment by state law that required us to have the ability to do it all in paper as well.

[1:06:45] electronic, at least I noticed a new voting machine when I was in there in the polls this time.

[1:06:55] I was at early voting, and then I was at the precinct when my wife went to vote.

[1:07:03] And new stuff, both places.

[1:07:07] And surely, again, as we, if we're going to have a lot lower voter turnout, we're not going to have a

[1:07:14] have a whole lot more machines.

[1:07:18] Again, I'm just dead set against doing away with the sense of community that we have.

[1:07:25] I like to be able to go out and see the people that are in my community and know that that's where they're going to be.

[1:07:32] and them know that they can reach out to me any time.

[1:07:37] I feel like that's really important.

[1:07:41] And we all know that the high school robberies that went away

[1:07:45] when we went to Mike County High School was just sad.

[1:07:52] The community aspects of things was very disappointing.

[1:07:56] and I don't want to do that to us to the community that works so hard on election days to

[1:08:07] to make that special. So again, thank you for the time.

[1:08:12] And he measures ready for the question. Mr. Michael,

[1:08:16] you've already spoken to us on this agenda.

[1:08:17] I don't

[1:08:27] want your amendment, I got you.

[1:08:32] Thank you.

[1:08:34] I would like to separate out this budget increase.

[1:08:42] I think there also needs to be a separate amendment that would kind of probably, as a pre-rec was it to this budget increase.

[1:08:53] I would like to make an amendment resolution 25, 0, 2, 0, 1, 7, A possibly name at that and to

[1:09:04] where we actually have to approve

[1:09:11] Black County going from voting precincts to voting

[1:09:17] centers prior to this, this item being considered on next week's agenda.

[1:09:25] have a motion. Do I have a second?

[1:09:34] All right, we don't have a

[1:09:35] second. So we're still on the main motion.

[1:09:38] Commissioner's ready for the question.

[1:09:42] So please register your votes.

[1:09:56] Commissioner Webb, do you wish to vote?

[1:10:12] Chairman, you have 10

[1:10:13] yes votes. Seven no votes and one abstention.

[1:10:17] That motion fails. Moving on to other budget items. Thank you.

[1:10:28] County Sheriff's Office grant application $200,000 to apply for fiscal year 25 Bureau of Justice

[1:10:36] Assistant Grant to purchase a virtual training simulator that provides different scenarios during

[1:10:43] training. No matching funds are required. Referred to full commission was the favorable recommendation

[1:10:49] by the Budget Committee for Z-Grow. I have a motion from Commissioner Davis,

[1:10:53] Second, from Commissioner Eichard or any discussion?

[1:10:58] Not, Commissioner's please register your votes.

[1:11:18] Commissioner, okay.

[1:11:21] Chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[1:11:24] Thank you.

[1:11:24] That grant application will be moved forward to the full commission.

[1:11:29] Agriculture Extension Committee to your term appointments.

[1:11:33] The Farm Women Representative Lisa McHenry and Farm Man Representative Steve Mars.

[1:11:39] Councillor忠 mill.

[1:11:40] Councillor Comister, Carver.

[1:11:42] Second, Commissioner Davis.

[1:11:44] Is there any discussion?

[1:11:46] No, Commissioner.

[1:11:47] Please register votes.

[1:11:56] Sure.

[1:11:56] I chairman, there are 18 yes votes.

[1:11:59] Thank you, those appointments have been moved forward to the fall commission.

[1:12:03] Resolution number 2520108.

[1:12:06] A Resolution by the Blank County Board of Commissioners.

[1:12:10] Supporting the efforts of the Blank County Highway Department to repair and maintain

[1:12:14] the Swinging Bridge in Townsend, Tennessee, known as the Dark Island Bridge.

[1:12:20] Have a motion from Commissioner Aikert,

[1:12:22] sake it from Commissioner Bowers, and I've got Commissioner Jiles at first.

[1:12:28] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:12:29] I realize we're just discussing to move this on the next week,

[1:12:33] but I've got just a couple of questions that I've not been able to get the answer on,

[1:12:38] just because of my lack of time to research its,

[1:12:41] is who owns this bridge?

[1:12:44] So anyone here that like to answer that question?

[1:12:48] Jeff?

[1:12:58] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:13:00] Commissioner, there's discussion about that.

[1:13:03] That goes way back in some grants that involve dark bowling and sunshine.

[1:13:12] So we know that dark bowling, one side, is an individual with city of Townsend, a property hunter.

[1:13:22] cross the bridge while you're in the state. The other side, the county side has been sold and

[1:13:30] Mr. A and my department, we've been researching and found two individuals who will be having

[1:13:36] discussions with next week. Let's see the outcome. Mayor Prater have also been speaking in person

[1:13:44] and on the phone to determine some things.

[1:13:50] But a lot of research is going in to your questions, sir.

[1:13:53] I don't know that that helps.

[1:13:55] But we're trying to get to the bottom.

[1:13:56] No, I appreciate your candor.

[1:13:57] So will we have those answers before we vote on this resolution

[1:14:01] for next week, Mr. Chairman, as far as you know,

[1:14:04] or Mr. Hedrick, sir, we'll child very hard

[1:14:09] by next Thursday night.

[1:14:12] I know Mayor Perrier is working on his side and we're working on our side and, you know,

[1:14:19] quite frankly, nobody like to see this happen any more of the mayor, anybody in this

[1:14:24] courthouse. But before we go spend money, we've got to make sure its tires are suspended on.

[1:14:33] And if both sides, we can agree, let's keep this in place and establish an MOU.

[1:14:41] And understanding going forward, so we're not, we're at the end of ownership, yes, so financially, structurally sound, we need to get some answers and stop this and figure out who was.

[1:15:20] We have driven by, we've looked at it, but we're going to have to get more data from an engineer's standpoint of, you know, are the more

[1:15:31] or they compromised are they not, but first and foremost, who owns it, and if we got permission from both sides to again crossing the county side, it's behind the gate.

[1:15:47] Right, that some individuals have purchased.

[1:15:52] I think one family on the City of Townsend side that Mayor

[1:15:56] Predator's working with.

[1:15:58] So there's a lot of moving parts.

[1:16:00] You know, can we make it happen?

[1:16:02] I hope we can.

[1:16:03] Because it's the destination for a lot of people.

[1:16:06] Yes.

[1:16:07] Yeah, the town locally versus kids.

[1:16:11] You know, when you keep it open, if we can.

[1:16:14] I've got to figure out who's responsible.

[1:16:18] I concur, but I applaud your efforts to figure out who owns it and be really tough to put

[1:16:24] public dollars into a private, and especially if we can't get access to it, depending on

[1:16:29] the whims of the owners of the public, the transparency, the last flood, I don't remember.

[1:16:37] We did repair them. Maybe six, seven years ago. Sunshine and Dark Island. At that point, along

[1:16:50] with helping with the Kevin Bridge, there was some sort of agreement there that, you know,

[1:16:58] It turns into the cover bridge, and the swing and bridge at Dark Island was part of that to keep up and maintain.

[1:17:09] At that point time we fixed it.

[1:17:12] Used a lot of tracks.

[1:17:13] We used a lot of stainless steel.

[1:17:16] Got the blocks cut off.

[1:17:19] If you will from an engineering standpoint is a lot of way.

[1:17:22] And so on the morning to compromise, I can't, I can't tell you yes or no, yes.

[1:17:29] We will look at them entirely with my engineer, but we also have an engineer, it's very

[1:17:37] gracious to this county, Mr. Chris Sorrow, a C2RL, who's offered to ride with me to look.

[1:17:46] So, you know, we got a lot of things we got to answer and hopefully we can get both sides of the area.

[1:17:55] We can figure out what other costs to face.

[1:17:58] You know, can I face it entirely?

[1:18:00] Maybe.

[1:18:01] I have to come back to this body and ask for some money.

[1:18:04] Maybe not.

[1:18:05] I hope not.

[1:18:06] You know, we can face it entirely.

[1:18:09] But in established M.O.E.

[1:18:12] And possibly easements of the city of towns of the side.

[1:18:16] And the county side, right, that will stay in place moving forward even when it changes science.

[1:18:23] We got you. Okay. One final question, and it probably isn't a fair question. Do we have any idea what those, the amount of those dollars might look like to renovate and then to maintain it?

[1:18:36] I suspect not, but I know it's going on until the point cannot try to get you all

[1:18:43] parked possibly, but next Thursday night with some other questions, it's very possible.

[1:18:49] It's rain will get on out here, give us opportunity to get down in there, get the water,

[1:18:55] get back under, probably do some drone footage flying underneath, and try to determine what

[1:19:01] we stay in.

[1:19:02] Thank you, Mr. Hedger.

[1:19:03] Yes, sir.

[1:19:07] Thank you Mr. Chairman, so I'm very passionate about anything in Townsend, but especially

[1:19:15] this bridge, it's one of, you know, it's a historic landmark, it's been there forever.

[1:19:20] So I'm very passionate about getting it fixed and getting it back open.

[1:19:26] So when we saw that it was closed and as the sponsor of this resolution, I just wanted

[1:19:31] to talk about this for a second.

[1:19:32] So, our first draft of this resolution was kind of going off half-cocked, but it was because

[1:19:41] of my misunderstanding of the situation.

[1:19:44] Now, first of all, everyone needs to understand that Superintendent Hedrick has done a wonderful

[1:19:49] job.

[1:19:49] He's fixed this thing multiple times and got him back up and going.

[1:19:54] But my thought when we were first writing this resolution was, I don't want the highway super

[1:20:01] content, it's always have to come to the county commission to ask for more money to fix

[1:20:06] that or do anything like that.

[1:20:07] I want this to be a permanent thing, just like any other road or bridge in the county that

[1:20:11] just gets fixed, because, well, Superintendent Hedrick, you know, is dedicated to fixing it.

[1:20:18] It doesn't mean that the next person that has his job is going to feel the same way.

[1:20:21] So I would like it to just be on the books that it's something that gets done every

[1:20:25] time.

[1:20:25] And so that's why when we originally wrote it, it had some misinformation because of my

[1:20:34] misunderstanding of the actual situation.

[1:20:39] And so because we had been writing it to be an actionable resolution here, then the county

[1:20:47] attorney had to get involved and he looked at it and said, well, we don't actually know

[1:20:50] who owns it, there is nothing that's actually been, you know, there's nothing in writing,

[1:20:55] there's no documentation, it's not correctly done, we need to do it correctly.

[1:20:59] And so I didn't understand why it was my understanding that it was handled and it was

[1:21:05] in the very beginning of my term as a county commissioner that both of the bridges had

[1:21:10] been closed.

[1:21:11] There were a lot of locks on that you guys had to cut off and all kinds of stuff.

[1:21:14] So I finally found where my misunderstanding came from and I'm just going to go ahead and read

[1:21:21] this just as an explanation of my misunderstanding.

[1:21:24] And that was from the June 20th, 2019 commission meeting.

[1:21:29] There was a big group of people here from towns and that we're all speaking out,

[1:21:35] wanting the bridges opened and fixed and all that kind of stuff.

[1:21:38] So with this big group of people here, and Commissioner French was the chairman that night.

[1:21:45] And so he said, I have an announcement before we start the business of tonight's meeting

[1:21:50] because we have many folks here who wish to speak to this matter.

[1:21:54] I've been advised by the Highway Superintendent that he has reached an agreement in principle

[1:21:59] with the representatives of the City of Townsend to repair and reopen the bridge to Dark Island

[1:22:04] within the corporate limits of the Townsend by June 28.

[1:22:07] The County Attorney is drafting an agreement that is to be presented to both County Commission

[1:22:12] and the City of Townsend for their approval.

[1:22:14] If you're here to speak on that item, it is a mood issue.

[1:22:17] uh... the other bridge will be taken care of and it continues on

[1:22:20] but so

[1:22:21] that was the last i'd heard of this was that that the county attorney was

[1:22:25] drafting agreement at that time

[1:22:27] apparently i i never followed up on that

[1:22:30] obviously none of us followed up on it and that was never done

[1:22:34] and so that needs to be done this time so that's why we re-worded this

[1:22:38] this time

[1:22:39] to to be

[1:22:41] saying that we support the highway departments

[1:22:43] job and figuring out how to get it done correctly.

[1:22:47] So essentially that's what this is.

[1:22:49] It's just the county legislative body getting behind this and saying, we support

[1:22:53] Superintendent Hejrick's efforts to do this.

[1:22:56] So on behalf of myself and everyone in towns and everyone in the county that loves that bridge,

[1:23:02] I would appreciate everyone's support.

[1:23:05] Mr. Baker.

[1:23:06] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:23:14] long history involved in towns and with twinning bridges, I believe that there were up to seven of them, more than a hundred years ago, including these two bridges, and I believe they have been maintained, built by and maintained by blunt county for a significant amount of time.

[1:23:40] A piece of property that I own in towns and that I've been

[1:23:44] Hagling with the Towns and City Commission and Planning Commission and pretty much anybody in towns and about was bought by my grandparents in 1957

[1:23:55] Because the only access to their farm was across the burnt county swinging bridge that was on the property or going through the river

[1:24:05] And my grandfather actually drove cows across that swing and bridge that had missing boards in it in

[1:24:13] 1957 when he bought the piece of property that he used to build his own bridge to go across river.

[1:24:20] So we've got a really long history of Lunt County being involved with these bridges.

[1:24:27] And something came to my mind, as I was researching this, in September of 1996, this legislative

[1:24:42] body voted unanimously to repair the swinging bridges and towns and spend money out of the

[1:24:52] county call for to do that. In 2019, you know, that you were involved in repairing the bridges

[1:25:00] at the county's behest. And I would,

[1:25:07] with my limited knowledge of real estate, I did

[1:25:10] have an affiliate broker's license, about 100 years ago. But with my limited knowledge of

[1:25:16] state, with it being a public bridge, maintained by the county for MXS of a century, it would be

[1:25:28] really hard for anybody to claim my own with our history where we are. So I'm really strongly

[1:25:36] encouraged you all to get this squared away if it's as simple as filing a quick claim deed

[1:25:42] that we own it because we built it and it's there and we maintain it. I don't see how anybody

[1:25:50] could ever shut it down on their own authority because they own the Bishop property that's

[1:25:56] touching it with it being a public bridge. So I was involved in the initial wrong way of doing it

[1:26:04] and I see from the county attorney that it was the wrong way to do it but it was based on a bunch

[1:26:12] assumptions that are in evidence where we've gotten grants, the county got grants, and did

[1:26:19] the work to repair our bridge, bridges, rather,

[1:26:25] and I don't see how you're all going to have

[1:26:27] a real problem with this. We want to see it happen. We want to see it be in perpetuity so that

[1:26:36] we don't have to come back before this commission again when there's something else that goes wrong

[1:26:41] of them. Everybody knows what's supposed to happen and if we have a commission up here

[1:26:47] that care about towns and it won't matter because it's already covered and that was a big

[1:26:52] part of what Jeff was talking to me about initially when we when we were starting to put this

[1:26:58] together. I believe everybody hears on the exact same page and I met no offense by bringing

[1:27:06] at the way I brought it to start with. It's just, that's the way I started grinding and I was involved

[1:27:14] in some of my haggling with towns and then heard in one of their meetings that they had decided

[1:27:21] that it was unsafe and wanted to close it and I knew that it was a big deal to a whole bunch of tourists

[1:27:27] and a whole bunch of people and towns and then wanted to bring it before us and got with Brad

[1:27:32] in JF because it's their district.

[1:27:34] I just happen to be at the meeting that they weren't at.

[1:27:37] And I know they're very active in towns and not again.

[1:27:40] I wasn't real happy about being there myself,

[1:27:42] but it was something I needed to do.

[1:27:46] And I applaud your activity so far

[1:27:50] and trying to make it happen and look forward

[1:27:53] to us getting them fixed and them being fixed

[1:27:56] for the long haul.

[1:27:57] So thank you, Matt.

[1:27:58] I hope y'all support this.

[1:28:00] The commissioner is ready for the question.

[1:28:03] Mr. Carpenter.

[1:28:05] I saw it, Mr. Commissioner Jenkins wanted to speak. He raised his hand.

[1:28:10] Do you still need to make a statement, sir?

[1:28:15] Uh, I don't know. He's not allowed to speak.

[1:28:18] Yeah, you can ask him a question or it could be blocked.

[1:28:21] Well, but just you're understanding on the property owners and on each side on the towns inside.

[1:28:31] If you look at the deed for the property, there's a legal easement on that deed to the bridge.

[1:28:39] Now, you can ask about, okay, the pillars on the river bank, there's not anything on their deed that talks about it.

[1:28:47] And just like everybody in towns and we own to the middle of the river, they own to the middle of the river, that's the way it is.

[1:28:54] But they have an easement on their D if you look at it. On the other side, I can't find anything that defines it, there's an easement, but there's an implied easement because people have been using it for over 75 years, and there is such a legal term as implied easement.

[1:29:18] Now in 96 when they repaired it, it was because of a huge flood we had in 95 and it took out a lot of stuff in the county repair here at that time.

[1:29:32] Since then there has been minor maintenance that the City of Townsend's done on it.

[1:29:38] out of good faith, we've cut hundreds of pounds of locks off the bridge. We've replaced a few

[1:29:45] boards on it. We constantly pick up the litter that's under it on it and buy it.

[1:29:51] And we think that what county's got a vested interest in repairing it.

[1:29:59] Okay?

[1:30:00] Thank you, sir. Okay,

[1:30:04] Mr. Michael's. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, I might make a recommendation to be more specific in the resolution to amend it to say that our county attorney may implore a title company to search the title on both sides of the, if this gentleman says that,

[1:30:33] it. There is an easement on one side and, you know, possibly an implied easement. But if

[1:30:42] it was looked into through a title company, it could almost be traced back if there was

[1:30:48] ever an easement over there. And if there's not, maybe the county attorney could track down

[1:30:53] and run down the definition and the possibility that an implied easement would actually be sufficient.

[1:31:01] So, I think the question at hand in all this discussion is to define implied easement, see what the

[1:31:16] stat's story conditions are around that. And then if the other deed has the easement only,

[1:31:23] it's just a matter of finding out the other side and seeing what we got to do.

[1:31:27] So, I'm definitely in support of this, but maybe the authors of the resolution may be more specific on what we need to task the county attorney with doing within the resolution.

[1:31:43] So, thank you.

[1:31:45] Commissioner's ready for the question. Please register votes.

[1:32:00] Chairman, there are 18 yes folks.

[1:32:02] Thank you.

[1:32:03] Resolution 252018 will be moved forward to the full commission.

[1:32:07] Next, we have announcements and statements.

[1:32:11] The Public Service Committee will meet on Thursday, February 13th at 530 p.m.

[1:32:16] at what county operations center.

[1:32:19] Commission rules committee will meet on Thursday, February 13th at 6 p.m.

[1:32:24] and the Black County Court House Commission meeting room 430.

[1:32:27] What kind of government offices will be closed for present today on Monday, February 17th?

[1:32:33] Board of Commissioners will meet in regular session next Thursday, February the 20th at 630 p.m. in the

[1:32:39] Black County Courthouse Commission meeting room 430.

[1:32:42] Does anyone else have any announcements or statements?

[1:32:48] Not or moving on to public input for items not on the agenda.

[1:32:52] Does anyone wish to speak to an item not on the agenda?

[1:32:57] I will stand for a motion to adjourn.

Commission Workshop on 2025-02-11 6:30 PM

Agenda

Transcript