Good evening. This is August 11th, 2026.
We are right at 7 p.m. and this is the
meeting of the board me altoman for
Hendersonville, Tennessee. We welcome
you and appreciate you all being here
and those who are watching us online or
on TV. We're going to begin our meeting
as we typically do and that's with a
prayer and the pledge of allegiance. And
tonight providing our prayer is Doug
Skinner. He is the pastor of Vic Victory
Baptist Church. He's a new pastor there,
but the church has been involved in our
community for a long long time and has
been uh a very important part of our
community. Pastor Skinner, we appreciate
you being here and appreciate what
you're doing for our community.
>> Thank you.
>> Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord
for this good day of life. We thank you
Lord for health and the opportunity to
be here this evening. We thank you Lord
for the wonderful country and nation
that you've allowed us to be born in or
to live in. We're grateful for the
freedoms that we enjoy. We ask that you
be with those that make decisions for us
on a grand scale. Lord be with the our
military, those that keep us safe and
sacrifice a portion of their life to
protect the liberties that that we have.
We thank you to God for uh your son.
Most of all without him there would be
no hope for any of us. We're grateful
for the death that he died at Calvary,
the price of our sin that he paid to
make a way for all men to have equal
access to what we need most, forgiveness
of sins, eternal life. We ask, oh God,
that you would be with those that have
less than we, those that are struggling,
those that uh struggle with things
perhaps we've never experienced.
Specifically, Lord, we ask that you be
with Keith Free's mother-in-law. Ask
that you give wisdom to those, Lord,
that are caring for her tonight. be with
this meeting. Dear God, we pray for
wisdom as well for those that will be
taking part in leading our community.
These blessings, favor, we ask in Jesus
name for his precious name's sake. Amen.
>> Amen. And again, thank you. That's
Pastor Doug Skinner at Victory Baptist
Church. Thank you so much. Please join
me in the pledge of allegiance.
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 all.
» I'm going to entertain a motion that we
accept the agenda. And keep in mind that
all three items under ordinance and
resolutions are waving our twoe rule. I
will hope that you will allow that. I
gave you an explanation by email of why
those are important. Namely that we
won't meet for a month. Um there is one
item on there that I have told a couple
aldermen and I need to do it publicly
that um I anticipate that I will
withdraw after some discussion and
that's resolution 2026-26.
We had a conversation in um uh in
general committee uh and we we received
a a great amount of input and that's
what I'm hoping for uh tonight and so
I'm hoping that y'all will allow that to
be on the agenda. I need a motion,
please.
>> Oh, 2628, sorry.
>> Okay. Um, I need a motion.
>> We have a motion from Alderman Goodwin
>> and a second from from Alderman Dixon.
Any discussion?
All those in favor of approving the
agenda as it was prov.
>> Sorry about that.
>> Go ahead. I um I would like for us to
not hear
item number two, which is resolution
2026-28.
Um because and I think this will
probably come up in citizen comments,
but um in the general committee, we
learned that there's actually another B
business entity that's interested in the
exact same concept. And so
we need to do a RFP rather than a a a
letter of intent. In my opinion, u when
you have competing
businesses for the same goal,
it's just more transparent if you do
that as a request for proposal. So I I
feel strongly that that's what we
actually need to do and then there's no
need to discuss it because we would
issue an RFP and then they would submit
their proposals both of them formally.
>> So I move to
>> table uh resolution
26 2026-28
which is item two under ordinances and
resolutions. So you could only make a
motion to table the whole motion uh not
just part of it. So you would need to
amend that or you would need to request
that we remove that u that item from the
agenda.
>> Okay. I
>> Okay,
>> that's fine. I request that we remove it
from the agenda.
>> Okay. So that would be that would be
item number two. Okay.
>> We have a second from Alderman Burgdorf.
Okay. As I mentioned in uh general
committee, I think the the input from
our general committee was very
worthwhile and I'd like to hear from you
all tonight, but that needs to be on the
agenda in order for us to hear from
y'all. Uh any other discussion on this?
Jason, you ready for us? Okay. All those
in favor of removing item two from the
agenda, press the green button. Those
opposed to removing item number two,
press the red button.
We're missing Alman Goodwin.
[clears throat]
Okay, so that fails with a tie vote of
six to six. So we're now back on the
main motion and that is to accept the
agenda that was provided to you. Any
other discussion? Any other motions?
All those in favor of approving the
agenda as provided to you, please press
the green button. Those opposed, press
the red one.
Okay, that passes 12 to zero. Um,
appreciate that. Now we're on to uh
presentations and um could I have the uh
Cal Ripken 12 and under team just sort
of line up right here just like we were
just a second ago and it'd be wonderful
if I can meet the coaches over here by
the podium.
[snorts]
» So first I'm going to tell you a little
bit about these guys and then I'm going
to ask one of the coaches to uh to fill
in some of the details. Um, let me read
here real quickly. Whereas the Twitty
City 12U baseball team has demonstrated
exceptional athletic skill, teamwork,
and sportsmanship throughout the 2026
season, proudly representing the city of
Hendersonville on the national stage.
And whereas the team achieved an
extraordinary milestone by winning the
inaugural Cal Ripken 12-year National
Championship, let me say that again,
National Championship. Forever securing
its place in youth baseball history as
the first ever national champions of
this prestigious tournament. And whereas
the championship games were broadcast
nationally on CBS Sports, providing
Twitty City and Hendersonville with the
opportunity to rep represent
Hendersonville before audience across
the country with excellence, integrity,
and determination. And whereas through
countless hours of practice, discipline,
and teamwork, these players have
inspired young athletes throughout our
community by demonstrating that hard
work, resilience, and a commitment to
one another can lead to extraordinary
success. Now therefore, I, Jamie Clary,
mayor of the city of Hendersonville, do
hereby recognize and congratulate the
Twitty City 12-ear baseball team for
winning the inaugural Cal Ripken 12-ear
National Championship and commend the
players, coaches, families, and
supporters for this achievement and for
representing our city with pride and
distinction. Now, I want to introduce
you to them. Uh, Sam England.
Perfect. Okay. Collins Brown.
Okay. Trip Elliott. Okay. Uh, Weston
Duke.
J Jack Johnson,
Jagger Medley.
Okay. Nolan Murphy, that's a good first
name. Uh Bowen Parsons,
uh some guy named Tiny.
[laughter] His real name is Wit, but he
asked me to refer to him as Tiny
Sanders. SJ Su, uh Klein Watson, Eli
Weekes, and Jason Word. Congratulations,
guys. [applause]
» [applause]
» So, I appreciate many of the parents
being here and know that you've got to
get them to practice, you've got to get
them to games, you've got to get them to
tournaments, and you've got to get them
to the uh uh to everything else that
they have going on. We also have
assistant coaches Josh Elliot, Kyle
Johnson, Jeff Parsons, Klay Sanders, and
head coach Zack Duke. And I'm going to
ask Zach to fill in some details of what
these guys actually accomplished. Go
ahead.
>> First of all, thank you. That was what I
had to say will be nowhere near as
eloquent as what you just said, just so
you know. Um, but what I just want to
put into a little bit of perspective of
what these boys actually did accomplish
this year as a team as of 12-year-old
boys, they went 70 and five.
We every tournament that we entered
which was I think between the fall and
spring combined was 10. We were in a
championship game of every single one.
We lost two championship games. We won
everything else. And that is
exceptional because it's not like we
were just playing teams from the
Nashville area. We put these boys up
against the best possible competition we
could find. Up in Coopertown for the
Ripken Nationals. We beat teams from
California, Florida, North Carolina,
South Carolina, you name it. And what makes travel baseball different
than what you're watching right now,
Little League World Series on ESPN,
everybody's watching that. So, the rules
for Little League International is that
you have to be live within the
boundaries of a little league zone.
Travel baseball, those rules do not
exist. You can put together a roster of
kids from wherever you want, however you
can recruit them and get them to play
for your team. What makes us unique is
we are all from right here and we can
compete with teams made up of kids from
five and six different states and we can
beat them and we proved it. We prove
that we belong on that level on that
stage and these boys don't shy away from
it. And I'm so proud of them, so proud
to coach them. What they bring every day
is exceptional. They truly do represent
the absolute best that this area has to
offer and it's an honor and I appreciate
all the parents trust and support and we
my goal is not for them to be content
with their 12U success.
My goal is for them to be leaders on
their high school team and continue to
develop and possibly earn opportunities
to play after high school. So this is
step one for them. I hope they all
continue to work and continue to be the
example for the younger generations that
they have been to this point.
Thank you. [applause]
Co coach, introduce your assistant
coaches or I guess they're assistant
coaches.
>> This is Josh Elliot. He's actually our
GM. We say he handles all of our
communication and
>> team details. Have Kyle Johnson behind
him. have Klay Sanders and him and we
have Jeff Parsons in the back and they
truly are baseball royalty in this area.
They're sort of well except for Joshua's
Basketball, but I think Clay and Jeff have a rich history of what they accomplished
as players in this area. Kyle played in
college as well. I'm kind of relatively
new to this area. I moved here about 10
years ago, but I quickly learned that
these are the guys that I need to have
in my corner if we're going to do
something special. And they have been
instrumental in developing these boys to
this point and will continue to be
moving on.
>> Thanks, guys. Congratulations.
[applause]
» Coach, make sure to grab your
proclamation.
» [laughter]
» Don't Don't let me see you at the
grocery store cuz I'll be asking.
» Wow.
>> I bet Gilly knows where he lives.
>> Text Gilly right quick.
Next item on our agenda is public
hearing, but we don't have any. And then
the minutes, those are the minutes that
were provided to you from our July 28,
20126 meetings.
>> We have a motion from Alderman Garza
and a second from Alderman Goodwin. Any
discussion? All those in favor of
approving the minutes that were provided
to you in your packet, please say I.
Those opposed, please say no. That
passes unanimously. Next, we have
citizen comments.
We have four people signed up. Uh,
speakers must identify themselves by
name and address. Public comment shall
be limited to five minutes per
individual, which time is not
transferable to other speakers. All
comments are to be directed to the
presiding officer, that's me, me, not to
the alderman, city staff, or other
members of the public. Comments must
address issues, not individuals or
personalities. Personal attacks shall
not be tolerated. Comments may support
or oppose particular issues or measures,
but the motives of those with differing
views shall not be questioned or
attacked. Malicious comments will not be
allowed. Speeches for or against
particular candidates running for office
shall not be allowed. We have Thomas
Kian of Carolyn Lane in Gal.
» Yes, ma'am.
>> How you doing?
>> Good. Uh how are y'all doing? Um uh so I
was want to speak to I think it's
resolution the the second item there. Uh
just to clarify. Uh so
a month ago
thereabouts the whole country was proud
to be American swept up into 50th fever.
Um also at that time uh the board u
was ready to celebrate Hendersonville's
history by protecting it. Um now just a
month later uh we've got a resolution
for the upper Raptor Berry House to be
considered under development.
Um
my opinion of this is that the city is
now looking at a choice.
Uh they can choose to maintain ownership
of the property or to let a developer
uh take it over and do what they see fit
with it uh within the bounds. Um, now as
a historian, my opinion is that the city
should retain the ownership of this
property because it's a historical
treasure.
Um,
it represents
the first some of the first founders of
Hendersonville um as they moved here
from their fight in the Revolutionary
War. Um,
with that, I think that one of the best
things that the city could do is to
retain that and use it as a a historic
city center. Um,
if you allow the sale of this, then as
my understanding, you'd have to ask
them, hey, can we use this to do certain
things that we would might want to do as
the city there? Um,
you can own a piece of your history if
you continue that. Um,
[snorts]
the developer I assume has some
historical obligation to it. Uh, but
I've seen that in the past and they have
not
uh they have not done things in the way
that a historian would appreciate things
to be done. um even when you know
they're told like hey you need to do
things you know to maintain the history
of the site um
I think the best way for the history to
be preserved and bear in mind that this
is Hendersonville's history
um is for it to be restored very
respectfully to the full history that
represents the entire history of that
site and you probably know a a lot of
that history, so I don't need to go
through all of it here again. Um, but it
needs to have its rightful place as a
historical monument for the town instead
of
whatever somebody wants to do with it.
Um,
one of the things that I've been working
on in with the site is, uh, we know that
there's graves there. Um, currently
there's one monument there. Uh, well,
there's two. One was put up by the D,
but one historical monument. Um, in the
1930s, the WPA
took up a project to document historical
cemeteries around the state and in other
places. And depending on whose report
you read from that WPA finding, there's
11 to 18 graves that were known, and
most of those were marked at the time.
Um, at this point, I haven't found but
one marker up there. Uh, so there's a
lot more going on and that's of the
graves that we know of if we just go on
the WPA.
Um, it's not
it's history, so it can be what it can
be, but we're also aware that there were
slaves owned at that property and those
grades are typically not marked and
they're not necessarily easy to find. I
don't know if there's any of those
there. I highly suspect that there are,
but we haven't had the time. You know,
bear in mind that we've had an
agreement, and I represent the part of
the Bradford Berry Society. You know,
we've had an agreement
>> in 30 seconds.
>> Thank you, sir. Uh, we've had an
agreement for a month. It's hard to do
things in a month with that. And I would
prefer
for those graves to be found in a
respectful way, not when somebody runs a
track room. That has happened before
with developers that had archae
archaeologist attached. U so I would
respectfully request that you delay or
preferably just
reconsider a different
>> Mr. Killian. Thank you. Next we have uh
Rick Fox from Walnut Drive.
Good evening. My name is Rick Fox. I
live at 108 Walnut Drive, uh, Ward One.
And as some of you know, I'm not only
the representative for the war, the beer
board from Ward One, but have been
honored the last few years to be elected
as its chairperson. And that's a
responsibility I am very grateful for
and hold with a lot of respect and a lot
of dignity. And it would be
inappropriate if I didn't immediately
thank my two aldermen, the Marks, for
all their help and support. That's about
as the cutest way as I can say it. Um,
you folks have been very good about
always congratulating and thanking those
of us who serve, but there's been a
couple of events recently that have
involved the rear board, and I'm going
to try to do this without emotion that I
thought it was time that we stood up and
said the same thing back.
I would put our beer board up against
any volunteer board I've ever worked on
in my life and I've been around for a
day or two
and I know there's others that are good,
but we've got a great board and a great
membership.
But as good as they are, I think there's
three other things that need to be
mentioned and that's why I'm really here
tonight. Three-point sermon.
One of those is the staff.
I have a fair idea of what goes on
before, after, and during our meetings,
between our meetings to get us ready and
make us so efficient and so effective.
But I don't know it all.
But I've got a great appreciation for
what our staff does to help us. And
we've got two sitting up there that
really, really help us on an ongoing
regular basis.
The second thing is the board liaones.
We've had some great liaison. When I
started on this board of beer beer
board, it was Russ Edwards.
Then it became Karen Dixon. And for the
last two years, it's been Terry Goodwin.
I know that my board members and I would
put Alderwoman Goodwin up as the shining
star and the excellent example of what
it means to be a liaison.
She's there at every meeting. She's
professional. She's helpful. She's
appropriate. She shares when she should.
She gives us guidance and direction. She
supports us. And the neat thing about
having Alderwoman Goodwin as your
beerboard liaison is that you get two
for the price of one.
But the other thing that really brought
me here was there have been times with a
number of you where there's been a
beerboard issue that I've needed to
reach out. Maybe it was something that
happened with somebody and you know had
come to us or a business
upon occasion. It's been a time for
somebody to be re nominated and I wanted
to be sure that happened.
Most recently, it's been where we had a
beer board representative who relocated
out of state and we had to get a
replacement.
I want you all to know
that every conversation I have ever had
with the senior alderman from Ward 6 has
been nothing but happy, positive,
professional, helpful, supportive.
You can list all the adjectives you
want.
I've been greeted with a smile. I've
been greeted with respect.
And there's never been a time when I
haven't hung up that phone or walked
away where I didn't feel that the the
plan of action or the consensus we came
to would not benefit the people involved
or the business involved, the citizens
of this city, Hendersonville as a whole,
and the beer board.
So, I'm going to bend the gavl rule a
little bit.
I want to thank you for everything you
have done to support me personally and
support the beer board. I will miss you.
I wish you a long and happy, joyful,
well-deserved life.
>> Amen. [laughter]
>> Eddie, may God bless you always. I
yield.
>> Thank you, Mr. Fox. Appreciate that. And
for the record, the other two people
he's talking about are Gabby and Lance.
Um
[laughter]
>> uh next is JD ter JD Tatum of Merit
Drug.
» Good evening. My name is JD Tatum. Um I
live at 1011 Merrick Road. Uh we also
have a property in Manser Farms and uh
behind the hospital over off Homestead
Place. Uh my husband and I have been in
this community. I've been here over 25
years. He's been here his entire life.
This is our home. Um we have been
spending countless hours and many years
working on trying to put together um a
food truck and music venue park for our
community that fit our community. Not
just one that you see up the road that
might last a few years, but one that's
truly for our community. Tonight, you're
going to hear that there is a letter of
intent to be presented um on the same
property that we're interested in. Um
you're going to hear a lot about the
Bradford Berry House and those of us
that want to preserve it both inside and
out, making sure that it remains with
the city while still being able to have
our venue that will bring so much to our
community. Um, across the way, Terry and
I have dedicated countless hours to
researching successful venues and
studying why some concepts succeed and
why others fail. We visited similar
facilities, met with food truck owners,
consulted industry professionals. We've
analyzed operating models, and completed
extensive market and financial research.
Based on that work, we've developed a
comprehensive business plan with a
detailed concept drawing specifically
designed to create a financially
sustainable, family-friendly destination
in Hendersonville. All while while
partnering with the Bradford Berry House
Presentation Society to make sure that property is renovated in such a way
that it's back to its original condition
using the correct tools and the correct
people. Um,
I'm not asking the board to approve our proposal tonight. I am respectfully
asking that no decision be made and no
letter of intent or other agreement be
accepted, authorized, or executed for
this property until we have been given a
reasonable opportunity to formally
present our proposal. We are prepared to
present our complete proposal promptly
and would welcome the opportunity to
meet with the appropriate city
representatives. We are simply
requesting a fair and transparent
process in which both proposals can be
reviewed before any decision is made.
Thank you for your time and
consideration.
>> JD, thank you. Uh Tom Williams, Time
Bay.
>> Oh,
I apologize for my slowness here. Um my
name is Tom Williams. I live at 209 Tiny
Bay Drive in Hendersonville. That's Ward
Two. And I, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate the
opportunity to speak again. Uh, some of
you have already heard a lot of what I'm
going to say and then I'm going to have
to add lib. So, that scares the devil
out of me. Um,
last month in a Bulma meeting or
actually probably June, I recall a
unanimous approval by the board to allow
the city to enter into a partnership
with the society, the U. Bradford Berry
Preservation Society for the purpose of
allowing the society to proceed with
explorations and plans to find ways to
serve save the the house and eventually
turn it back to the city as a potential
historical, cultural,
and educational venue. And so, as I
asked earlier in the meeting, what has
happened to the spirit of that meeting?
That goes to the proposal that's I think
on the board here. Um, November 28th,
2023, Bulma approved conveyance of
Bradford Berry at all, that would be
their property from Mayfair Development.
The Bradford Berry House and cemetery
combined were 1.63 acres and were
proposed for donation to the city. In
addition, a $100,000 donation and the
construction of a rod fence around the
cemetery were proposed for gifting to
the city. Uh, BA approved the amendments
and donations. Then the developer
proposed an amended plan that would have
included 13.24 acres and no monetary
gift. And I believe the deed of the
property does include the total 13.24.
Um
let me see. Resolution is defined as a
firm decision or intent to act or not
act in a particular way. It is the act
of finding a solution to a problem,
dispute or challenging situation. Over
the years, there have been many re
resolutions made concerning the the
Bradford Berry property. On February
24th, 2005, resolution 2005-1
designating the Bradford Berry House,
family cemetery, and property to be
historical landmark that was signed into
the city records. Um,
now, ordinance is defined as a law,
rule, decree, or command usually made by
a city or regional government. As far as
I can tell, there's only been one
ordinance concerning the property, and
that's ordinance 200512 designating the
property as to be historic and was
approved on May 24th, 2005, and upon
second reading passed on June 14th,
2005. [gasps]
Now, we've learned of the new resolution
possible um ordinance being uh being
presented uh allowing the lease of the
property and ultimate transfer of of
ownership and I think we've discussed
that in depth earlier. Um
[snorts]
at the the lease would be for two years
and at the end of that two years the uh
the proposed owners would become
proposed leaseors would become owners.
So my question was what assurances do we
have that they will retain the
historical nature of the property um
under their control will Bradford Berry
House and grounds ever be accessible to
the citizens of Hendersonville?
Um so I have to ask a couple of
questions. What is the status of the
total acreage? I know I know this has
been bounced around before. Can a
property designated as historic be
developed commercially? Uh what and um
I think those of us on the board on this
on the society,
we we have a passion for saving our
history and and and uh advancing our
history and teaching people our history.
As I said in the last meeting I
attended,
there are people who've lived here most
of their lives who've never never heard
of or seen the Bradford Berry House. Um
so that that that that's kind of sad,
but um that that's what happens. Those
of us on the board all remember what it
was like when it was up and running. Um,
so there are a lot of questions and I
think as [clears throat] we consider
these proposals that are coming before
us tonight, we need to look at the
overall picture, what the what is
brought to the table, what is going to
be left for the city and what the city's
responsibilities will be and what the
proposed owners will be. And and I've
talked with both groups a little bit
tonight. So, um I I I think I think we
need to slow down on making any firm
decisions at this point and and look at
all comers and all give our committee
again a chance to make this happen.
>> Tom, 30 seconds.
>> Okay. Ultimately, the last question that
I have to ask I said this earlier is I
have to put on my dad hat from when my
daughter was dating. I would ask the
young gentleman, "What are your
intentions?" Thank you.
>> Thank you, Tom. Appreciate that.
We have nothing on the consent agenda
and now we're to ordinance and
resolutions. The first one is resolution
2026-25.
This is a resolution authorizing the
city's department of parks and
recreation to apply for a property
conservation grant with public entity
partners. Alderman Gart, would you like
to make a motion?
>> We have a motion from Alderman Garton
>> and a second from Alderman Evans.
Alderman Gart, would you like to speak
or go to Alderman Goodwin?
>> You could go ahead.
>> No. Um this is just a um a resolution um
with public entity partners. Um it's a
50/50 match um asking for $8,000. So
we'd have a $4,000 match contribution
there and this will go towards lights um
or cameras.
» Okay. Thank you, Alman Gart. All
>> good. I'm sorry.
We c brought it through public safety
tonight and it passed with a positive
recommendation
and they are on a time crunch.
>> Alman Gartner, Alman Goodwin, thank you.
Alman Sassy,
>> just to get clarification, I wanted to
make sure the full 8,000 as I understand
it was appropriated in the budget. Is
that correct? In the 2027 fiscal budget,
uh this will actually reduce that amount
to 4,000. So, I wholly support this and
we'll be voting in favor of it. Thank
you,
>> Alman. Sassy. Thank you. Any other
discussion?
All those in favor of resolution
2026-25,
please say I.
>> Those opposed, please say no. That
passes unanimously. Next, we have
resolution 2026-28.
This is a resolution approving a letter
of intent between the city of
Hendersonville and Landing Spot
Properties LLC regarding the proposed
lease and future conveyance of the
Bradford Berry House property. I so
move.
Second.
>> We have a second from Alderman Dixon. Um
Marty, you shared some information in um
general committee a few minutes ago. If
without objection, I'd like to suspend
the rules and hear from Marty Cook, the
attorney for this project. You shared
some information toward the end of the
consideration in the general committee.
I think it' be worthwhile um for all of
us to hear. Um do you want to give us a
little bit of explanation of what's
going on here?
And if there's anybody, so there's a
couple people here with this group. Um
there's four of them. Um, and so without
objection, if y'all have some questions
for any four of them, um, I think it'd
be good for for them to speak on that.
Uh, Alderman Robertson,
>> uh, you sent us a map of the area. Could
you put it on the screen so that the
public can see it as well?
>> Jason has it. Yep.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Give me just a second. Marty, Jason, did
I
map? Oh, I didn't.
>> I can send it to him if he's got his
email.
>> So, Alderman Dixon's going to email it
to you. Um there is a picture that I
sent him that I want to show at some
point. Uh Alderman Dixon is going to
take care of that. Marty, go ahead.
Thank you.
>> Sure. So I think what we discussed in
general committee is just what the
process would look like. [clears throat]
Um I was approached some time ago by my
clients landing spot properties who had
this idea, this concept that they wanted
to bring to the city. Um, and we
discussed that with the mayor and with
city attorney. And uh, as as we see
often in any kind of business deal, the
first step is you do enter into a letter
of intent, which is not a binding
[snorts] contract. It's simply both
parties saying agreeing to begin
negotiations. Um and so usually in that
letter in of intent there is a general
framework um that is agreed upon by the
parties but it always contemplates what
we'll oftenimes call a definitive
agreement that will come uh later on in
the process. And so that was the goal in
putting this letter of intent to the
city and in front of you all was to um
begin discussions um of of what a
potential uh partnership,
private public partnership um of this
property could look like that would
accomplish purposes of restoring the
Bradford Berry House. I don't think
there's any question. I've been involved
in discussions over the years of of how
that could happen. And as many of you
know and can imagine, the largest hurdle
is the cost. Um
>> Marty, let me interrupt you real quick.
Lance, what Marty just gave us of his uh
explanation of a letter of intent. Would
you agree with that?
>> Yes. That's it allows the parties to
evaluate the feasibility. There may be a
couple abiding terms to it like uh
exclusivity whatnot but for the first
time in my life I will agree with Marty
>> Cook [laughter]
that's not true. Um
>> but yeah I mean I you know I don't think
there's any question that to do anything
with this property is going to take an
incredible amount of money. Um, and so
it is going to take some collaboration.
Um, that that that makes sense. And the purpose of us putting this before
you all was to look at what that might
look like and then move forward towards
seeing if a ultimate [snorts] deal could
be reached that would then become a a
binding agreement.
>> I appreciate that. I want to say a
couple things that I sort of uh hinted
at earlier. Um I've seen a couple
comments uh past couple days um about
how um I don't care about Hendersonville
history. Um [laughter and gasps] about
the only thing worse you could say about
me is I don't love my children. Uh um so
I felt like I need to to try to explain
a little bit hopefully with a smile on
my face. Um I've got to appreciate first
though Alderman Mark Skidmore. He and I
were both here in 2000 2003
uh when really this situation sort of
climaxed um and and required action uh
from the border mayor and alderman to to
save that house. What had happened was
the house is owned by the family until
about 1968 1969. GE bought it as part of
all the property uh I want to say like
29 acres or so. Uh that property was
then sold to Bosch Bosch Automotive
which included the house. Bosch allowed
the arts council to use the house uh for
a good portion of the time. Then the
arts council moved to Mont Haven and
there was a family living in that house
with with Bosch's permission. Um at that
time what we're talking about when when
Bosch had it um is really so the the
what is now the Aladdin plant which
later became Aladdin and from Gallatton
Road um past the house and another 10
acres behind the house. That's really
what what was one one lot at that time.
Um the May the um the May family bought
it and I can't remember the actual name
um of the organization. It wasn't Jack
May himself uh but the LLC bought it and
they uh told the tenants to to move. Um
and that was the beginning of the
decline of the house. Um,
in 2003, anybody who was on the board
then had a very fresh memory of the
Halfway House. Halfway House was a
historic home, not near as not near as
old, probably half as old, that sat on
the corner of Centerpoint Road and
Gallatin Road. Um, that property had
changed hands in the middle 1990s, and
there was sort of a grassroots effort of
residents who wanted to preserve that
house uh, and restore that house. Um it
slowly deteriorated. The city didn't
really step in. Uh it was owned
privately. Didn't really step in uh to
do anything. The community didn't get
moving um as quickly as it needed to.
Slow deterioration of the house and then
a suspicious fire. So that was very much
on our minds in 2003 when now we have
the Bradford Berry House looking like
it's headed toward a a similar destiny.
Uh, does anybody know what's in the
space and what's on the lot that was the
halfway house?
It's now Tractor Supply Company.
Um, because of the time and because of
the delays, uh, the house, like I said,
suspiciously burned. Um, basically the
community, the city moved too slowly.
Um, so when Mr. May bought that
property. He presented a plan to the
city uh for a Walmart on that property.
Um which include demolishing the house
and removing the cemetery. Uh Alderman
Skidmore and I acted. We saw the need
for the the city to stand up uh for the
community that wanted to see the house
uh preserved. Um I actually met Frank
May at the house and got him to lock the
doors after he uh had the family move
out of there. he didn't step in and
become responsible for the house. Um,
and I met him over there one day. He
claimed that he was going to take care
of the house, but the doors weren't even
locked. Um, I remember meeting him over
there. Uh, Alderman Skidmore and I um
led the effort to create a historic
zoning commission that prevented him
from demolishing the house.
Ideally, it would have prevented
demolish uh demolition by neglect. Um,
ideally, um, but you see what's what
happened during the time that he owned
it. Um the board did approve um a plan
to move the house as part of Mr. May's
um development. The house is going to be
moved and deeded to the city and the
board approved that. Um I proposed that
no development would take place on that
property until the house was moved.
Ideally, I'd never want to see the house
move, but I felt like the best we could
do is make sure that nothing happened on
that property to give him an incentive
to take care of it and uh until until um
uh until the house was restored. Um,
does anybody want to take a guess at how
I was appreciated for that effort?
Um, Mr. May was the number one by far
contributor to my opponent when I ran
for re-election in 2006.
Um,
good things came out of that. Um,
personally, um, but the owner of the
house, he did not take kindly to our
effort to uh to prevent the house from
being torn down. Um,
fortunately, Mayor Foster suggested some
alternatives later. Uh, but Mr. May was
unresponsive. In fact, he rejected any
certified mail that the city sent him.
Um, he was unre he was unresponsible uh
for the house which allowed the
demolition by neglect really starting in
about 2004 2005. The city became the
default caretaker of the house. Um, even
though the city didn't own the house. Uh
when I became mayor, I continued that uh
encouraging the city to our city staff
to take care of it. There were some
things that we couldn't do. Um but spent
some time over there because we knew
that eventually we were going to become
the default owner of the house. So why
didn't it it made sense to take care of
that before it got worse. Unfortunately,
um you you can't fix a roof when you're
not the owner and you you there's some
things you just you just can't do. One
of the first meetings I had after I
became mayor was to meet with Jack May's
representatives. um and tried to get
some things worked out um and and
weren't weren't real successful that
fortunately Jeff Kundiff who was later hired by Mayfair that's what I was
thinking later hired by Mayfair is a
local guy who also had interest in
seeing the house uh house preserved um
so the city was deeded the house end of
2023 a couple things have happened since
then is we have spent much more time um
maintaining the house and protecting the
house not restoring ing the house. We
did have uh some engineers and
architects take a look at the
foundation, the whole house inside and
out. Um we spent money on that. The
board approved that money and came back
with an assessment of about $1.5 million
if the city wrote a check uh to restore
that house. Um I let Bowman know that
back then. I've let you all know a
couple times since then. Nobody has
stood up and said, "Hey, let's let's
spend that money." I have a hard time
spending that money, too, because I
think we have a higher priority with
public safety. I think we have higher
priority with roads. um and I committed
to looking for folks that could possibly
um donate to that house. Um we also
researched grants um we able to find
some that we might be eligible for if we
do some work on it, but none of them are
1.5 million. Um uh so I continued to
look for some of those. Um, and I think
I said to Bulma about a year ago that anybody I talked to about using a
house, we would expect the house to be
restored and maintained. Um,
there wasn't an appetite that I saw from
the board to to to spend $1.5 million or
more. Um, and I have a hard time
maintaining uh a piece of property that
really doesn't give value to the
residents. um that might be a little bit
questionable because I think there would
be some value in that but um I have a
hard time maintaining something that
like that um and hopefully could find
somebody to to help us with that. Um
another thing we did is we looked at
really separating that instead of the 14
acres really 10 in the back and the uh
up front is about four acres I think 3.9
which is the house the cemetery and some
surrounding property. as we talked to
people about uh helping us with with the
house. I probably talked to a dozen
different people or different
organizations. Um and for the most part
they had one person seemed like she was
willing to write a check and just give
that money to the city, but that didn't
work out when it came to some of the tax
uh needs that she had. Um but everybody
else I talked to, they were looking for
a way that they could uh recoup the
money that they would invest in the
house. they wanted some equity in the
house, some way to make uh some money on
the house. Um, and so that's where we
are today. Talked with Jenny and Terry.
Um, talked with, like I said, probably
10 or 12 other folks that have been
interested in the house. Um, I do feel
like when we get to the point that we
have a letter of intent, I need to bring
that to you. I need to let you know that
that's where we are. It's not a final
agreement by by any matter, but I felt
like we were at the level that no other
organization has reached with the city
as far as what they want to do with the
house as far as their oblig as far as
their um uh commitment to the house.
This was the only one of everybody I
talked to that said, "We're going to put
money in that house upfront." And as I
said, I felt like the board um and
myself expected restoration and
maintenance of the house at the very least. And finally we had somebody
that was interested in restoring the
house before anything else uh anybody
else wanted to do that. Um so um we also
made it America 250 project. I sought
media about this house and what we were
willing to do Nashville media uh did
many many online updates. We did a
request request for proposals and this
was the the only one that got to this
level. And so I felt like I I I should
bring that to you. Um, meanwhile, and I
explained that I feel like pretty well a
month ago when we talked about the um,
preservation society that I thought the
preservation society the point of that
was to look for multiple partners, not
just one. And I think I got an agreement
that that's what we were doing is we
were talking about one partner and the
possibility of more. Um, and I feel like
we all agreed with that. Nobody ever
told me that profession the preservation
society would have exclus exclusivity
uh to the houses restoration. Nobody
ever gave me the impression that the
Restoration Society could veto somebody
else. Um I thought that when we approved
that that we were looking for multiple
partners and I hope we still are and
that's the impression I get. But in some
of the comments I've seen lately like
somehow we're pulling the rug out from
under the the Preservation Society.
That's not the I would have never voted
to do that a couple weeks ago um if if
that was the case. Um I voted in favor
of that partnership. I'm hoping that one
day we could hand the house over to them
or somebody to restore the house. I have
no desire to for the city to own this
house long term. My desire is to see the
house restored and maintained and used.
It doesn't bother me if the city's not
the one doing that. Um I would like a
report from the preservation society. I
know it's just been a little while, but
I think all of us expected something at
some time if we're in partnership. We've
gotten a lot of information from the
folks that are interested right now with
a letter of intent. We haven't heard
anything from the preservation society.
Um and so um hopefully we'll we'll get
that too. We'll get that soon. But right
now, as I sit here the past couple days,
I worry that this is 2003 all over
again. Um first similarity, halfway
house.
Second similarity, um, well, the halfway
house, as as I mentioned, there's all
sorts of ambitious plans, but it took
too much time. Then the house
suspiciously burned. Um, very
suspicious. Moving slowly has its risks
in these situations. Just the other day,
Jason, can you pull this up? This was,
uh, this was last week. Had vandals get
in the house. Right next to city hall.
Police pass by there and park there on a
regular basis. Right next to right
there, vandals in the house. I'm not as
worried about weather. I am worried
about weather, but weather for a couple
weeks or a couple months and we've sort
of gotten through that, but vandals are
what what I worry about. Um, and what kind of damage they could do.
The second similarity with 2023. Um,
supposedly we're moving too quickly. We
heard that. Um, we heard that with the
halfway house as well. Uh, we heard that
back when Jack May uh wanted to demolish
the house that the city was moving too
quickly. Third similarity, um, we're
exposed to accept promises from groups
without resources.
This went back 2003 when Jack May talked about the house and
we had a lot of people stepping forward,
but they didn't have resources. Um, and
so that's why we had to go with with
everything else with whatever we had.
The fourth similarity is poor
information is be being repeated just
like it was in 2003 when Mr. May was up
here. And I'll give you some example.
There's one cemetery, not two. Um we've
had um some some uh uh some people some
grave explorers over there. It doesn't
make sense. Sa slaves were not buried at
the front of the house. Um you had the
family cemetery and then you had the
slave cemetery further away. We have not
found any graves, any reason to believe
there's graves on those 3.9 acres other
than the cemetery. Very similar to some
of the concerns that um as far as poor
information. Also, architects and
engineers have already assessed the
house. We don't need any more architects
or engineers over there if it means more
time. And I've heard lately that we need
to have a full architectural evaluation
of it. We have that. In fact, I I
provided to that to all of you all
probably about a year a year and a half
ago. Um I've also met with more than a
dozen parties to restore and maintain
the house. This isn't the only one. Um
the city owns the house, not the
preservation society. I can't tell you
how many people have talked about how
we're looking at taking this away from
the preservation society. They don't own
it. The city owns it.
Also, it's very important to me, and
this is something that that has bothered
me, that restoration comes first in this
letter of intent. We haven't given away
the house expecting something later on.
I don't think that that would be
responsible to the city. Also, I've
heard this is this is irreversible. It's
not irreversible. This is just the first
step. This isn't an agreement or
contract. This is not a resoning. This
is not a subdividing. This is not
transferring public pro property into
private hands. Like I said, I've got an
obligation when we have this kind of
opportunity to bring it to you. I'm
excited about the options. I'm excited
about some of the options we heard from
uh JD and Terry just a little while ago
that I heard uh several months ago. I'm
excited that we have a preservation
society uh that's interested in it. I'm
excited anytime I get a phone call or
anytime I get an email that there are
other organizations, other people
interested in that. Um, but we don't
want the house to fall down. We don't
want to be vandalized. We need to take
advantage of the time we had to do that.
We need money.
We don't have much time. We don't have
much money. If we've got somebody
willing to help us and make an
investment, I think we've got to take
advantage. Having said all of that,
I don't have a problem waiting for a
month. The reason that I wanted to move
this and put on the agenda this this meeting is because we don't meet
for a month and I felt like these folks
that have put a lot of time and expense
already coming up with this proposal,
not in the house itself. I felt like
they deserve some input from us. Um
there are some items in the letter of
intent that I absolutely think that need
some tweaking, but I would love to hear
from you all. Um and I think they would
too. That's why they stuck around. Um,
but like I like I said, um, we need
money. We don't have much time. Um, and
if we defer it for longer than a month,
I worry that more demolition by neglect,
um, more vandalism
[clears throat]
and we're possibly going to lose
something that is very important to the
history of Hendersonville. Um, also, if
we defer it for a month, um, I would
hope that the Preservation Society would
tell us what they actually have on hand.
Uh we've heard of some ideas. We've
heard those about a month ago. I want to
know what progress has been made. Uh
because we've got some folks, we have at
least two organizations right here that
want to make progress right now. Um so
yeah. So any other discussion or do you
want me just go ahead and withdraw it? I
I'd love to hear some input. I know that
some of the folks here, Alderman
Collins, thank you. Um, I alluded to
this earlier, but I just want to
reiterate that um, as we now all have
heard, we have two very similar
offers coming to us. And while I know it
certainly is true that you can have
multiple letters of intent and work
through those, I think the cleaner, more
transparent way is to issue a request
for proposal and allow people to respond
to those. And I don't want to shut down
the concept of a private public
partnership,
but um I do want to be cautious about
it. I think an RFP is
one thing is the Jesse I asked him about
the RFP earlier and he told me that it
was the last one was issued in 2022
and that's before we had the deed
restrictions lifted. So that in and of
itself to me indicates that it's
appropriate to issue a second RFP and
see now that there are no deed
restrictions what ideas might come from
the community for that. I think that um
it's the most transparent way. It
protects all of us involved from being
accused of backroom deals and cronyism
and all of the things that we know are
going to be said. An RFP protects
everybody. Does it slow down the
process? Yes, it does. But I think it's
worth it to be transparent and upfront
about what's going on. Um, so I strongly
encourage an RFP
and um to the point that I'm not going
to vote for a letter of intent at all.
Thank you,
>> Alman Collins. Thank you, Alman Evans.
>> I I just want to follow up with that,
too. Um, I too would like now that I
hear that the last time we had one was
2022,
I wasn't on Bulma at that time. So, I
would like to to have that out there. I
think again to Alderman Collins uh
comment about the transparency, I think
that's important here. Um one thing I
think it's important to note is that um
I don't know about the rest of you, but
I had not seen any of this this letter
of intent or any of this information
until late last week. And the fact that
we were getting this late last week and
it's Tuesday, so maybe four or five days
that we've had this to digest it, read
it, and that's a lot of information. I
have a long list of questions I have
about it and and I understand that uh
what a letter of intent is, but you
know, now we're finding out that there
is someone else that uh would like the
opportunity and and I think that there
are others. I I think that we should be
cautious and we should step back and and
not rush through this having I I get the
understanding of wanting to um wave the
rule and and and try to but this to me
it seems like it's been pushed too
quickly and there's a lot of questions
on this and and I can't be in favor of voting on this uh to push this along
to today. I'd like to have another uh
some more time on this and I would too
would like to hear from the preservation
society about what the pro progress is
there and the plan there. I think that
this is now gaining some momentum and
that we're hearing from a lot of
different people that we can make a good
educated decision about the future of
this and that taking a little bit of
extra time is prudent in this manner.
Um, I did hear attorney Ry mention
something about when he talked about the
letter of intent and I heard him say the
word exclusivity. And I want to be
careful that when when this one letter
of intent comes to us, um, we're not
saying that that just gives them the
exclusivity and that no one else has the
opportunity to u present a letter of
intent as well,
>> just for a a limited time during their
due diligence. And see, I have a problem
with that.
>> Yeah. But just to be clear, it's
>> Thank you.
>> Um, so that's that's all it Thank you.
>> Did you want to ask questions?
>> No.
>> Okay. I appreciate the question. I don't
think now is the time. I think we all
need more time to dis to discuss this,
ask questions, and do more research.
>> Alderman Evans, thank you for your
input. Alman Garza.
>> Uh, yeah. I'm coming from a little bit
of a different angle on this. Um, I was
here in 2003 and I saw that there was
nothing really done and it's so easy to
kick the can down the road. I'm not
saying anything about this letter of
intent. I'm saying it's time if we're
going to do something to get off our
butts and do it. And I'm not saying it's
going to be fast, but uh it's so easy to
keep postponing and we'll work on this
and we'll change that, we'll do this and that's not leadership, right? We got
to get on top of this thing and find the
right partners
that are going to do right by the city
and themselves, too. They're here to
make a profit. I don't know what that
is. That could be many different
options. And maybe these this uh refusal
proposal uh will bring more people out
of the woodwork and and look at it. But
I want to I want to go on record. I'm
not supporting this tonight, this
resolution, just so you know. But I want
to go on record as it's time to do
something. It's easy to do nothing.
That's all I got. Mayor Alman Garza.
Thank you. Alderman Robertson,
>> who who here would represent the
preservation society if I have a
question to them?
» Um
[sighs]
Tom, would you want to do it?
>> I I don't know that I can answer all the
questions. I defer a lot to Mark, but
>> Okay. I think between two or three of us
>> I I guess all the the the basic question
is where does the preservation committee
uh stand as far as trying to get money
to help restore the house?
>> Mark has information on this that I
don't have.
>> Well, we do have several board members
who are very active in grant seeking and
uh they've turned over every um stone,
lots of them. If you would like a
summary, I don't think this is
necessarily the time to do this. Again,
as we're reading this particular um uh
resolution, I would be happy to share
that stuff with you. You can go to
bradford.org if you'd like to know any
more information about that. I believe
we've uh published our um minutes on
those too.
>> Okay. So, so we have applied for grants,
but none
>> No, we have not applied for grants. We
are seeking
>> Okay.
>> the process. We've only been uh actively
seeking for about a month.
>> Okay. So,
>> and I know Alderman Burgdorf, you've
worked hard on this project. I've seen
you at a lot of events, you know, with
your poster and your handout cards. So,
all right. As we move forward, and I
like what re what Alderman Collins is
suggesting, a new RFP,
but let me ask you, mayor, uh, and I
apologize for my lack of knowledge on
this. is parcel E. Does the city own
parcel E on the map?
Is that part of the land that was given
to the city?
>> Parcel E.
>> I don't see a parcel
E.
>> Oh, it's not.
>> So, the one that says city owned, is
that parcel E?
>> That's my question.
>> You have to scroll down on this map.
>> It's on our page.
>> Jason, you scroll down a little bit.
>> Uh, there we go. Yes. So, um, parcel E
is also ours. Um, it is the back 10
acres and it includes part of the
parking lot for Aladdin
>> and and no restrictions on that land.
Correct.
>> I wouldn't say no, but it's pretty close
to none. And we have to thank Jesse for
that.
>> Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely.
>> Great. So, what I would like to see uh
on an RFP, just so that at least two of
the interested parties are here,
>> is I'm not really interested in uh
giving up any of the city- owned land
where the property where the home is,
but if we could possibly use some of the
land in that's identified in parcel E
for this purpose of the food trucks
um and and uh and and then [cough] the
restoration but but not affect the land
if if that's a possibility. Do does the
city have any plans for partial E?
Jay, have you heard any
So we the city has no plans. I would
have brought those to you. Jay has had
some conversation with some folks. Do
you want to share those or should I just
leave it at that?
>> Okay.
Well, that to me that that that's
a possibility is for is for the the the
city to to provide this land for the for
these food trucks in parcel E. And part
of that is to restore the house. But I
and I'm also opposed to to giving any
part of the ownership of that house to to an outside private entity. I would
like for that to to be maintained by the
city and then at the appropriate time as
you mentioned uh deed over to the
preservation society. So those are just
two of my wishes as the RFPs
look at proposals. Thank you Robertson.
Thank you. I do feel like we this is
suspicion of mine Jay. Is the back
portion significantly more valuable than
the front portion?
Okay. Okay. Just to let y'all know that.
But I appreciate that input and that's
certainly something that we should
entertain.
>> Uh, Alderman Evans,
>> going off of what Alderman Robertson was
just saying. I'd like to hear as a part
of the whole um discussion to hear from
Director Ritterbach about, you know,
what might be used or what's being
proposed in that section E. I think that
makes a difference
>> uh as far as what we might be looking at
in the future here.
>> Can we do that in a month?
>> I I don't know. Yeah, in a month. Yeah.
When whenever we look at everything, I
think just having a book big picture of
everything and what we're looking at
would be helpful.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> I think you're right. Thank you,
Alderman Collins. Alman Collins.
>> Um just a clarification for Mr. Renbach.
Is it more valuable because it's 10
acres or is it more valuable per acre?
>> Is it significant? So, um, go ahead,
Jay. You're not really prepared for
this, but and don't answer anything that
[laughter]
you you can't back up, please.
>> I believe it would be more significant
because there it's it's a green space or
it's it's it's not developed with a
house in the middle of it. So, it's
basically a blank canvas. Um, and it is larger. Um, and the way that you
can access that potentially from
multiple directions make make its
potential much more than the Bradford
Berry House.
>> Alman Collins, anything else?
>> Uh, no. It sounds like we have a really
good bargaining chip with that 10 acres,
so we might be able to really milk it.
>> Alderman Collins, thank you. Alman
Skidmore.
>> Thank you, Mayor. I I just want to say a
couple of things, but I'm I'm not going
to go into detail on what I what I
really want to say because I don't think
it's appropriate to do it this evening.
Um, a lot of this I, you know, and I'm
going to remind the board and I know
they know this because this happens
every time when we wave the rule.
Sometimes I don't have a problem with
it. tonight. I do have a problem with it
because this really, honest to God, is a
serious issue that is coming before the
city on a historical level. I mean, this
is probably the last home that the city
uh right now is responsible for. Um, and
I cannot and I will and I'll say this
anywhere. So, that's why I'm saying this
publicly. I appreciate uh Mayor Clary
years ago stepping up as he did when he
and I helped with u actually I'm just
you know I'm not going to be what was that in the old days? I think
Al Gore said that he was the he created
the web or whatever.
>> He invented the internet.
>> I'm not going to say that we saved the Bradford Berry House. I'm not going
to say that. But I by the actions that
were taken by that board at that time, I
think that I think it was the the house
was saved. Um, and I am and I'm forever
grateful to that, Jamie. I'm very
forever grateful for that. Um, that that
showed a lot of foresight. And so now
when I I'm like everybody else in the
here tonight and on TV is when I go by I
see Jim and Nicks and Chick-fil-A and
Starbucks, you know, whether I like them
or I I love Jim and Nicks and I love
Chick-fil-A and I love Starbucks,
but uh you know, I still look and I see
the the Bradford Berry House, you know,
and and it it bothers me to see the
condition that it is. But we've got a
unique opportunity to here to to try to
advance and make that place back to what
it was and be proud of it. I'm still pr
I know it's dilapidated looking now, but
I'm still proud of that. Uh, not only am
I proud of the house, but for the people
that lived in that house back in our the
history of Hendersonville. I'm proud of
those people. Um, and the things that
they went through. And if you really
think about that, um,
that's what we should be looking at. Um,
I want to look at that. And I'm sort of
perplexed about I do want and I'll
finish Jamie on this, but there's a lot
of things that I want to say that h that
happened uh that I'm not going to say
because of one thing. When I when I step
in when I walk in that hallway and I
come in, I'm an alderman. I'm not Mark
Skidmore. And I'm Mark Skidmore, but I'm
not Mark Skidmore, the citizen. I
represent the city of Hendersonville,
but more importantly, Ward One and the
city. So, my personal feelings sometimes
have to be set aside and I won't comment
on it. uh unless I say there, you know,
I might have an interest or something,
not on this property, but
if something comes on that that I've got
a conflict, I'll say something about it
then because I think the people of
Hendersonville deserve to know that
because I've represented them for a
while, which I'm grateful for. Um, but I
think this is this this whole thing that
we're talking about tonight is exactly
why we wanted to defer it
uh this evening to allow the whole board
of alderman
uh to review what has transpired. And I
know that we've talked about what the
mayor has said and and and there are
some things that I agree with him on,
but there's some things that I don't
agree that I think we need to wait, you
know, we need to step back. And I still
think we need to step back. Um, and I
don't think a month is is is not unre
it's not unreasonable. I think it's very
reasonable to allow the Bradford uh
Berry Preservation Society to look at
because I will tell you this in closing.
Um, I'm not sure they've they they've
been in existence in a month and to
raise money within and I'm going to tell
you to raise money and you all know
this. Gosh, all the the people that have
been involved in schools and raising
money for PTO, it takes more than a
month sometimes to raise money. I mean
they plan in in my ward for example when
we plan like a book fair
for our schools man we've been planning
that a year you know I'm and I'm being
realistic about this I'm I'm not you
know making a joke out of it because it
is important just like the book the book
fair is or like when they have uh things
for the kids to do outside the you know
the summer in the fall festivals and
things, you can go ask those teachers.
You can ask school administration and
they're planning that a year before it
ever happens.
Well, this is the kind of thing that I
want to do to the Bradford Berry. I want
to plan something
and make sure people get involved in it
and have knowledge of it because like I
think a gentleman said about it, you can
go I could probably go right up the
street off of Rivier Riviera and ask
them who the Brad where the Bradford
Berry House and they go, "What are you
talking about?" Well, it's a historical
house. Okay. Well, that's great. That's
I'm glad we've got something, you know,
some history in town because we don't
have very much of it left. But where is
it? Because people just don't know.
They've got their own lives to live. My
god. You know, they're making a living.
They're driving to Nashville and back.
They've got children going to the park.
So, it is up to not only the city, but
the Bradford Berry Preservation Society
to engage and educate the people of
Hendersonville. And I don't see a
problem with that. I really don't. But
what I do see a problem is is when the
Bradford Berry Preservation Society, for
example,
um goes to these heavy hitters that have
the money to donate to the city and to
their society.
But we're sitting up here arguing about
this. They want to see someone or some
organization, whether it be uh the city
of Hendersonville or the Bradford Berry
Preservation Society, they want to see
us working together and we're all in on
this because they're not going to give
money to people when they're saying,
"Well, gosh, well, damn. They're they're
up there arguing about what they want to
do with the house.
Would
you give money to that? I wouldn't. I
mean, I Preservation Society, I would
because I know what they're doing. City
Hendersonville. Yeah, I would because I
know what they're doing. But when we get
up here and argue about it, we should be
united.
Figure out what we've got to do. And if
I'm on the losing side, that's fine
because I want to save that house. And I
think every member of the board of
alderman want to save that house. And I
think the city of Hendersonville, its
people, which I represent as not only as
a ward alderman in ward one, but also
the city, I think they want to save it,
too. I really do believe that because,
you know, it's the greatest thing in the
world being living in America and living
in Hendersonville.
We're, you know, you you look at where
we came from. We're all a bunch of um
>> muts I guess, is the word. And we
really are. And uh we came from England
and and other foreign countries. They we
were kicked out and we came to this
country
and then we fought for our own
independence because we believed in a
better for people, not just for a
country. But you all know this, for a
better society to live and to raise your
children and to and to to go to church
where you wanted to go to church
and the Bradford Berry House is a living
legacy of that people.
It was given to the man who lived there
from the American Revolution.
I'm going to get off my soapbox,
but I but I want you to understand the
importance of what that house is.
It's more important and and I hate to
say this, but it's the truth. It's more
important than the halfway house that
burned down. That's a living legacy if
you really truly think about it.
came from the American Revolution.
A guy who fought for the freedoms that
we have for today, that we still have
the freedoms in this country because of
what he did and I appreciate that.
and I know you do too.
I know all of you do. Thank you, mayor.
>> Thank you, Alderman. Good morning. That
is exactly this kind of input and this
kind of discussion is exactly what I was
hoping for. That's why I pushed this to
have on the agenda tonight. Um, and
appreciate that discussion. I think it's
very very helpful. Uh, and I will
withdraw this uh at this time since I am
the only sponsor of it. Um, and uh, and
uh, uh, we'll give you some information
for now and our next meeting which is in
uh, which is in I think right up four
weeks. We don't meet in two weeks. So,
we're going to move. Thank you all for
the discussion and for the input. Um,
uh, next we have resolution 2026-30.
This is a resolution authorizing the
creation and placement of the Bronze
Legends Plaza at Memorial Park.
Authorizing Hendersonville Arts Council
to coordinate the project and
authorizing acceptance of donation
funding. Alderman Collins.
» So we have a motion from Alderman
Collins and a second from Alderman
Robertson. Am I correct? Okay. Um any
discussion on that?
Uh hold on here. Alderman Collins. Um,
respectfully, I request that we wave the
rules and hear from the members of the
arts council who are here to make a very
informal and brief presentation on the
sculpture project.
>> Is that just Renee?
>> Um,
to be
>> Okay, [laughter]
>> I'll let Renee
I'll introduce Renee Shepard is the
chairman of the arts council and then
I'll allow her to introduce the members
present.
>> Without objection, we're going to hear
from these three representing the arts
council. Thank you. Go ahead. Hello
there again, Renee Shepard from the Arts
Council. And with me tonight, I have
Jamila Log with the Arts Council and
Bill Clifford um also with the Arts
Council. Bill is going to talk a little
bit about um what we're thinking and
what we envision for this um briefly.
So,
» thank you all for having us here
tonight. Uh I really enjoyed hearing all
the passion about the Bradford Berry
House. Um we're kind of here for a
similar reason tonight. More recent
history, but important history just the
same. Um we've been working now for the
past three years. We've been working on
an arts festival and uh we've c another
we've started on another project where
we're interested in creating a um
four figure bronze statue
uh capturing the likenesses of four of
Hendersonville's most legendary u
musical residents. So, we've got Johnny
and June Cash, Carter Cash, excuse me,
and Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty. And
what we'd like to do is continue to
explore
um
looking to have that us fourperson
life-size sculptures installed in the uh
in Memorial Park right around the
uh affectionately called Donut Area
right near Kids Kingdom um by the water.
uh that would be would [clears throat]
have a base in the style of the uh water
fountain that we have there in the front
where the Christmas tree goes up each
year. And um so far we've reached out to
five different sculptors uh some from
Nashville and some from around the
country who specialize in doing bronze
casts uh with good likenesses of the
musicians. um informally we've created
some images that we can show uh if
you're interested about what we're
envisioning for how the sculpture would
look. But uh we we'd like your blessing
to continue looking and and exploring
and trying to uh more formally start
moving forward with the project.
>> Alman Collins, did you have something
for now or you want to let him go ahead?
Um,
are you
Yeah. Um, I think you're finished. Yes.
And so I just wanted to sound like I
meant
>> It's been a long time since I've talked
in public. [laughter] So I appreciate
you all your patience.
>> Um, I just wanted to say that um I'm
really excited about this project. When
I became an alderman five almost six
years ago now, I was told that
politicians had pet projects. I'm super
excited to have one for myself now. Um,
and I think this is going to be lovely.
I want to point out that um in W 5, we
get a lot of people coming to the cash
home and to um what's now the realtor's
office Halo Properties even and to the
extent that the city had to put in a
little con um pavement pad for people to
turn around on Codell because they were
coming to the cash home and disrupting
the school traffic. [laughter]
Um, and people also of course visit the
grave site.
And so this is another stop that they
can make which would hopefully pull them
in to where they could go to some of our
local restaurants that are on that side
of town. So I like it from that
perspective. And um I want to point out
that
the arts council is not asking for
funding at this time. So, but by
sanctioning this, it will allow the arts
council to be able to ask for the
community to contribute the money um
that's required [clears throat] for
this. So, this is not a financial ask.
This is a blessing for the project to
proceed. Thank you,
>> Alman Collins. Thank you. Um Alderman
Evans,
>> yeah, I was just I was just going to ask
a question around the the financial part
of that. is that what's the um what's
the plan around that? I know the thought
is probably to raise the funds, but once
you get into this, what is going to be
the thought if you don't raise enough
money, you know, what's what's the plan?
Are you going to stop or are you going
to ask the city then to kind of upfront
or give the the rest of it? What's the
plan there?
>> I think we're really in preliminary
stages. Okay. first of all. So, so we
don't really have a plan that's that um
specific. Um we would expect to to ask
for donations and get donations for um
for this purpose. I will say that we
we've got um we've got some interest
already. It's not confirmed. Again, as
Rachel said, we just need you all to
sanction the project so that we can move
forward and get more specific with that.
Okay? because if you all are interested
in this and you think it's a viable
something to do for the city, that helps
us um to be able to have those
conversations.
>> Well, I appreciate that and I'm I'm
interested in it, but from the fiscal
side of things, too, I'm also concerned
about
>> committing to anything else. Um
especially because when you look at
this, you're talking about upwards of
$700,000 or more. So, I'm concerned
about that. So, hopefully we will be
able to raise the funds and get this
done. And I also want to say having it
at the location of the the donut there,
I think it's a great location to have
that.
>> It's because you can see it from
everywhere right as you drive by. Um it
also brings some complication. So I I
think one of the first steps we
[clears throat] would need to do is
create a specific project plan. Okay.
>> Um initially we've just done some
research to say what would this cost?
What would it look like? Because we
didn't have any idea. And what's the
process? what does it look like to um
commission a bronze statue? Um so so
we've kind of done some of that
research. Um I understand we'd have to
work with the core maybe in that area
for that, you know, for that site.
[clears throat] So there's still a lot
of work to do and what comes first and
what comes second, we have to figure all
that out.
>> Thank you so much,
>> Alderman Evans. Thank you, Alderman
Sassy.
>> Uh thank you, Mayor. Um I would just
want to echo a lot of what uh Alderman
Evans was saying. This is a very
exciting project. Um, I'm I'm fully
support this, but the first thing that
came to my mind was uh potential safety.
And I just I'm only mentioning this so
you're looking into this when you're
talking to these sculptors and such.
>> Um, but I've I've visited other bronze
statues and they can get pretty hot,
especially when they're got direct
sunlight in that area. It's going to get
direct sunlight um quite a bit of it.
And as we all know, it gets hot around
here. 90 degree weather, it can get up
to 190 degrees on a bronze statue. So,
just keeping that in mind as you're
researching it. Maybe there's an alloy.
I don't know. I'm not not an expert at
it at all, but just wanted to uh make
you aware of that and and hopefully we
can find something that will be cooler
to the touch maybe uh because we do have
kids playing in that area. So, just
something to think about.
>> Okay. Thank you, woman. Sassy. Thank
you, Renee. Thank you. appreciate you
all working on this your initiative on
it.
>> Thank you.
» Any other comments?
All those in favor of resolution
2026-30, please say I.
>> I.
>> Those opposed, please say no. That
passes unanimously. Thank you all. Uh
other agenda items, we'll move down to
reports. Uh brief committee reports.
General committee. Uh Chairman Garza,
>> I will try to be brief. It was pretty
long tonight.
Uh we had resolution 2026 u on a public
hearing for the uh 1765 Avent Lane. Uh
we approved that to go to Bulma. Uh
resolution 202627 also related to this
as to annex certain territories upon
written consider the owners and
incorporate said property into the same
one 1765 Abbott Lane. That also went to
Bulma approved. And then uh the
ordinance 20269 and ordinance reszoning
approximately almost 33 acres of
property at again 1765 Abbott Lane also
was approved to go to Bulma. [cough]
Then we moved on to ordinance 202610 is
an ordinance adopt revisions to the
zoning ordinance for the city of
Hendersonville. Uh that's going to go
through the city also approved to go to
Bulma. uh ordinance 202611
amending the Hendersonville mis miscode
title one uh video recording for the
nonprofit contributions uh committee and
that's been also approved to go to
Bulma. We had a reading of ordinance
202612
uh it's amending the municipal code here
uh title 12 chapter 2 relative to the
amendments to the revised edition of
international residential code uh also
approved to go to Bulma. Uh, this next
one is the only negative one we had for
the evening. It's the reading of
resolution 202628 approving the letter
of intent. Here we are again with the
city of Hersville and Lanny sport
properties spot property, excuse me,
regarding the proposed lease and future
conveyance of the Bradford Berry House.
We did send it with a negative
recommendation and of course tonight
it's been pulled to a later date. So
that was the purpose of that so we can
start and continue the conversations
with that issue. A reading of resolution
202631
declaring certain real [snorts] city
property to the surplus property excuse me and approving lease
agreements with Pope John Paul 2. Uh
also um a positive recommendation of
Bulma and the reading of resolution 2026
29 a resolution amended the city
employee innovation to more of an
employee recognition program also
approved to go to Bulma. And the last
one which we just spoke about was
resolution 2026-30.
That's a resolution authorizing the
placement of the bronze legend plaza at
Memorial Park. And that was our report
for general committee.
>> Appreciate that, Chairman Garza. Uh
Chairman Goodwin, public safety.
>> We had a brief committee meeting. We
discussed the resolution for the park.
Sent that on to Bulma with a positive
recommendation and had a brief
discussion on Stark Knob Boat Ramp that
we are going to monitor and watch. That
concludes my report.
>> Uh, thank you very much, Chairman
Goodwin. Timothy Whitten, I assume that
the only reason you are here this late
is to provide our planning commission
report.
» Good evening. Uh, Timothy Whitten,
assistant planning director, standing in
for Keith Free, planning director
standing in for Michael Martin for W 2.
Uh so the uh planning commission um
report for their meeting Tuesday, August
the 4th. Uh they took the following
action on the consent agenda. They
approved Forest Park phase 1 amenity
center site plan, uh Imperial Point
building a site plan, Milstone phase 7
section two final plat and Pope John
Paul the second edition phase one site
plan. And then they approved a wall
mural for deck tai which is a new
restaurant coming to the west main
street area. Uh and then um they moved
the following items forward to general
committee and and the board of mayor and
alderman. The uh annexation and plan of
services for Avlyn as well as well as
the uh combined development plan for
Avlyn and then they also recommended the
uh batch of zoning ordinance revisions
as well.
>> Any questions for Timothy? Thank you,
Timothy.
>> Oh, I'm sorry.
>> Alderman Garza.
>> Sorry. So, you approved the mural for
Detai?
>> Yes, sir.
>> And can they open yet?
>> Uh, I believe um
there's no hold up on our end. Not sure
I'm not sure what their what status
their building permit is in
>> or their UNO. I can check on that for
you and let you know.
>> Yeah, I just I once again I want to be
very It was rumored, but I heard rumor
that one of the reasons they they were
not open yet is because they were having
too much obstruction from the city.
>> I'm not saying that's true. I'm just
saying.
>> Yeah, I'm not aware of that
>> because they've been ready to go now for
about 3 weeks.
>> If anybody obstructing it would be that
guy right there and he said he's not
aware of it. So,
>> no, I understand. I'm just saying what
you know my calls come in going when's
it going to open? And they heard this
and I'm saying it's true, but
>> by any means, but we need to get them
open.
>> They got a big investment in that place.
>> Thank you, Alman Gar. Thank you.
>> I I do hear the same thing about Rio
Bravo and I know Rio Bravo there's no
hold up on our end. Um they they've
gotten all their approvals that they
need through planning. So
>> it's helpful. Thank you.
>> Um uh Alman Evans, I'm sorry. Did you
have a question for
>> Yes, I do have a quick question. I
wanted a clarification on when you
talked about Alyn or Avalon or whatever
it's called. Can you share with us all
was that a unanimous approval on all all
those
>> on annexation?
Uh, let me see. I'm not sure.
>> I believe if I'm not right, I think it
was a unanimous on all of those.
>> I believe it was zero.
>> I just wanted to make sure everybody
knew that.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Timothy. Thank
you, Alderman Evans. Um, Vice Mayor
Skidmore,
>> can you come on down here, please? Um,
I've had bronchitis for about two weeks
and, um, I'm running a fever right now,
and so I'm going to go lie down and, uh,
let you be led by our vice mayor for the
last two items. Thank you, Mark. Yes.
Thank you. Now that the mayor's gone,
we're going to do things our way. And
so, no, seriously, I I hope he is
getting bronchitis is a rough thing, and
I hope he starts to feeling better. And
I just have hope that the
our city attorney, Lance Ray, if I screw
up that he'll be able to help me along
the way. But I I feel
>> a lot longer.
>> Yeah. [laughter]
I don't know. Doesn't matter how long
you've been doing it. It just takes one
time to mess up. But anyway, so uh we
are now on to the review of the employee
pay and benefit report. And Josh, um I
think you're here to give us a
presentation on that. Is that
I mean the Bulma report.
>> Oh, is it a Bulma report? Oh, okay.
Well, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm sorry.
Thank you. Um, are you ready for the
>> Yeah, it's it's Yeah, go ahead with the
Bulma report.
>> I don't feel that well either. So, if
you want to go right to your employer,
[laughter] that's
>> all right. [snorts]
>> Uh, so this report is wrapping up um
some of the fiscal year 26 and it opens
up some of the fiscal year 27. Our
financial information we get from the
state on revenue is always a month
behind. Um so this report will go
between two fiscal years. Our next
report will all just be fiscal year 27.
Just remember we get revenue a month
behind because we get that information
from the state. So this report starts on
page 29 of your packet. Uh probably one
of the most important things that we're
seeing is that local sales tax or that
sales tax is up uh local sales tax is up
4.1%. Our interest earnings are down a
little bit from last year.
And now if most of you follow the Fed,
you'll see that there may be actually a
chance for that rate to increase rather
than decrease. So that is good for our
interest earnings. It's not good if we
want to borrow money. Um so our interest
that we expected to get this year may
actually be higher than expected is um
it's likely that there could be actually
a raise of interest rates.
Um, when we look at sales tax combined
with revenue from permit fees, that's
actually down uh 1.3% from uh year-to-
date 25 to 26 and that's uh mostly just
due to the permit revenue being down.
General fund expenditures are slightly
up. Um we haven't finished all the
acrruals for year end. So we have to uh
book the acrals back. So that's still
happening. So the general fund operating
expenditures are an estimate at this
point until we finish the uh year end
acrruels which we will probably finish
in September.
If you go to page 31 and 32, this is
reporting on our PIP fund. Um we've
tried to do everything we can to be as
transparent as possible with this fund.
There's really no surprises.
Um some of these uh uses of funds are
more than we budgeted for the current
year and that's because we carried over
some POS from the prior year where we
actually spent them in this year.
If we go to page 33, you'll see that uh
fire calls are up a bit, police calls
are down a bit. Um really nothing out of
the ordinary when we look for uh calls
for service for both uh public safety
departments. Uh page 35 shows our
residential and commercial permit
activity. Uh that's pretty much within
the range of what we'd expect. Uh
residential residential inspections are
below previous year's numbers. Uh but
the activity uh is kind of within the
range that we've had the last couple
years.
We can go to page 37. This is going to
be something that's going to be kind of
neat. And if you would put this on the
screen, Jason, I gave you two slides
that you could put on the screen. Uh I
don't mind which one you put up first.
Okay. The landing ship tank LST 325 is
coming to Sanders Ferry Park September
23rd and 29th. This is going to be open
for tours. So, I understand this is the
oldest operating World War II LST ship.
Um, and they're going to be docked right
at Saunders Ferry. So, when this comes
next month, uh, it's $20 admission to
walk through it. Uh, for kids, it's $10
and then five and under is free. So,
this is a pretty neat opportunity where
this ship is going to be right at
Sanders Fair and you can you can do a
tour of it. So, on the weekends, I've
been told there can be a line to get in.
uh you can buy tickets there or you can
buy them ahead of time. We'll still have
one more time to announce this before
it's here, but that's something to put
on your calendar. That should be pretty
neat. And then if you'd pull up the next
slide, this is the food truck festival
that's actually happening this Saturday,
August 15th, from 4 to 8 at Veterans
Park. Bring your canned goods there. It
supports Feed Sumner. So, if you're
going to attend, please bring your
canned goods. And that really highlights
the events that are on page 37.
Uh page 38 shows storm water projects
and paving. Uh storm water projects are
off to a really good start. We've
completed 10 of the 23 we budgeted for
the year. Paving is supposed to start at
the end of August. So we'll start to see
those numbers in the future reports. I
think August 24th is the start date that
they gave us. Um
right away really no change there. And
then when we look at page 39 uh
vacancies for fire are zero and PD
vacancies are at four. So really low for
both of those departments.
That concludes my report, sir.
>> Thank you very much this evening.
Appreciate that. Does anybody have any
questions from the board uh
for Jesse at all on the report?
All right. Hearing none, we'll go ahead
and move on to the review of the
employee pay and benefit report. And
Josh, I think you're going to give us a
little Jason rather. What did I say?
Josh boy, I'm batting a thousand
tonight, right?
>> I've been called.
>> Yeah, you look like a Josh.
>> I appreciate it.
>> Thank you. [laughter] I appreciate it.
>> Anyway, uh so if you'd uh give us our
report, thank you. We sure would
appreciate it. Thank you.
>> Yes, sir. Happy to do that. Yes, sir.
>> Um so this is really just a report out
of where we are at with the pay and
benefit study. Um tonight, I'm not
trying to make any decisions or do any
of that. This is just simply to report
out the information and then let you
kind of mull it over. You know, if you
feel like there need to be changes or
things we want to address, maybe looking
toward midyear budget or the next fiscal
year, I'll let you all determine that.
Um, but really, it's just designed to
give information, let you kind of look
it over. Um, I won't go through both
reports. Both are in your packets. You
have both the finalized pay study as
well as the benefit study. Um,
let's see. So on specialty pay, I just
want to hit a couple quick things here.
The purpose of specialty pay and why we
do that is it's to compensate employees
who have a specific skill set. So what
we're trying to do is if somebody has
specialized training, we recognize them
for that. I will say that as they did
this study, specifically within fire,
there were areas that not all agencies
did. So they had to kind of group them
together. As I go through this, you'll
see that there's some gaps. There's an
asterk there and that asterk is they had
to kind of put an average to everything
because not everybody provides that.
It'll make sense but the examples they
give combine dive team rope rescue fire
service communications right those are
in some areas very specialized and other
agencies they combine them all into one.
So just as we go through this there's
not an exact science not everybody
offers the same exact pay benefits.
So let's talk about shift differentials
really quick. Um,
just a high level, shift differentials
are exactly what that sounds like. It is
paying people additional money for
working specific shifts. If you work a
later shift, um, or midnight shift,
that's that second and third shift, then
we're going to give them additional
money. The rotating shift would be they
have a variety of times they could get
called in. Just to point out that there
is no participate participating
employers that Burus Thompson had that
did rotating shifts. we were the only
one. Um the others out of all the
employers they surveyed only 37% offered
it. So I just want to put that in
context. That's the graph below. That
means that 63% of the employers don't
offer differentials.
So when we start looking at what's the
65th percentile, it's only the 65th
percentile of that 37%. In other words,
it's the top oneird of one-third.
if that makes sense to you. Um, you do
have a total survey median which is all
of the people who reported out and then
trying to grab that top third. So, where
we stand, we are low in that. I'm not
going to sit here and tell you that
we're good. In comparison, we're low.
That might be something that we need to
address. Um, I was chatting with someone
earlier and the differentials haven't
been changed since they were implemented
and I believe that was back in the 80s.
So, they've served their purpose, but I
think it's time to readress them. Um,
others, you have the AMT, which is
advanced EMT. We do not offer that uh
with our firefighters. Um, but other
agencies do, so we put that out there.
You'll see the airpack and the dive
team. Uh, while they have kind of an
asterisk with annual amounts, remember
those are the ones that we had to group
together because we're one of the few
that offer that. In other words, only
10% of employers that they surveyed
offered the airpack or the dive team. Uh
you have EMT. One of the things worth
noting with EMT is while it's only 13%,
other agencies combine it. So in certain
areas, I know that they will combine it
with a firefighter and it's baked into
their base pay. So it's not an add-on
like we do. It's just done differently.
The other is the FTO program. um with
our FTO program, if someone serves in a
training capacity at the fire, uh at the
police department, they will um get an
hour overtime. So, what this calculation
annually shows is that it is 5 hours of
overtime a week for 12 months. Now,
that's being very generous talking with
Chief Jones about this. Average realist
realistically, maybe six months out of
the year they're training. So you could
cut that number from 11 250 to about
5,500 and that still puts us ahead of
the curve.
Some others here we have the heat pay or
swap pay. Um again only 23 um% actually
provide that but when you compare our
rates to others we are low in that one.
Uh hazmat as well only about 10%.
And again with insufficient data that
just means they didn't have
statistically enough people to give you
that number. Um but you can look at and
show that ours is a little lower. K9 is
the same. Now one of the things that's
not explained in K9 is there are some uh
agencies that will pay for food. Others
that require that employee to here's
your budget and that includes food for
the animal. So, those are things that
are nuanced but aren't represented in
the numbers that you see that you see
here. Uh, motorcycle and mounted. This
one was interesting. We are only one of
two agencies that offer it. That's it.
So, when we start looking at it, there's
not many that actually offer that.
» Sorry, let me back up.
» What are the other Thank you. Thank you,
mayor. Vice Mayor, appreciate it. Uh
what are the other agencies? You said
there were only two that
>> so it's us and I believe it was Severe
County.
>> Severe County Pigeon Forge.
>> Yeah.
>> Are okay. All right. Thank you.
>> So the Burst Thompson survey goes all of
Tennessee, not just middle Tennessee.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh negotiator pay again only 10% offer
it, but again ours is low in comparison.
On call is probably one of the is
actually the highest that's in the
report. And I want to point that out
because 50% of the agencies have it. Um,
ours annualized is $420.
The average was 3,600 a year. So that
might be something that impacts all
departments, our public works
department, parks department, um,
police, uh, in some cases even fire.
Areas that do have on call, that might
be one that addresses that we address
that helps all employees who have on
call. uh paramedic. Again, similar to
the EMT, not all agencies provide this
and the ones that do, some of them bake
it in, so they're not represented on
this. And then the scuba inner spir um
that's specific to fire. And again, only
about 10%, but again, that falls into
all those unique ones that the fire area
has. Um others don't. One that I know
has been a topic of conversation for the
board over the years uh has been eay or
education pay. So the way that ours
stands versus others only about 20% of
employers offer this. You can see kind
of the up and down between them all. But
even with all of the survey results, our
pay for education pay comes in higher
than most of all those other employers.
We're above the 65th percentile there.
All right. on the benefits program. Uh
just a couple things to highlight here
real quick. I'm going to summarize this
uh the best that I can. So each area had
a a possible score of nine. So that's
where that green bar at the top. Our
overall score was six. Our top areas
were short-term disability. We were um
tagged as having one of the most
generous plans for employees who have to
take time off whether it's for you know
um a surgery or some other medical
reason. Uh and it is employer paid. So
our short-term and long-term disability
are fully employer paid paid by the
city. Uh retirement our TCRS no surprise
is one of the most generous. Um it's a
what I will say the quote there is is a
strong traditional public sector
retirement. So when you look at
benefits, you know, from a public sector
standpoint, this falls squarely in that.
The other one is life and accidental
death and dismemberment. Um, our basic
life insurance that we provide, that
basic life insurance is more than what
other agencies are providing. Plus, our
AD and D benefit was listed as one of
the most generous. Some of the others on
the other side of this, our sick leave
acrruel which is down at the bottom
toward and gets a rating of five is
considered consistent with all other
public sectors. Our dental is generally
comparable but there is above average
for basic services and then below
average on annual maximums and
orthodontia. So it becomes a balance.
And then the last one which may surprise
some people are paid holidays. we rated
lower on. Um so that is the lowest
category. This is predominantly because
the city is not closed on additional
holidays. So there are a few holidays
that others recognize that we do not.
And so um you know that would be a
choice if we wanted to add those
additional holidays or how we want to
approach that.
But overall again this is just to report
out where we're at. The rest of the pay
study this has all been complete. The
remaining part of the pay study is doing
the job descriptions. So, we've uh got
two departments done and we're working
through several others. So, that
concludes my report.
» Does anyone have any questions?
>> Eddie. Yes. Hold on. Let me get over
there to you, brother.
>> Sheet that you had.
>> Sure.
>> Jason, can you pull that PowerPoint back
up? Thank you. Yeah. In in the
retirement, I read this. It's on page
76.
>> I I don't unless I missed it, I don't
see that we looked at any kind of uh of what some of our public safety
employees are requesting, you know, the
early retirement benefit. uh it it's not
included in in the discussion of
retirement, but did do we know of the
peer group how many offer some kind of
early retirement?
So, no, off the top I do not. I can ask
the consultant for that information.
I can say offhand I only know of a
handful of agencies around us that offer
it.
>> Okay. But overall we we received I think
it said that is is
uh among the most generous
>> u than the typical public se public
sector benchmarks in retirement because
we don't require it's a non-contributo
>> that's correct
>> uh benefit.
>> Okay. Thank you. That's all.
» [snorts]
» Director Gallow, you did identify a few
areas that we were not super strong in
shift differential on call
>> paid holidays. Um
do you intend m perhaps for the next
fiscal year to propose changes in those
areas or
>> it's a good question. Yes, to some
extent, but there is the part that goes
with it which has been brought up in
other topics and that's the point of
funding. And so, while I can make the
recommendation to increase things, um
the bottom line is it does cost
additional money to do that.
So, yeah.
>> Yeah, it it's not for this year.
>> Yeah, [laughter]
understood.
>> It'd be nice to know. Um,
I mean, I don't know
what the impact of bringing us up a
little bit in shift differential would
be because I don't really have a grasp
for how often that's utilized or the on
call pay like that might be something
that's not really utilized that much.
So, it might not be a huge impact to the
budget and we could be more competitive.
And
>> so just so you know for context,
employees with on call pay have it paid
as a monthly stipen regardless of if
they get called in or not.
>> Okay.
>> Well, I'd like to learn more about the
kind of the detailed and the nuances for
next year.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes.
» Motion to adjurnn.
Second
proper motion
>> and adjournment proper second on the
adjournment.
>> All in favor say I know I know.
>> All right. Thank you. All oppose. No.
I know. So the nos have it. So
everybody remain I'm not ready to go
home. No. It's ajourned. Thank you guys.
Appreciate that.
» [music]