[0:20] Good evening. This is August 11th, 2026.
[0:23] We are right at 7 p.m. and this is the
[0:25] meeting of the board me altoman for
[0:26] Hendersonville, Tennessee. We welcome
[0:28] you and appreciate you all being here
[0:29] and those who are watching us online or
[0:31] on TV. We're going to begin our meeting
[0:33] as we typically do and that's with a
[0:34] prayer and the pledge of allegiance. And
[0:36] tonight providing our prayer is Doug
[0:38] Skinner. He is the pastor of Vic Victory
[0:40] Baptist Church. He's a new pastor there,
[0:42] but the church has been involved in our
[0:44] community for a long long time and has
[0:46] been uh a very important part of our
[0:47] community. Pastor Skinner, we appreciate
[0:49] you being here and appreciate what
[0:50] you're doing for our community.
[0:51] >> Thank you.
[0:53] >> Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord
[0:55] for this good day of life. We thank you
[0:57] Lord for health and the opportunity to
[0:58] be here this evening. We thank you Lord
[1:00] for the wonderful country and nation
[1:02] that you've allowed us to be born in or
[1:05] to live in. We're grateful for the
[1:07] freedoms that we enjoy. We ask that you
[1:08] be with those that make decisions for us
[1:10] on a grand scale. Lord be with the our
[1:12] military, those that keep us safe and
[1:15] sacrifice a portion of their life to
[1:17] protect the liberties that that we have.
[1:20] We thank you to God for uh your son.
[1:23] Most of all without him there would be
[1:25] no hope for any of us. We're grateful
[1:26] for the death that he died at Calvary,
[1:28] the price of our sin that he paid to
[1:30] make a way for all men to have equal
[1:31] access to what we need most, forgiveness
[1:34] of sins, eternal life. We ask, oh God,
[1:36] that you would be with those that have
[1:38] less than we, those that are struggling,
[1:39] those that uh struggle with things
[1:42] perhaps we've never experienced.
[1:44] Specifically, Lord, we ask that you be
[1:46] with Keith Free's mother-in-law. Ask
[1:49] that you give wisdom to those, Lord,
[1:51] that are caring for her tonight. be with
[1:53] this meeting. Dear God, we pray for
[1:54] wisdom as well for those that will be
[1:56] taking part in leading our community.
[1:58] These blessings, favor, we ask in Jesus
[2:00] name for his precious name's sake. Amen.
[2:02] >> Amen. And again, thank you. That's
[2:04] Pastor Doug Skinner at Victory Baptist
[2:06] Church. Thank you so much. Please join
[2:08] me in the pledge of allegiance.
[2:12] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
[2:14] United States of America and to the
[2:17] republic for which it stands. One nation
[2:20] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:23] justice for all.
[2:25] >> Thank you all.
[2:33] » I'm going to entertain a motion that we
[2:35] accept the agenda. And keep in mind that
[2:36] all three items under ordinance and
[2:38] resolutions are waving our twoe rule. I
[2:40] will hope that you will allow that. I
[2:42] gave you an explanation by email of why
[2:44] those are important. Namely that we
[2:45] won't meet for a month. Um there is one
[2:47] item on there that I have told a couple
[2:49] aldermen and I need to do it publicly
[2:50] that um I anticipate that I will
[2:53] withdraw after some discussion and
[2:55] that's resolution 2026-26.
[2:57] We had a conversation in um uh in
[3:00] general committee uh and we we received
[3:03] a a great amount of input and that's
[3:05] what I'm hoping for uh tonight and so
[3:07] I'm hoping that y'all will allow that to
[3:08] be on the agenda. I need a motion,
[3:10] please.
[3:11] >> Oh, 2628, sorry.
[3:13] >> Okay. Um, I need a motion.
[3:15] >> We have a motion from Alderman Goodwin
[3:18] >> and a second from from Alderman Dixon.
[3:22] Any discussion?
[3:25] All those in favor of approving the
[3:26] agenda as it was prov.
[3:29] >> Sorry about that.
[3:29] >> Go ahead. I um I would like for us to
[3:32] not hear
[3:35] item number two, which is resolution
[3:37] 2026-28.
[3:40] Um because and I think this will
[3:43] probably come up in citizen comments,
[3:45] but um in the general committee, we
[3:47] learned that there's actually another B
[3:50] business entity that's interested in the
[3:52] exact same concept. And so
[3:57] we need to do a RFP rather than a a a
[4:03] letter of intent. In my opinion, u when
[4:06] you have competing
[4:09] businesses for the same goal,
[4:12] it's just more transparent if you do
[4:14] that as a request for proposal. So I I
[4:18] feel strongly that that's what we
[4:19] actually need to do and then there's no
[4:21] need to discuss it because we would
[4:23] issue an RFP and then they would submit
[4:26] their proposals both of them formally.
[4:30] >> So I move to
[4:33] >> table uh resolution
[4:37] 26 2026-28
[4:39] which is item two under ordinances and
[4:42] resolutions. So you could only make a
[4:44] motion to table the whole motion uh not
[4:46] just part of it. So you would need to
[4:47] amend that or you would need to request
[4:49] that we remove that u that item from the
[4:52] agenda.
[4:52] >> Okay. I
[4:53] >> Okay,
[4:54] >> that's fine. I request that we remove it
[4:56] from the agenda.
[4:57] >> Okay. So that would be that would be
[4:58] item number two. Okay.
[5:02] >> We have a second from Alderman Burgdorf.
[5:04] Okay. As I mentioned in uh general
[5:06] committee, I think the the input from
[5:08] our general committee was very
[5:09] worthwhile and I'd like to hear from you
[5:10] all tonight, but that needs to be on the
[5:12] agenda in order for us to hear from
[5:13] y'all. Uh any other discussion on this?
[5:15] Jason, you ready for us? Okay. All those
[5:17] in favor of removing item two from the
[5:19] agenda, press the green button. Those
[5:22] opposed to removing item number two,
[5:23] press the red button.
[5:30] We're missing Alman Goodwin.
[5:32] [clears throat]
[5:34] Okay, so that fails with a tie vote of
[5:36] six to six. So we're now back on the
[5:38] main motion and that is to accept the
[5:40] agenda that was provided to you. Any
[5:42] other discussion? Any other motions?
[5:45] All those in favor of approving the
[5:46] agenda as provided to you, please press
[5:48] the green button. Those opposed, press
[5:49] the red one.
[5:55] Okay, that passes 12 to zero. Um,
[5:57] appreciate that. Now we're on to uh
[5:59] presentations and um could I have the uh
[6:02] Cal Ripken 12 and under team just sort
[6:04] of line up right here just like we were
[6:06] just a second ago and it'd be wonderful
[6:08] if I can meet the coaches over here by
[6:09] the podium.
[6:13] [snorts]
[6:21] » So first I'm going to tell you a little
[6:22] bit about these guys and then I'm going
[6:23] to ask one of the coaches to uh to fill
[6:26] in some of the details. Um, let me read
[6:29] here real quickly. Whereas the Twitty
[6:31] City 12U baseball team has demonstrated
[6:33] exceptional athletic skill, teamwork,
[6:35] and sportsmanship throughout the 2026
[6:37] season, proudly representing the city of
[6:40] Hendersonville on the national stage.
[6:41] And whereas the team achieved an
[6:43] extraordinary milestone by winning the
[6:45] inaugural Cal Ripken 12-year National
[6:47] Championship, let me say that again,
[6:48] National Championship. Forever securing
[6:51] its place in youth baseball history as
[6:52] the first ever national champions of
[6:55] this prestigious tournament. And whereas
[6:57] the championship games were broadcast
[6:58] nationally on CBS Sports, providing
[7:00] Twitty City and Hendersonville with the
[7:02] opportunity to rep represent
[7:04] Hendersonville before audience across
[7:05] the country with excellence, integrity,
[7:07] and determination. And whereas through
[7:10] countless hours of practice, discipline,
[7:11] and teamwork, these players have
[7:13] inspired young athletes throughout our
[7:15] community by demonstrating that hard
[7:17] work, resilience, and a commitment to
[7:18] one another can lead to extraordinary
[7:20] success. Now therefore, I, Jamie Clary,
[7:23] mayor of the city of Hendersonville, do
[7:24] hereby recognize and congratulate the
[7:27] Twitty City 12-ear baseball team for
[7:29] winning the inaugural Cal Ripken 12-ear
[7:31] National Championship and commend the
[7:33] players, coaches, families, and
[7:34] supporters for this achievement and for
[7:36] representing our city with pride and
[7:38] distinction. Now, I want to introduce
[7:39] you to them. Uh, Sam England.
[7:42] Perfect. Okay. Collins Brown.
[7:45] Okay. Trip Elliott. Okay. Uh, Weston
[7:49] Duke.
[7:50] J Jack Johnson,
[7:53] Jagger Medley.
[7:55] Okay. Nolan Murphy, that's a good first
[7:58] name. Uh Bowen Parsons,
[8:01] uh some guy named Tiny.
[8:04] [laughter] His real name is Wit, but he
[8:06] asked me to refer to him as Tiny
[8:07] Sanders. SJ Su, uh Klein Watson, Eli
[8:12] Weekes, and Jason Word. Congratulations,
[8:16] guys. [applause]
[8:25] » [applause]
[8:31] » So, I appreciate many of the parents
[8:33] being here and know that you've got to
[8:35] get them to practice, you've got to get
[8:36] them to games, you've got to get them to
[8:37] tournaments, and you've got to get them
[8:38] to the uh uh to everything else that
[8:41] they have going on. We also have
[8:42] assistant coaches Josh Elliot, Kyle
[8:44] Johnson, Jeff Parsons, Klay Sanders, and
[8:47] head coach Zack Duke. And I'm going to
[8:48] ask Zach to fill in some details of what
[8:50] these guys actually accomplished. Go
[8:52] ahead.
[8:54] >> First of all, thank you. That was what I
[8:56] had to say will be nowhere near as
[8:57] eloquent as what you just said, just so
[8:59] you know. Um, but what I just want to
[9:02] put into a little bit of perspective of
[9:03] what these boys actually did accomplish
[9:05] this year as a team as of 12-year-old
[9:08] boys, they went 70 and five.
[9:12] We every tournament that we entered
[9:13] which was I think between the fall and
[9:15] spring combined was 10. We were in a
[9:16] championship game of every single one.
[9:18] We lost two championship games. We won
[9:21] everything else. And that is
[9:25] exceptional because it's not like we
[9:26] were just playing teams from the
[9:28] Nashville area. We put these boys up
[9:29] against the best possible competition we
[9:31] could find. Up in Coopertown for the
[9:34] Ripken Nationals. We beat teams from
[9:36] California, Florida, North Carolina,
[9:39] South Carolina, you name it. And what makes travel baseball different
[9:44] than what you're watching right now,
[9:45] Little League World Series on ESPN,
[9:47] everybody's watching that. So, the rules
[9:49] for Little League International is that
[9:52] you have to be live within the
[9:53] boundaries of a little league zone.
[9:55] Travel baseball, those rules do not
[9:56] exist. You can put together a roster of
[9:59] kids from wherever you want, however you
[10:01] can recruit them and get them to play
[10:02] for your team. What makes us unique is
[10:05] we are all from right here and we can
[10:07] compete with teams made up of kids from
[10:10] five and six different states and we can
[10:12] beat them and we proved it. We prove
[10:14] that we belong on that level on that
[10:16] stage and these boys don't shy away from
[10:19] it. And I'm so proud of them, so proud
[10:21] to coach them. What they bring every day
[10:24] is exceptional. They truly do represent
[10:26] the absolute best that this area has to
[10:28] offer and it's an honor and I appreciate
[10:31] all the parents trust and support and we
[10:34] my goal is not for them to be content
[10:38] with their 12U success.
[10:40] My goal is for them to be leaders on
[10:42] their high school team and continue to
[10:43] develop and possibly earn opportunities
[10:46] to play after high school. So this is
[10:50] step one for them. I hope they all
[10:52] continue to work and continue to be the
[10:54] example for the younger generations that
[10:56] they have been to this point.
[10:59] Thank you. [applause]
[11:05] Co coach, introduce your assistant
[11:07] coaches or I guess they're assistant
[11:09] coaches.
[11:10] >> This is Josh Elliot. He's actually our
[11:11] GM. We say he handles all of our
[11:14] communication and
[11:16] >> team details. Have Kyle Johnson behind
[11:18] him. have Klay Sanders and him and we
[11:21] have Jeff Parsons in the back and they
[11:23] truly are baseball royalty in this area.
[11:27] They're sort of well except for Joshua's
[11:30] Basketball, but I think Clay and Jeff have a rich history of what they accomplished
[11:37] as players in this area. Kyle played in
[11:40] college as well. I'm kind of relatively
[11:43] new to this area. I moved here about 10
[11:44] years ago, but I quickly learned that
[11:46] these are the guys that I need to have
[11:48] in my corner if we're going to do
[11:49] something special. And they have been
[11:51] instrumental in developing these boys to
[11:53] this point and will continue to be
[11:54] moving on.
[11:56] >> Thanks, guys. Congratulations.
[11:59] [applause]
[12:03] » Coach, make sure to grab your
[12:04] proclamation.
[12:07] » [laughter]
[12:14] » Don't Don't let me see you at the
[12:16] grocery store cuz I'll be asking.
[12:23] » Wow.
[12:24] >> I bet Gilly knows where he lives.
[12:28] >> Text Gilly right quick.
[12:35] Next item on our agenda is public
[12:37] hearing, but we don't have any. And then
[12:38] the minutes, those are the minutes that
[12:39] were provided to you from our July 28,
[12:42] 20126 meetings.
[12:44] >> We have a motion from Alderman Garza
[12:47] and a second from Alderman Goodwin. Any
[12:49] discussion? All those in favor of
[12:51] approving the minutes that were provided
[12:52] to you in your packet, please say I.
[12:54] Those opposed, please say no. That
[12:56] passes unanimously. Next, we have
[12:57] citizen comments.
[12:59] We have four people signed up. Uh,
[13:01] speakers must identify themselves by
[13:03] name and address. Public comment shall
[13:04] be limited to five minutes per
[13:05] individual, which time is not
[13:06] transferable to other speakers. All
[13:08] comments are to be directed to the
[13:10] presiding officer, that's me, me, not to
[13:12] the alderman, city staff, or other
[13:13] members of the public. Comments must
[13:15] address issues, not individuals or
[13:16] personalities. Personal attacks shall
[13:18] not be tolerated. Comments may support
[13:20] or oppose particular issues or measures,
[13:23] but the motives of those with differing
[13:24] views shall not be questioned or
[13:26] attacked. Malicious comments will not be
[13:27] allowed. Speeches for or against
[13:29] particular candidates running for office
[13:30] shall not be allowed. We have Thomas
[13:32] Kian of Carolyn Lane in Gal.
[13:40] » Yes, ma'am.
[13:42] >> How you doing?
[13:43] >> Good. Uh how are y'all doing? Um uh so I
[13:46] was want to speak to I think it's
[13:49] resolution the the second item there. Uh
[13:51] just to clarify. Uh so
[13:55] a month ago
[13:58] thereabouts the whole country was proud
[14:01] to be American swept up into 50th fever.
[14:04] Um also at that time uh the board u
[14:11] was ready to celebrate Hendersonville's
[14:13] history by protecting it. Um now just a
[14:17] month later uh we've got a resolution
[14:20] for the upper Raptor Berry House to be
[14:22] considered under development.
[14:24] Um
[14:26] my opinion of this is that the city is
[14:28] now looking at a choice.
[14:31] Uh they can choose to maintain ownership
[14:34] of the property or to let a developer
[14:38] uh take it over and do what they see fit
[14:42] with it uh within the bounds. Um, now as
[14:46] a historian, my opinion is that the city
[14:49] should retain the ownership of this
[14:51] property because it's a historical
[14:53] treasure.
[14:54] Um,
[14:56] it represents
[14:58] the first some of the first founders of
[15:02] Hendersonville um as they moved here
[15:05] from their fight in the Revolutionary
[15:07] War. Um,
[15:12] with that, I think that one of the best
[15:14] things that the city could do is to
[15:18] retain that and use it as a a historic
[15:21] city center. Um,
[15:25] if you allow the sale of this, then as
[15:29] my understanding, you'd have to ask
[15:30] them, hey, can we use this to do certain
[15:34] things that we would might want to do as
[15:36] the city there? Um,
[15:39] you can own a piece of your history if
[15:43] you continue that. Um,
[15:48] [snorts]
[15:49] the developer I assume has some
[15:52] historical obligation to it. Uh, but
[15:55] I've seen that in the past and they have
[15:58] not
[15:59] uh they have not done things in the way
[16:01] that a historian would appreciate things
[16:03] to be done. um even when you know
[16:06] they're told like hey you need to do
[16:08] things you know to maintain the history
[16:11] of the site um
[16:15] I think the best way for the history to
[16:17] be preserved and bear in mind that this
[16:19] is Hendersonville's history
[16:22] um is for it to be restored very
[16:25] respectfully to the full history that
[16:28] represents the entire history of that
[16:30] site and you probably know a a lot of
[16:35] that history, so I don't need to go
[16:36] through all of it here again. Um, but it
[16:40] needs to have its rightful place as a
[16:42] historical monument for the town instead
[16:46] of
[16:47] whatever somebody wants to do with it.
[16:51] Um,
[16:55] one of the things that I've been working
[16:57] on in with the site is, uh, we know that
[17:01] there's graves there. Um, currently
[17:05] there's one monument there. Uh, well,
[17:07] there's two. One was put up by the D,
[17:09] but one historical monument. Um, in the
[17:13] 1930s, the WPA
[17:16] took up a project to document historical
[17:19] cemeteries around the state and in other
[17:21] places. And depending on whose report
[17:25] you read from that WPA finding, there's
[17:28] 11 to 18 graves that were known, and
[17:32] most of those were marked at the time.
[17:34] Um, at this point, I haven't found but
[17:37] one marker up there. Uh, so there's a
[17:40] lot more going on and that's of the
[17:41] graves that we know of if we just go on
[17:43] the WPA.
[17:45] Um, it's not
[17:48] it's history, so it can be what it can
[17:50] be, but we're also aware that there were
[17:53] slaves owned at that property and those
[17:56] grades are typically not marked and
[17:59] they're not necessarily easy to find. I
[18:01] don't know if there's any of those
[18:03] there. I highly suspect that there are,
[18:05] but we haven't had the time. You know,
[18:08] bear in mind that we've had an
[18:11] agreement, and I represent the part of
[18:14] the Bradford Berry Society. You know,
[18:15] we've had an agreement
[18:16] >> in 30 seconds.
[18:17] >> Thank you, sir. Uh, we've had an
[18:19] agreement for a month. It's hard to do
[18:21] things in a month with that. And I would
[18:26] prefer
[18:27] for those graves to be found in a
[18:29] respectful way, not when somebody runs a
[18:31] track room. That has happened before
[18:34] with developers that had archae
[18:37] archaeologist attached. U so I would
[18:40] respectfully request that you delay or
[18:43] preferably just
[18:47] reconsider a different
[18:48] >> Mr. Killian. Thank you. Next we have uh
[18:51] Rick Fox from Walnut Drive.
[18:55] Good evening. My name is Rick Fox. I
[18:57] live at 108 Walnut Drive, uh, Ward One.
[19:01] And as some of you know, I'm not only
[19:03] the representative for the war, the beer
[19:05] board from Ward One, but have been
[19:07] honored the last few years to be elected
[19:10] as its chairperson. And that's a
[19:12] responsibility I am very grateful for
[19:14] and hold with a lot of respect and a lot
[19:16] of dignity. And it would be
[19:18] inappropriate if I didn't immediately
[19:20] thank my two aldermen, the Marks, for
[19:23] all their help and support. That's about
[19:26] as the cutest way as I can say it. Um,
[19:30] you folks have been very good about
[19:32] always congratulating and thanking those
[19:34] of us who serve, but there's been a
[19:36] couple of events recently that have
[19:37] involved the rear board, and I'm going
[19:40] to try to do this without emotion that I
[19:42] thought it was time that we stood up and
[19:44] said the same thing back.
[19:47] I would put our beer board up against
[19:49] any volunteer board I've ever worked on
[19:51] in my life and I've been around for a
[19:53] day or two
[19:55] and I know there's others that are good,
[19:58] but we've got a great board and a great
[19:59] membership.
[20:02] But as good as they are, I think there's
[20:03] three other things that need to be
[20:05] mentioned and that's why I'm really here
[20:06] tonight. Three-point sermon.
[20:10] One of those is the staff.
[20:13] I have a fair idea of what goes on
[20:15] before, after, and during our meetings,
[20:17] between our meetings to get us ready and
[20:20] make us so efficient and so effective.
[20:22] But I don't know it all.
[20:25] But I've got a great appreciation for
[20:27] what our staff does to help us. And
[20:30] we've got two sitting up there that
[20:33] really, really help us on an ongoing
[20:37] regular basis.
[20:41] The second thing is the board liaones.
[20:45] We've had some great liaison. When I
[20:48] started on this board of beer beer
[20:49] board, it was Russ Edwards.
[20:53] Then it became Karen Dixon. And for the
[20:56] last two years, it's been Terry Goodwin.
[20:59] I know that my board members and I would
[21:02] put Alderwoman Goodwin up as the shining
[21:05] star and the excellent example of what
[21:07] it means to be a liaison.
[21:10] She's there at every meeting. She's
[21:11] professional. She's helpful. She's
[21:13] appropriate. She shares when she should.
[21:15] She gives us guidance and direction. She
[21:18] supports us. And the neat thing about
[21:21] having Alderwoman Goodwin as your
[21:23] beerboard liaison is that you get two
[21:27] for the price of one.
[21:32] But the other thing that really brought
[21:33] me here was there have been times with a
[21:35] number of you where there's been a
[21:37] beerboard issue that I've needed to
[21:39] reach out. Maybe it was something that
[21:41] happened with somebody and you know had
[21:43] come to us or a business
[21:45] upon occasion. It's been a time for
[21:47] somebody to be re nominated and I wanted
[21:51] to be sure that happened.
[21:54] Most recently, it's been where we had a
[21:57] beer board representative who relocated
[21:59] out of state and we had to get a
[22:00] replacement.
[22:04] I want you all to know
[22:07] that every conversation I have ever had
[22:10] with the senior alderman from Ward 6 has
[22:13] been nothing but happy, positive,
[22:16] professional, helpful, supportive.
[22:20] You can list all the adjectives you
[22:22] want.
[22:25] I've been greeted with a smile. I've
[22:27] been greeted with respect.
[22:29] And there's never been a time when I
[22:31] haven't hung up that phone or walked
[22:32] away where I didn't feel that the the
[22:35] plan of action or the consensus we came
[22:37] to would not benefit the people involved
[22:41] or the business involved, the citizens
[22:43] of this city, Hendersonville as a whole,
[22:46] and the beer board.
[22:50] So, I'm going to bend the gavl rule a
[22:52] little bit.
[22:54] I want to thank you for everything you
[22:56] have done to support me personally and
[22:58] support the beer board. I will miss you.
[23:03] I wish you a long and happy, joyful,
[23:06] well-deserved life.
[23:08] >> Amen. [laughter]
[23:09] >> Eddie, may God bless you always. I
[23:13] yield.
[23:14] >> Thank you, Mr. Fox. Appreciate that. And
[23:16] for the record, the other two people
[23:17] he's talking about are Gabby and Lance.
[23:19] Um
[23:21] [laughter]
[23:22] >> uh next is JD ter JD Tatum of Merit
[23:25] Drug.
[23:36] » Good evening. My name is JD Tatum. Um I
[23:39] live at 1011 Merrick Road. Uh we also
[23:41] have a property in Manser Farms and uh
[23:44] behind the hospital over off Homestead
[23:46] Place. Uh my husband and I have been in
[23:48] this community. I've been here over 25
[23:50] years. He's been here his entire life.
[23:52] This is our home. Um we have been
[23:55] spending countless hours and many years
[23:57] working on trying to put together um a
[24:01] food truck and music venue park for our
[24:04] community that fit our community. Not
[24:06] just one that you see up the road that
[24:08] might last a few years, but one that's
[24:10] truly for our community. Tonight, you're
[24:13] going to hear that there is a letter of
[24:15] intent to be presented um on the same
[24:18] property that we're interested in. Um
[24:20] you're going to hear a lot about the
[24:22] Bradford Berry House and those of us
[24:24] that want to preserve it both inside and
[24:27] out, making sure that it remains with
[24:29] the city while still being able to have
[24:31] our venue that will bring so much to our
[24:34] community. Um, across the way, Terry and
[24:38] I have dedicated countless hours to
[24:40] researching successful venues and
[24:42] studying why some concepts succeed and
[24:44] why others fail. We visited similar
[24:46] facilities, met with food truck owners,
[24:48] consulted industry professionals. We've
[24:50] analyzed operating models, and completed
[24:52] extensive market and financial research.
[24:55] Based on that work, we've developed a
[24:57] comprehensive business plan with a
[24:58] detailed concept drawing specifically
[25:00] designed to create a financially
[25:02] sustainable, family-friendly destination
[25:04] in Hendersonville. All while while
[25:07] partnering with the Bradford Berry House
[25:09] Presentation Society to make sure that property is renovated in such a way
[25:14] that it's back to its original condition
[25:16] using the correct tools and the correct
[25:19] people. Um,
[25:22] I'm not asking the board to approve our proposal tonight. I am respectfully
[25:26] asking that no decision be made and no
[25:29] letter of intent or other agreement be
[25:30] accepted, authorized, or executed for
[25:33] this property until we have been given a
[25:35] reasonable opportunity to formally
[25:37] present our proposal. We are prepared to
[25:39] present our complete proposal promptly
[25:42] and would welcome the opportunity to
[25:43] meet with the appropriate city
[25:45] representatives. We are simply
[25:46] requesting a fair and transparent
[25:48] process in which both proposals can be
[25:50] reviewed before any decision is made.
[25:53] Thank you for your time and
[25:54] consideration.
[25:55] >> JD, thank you. Uh Tom Williams, Time
[25:57] Bay.
[25:58] >> Oh,
[26:09] I apologize for my slowness here. Um my
[26:13] name is Tom Williams. I live at 209 Tiny
[26:15] Bay Drive in Hendersonville. That's Ward
[26:18] Two. And I, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate the
[26:22] opportunity to speak again. Uh, some of
[26:24] you have already heard a lot of what I'm
[26:26] going to say and then I'm going to have
[26:28] to add lib. So, that scares the devil
[26:30] out of me. Um,
[26:33] last month in a Bulma meeting or
[26:35] actually probably June, I recall a
[26:37] unanimous approval by the board to allow
[26:38] the city to enter into a partnership
[26:40] with the society, the U. Bradford Berry
[26:44] Preservation Society for the purpose of
[26:47] allowing the society to proceed with
[26:48] explorations and plans to find ways to
[26:51] serve save the the house and eventually
[26:54] turn it back to the city as a potential
[26:56] historical, cultural,
[26:58] and educational venue. And so, as I
[27:02] asked earlier in the meeting, what has
[27:04] happened to the spirit of that meeting?
[27:05] That goes to the proposal that's I think
[27:08] on the board here. Um, November 28th,
[27:11] 2023, Bulma approved conveyance of
[27:14] Bradford Berry at all, that would be
[27:16] their property from Mayfair Development.
[27:18] The Bradford Berry House and cemetery
[27:20] combined were 1.63 acres and were
[27:23] proposed for donation to the city. In
[27:25] addition, a $100,000 donation and the
[27:28] construction of a rod fence around the
[27:31] cemetery were proposed for gifting to
[27:34] the city. Uh, BA approved the amendments
[27:37] and donations. Then the developer
[27:39] proposed an amended plan that would have
[27:41] included 13.24 acres and no monetary
[27:44] gift. And I believe the deed of the
[27:46] property does include the total 13.24.
[27:50] Um
[27:52] let me see. Resolution is defined as a
[27:54] firm decision or intent to act or not
[27:56] act in a particular way. It is the act
[27:58] of finding a solution to a problem,
[28:00] dispute or challenging situation. Over
[28:02] the years, there have been many re
[28:04] resolutions made concerning the the
[28:06] Bradford Berry property. On February
[28:08] 24th, 2005, resolution 2005-1
[28:12] designating the Bradford Berry House,
[28:15] family cemetery, and property to be
[28:16] historical landmark that was signed into
[28:19] the city records. Um,
[28:22] now, ordinance is defined as a law,
[28:25] rule, decree, or command usually made by
[28:27] a city or regional government. As far as
[28:30] I can tell, there's only been one
[28:31] ordinance concerning the property, and
[28:32] that's ordinance 200512 designating the
[28:35] property as to be historic and was
[28:38] approved on May 24th, 2005, and upon
[28:41] second reading passed on June 14th,
[28:43] 2005. [gasps]
[28:45] Now, we've learned of the new resolution
[28:48] possible um ordinance being uh being
[28:52] presented uh allowing the lease of the
[28:55] property and ultimate transfer of of
[28:58] ownership and I think we've discussed
[29:01] that in depth earlier. Um
[29:05] [snorts]
[29:06] at the the lease would be for two years
[29:08] and at the end of that two years the uh
[29:11] the proposed owners would become
[29:13] proposed leaseors would become owners.
[29:17] So my question was what assurances do we
[29:19] have that they will retain the
[29:20] historical nature of the property um
[29:23] under their control will Bradford Berry
[29:25] House and grounds ever be accessible to
[29:27] the citizens of Hendersonville?
[29:30] Um so I have to ask a couple of
[29:32] questions. What is the status of the
[29:33] total acreage? I know I know this has
[29:35] been bounced around before. Can a
[29:37] property designated as historic be
[29:39] developed commercially? Uh what and um
[29:45] I think those of us on the board on this
[29:47] on the society,
[29:49] we we have a passion for saving our
[29:51] history and and and uh advancing our
[29:54] history and teaching people our history.
[29:56] As I said in the last meeting I
[29:57] attended,
[29:59] there are people who've lived here most
[30:01] of their lives who've never never heard
[30:03] of or seen the Bradford Berry House. Um
[30:06] so that that that that's kind of sad,
[30:09] but um that that's what happens. Those
[30:12] of us on the board all remember what it
[30:13] was like when it was up and running. Um,
[30:15] so there are a lot of questions and I
[30:17] think as [clears throat] we consider
[30:19] these proposals that are coming before
[30:21] us tonight, we need to look at the
[30:25] overall picture, what the what is
[30:27] brought to the table, what is going to
[30:29] be left for the city and what the city's
[30:31] responsibilities will be and what the
[30:34] proposed owners will be. And and I've
[30:36] talked with both groups a little bit
[30:38] tonight. So, um I I I think I think we
[30:41] need to slow down on making any firm
[30:43] decisions at this point and and look at
[30:47] all comers and all give our committee
[30:49] again a chance to make this happen.
[30:50] >> Tom, 30 seconds.
[30:51] >> Okay. Ultimately, the last question that
[30:53] I have to ask I said this earlier is I
[30:56] have to put on my dad hat from when my
[30:57] daughter was dating. I would ask the
[30:59] young gentleman, "What are your
[31:00] intentions?" Thank you.
[31:02] >> Thank you, Tom. Appreciate that.
[31:05] We have nothing on the consent agenda
[31:06] and now we're to ordinance and
[31:07] resolutions. The first one is resolution
[31:09] 2026-25.
[31:11] This is a resolution authorizing the
[31:13] city's department of parks and
[31:14] recreation to apply for a property
[31:16] conservation grant with public entity
[31:18] partners. Alderman Gart, would you like
[31:20] to make a motion?
[31:21] >> We have a motion from Alderman Garton
[31:23] >> and a second from Alderman Evans.
[31:25] Alderman Gart, would you like to speak
[31:26] or go to Alderman Goodwin?
[31:30] >> You could go ahead.
[31:30] >> No. Um this is just a um a resolution um
[31:33] with public entity partners. Um it's a
[31:36] 50/50 match um asking for $8,000. So
[31:40] we'd have a $4,000 match contribution
[31:42] there and this will go towards lights um
[31:46] or cameras.
[31:51] » Okay. Thank you, Alman Gart. All
[31:52] >> good. I'm sorry.
[31:55] We c brought it through public safety
[31:57] tonight and it passed with a positive
[31:59] recommendation
[32:01] and they are on a time crunch.
[32:04] >> Alman Gartner, Alman Goodwin, thank you.
[32:06] Alman Sassy,
[32:08] >> just to get clarification, I wanted to
[32:09] make sure the full 8,000 as I understand
[32:13] it was appropriated in the budget. Is
[32:15] that correct? In the 2027 fiscal budget,
[32:19] uh this will actually reduce that amount
[32:21] to 4,000. So, I wholly support this and
[32:24] we'll be voting in favor of it. Thank
[32:25] you,
[32:25] >> Alman. Sassy. Thank you. Any other
[32:27] discussion?
[32:29] All those in favor of resolution
[32:31] 2026-25,
[32:33] please say I.
[32:34] >> Those opposed, please say no. That
[32:36] passes unanimously. Next, we have
[32:37] resolution 2026-28.
[32:40] This is a resolution approving a letter
[32:41] of intent between the city of
[32:42] Hendersonville and Landing Spot
[32:44] Properties LLC regarding the proposed
[32:46] lease and future conveyance of the
[32:47] Bradford Berry House property. I so
[32:49] move.
[32:52] Second.
[32:52] >> We have a second from Alderman Dixon. Um
[32:55] Marty, you shared some information in um
[32:57] general committee a few minutes ago. If
[32:59] without objection, I'd like to suspend
[33:00] the rules and hear from Marty Cook, the
[33:02] attorney for this project. You shared
[33:04] some information toward the end of the
[33:06] consideration in the general committee.
[33:07] I think it' be worthwhile um for all of
[33:09] us to hear. Um do you want to give us a
[33:11] little bit of explanation of what's
[33:12] going on here?
[33:14] And if there's anybody, so there's a
[33:15] couple people here with this group. Um
[33:17] there's four of them. Um, and so without
[33:19] objection, if y'all have some questions
[33:20] for any four of them, um, I think it'd
[33:22] be good for for them to speak on that.
[33:24] Uh, Alderman Robertson,
[33:25] >> uh, you sent us a map of the area. Could
[33:28] you put it on the screen so that the
[33:30] public can see it as well?
[33:31] >> Jason has it. Yep.
[33:32] >> Okay. Thank you.
[33:34] >> Give me just a second. Marty, Jason, did
[33:36] I
[33:37] map? Oh, I didn't.
[33:40] >> I can send it to him if he's got his
[33:42] email.
[33:43] >> So, Alderman Dixon's going to email it
[33:45] to you. Um there is a picture that I
[33:47] sent him that I want to show at some
[33:48] point. Uh Alderman Dixon is going to
[33:50] take care of that. Marty, go ahead.
[33:52] Thank you.
[33:52] >> Sure. So I think what we discussed in
[33:54] general committee is just what the
[33:57] process would look like. [clears throat]
[34:00] Um I was approached some time ago by my
[34:02] clients landing spot properties who had
[34:04] this idea, this concept that they wanted
[34:06] to bring to the city. Um, and we
[34:09] discussed that with the mayor and with
[34:12] city attorney. And uh, as as we see
[34:15] often in any kind of business deal, the
[34:18] first step is you do enter into a letter
[34:21] of intent, which is not a binding
[34:23] [snorts] contract. It's simply both
[34:25] parties saying agreeing to begin
[34:30] negotiations. Um and so usually in that
[34:33] letter in of intent there is a general
[34:35] framework um that is agreed upon by the
[34:39] parties but it always contemplates what
[34:42] we'll oftenimes call a definitive
[34:44] agreement that will come uh later on in
[34:47] the process. And so that was the goal in
[34:50] putting this letter of intent to the
[34:51] city and in front of you all was to um
[34:55] begin discussions um of of what a
[34:59] potential uh partnership,
[35:02] private public partnership um of this
[35:05] property could look like that would
[35:07] accomplish purposes of restoring the
[35:11] Bradford Berry House. I don't think
[35:12] there's any question. I've been involved
[35:14] in discussions over the years of of how
[35:17] that could happen. And as many of you
[35:20] know and can imagine, the largest hurdle
[35:22] is the cost. Um
[35:24] >> Marty, let me interrupt you real quick.
[35:26] Lance, what Marty just gave us of his uh
[35:28] explanation of a letter of intent. Would
[35:30] you agree with that?
[35:31] >> Yes. That's it allows the parties to
[35:33] evaluate the feasibility. There may be a
[35:36] couple abiding terms to it like uh
[35:38] exclusivity whatnot but for the first
[35:41] time in my life I will agree with Marty
[35:43] >> Cook [laughter]
[35:45] that's not true. Um
[35:47] >> but yeah I mean I you know I don't think
[35:49] there's any question that to do anything
[35:53] with this property is going to take an
[35:55] incredible amount of money. Um, and so
[35:58] it is going to take some collaboration.
[36:02] Um, that that that makes sense. And the purpose of us putting this before
[36:08] you all was to look at what that might
[36:11] look like and then move forward towards
[36:16] seeing if a ultimate [snorts] deal could
[36:18] be reached that would then become a a
[36:21] binding agreement.
[36:23] >> I appreciate that. I want to say a
[36:24] couple things that I sort of uh hinted
[36:26] at earlier. Um I've seen a couple
[36:29] comments uh past couple days um about
[36:33] how um I don't care about Hendersonville
[36:35] history. Um [laughter and gasps] about
[36:38] the only thing worse you could say about
[36:39] me is I don't love my children. Uh um so
[36:42] I felt like I need to to try to explain
[36:44] a little bit hopefully with a smile on
[36:46] my face. Um I've got to appreciate first
[36:48] though Alderman Mark Skidmore. He and I
[36:49] were both here in 2000 2003
[36:52] uh when really this situation sort of
[36:54] climaxed um and and required action uh
[36:58] from the border mayor and alderman to to
[37:00] save that house. What had happened was
[37:02] the house is owned by the family until
[37:04] about 1968 1969. GE bought it as part of
[37:08] all the property uh I want to say like
[37:11] 29 acres or so. Uh that property was
[37:14] then sold to Bosch Bosch Automotive
[37:16] which included the house. Bosch allowed
[37:19] the arts council to use the house uh for
[37:22] a good portion of the time. Then the
[37:23] arts council moved to Mont Haven and
[37:25] there was a family living in that house
[37:27] with with Bosch's permission. Um at that
[37:29] time what we're talking about when when
[37:32] Bosch had it um is really so the the
[37:36] what is now the Aladdin plant which
[37:37] later became Aladdin and from Gallatton
[37:39] Road um past the house and another 10
[37:43] acres behind the house. That's really
[37:45] what what was one one lot at that time.
[37:49] Um the May the um the May family bought
[37:53] it and I can't remember the actual name
[37:55] um of the organization. It wasn't Jack
[37:58] May himself uh but the LLC bought it and
[38:02] they uh told the tenants to to move. Um
[38:05] and that was the beginning of the
[38:07] decline of the house. Um,
[38:10] in 2003, anybody who was on the board
[38:13] then had a very fresh memory of the
[38:15] Halfway House. Halfway House was a
[38:18] historic home, not near as not near as
[38:20] old, probably half as old, that sat on
[38:22] the corner of Centerpoint Road and
[38:23] Gallatin Road. Um, that property had
[38:26] changed hands in the middle 1990s, and
[38:29] there was sort of a grassroots effort of
[38:33] residents who wanted to preserve that
[38:35] house uh, and restore that house. Um it
[38:38] slowly deteriorated. The city didn't
[38:40] really step in. Uh it was owned
[38:42] privately. Didn't really step in uh to
[38:45] do anything. The community didn't get
[38:47] moving um as quickly as it needed to.
[38:50] Slow deterioration of the house and then
[38:52] a suspicious fire. So that was very much
[38:55] on our minds in 2003 when now we have
[39:00] the Bradford Berry House looking like
[39:02] it's headed toward a a similar destiny.
[39:05] Uh, does anybody know what's in the
[39:08] space and what's on the lot that was the
[39:11] halfway house?
[39:14] It's now Tractor Supply Company.
[39:16] Um, because of the time and because of
[39:19] the delays, uh, the house, like I said,
[39:22] suspiciously burned. Um, basically the
[39:25] community, the city moved too slowly.
[39:27] Um, so when Mr. May bought that
[39:29] property. He presented a plan to the
[39:31] city uh for a Walmart on that property.
[39:34] Um which include demolishing the house
[39:36] and removing the cemetery. Uh Alderman
[39:38] Skidmore and I acted. We saw the need
[39:40] for the the city to stand up uh for the
[39:43] community that wanted to see the house
[39:45] uh preserved. Um I actually met Frank
[39:48] May at the house and got him to lock the
[39:50] doors after he uh had the family move
[39:53] out of there. he didn't step in and
[39:56] become responsible for the house. Um,
[39:58] and I met him over there one day. He
[40:00] claimed that he was going to take care
[40:01] of the house, but the doors weren't even
[40:02] locked. Um, I remember meeting him over
[40:04] there. Uh, Alderman Skidmore and I um
[40:07] led the effort to create a historic
[40:08] zoning commission that prevented him
[40:10] from demolishing the house.
[40:13] Ideally, it would have prevented
[40:14] demolish uh demolition by neglect. Um,
[40:18] ideally, um, but you see what's what
[40:21] happened during the time that he owned
[40:22] it. Um the board did approve um a plan
[40:26] to move the house as part of Mr. May's
[40:29] um development. The house is going to be
[40:31] moved and deeded to the city and the
[40:33] board approved that. Um I proposed that
[40:35] no development would take place on that
[40:37] property until the house was moved.
[40:39] Ideally, I'd never want to see the house
[40:41] move, but I felt like the best we could
[40:43] do is make sure that nothing happened on
[40:45] that property to give him an incentive
[40:46] to take care of it and uh until until um
[40:49] uh until the house was restored. Um,
[40:52] does anybody want to take a guess at how
[40:54] I was appreciated for that effort?
[40:58] Um, Mr. May was the number one by far
[41:01] contributor to my opponent when I ran
[41:03] for re-election in 2006.
[41:05] Um,
[41:08] good things came out of that. Um,
[41:09] personally, um, but the owner of the
[41:12] house, he did not take kindly to our
[41:15] effort to uh to prevent the house from
[41:18] being torn down. Um,
[41:21] fortunately, Mayor Foster suggested some
[41:23] alternatives later. Uh, but Mr. May was
[41:26] unresponsive. In fact, he rejected any
[41:28] certified mail that the city sent him.
[41:30] Um, he was unre he was unresponsible uh
[41:34] for the house which allowed the
[41:36] demolition by neglect really starting in
[41:38] about 2004 2005. The city became the
[41:42] default caretaker of the house. Um, even
[41:44] though the city didn't own the house. Uh
[41:46] when I became mayor, I continued that uh
[41:48] encouraging the city to our city staff
[41:50] to take care of it. There were some
[41:52] things that we couldn't do. Um but spent
[41:55] some time over there because we knew
[41:57] that eventually we were going to become
[41:59] the default owner of the house. So why
[42:00] didn't it it made sense to take care of
[42:02] that before it got worse. Unfortunately,
[42:05] um you you can't fix a roof when you're
[42:07] not the owner and you you there's some
[42:09] things you just you just can't do. One
[42:11] of the first meetings I had after I
[42:12] became mayor was to meet with Jack May's
[42:14] representatives. um and tried to get
[42:17] some things worked out um and and
[42:20] weren't weren't real successful that
[42:23] fortunately Jeff Kundiff who was later hired by Mayfair that's what I was
[42:26] thinking later hired by Mayfair is a
[42:28] local guy who also had interest in
[42:30] seeing the house uh house preserved um
[42:34] so the city was deeded the house end of
[42:35] 2023 a couple things have happened since
[42:38] then is we have spent much more time um
[42:42] maintaining the house and protecting the
[42:44] house not restoring ing the house. We
[42:46] did have uh some engineers and
[42:48] architects take a look at the
[42:50] foundation, the whole house inside and
[42:51] out. Um we spent money on that. The
[42:54] board approved that money and came back
[42:55] with an assessment of about $1.5 million
[42:58] if the city wrote a check uh to restore
[43:00] that house. Um I let Bowman know that
[43:02] back then. I've let you all know a
[43:04] couple times since then. Nobody has
[43:05] stood up and said, "Hey, let's let's
[43:07] spend that money." I have a hard time
[43:09] spending that money, too, because I
[43:11] think we have a higher priority with
[43:12] public safety. I think we have higher
[43:13] priority with roads. um and I committed
[43:16] to looking for folks that could possibly
[43:20] um donate to that house. Um we also
[43:22] researched grants um we able to find
[43:25] some that we might be eligible for if we
[43:27] do some work on it, but none of them are
[43:29] 1.5 million. Um uh so I continued to
[43:33] look for some of those. Um, and I think
[43:35] I said to Bulma about a year ago that anybody I talked to about using a
[43:41] house, we would expect the house to be
[43:44] restored and maintained. Um,
[43:47] there wasn't an appetite that I saw from
[43:49] the board to to to spend $1.5 million or
[43:53] more. Um, and I have a hard time
[43:56] maintaining uh a piece of property that
[43:58] really doesn't give value to the
[44:00] residents. um that might be a little bit
[44:02] questionable because I think there would
[44:03] be some value in that but um I have a
[44:06] hard time maintaining something that
[44:07] like that um and hopefully could find
[44:10] somebody to to help us with that. Um
[44:12] another thing we did is we looked at
[44:14] really separating that instead of the 14
[44:16] acres really 10 in the back and the uh
[44:20] up front is about four acres I think 3.9
[44:22] which is the house the cemetery and some
[44:24] surrounding property. as we talked to
[44:25] people about uh helping us with with the
[44:28] house. I probably talked to a dozen
[44:30] different people or different
[44:31] organizations. Um and for the most part
[44:34] they had one person seemed like she was
[44:37] willing to write a check and just give
[44:40] that money to the city, but that didn't
[44:41] work out when it came to some of the tax
[44:43] uh needs that she had. Um but everybody
[44:45] else I talked to, they were looking for
[44:47] a way that they could uh recoup the
[44:50] money that they would invest in the
[44:51] house. they wanted some equity in the
[44:53] house, some way to make uh some money on
[44:56] the house. Um, and so that's where we
[44:57] are today. Talked with Jenny and Terry.
[44:59] Um, talked with, like I said, probably
[45:00] 10 or 12 other folks that have been
[45:02] interested in the house. Um, I do feel
[45:04] like when we get to the point that we
[45:07] have a letter of intent, I need to bring
[45:08] that to you. I need to let you know that
[45:10] that's where we are. It's not a final
[45:12] agreement by by any matter, but I felt
[45:15] like we were at the level that no other
[45:17] organization has reached with the city
[45:20] as far as what they want to do with the
[45:22] house as far as their oblig as far as
[45:23] their um uh commitment to the house.
[45:26] This was the only one of everybody I
[45:28] talked to that said, "We're going to put
[45:30] money in that house upfront." And as I
[45:32] said, I felt like the board um and
[45:34] myself expected restoration and
[45:37] maintenance of the house at the very least. And finally we had somebody
[45:39] that was interested in restoring the
[45:41] house before anything else uh anybody
[45:44] else wanted to do that. Um so um we also
[45:48] made it America 250 project. I sought
[45:50] media about this house and what we were
[45:52] willing to do Nashville media uh did
[45:54] many many online updates. We did a
[45:57] request request for proposals and this
[45:59] was the the only one that got to this
[46:02] level. And so I felt like I I I should
[46:04] bring that to you. Um, meanwhile, and I
[46:07] explained that I feel like pretty well a
[46:09] month ago when we talked about the um,
[46:11] preservation society that I thought the
[46:13] preservation society the point of that
[46:15] was to look for multiple partners, not
[46:17] just one. And I think I got an agreement
[46:19] that that's what we were doing is we
[46:21] were talking about one partner and the
[46:23] possibility of more. Um, and I feel like
[46:25] we all agreed with that. Nobody ever
[46:26] told me that profession the preservation
[46:28] society would have exclus exclusivity
[46:32] uh to the houses restoration. Nobody
[46:34] ever gave me the impression that the
[46:36] Restoration Society could veto somebody
[46:38] else. Um I thought that when we approved
[46:41] that that we were looking for multiple
[46:42] partners and I hope we still are and
[46:44] that's the impression I get. But in some
[46:46] of the comments I've seen lately like
[46:48] somehow we're pulling the rug out from
[46:50] under the the Preservation Society.
[46:52] That's not the I would have never voted
[46:54] to do that a couple weeks ago um if if
[46:57] that was the case. Um I voted in favor
[46:59] of that partnership. I'm hoping that one
[47:01] day we could hand the house over to them
[47:03] or somebody to restore the house. I have
[47:06] no desire to for the city to own this
[47:09] house long term. My desire is to see the
[47:11] house restored and maintained and used.
[47:13] It doesn't bother me if the city's not
[47:15] the one doing that. Um I would like a
[47:18] report from the preservation society. I
[47:19] know it's just been a little while, but
[47:22] I think all of us expected something at
[47:25] some time if we're in partnership. We've
[47:27] gotten a lot of information from the
[47:28] folks that are interested right now with
[47:30] a letter of intent. We haven't heard
[47:32] anything from the preservation society.
[47:34] Um and so um hopefully we'll we'll get
[47:37] that too. We'll get that soon. But right
[47:40] now, as I sit here the past couple days,
[47:43] I worry that this is 2003 all over
[47:45] again. Um first similarity, halfway
[47:48] house.
[47:50] Second similarity, um, well, the halfway
[47:52] house, as as I mentioned, there's all
[47:54] sorts of ambitious plans, but it took
[47:56] too much time. Then the house
[47:58] suspiciously burned. Um, very
[48:00] suspicious. Moving slowly has its risks
[48:03] in these situations. Just the other day,
[48:06] Jason, can you pull this up? This was,
[48:08] uh, this was last week. Had vandals get
[48:11] in the house. Right next to city hall.
[48:13] Police pass by there and park there on a
[48:15] regular basis. Right next to right
[48:17] there, vandals in the house. I'm not as
[48:19] worried about weather. I am worried
[48:21] about weather, but weather for a couple
[48:23] weeks or a couple months and we've sort
[48:25] of gotten through that, but vandals are
[48:27] what what I worry about. Um, and what kind of damage they could do.
[48:32] The second similarity with 2023. Um,
[48:35] supposedly we're moving too quickly. We
[48:37] heard that. Um, we heard that with the
[48:39] halfway house as well. Uh, we heard that
[48:42] back when Jack May uh wanted to demolish
[48:45] the house that the city was moving too
[48:46] quickly. Third similarity, um, we're
[48:49] exposed to accept promises from groups
[48:51] without resources.
[48:54] This went back 2003 when Jack May talked about the house and
[48:58] we had a lot of people stepping forward,
[49:00] but they didn't have resources. Um, and
[49:02] so that's why we had to go with with
[49:04] everything else with whatever we had.
[49:06] The fourth similarity is poor
[49:07] information is be being repeated just
[49:09] like it was in 2003 when Mr. May was up
[49:12] here. And I'll give you some example.
[49:13] There's one cemetery, not two. Um we've
[49:15] had um some some uh uh some people some
[49:19] grave explorers over there. It doesn't
[49:21] make sense. Sa slaves were not buried at
[49:23] the front of the house. Um you had the
[49:25] family cemetery and then you had the
[49:26] slave cemetery further away. We have not
[49:28] found any graves, any reason to believe
[49:31] there's graves on those 3.9 acres other
[49:33] than the cemetery. Very similar to some
[49:36] of the concerns that um as far as poor
[49:38] information. Also, architects and
[49:41] engineers have already assessed the
[49:42] house. We don't need any more architects
[49:44] or engineers over there if it means more
[49:45] time. And I've heard lately that we need
[49:48] to have a full architectural evaluation
[49:50] of it. We have that. In fact, I I
[49:52] provided to that to all of you all
[49:53] probably about a year a year and a half
[49:55] ago. Um I've also met with more than a
[49:57] dozen parties to restore and maintain
[49:59] the house. This isn't the only one. Um
[50:01] the city owns the house, not the
[50:03] preservation society. I can't tell you
[50:04] how many people have talked about how
[50:06] we're looking at taking this away from
[50:08] the preservation society. They don't own
[50:10] it. The city owns it.
[50:13] Also, it's very important to me, and
[50:15] this is something that that has bothered
[50:17] me, that restoration comes first in this
[50:19] letter of intent. We haven't given away
[50:22] the house expecting something later on.
[50:24] I don't think that that would be
[50:26] responsible to the city. Also, I've
[50:28] heard this is this is irreversible. It's
[50:31] not irreversible. This is just the first
[50:33] step. This isn't an agreement or
[50:35] contract. This is not a resoning. This
[50:37] is not a subdividing. This is not
[50:38] transferring public pro property into
[50:40] private hands. Like I said, I've got an
[50:42] obligation when we have this kind of
[50:44] opportunity to bring it to you. I'm
[50:46] excited about the options. I'm excited
[50:47] about some of the options we heard from
[50:49] uh JD and Terry just a little while ago
[50:51] that I heard uh several months ago. I'm
[50:53] excited that we have a preservation
[50:54] society uh that's interested in it. I'm
[50:57] excited anytime I get a phone call or
[50:58] anytime I get an email that there are
[51:00] other organizations, other people
[51:02] interested in that. Um, but we don't
[51:05] want the house to fall down. We don't
[51:08] want to be vandalized. We need to take
[51:10] advantage of the time we had to do that.
[51:12] We need money.
[51:14] We don't have much time. We don't have
[51:16] much money. If we've got somebody
[51:18] willing to help us and make an
[51:19] investment, I think we've got to take
[51:21] advantage. Having said all of that,
[51:25] I don't have a problem waiting for a
[51:26] month. The reason that I wanted to move
[51:28] this and put on the agenda this this meeting is because we don't meet
[51:31] for a month and I felt like these folks
[51:34] that have put a lot of time and expense
[51:36] already coming up with this proposal,
[51:40] not in the house itself. I felt like
[51:42] they deserve some input from us. Um
[51:44] there are some items in the letter of
[51:46] intent that I absolutely think that need
[51:48] some tweaking, but I would love to hear
[51:50] from you all. Um and I think they would
[51:52] too. That's why they stuck around. Um,
[51:54] but like I like I said, um, we need
[51:58] money. We don't have much time. Um, and
[52:01] if we defer it for longer than a month,
[52:04] I worry that more demolition by neglect,
[52:07] um, more vandalism
[52:10] [clears throat]
[52:10] and we're possibly going to lose
[52:13] something that is very important to the
[52:14] history of Hendersonville. Um, also, if
[52:16] we defer it for a month, um, I would
[52:18] hope that the Preservation Society would
[52:20] tell us what they actually have on hand.
[52:22] Uh we've heard of some ideas. We've
[52:24] heard those about a month ago. I want to
[52:26] know what progress has been made. Uh
[52:28] because we've got some folks, we have at
[52:29] least two organizations right here that
[52:31] want to make progress right now. Um so
[52:33] yeah. So any other discussion or do you
[52:35] want me just go ahead and withdraw it? I
[52:36] I'd love to hear some input. I know that
[52:39] some of the folks here, Alderman
[52:40] Collins, thank you. Um, I alluded to
[52:42] this earlier, but I just want to
[52:43] reiterate that um, as we now all have
[52:47] heard, we have two very similar
[52:50] offers coming to us. And while I know it
[52:54] certainly is true that you can have
[52:55] multiple letters of intent and work
[52:58] through those, I think the cleaner, more
[53:01] transparent way is to issue a request
[53:04] for proposal and allow people to respond
[53:07] to those. And I don't want to shut down
[53:10] the concept of a private public
[53:13] partnership,
[53:15] but um I do want to be cautious about
[53:18] it. I think an RFP is
[53:22] one thing is the Jesse I asked him about
[53:25] the RFP earlier and he told me that it
[53:28] was the last one was issued in 2022
[53:32] and that's before we had the deed
[53:34] restrictions lifted. So that in and of
[53:37] itself to me indicates that it's
[53:39] appropriate to issue a second RFP and
[53:42] see now that there are no deed
[53:45] restrictions what ideas might come from
[53:47] the community for that. I think that um
[53:51] it's the most transparent way. It
[53:53] protects all of us involved from being
[53:56] accused of backroom deals and cronyism
[54:00] and all of the things that we know are
[54:04] going to be said. An RFP protects
[54:07] everybody. Does it slow down the
[54:10] process? Yes, it does. But I think it's
[54:14] worth it to be transparent and upfront
[54:16] about what's going on. Um, so I strongly
[54:20] encourage an RFP
[54:22] and um to the point that I'm not going
[54:25] to vote for a letter of intent at all.
[54:29] Thank you,
[54:29] >> Alman Collins. Thank you, Alman Evans.
[54:31] >> I I just want to follow up with that,
[54:33] too. Um, I too would like now that I
[54:36] hear that the last time we had one was
[54:38] 2022,
[54:39] I wasn't on Bulma at that time. So, I
[54:41] would like to to have that out there. I
[54:43] think again to Alderman Collins uh
[54:47] comment about the transparency, I think
[54:48] that's important here. Um one thing I
[54:51] think it's important to note is that um
[54:54] I don't know about the rest of you, but
[54:56] I had not seen any of this this letter
[54:59] of intent or any of this information
[55:00] until late last week. And the fact that
[55:03] we were getting this late last week and
[55:05] it's Tuesday, so maybe four or five days
[55:07] that we've had this to digest it, read
[55:10] it, and that's a lot of information. I
[55:12] have a long list of questions I have
[55:14] about it and and I understand that uh
[55:17] what a letter of intent is, but you
[55:19] know, now we're finding out that there
[55:21] is someone else that uh would like the
[55:23] opportunity and and I think that there
[55:25] are others. I I think that we should be
[55:27] cautious and we should step back and and
[55:30] not rush through this having I I get the
[55:33] understanding of wanting to um wave the
[55:36] rule and and and try to but this to me
[55:39] it seems like it's been pushed too
[55:40] quickly and there's a lot of questions
[55:42] on this and and I can't be in favor of voting on this uh to push this along
[55:48] to today. I'd like to have another uh
[55:50] some more time on this and I would too
[55:53] would like to hear from the preservation
[55:54] society about what the pro progress is
[55:56] there and the plan there. I think that
[55:59] this is now gaining some momentum and
[56:02] that we're hearing from a lot of
[56:03] different people that we can make a good
[56:05] educated decision about the future of
[56:07] this and that taking a little bit of
[56:10] extra time is prudent in this manner.
[56:12] Um, I did hear attorney Ry mention
[56:16] something about when he talked about the
[56:17] letter of intent and I heard him say the
[56:19] word exclusivity. And I want to be
[56:22] careful that when when this one letter
[56:24] of intent comes to us, um, we're not
[56:28] saying that that just gives them the
[56:29] exclusivity and that no one else has the
[56:32] opportunity to u present a letter of
[56:35] intent as well,
[56:36] >> just for a a limited time during their
[56:39] due diligence. And see, I have a problem
[56:42] with that.
[56:42] >> Yeah. But just to be clear, it's
[56:44] >> Thank you.
[56:45] >> Um, so that's that's all it Thank you.
[56:48] >> Did you want to ask questions?
[56:49] >> No.
[56:50] >> Okay. I appreciate the question. I don't
[56:53] think now is the time. I think we all
[56:55] need more time to dis to discuss this,
[56:57] ask questions, and do more research.
[56:59] >> Alderman Evans, thank you for your
[57:00] input. Alman Garza.
[57:02] >> Uh, yeah. I'm coming from a little bit
[57:04] of a different angle on this. Um, I was
[57:07] here in 2003 and I saw that there was
[57:09] nothing really done and it's so easy to
[57:11] kick the can down the road. I'm not
[57:13] saying anything about this letter of
[57:14] intent. I'm saying it's time if we're
[57:16] going to do something to get off our
[57:18] butts and do it. And I'm not saying it's
[57:21] going to be fast, but uh it's so easy to
[57:24] keep postponing and we'll work on this
[57:27] and we'll change that, we'll do this and that's not leadership, right? We got
[57:31] to get on top of this thing and find the
[57:33] right partners
[57:35] that are going to do right by the city
[57:36] and themselves, too. They're here to
[57:38] make a profit. I don't know what that
[57:40] is. That could be many different
[57:41] options. And maybe these this uh refusal
[57:44] proposal uh will bring more people out
[57:46] of the woodwork and and look at it. But
[57:48] I want to I want to go on record. I'm
[57:50] not supporting this tonight, this
[57:52] resolution, just so you know. But I want
[57:53] to go on record as it's time to do
[57:55] something. It's easy to do nothing.
[57:57] That's all I got. Mayor Alman Garza.
[57:59] Thank you. Alderman Robertson,
[58:02] >> who who here would represent the
[58:04] preservation society if I have a
[58:06] question to them?
[58:11] » Um
[58:13] [sighs]
[58:15] Tom, would you want to do it?
[58:17] >> I I don't know that I can answer all the
[58:20] questions. I defer a lot to Mark, but
[58:22] >> Okay. I think between two or three of us
[58:25] >> I I guess all the the the basic question
[58:28] is where does the preservation committee
[58:31] uh stand as far as trying to get money
[58:34] to help restore the house?
[58:36] >> Mark has information on this that I
[58:38] don't have.
[58:39] >> Well, we do have several board members
[58:41] who are very active in grant seeking and
[58:44] uh they've turned over every um stone,
[58:47] lots of them. If you would like a
[58:49] summary, I don't think this is
[58:50] necessarily the time to do this. Again,
[58:52] as we're reading this particular um uh
[58:55] resolution, I would be happy to share
[58:57] that stuff with you. You can go to
[58:58] bradford.org if you'd like to know any
[59:01] more information about that. I believe
[59:02] we've uh published our um minutes on
[59:06] those too.
[59:07] >> Okay. So, so we have applied for grants,
[59:09] but none
[59:11] >> No, we have not applied for grants. We
[59:13] are seeking
[59:14] >> Okay.
[59:15] >> the process. We've only been uh actively
[59:17] seeking for about a month.
[59:19] >> Okay. So,
[59:19] >> and I know Alderman Burgdorf, you've
[59:22] worked hard on this project. I've seen
[59:23] you at a lot of events, you know, with
[59:26] your poster and your handout cards. So,
[59:30] all right. As we move forward, and I
[59:33] like what re what Alderman Collins is
[59:36] suggesting, a new RFP,
[59:39] but let me ask you, mayor, uh, and I
[59:42] apologize for my lack of knowledge on
[59:44] this. is parcel E. Does the city own
[59:46] parcel E on the map?
[59:50] Is that part of the land that was given
[59:52] to the city?
[59:53] >> Parcel E.
[59:56] >> I don't see a parcel
[59:58] E.
[1:00:00] >> Oh, it's not.
[1:00:00] >> So, the one that says city owned, is
[1:00:02] that parcel E?
[1:00:04] >> That's my question.
[1:00:05] >> You have to scroll down on this map.
[1:00:08] >> It's on our page.
[1:00:08] >> Jason, you scroll down a little bit.
[1:00:11] >> Uh, there we go. Yes. So, um, parcel E
[1:00:15] is also ours. Um, it is the back 10
[1:00:19] acres and it includes part of the
[1:00:22] parking lot for Aladdin
[1:00:24] >> and and no restrictions on that land.
[1:00:27] Correct.
[1:00:28] >> I wouldn't say no, but it's pretty close
[1:00:29] to none. And we have to thank Jesse for
[1:00:31] that.
[1:00:32] >> Yeah.
[1:00:32] Yeah. Absolutely.
[1:00:33] >> Great. So, what I would like to see uh
[1:00:37] on an RFP, just so that at least two of
[1:00:40] the interested parties are here,
[1:00:42] >> is I'm not really interested in uh
[1:00:45] giving up any of the city- owned land
[1:00:48] where the property where the home is,
[1:00:50] but if we could possibly use some of the
[1:00:54] land in that's identified in parcel E
[1:00:57] for this purpose of the food trucks
[1:01:01] um and and uh and and then [cough] the
[1:01:05] restoration but but not affect the land
[1:01:08] if if that's a possibility. Do does the
[1:01:10] city have any plans for partial E?
[1:01:14] Jay, have you heard any
[1:01:17] So we the city has no plans. I would
[1:01:20] have brought those to you. Jay has had
[1:01:22] some conversation with some folks. Do
[1:01:23] you want to share those or should I just
[1:01:24] leave it at that?
[1:01:25] >> Okay.
[1:01:25] Well, that to me that that that's
[1:01:28] a possibility is for is for the the the
[1:01:32] city to to provide this land for the for
[1:01:35] these food trucks in parcel E. And part
[1:01:39] of that is to restore the house. But I
[1:01:42] and I'm also opposed to to giving any
[1:01:45] part of the ownership of that house to to an outside private entity. I would
[1:01:51] like for that to to be maintained by the
[1:01:54] city and then at the appropriate time as
[1:01:56] you mentioned uh deed over to the
[1:01:59] preservation society. So those are just
[1:02:01] two of my wishes as the RFPs
[1:02:06] look at proposals. Thank you Robertson.
[1:02:08] Thank you. I do feel like we this is
[1:02:10] suspicion of mine Jay. Is the back
[1:02:12] portion significantly more valuable than
[1:02:13] the front portion?
[1:02:21] Okay. Okay. Just to let y'all know that.
[1:02:23] But I appreciate that input and that's
[1:02:25] certainly something that we should
[1:02:26] entertain.
[1:02:27] >> Uh, Alderman Evans,
[1:02:29] >> going off of what Alderman Robertson was
[1:02:31] just saying. I'd like to hear as a part
[1:02:33] of the whole um discussion to hear from
[1:02:38] Director Ritterbach about, you know,
[1:02:40] what might be used or what's being
[1:02:42] proposed in that section E. I think that
[1:02:45] makes a difference
[1:02:46] >> uh as far as what we might be looking at
[1:02:48] in the future here.
[1:02:49] >> Can we do that in a month?
[1:02:50] >> I I don't know. Yeah, in a month. Yeah.
[1:02:53] When whenever we look at everything, I
[1:02:55] think just having a book big picture of
[1:02:56] everything and what we're looking at
[1:02:58] would be helpful.
[1:02:59] >> Okay.
[1:02:59] >> Thank you.
[1:03:00] >> I think you're right. Thank you,
[1:03:00] Alderman Collins. Alman Collins.
[1:03:02] >> Um just a clarification for Mr. Renbach.
[1:03:05] Is it more valuable because it's 10
[1:03:07] acres or is it more valuable per acre?
[1:03:11] >> Is it significant? So, um, go ahead,
[1:03:14] Jay. You're not really prepared for
[1:03:15] this, but and don't answer anything that
[1:03:19] [laughter]
[1:03:19] you you can't back up, please.
[1:03:22] >> I believe it would be more significant
[1:03:24] because there it's it's a green space or
[1:03:27] it's it's it's not developed with a
[1:03:28] house in the middle of it. So, it's
[1:03:30] basically a blank canvas. Um, and it is larger. Um, and the way that you
[1:03:36] can access that potentially from
[1:03:39] multiple directions make make its
[1:03:41] potential much more than the Bradford
[1:03:44] Berry House.
[1:03:47] >> Alman Collins, anything else?
[1:03:48] >> Uh, no. It sounds like we have a really
[1:03:51] good bargaining chip with that 10 acres,
[1:03:52] so we might be able to really milk it.
[1:03:55] >> Alderman Collins, thank you. Alman
[1:03:57] Skidmore.
[1:03:58] >> Thank you, Mayor. I I just want to say a
[1:04:00] couple of things, but I'm I'm not going
[1:04:02] to go into detail on what I what I
[1:04:06] really want to say because I don't think
[1:04:08] it's appropriate to do it this evening.
[1:04:10] Um, a lot of this I, you know, and I'm
[1:04:14] going to remind the board and I know
[1:04:15] they know this because this happens
[1:04:17] every time when we wave the rule.
[1:04:20] Sometimes I don't have a problem with
[1:04:21] it. tonight. I do have a problem with it
[1:04:24] because this really, honest to God, is a
[1:04:28] serious issue that is coming before the
[1:04:31] city on a historical level. I mean, this
[1:04:35] is probably the last home that the city
[1:04:40] uh right now is responsible for. Um, and
[1:04:45] I cannot and I will and I'll say this
[1:04:48] anywhere. So, that's why I'm saying this
[1:04:50] publicly. I appreciate uh Mayor Clary
[1:04:55] years ago stepping up as he did when he
[1:04:58] and I helped with u actually I'm just
[1:05:03] you know I'm not going to be what was that in the old days? I think
[1:05:07] Al Gore said that he was the he created
[1:05:10] the web or whatever.
[1:05:11] >> He invented the internet.
[1:05:13] >> I'm not going to say that we saved the Bradford Berry House. I'm not going
[1:05:18] to say that. But I by the actions that
[1:05:22] were taken by that board at that time, I
[1:05:25] think that I think it was the the house
[1:05:27] was saved. Um, and I am and I'm forever
[1:05:32] grateful to that, Jamie. I'm very
[1:05:34] forever grateful for that. Um, that that
[1:05:38] showed a lot of foresight. And so now
[1:05:40] when I I'm like everybody else in the
[1:05:43] here tonight and on TV is when I go by I
[1:05:47] see Jim and Nicks and Chick-fil-A and
[1:05:49] Starbucks, you know, whether I like them
[1:05:52] or I I love Jim and Nicks and I love
[1:05:54] Chick-fil-A and I love Starbucks,
[1:05:57] but uh you know, I still look and I see
[1:06:00] the the Bradford Berry House, you know,
[1:06:02] and and it it bothers me to see the
[1:06:06] condition that it is. But we've got a
[1:06:08] unique opportunity to here to to try to
[1:06:11] advance and make that place back to what
[1:06:15] it was and be proud of it. I'm still pr
[1:06:18] I know it's dilapidated looking now, but
[1:06:21] I'm still proud of that. Uh, not only am
[1:06:24] I proud of the house, but for the people
[1:06:27] that lived in that house back in our the
[1:06:30] history of Hendersonville. I'm proud of
[1:06:32] those people. Um, and the things that
[1:06:36] they went through. And if you really
[1:06:38] think about that, um,
[1:06:41] that's what we should be looking at. Um,
[1:06:45] I want to look at that. And I'm sort of
[1:06:47] perplexed about I do want and I'll
[1:06:50] finish Jamie on this, but there's a lot
[1:06:52] of things that I want to say that h that
[1:06:55] happened uh that I'm not going to say
[1:06:58] because of one thing. When I when I step
[1:07:03] in when I walk in that hallway and I
[1:07:07] come in, I'm an alderman. I'm not Mark
[1:07:11] Skidmore. And I'm Mark Skidmore, but I'm
[1:07:13] not Mark Skidmore, the citizen. I
[1:07:16] represent the city of Hendersonville,
[1:07:19] but more importantly, Ward One and the
[1:07:22] city. So, my personal feelings sometimes
[1:07:28] have to be set aside and I won't comment
[1:07:31] on it. uh unless I say there, you know,
[1:07:35] I might have an interest or something,
[1:07:36] not on this property, but
[1:07:39] if something comes on that that I've got
[1:07:41] a conflict, I'll say something about it
[1:07:44] then because I think the people of
[1:07:46] Hendersonville deserve to know that
[1:07:48] because I've represented them for a
[1:07:50] while, which I'm grateful for. Um, but I
[1:07:55] think this is this this whole thing that
[1:07:57] we're talking about tonight is exactly
[1:08:01] why we wanted to defer it
[1:08:05] uh this evening to allow the whole board
[1:08:08] of alderman
[1:08:10] uh to review what has transpired. And I
[1:08:13] know that we've talked about what the
[1:08:15] mayor has said and and and there are
[1:08:18] some things that I agree with him on,
[1:08:21] but there's some things that I don't
[1:08:22] agree that I think we need to wait, you
[1:08:25] know, we need to step back. And I still
[1:08:28] think we need to step back. Um, and I
[1:08:31] don't think a month is is is not unre
[1:08:34] it's not unreasonable. I think it's very
[1:08:36] reasonable to allow the Bradford uh
[1:08:41] Berry Preservation Society to look at
[1:08:44] because I will tell you this in closing.
[1:08:48] Um, I'm not sure they've they they've
[1:08:51] been in existence in a month and to
[1:08:54] raise money within and I'm going to tell
[1:08:56] you to raise money and you all know
[1:08:59] this. Gosh, all the the people that have
[1:09:03] been involved in schools and raising
[1:09:05] money for PTO, it takes more than a
[1:09:09] month sometimes to raise money. I mean
[1:09:12] they plan in in my ward for example when
[1:09:17] we plan like a book fair
[1:09:20] for our schools man we've been planning
[1:09:24] that a year you know I'm and I'm being
[1:09:27] realistic about this I'm I'm not you
[1:09:29] know making a joke out of it because it
[1:09:31] is important just like the book the book
[1:09:34] fair is or like when they have uh things
[1:09:38] for the kids to do outside the you know
[1:09:41] the summer in the fall festivals and
[1:09:43] things, you can go ask those teachers.
[1:09:47] You can ask school administration and
[1:09:50] they're planning that a year before it
[1:09:52] ever happens.
[1:09:54] Well, this is the kind of thing that I
[1:09:56] want to do to the Bradford Berry. I want
[1:09:59] to plan something
[1:10:01] and make sure people get involved in it
[1:10:04] and have knowledge of it because like I
[1:10:07] think a gentleman said about it, you can
[1:10:09] go I could probably go right up the
[1:10:11] street off of Rivier Riviera and ask
[1:10:14] them who the Brad where the Bradford
[1:10:16] Berry House and they go, "What are you
[1:10:17] talking about?" Well, it's a historical
[1:10:19] house. Okay. Well, that's great. That's
[1:10:22] I'm glad we've got something, you know,
[1:10:24] some history in town because we don't
[1:10:26] have very much of it left. But where is
[1:10:29] it? Because people just don't know.
[1:10:31] They've got their own lives to live. My
[1:10:33] god. You know, they're making a living.
[1:10:36] They're driving to Nashville and back.
[1:10:38] They've got children going to the park.
[1:10:41] So, it is up to not only the city, but
[1:10:44] the Bradford Berry Preservation Society
[1:10:47] to engage and educate the people of
[1:10:51] Hendersonville. And I don't see a
[1:10:52] problem with that. I really don't. But
[1:10:55] what I do see a problem is is when the
[1:10:59] Bradford Berry Preservation Society, for
[1:11:01] example,
[1:11:03] um goes to these heavy hitters that have
[1:11:06] the money to donate to the city and to
[1:11:10] their society.
[1:11:12] But we're sitting up here arguing about
[1:11:14] this. They want to see someone or some
[1:11:19] organization, whether it be uh the city
[1:11:22] of Hendersonville or the Bradford Berry
[1:11:24] Preservation Society, they want to see
[1:11:27] us working together and we're all in on
[1:11:30] this because they're not going to give
[1:11:32] money to people when they're saying,
[1:11:34] "Well, gosh, well, damn. They're they're
[1:11:37] up there arguing about what they want to
[1:11:39] do with the house.
[1:11:41] Would
[1:11:43] you give money to that? I wouldn't. I
[1:11:47] mean, I Preservation Society, I would
[1:11:49] because I know what they're doing. City
[1:11:52] Hendersonville. Yeah, I would because I
[1:11:53] know what they're doing. But when we get
[1:11:55] up here and argue about it, we should be
[1:11:58] united.
[1:12:00] Figure out what we've got to do. And if
[1:12:03] I'm on the losing side, that's fine
[1:12:05] because I want to save that house. And I
[1:12:08] think every member of the board of
[1:12:10] alderman want to save that house. And I
[1:12:13] think the city of Hendersonville, its
[1:12:15] people, which I represent as not only as
[1:12:18] a ward alderman in ward one, but also
[1:12:21] the city, I think they want to save it,
[1:12:24] too. I really do believe that because,
[1:12:28] you know, it's the greatest thing in the
[1:12:30] world being living in America and living
[1:12:34] in Hendersonville.
[1:12:37] We're, you know, you you look at where
[1:12:40] we came from. We're all a bunch of um
[1:12:44] >> muts I guess, is the word. And we
[1:12:47] really are. And uh we came from England
[1:12:51] and and other foreign countries. They we
[1:12:53] were kicked out and we came to this
[1:12:55] country
[1:12:57] and then we fought for our own
[1:12:59] independence because we believed in a
[1:13:02] better for people, not just for a
[1:13:05] country. But you all know this, for a
[1:13:08] better society to live and to raise your
[1:13:11] children and to and to to go to church
[1:13:14] where you wanted to go to church
[1:13:17] and the Bradford Berry House is a living
[1:13:20] legacy of that people.
[1:13:25] It was given to the man who lived there
[1:13:28] from the American Revolution.
[1:13:34] I'm going to get off my soapbox,
[1:13:38] but I but I want you to understand the
[1:13:41] importance of what that house is.
[1:13:45] It's more important and and I hate to
[1:13:47] say this, but it's the truth. It's more
[1:13:50] important than the halfway house that
[1:13:51] burned down. That's a living legacy if
[1:13:55] you really truly think about it.
[1:13:59] came from the American Revolution.
[1:14:02] A guy who fought for the freedoms that
[1:14:05] we have for today, that we still have
[1:14:10] the freedoms in this country because of
[1:14:12] what he did and I appreciate that.
[1:14:17] and I know you do too.
[1:14:21] I know all of you do. Thank you, mayor.
[1:14:23] >> Thank you, Alderman. Good morning. That
[1:14:24] is exactly this kind of input and this
[1:14:26] kind of discussion is exactly what I was
[1:14:27] hoping for. That's why I pushed this to
[1:14:29] have on the agenda tonight. Um, and
[1:14:31] appreciate that discussion. I think it's
[1:14:32] very very helpful. Uh, and I will
[1:14:34] withdraw this uh at this time since I am
[1:14:36] the only sponsor of it. Um, and uh, and
[1:14:39] uh, uh, we'll give you some information
[1:14:41] for now and our next meeting which is in
[1:14:43] uh, which is in I think right up four
[1:14:45] weeks. We don't meet in two weeks. So,
[1:14:47] we're going to move. Thank you all for
[1:14:48] the discussion and for the input. Um,
[1:14:50] uh, next we have resolution 2026-30.
[1:14:53] This is a resolution authorizing the
[1:14:54] creation and placement of the Bronze
[1:14:55] Legends Plaza at Memorial Park.
[1:14:57] Authorizing Hendersonville Arts Council
[1:14:59] to coordinate the project and
[1:15:00] authorizing acceptance of donation
[1:15:02] funding. Alderman Collins.
[1:15:07] » So we have a motion from Alderman
[1:15:08] Collins and a second from Alderman
[1:15:09] Robertson. Am I correct? Okay. Um any
[1:15:11] discussion on that?
[1:15:14] Uh hold on here. Alderman Collins. Um,
[1:15:16] respectfully, I request that we wave the
[1:15:19] rules and hear from the members of the
[1:15:21] arts council who are here to make a very
[1:15:25] informal and brief presentation on the
[1:15:27] sculpture project.
[1:15:28] >> Is that just Renee?
[1:15:30] >> Um,
[1:15:32] to be
[1:15:32] >> Okay, [laughter]
[1:15:33] >> I'll let Renee
[1:15:35] I'll introduce Renee Shepard is the
[1:15:37] chairman of the arts council and then
[1:15:39] I'll allow her to introduce the members
[1:15:41] present.
[1:15:42] >> Without objection, we're going to hear
[1:15:43] from these three representing the arts
[1:15:44] council. Thank you. Go ahead. Hello
[1:15:45] there again, Renee Shepard from the Arts
[1:15:48] Council. And with me tonight, I have
[1:15:49] Jamila Log with the Arts Council and
[1:15:52] Bill Clifford um also with the Arts
[1:15:54] Council. Bill is going to talk a little
[1:15:56] bit about um what we're thinking and
[1:15:58] what we envision for this um briefly.
[1:16:02] So,
[1:16:05] » thank you all for having us here
[1:16:07] tonight. Uh I really enjoyed hearing all
[1:16:09] the passion about the Bradford Berry
[1:16:11] House. Um we're kind of here for a
[1:16:14] similar reason tonight. More recent
[1:16:16] history, but important history just the
[1:16:18] same. Um we've been working now for the
[1:16:22] past three years. We've been working on
[1:16:23] an arts festival and uh we've c another
[1:16:26] we've started on another project where
[1:16:28] we're interested in creating a um
[1:16:31] four figure bronze statue
[1:16:34] uh capturing the likenesses of four of
[1:16:36] Hendersonville's most legendary u
[1:16:39] musical residents. So, we've got Johnny
[1:16:41] and June Cash, Carter Cash, excuse me,
[1:16:44] and Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty. And
[1:16:48] what we'd like to do is continue to
[1:16:51] explore
[1:16:53] um
[1:16:55] looking to have that us fourperson
[1:16:58] life-size sculptures installed in the uh
[1:17:02] in Memorial Park right around the
[1:17:06] uh affectionately called Donut Area
[1:17:08] right near Kids Kingdom um by the water.
[1:17:12] uh that would be would [clears throat]
[1:17:14] have a base in the style of the uh water
[1:17:17] fountain that we have there in the front
[1:17:18] where the Christmas tree goes up each
[1:17:20] year. And um so far we've reached out to
[1:17:24] five different sculptors uh some from
[1:17:27] Nashville and some from around the
[1:17:29] country who specialize in doing bronze
[1:17:32] casts uh with good likenesses of the
[1:17:35] musicians. um informally we've created
[1:17:38] some images that we can show uh if
[1:17:41] you're interested about what we're
[1:17:43] envisioning for how the sculpture would
[1:17:46] look. But uh we we'd like your blessing
[1:17:50] to continue looking and and exploring
[1:17:52] and trying to uh more formally start
[1:17:57] moving forward with the project.
[1:18:00] >> Alman Collins, did you have something
[1:18:01] for now or you want to let him go ahead?
[1:18:03] Um,
[1:18:04] are you
[1:18:06] Yeah. Um, I think you're finished. Yes.
[1:18:09] And so I just wanted to sound like I
[1:18:12] meant
[1:18:12] >> It's been a long time since I've talked
[1:18:14] in public. [laughter] So I appreciate
[1:18:16] you all your patience.
[1:18:18] >> Um, I just wanted to say that um I'm
[1:18:21] really excited about this project. When
[1:18:23] I became an alderman five almost six
[1:18:26] years ago now, I was told that
[1:18:28] politicians had pet projects. I'm super
[1:18:30] excited to have one for myself now. Um,
[1:18:34] and I think this is going to be lovely.
[1:18:36] I want to point out that um in W 5, we
[1:18:41] get a lot of people coming to the cash
[1:18:43] home and to um what's now the realtor's
[1:18:50] office Halo Properties even and to the
[1:18:53] extent that the city had to put in a
[1:18:55] little con um pavement pad for people to
[1:18:58] turn around on Codell because they were
[1:19:00] coming to the cash home and disrupting
[1:19:02] the school traffic. [laughter]
[1:19:05] Um, and people also of course visit the
[1:19:07] grave site.
[1:19:09] And so this is another stop that they
[1:19:12] can make which would hopefully pull them
[1:19:14] in to where they could go to some of our
[1:19:17] local restaurants that are on that side
[1:19:19] of town. So I like it from that
[1:19:21] perspective. And um I want to point out
[1:19:24] that
[1:19:26] the arts council is not asking for
[1:19:28] funding at this time. So, but by
[1:19:31] sanctioning this, it will allow the arts
[1:19:33] council to be able to ask for the
[1:19:37] community to contribute the money um
[1:19:40] that's required [clears throat] for
[1:19:41] this. So, this is not a financial ask.
[1:19:44] This is a blessing for the project to
[1:19:48] proceed. Thank you,
[1:19:50] >> Alman Collins. Thank you. Um Alderman
[1:19:52] Evans,
[1:19:52] >> yeah, I was just I was just going to ask
[1:19:54] a question around the the financial part
[1:19:56] of that. is that what's the um what's
[1:19:58] the plan around that? I know the thought
[1:20:00] is probably to raise the funds, but once
[1:20:03] you get into this, what is going to be
[1:20:05] the thought if you don't raise enough
[1:20:07] money, you know, what's what's the plan?
[1:20:09] Are you going to stop or are you going
[1:20:11] to ask the city then to kind of upfront
[1:20:14] or give the the rest of it? What's the
[1:20:16] plan there?
[1:20:17] >> I think we're really in preliminary
[1:20:18] stages. Okay. first of all. So, so we
[1:20:21] don't really have a plan that's that um
[1:20:25] specific. Um we would expect to to ask
[1:20:29] for donations and get donations for um
[1:20:32] for this purpose. I will say that we
[1:20:34] we've got um we've got some interest
[1:20:37] already. It's not confirmed. Again, as
[1:20:40] Rachel said, we just need you all to
[1:20:43] sanction the project so that we can move
[1:20:45] forward and get more specific with that.
[1:20:47] Okay? because if you all are interested
[1:20:49] in this and you think it's a viable
[1:20:51] something to do for the city, that helps
[1:20:53] us um to be able to have those
[1:20:55] conversations.
[1:20:56] >> Well, I appreciate that and I'm I'm
[1:20:58] interested in it, but from the fiscal
[1:21:00] side of things, too, I'm also concerned
[1:21:02] about
[1:21:03] >> committing to anything else. Um
[1:21:05] especially because when you look at
[1:21:07] this, you're talking about upwards of
[1:21:09] $700,000 or more. So, I'm concerned
[1:21:11] about that. So, hopefully we will be
[1:21:13] able to raise the funds and get this
[1:21:15] done. And I also want to say having it
[1:21:18] at the location of the the donut there,
[1:21:20] I think it's a great location to have
[1:21:21] that.
[1:21:22] >> It's because you can see it from
[1:21:23] everywhere right as you drive by. Um it
[1:21:25] also brings some complication. So I I
[1:21:27] think one of the first steps we
[1:21:28] [clears throat] would need to do is
[1:21:30] create a specific project plan. Okay.
[1:21:33] >> Um initially we've just done some
[1:21:35] research to say what would this cost?
[1:21:37] What would it look like? Because we
[1:21:39] didn't have any idea. And what's the
[1:21:40] process? what does it look like to um
[1:21:43] commission a bronze statue? Um so so
[1:21:46] we've kind of done some of that
[1:21:48] research. Um I understand we'd have to
[1:21:51] work with the core maybe in that area
[1:21:53] for that, you know, for that site.
[1:21:55] [clears throat] So there's still a lot
[1:21:56] of work to do and what comes first and
[1:21:59] what comes second, we have to figure all
[1:22:01] that out.
[1:22:02] >> Thank you so much,
[1:22:03] >> Alderman Evans. Thank you, Alderman
[1:22:04] Sassy.
[1:22:05] >> Uh thank you, Mayor. Um I would just
[1:22:07] want to echo a lot of what uh Alderman
[1:22:09] Evans was saying. This is a very
[1:22:10] exciting project. Um, I'm I'm fully
[1:22:14] support this, but the first thing that
[1:22:16] came to my mind was uh potential safety.
[1:22:19] And I just I'm only mentioning this so
[1:22:21] you're looking into this when you're
[1:22:22] talking to these sculptors and such.
[1:22:25] >> Um, but I've I've visited other bronze
[1:22:28] statues and they can get pretty hot,
[1:22:30] especially when they're got direct
[1:22:31] sunlight in that area. It's going to get
[1:22:33] direct sunlight um quite a bit of it.
[1:22:36] And as we all know, it gets hot around
[1:22:38] here. 90 degree weather, it can get up
[1:22:39] to 190 degrees on a bronze statue. So,
[1:22:43] just keeping that in mind as you're
[1:22:44] researching it. Maybe there's an alloy.
[1:22:46] I don't know. I'm not not an expert at
[1:22:49] it at all, but just wanted to uh make
[1:22:51] you aware of that and and hopefully we
[1:22:53] can find something that will be cooler
[1:22:55] to the touch maybe uh because we do have
[1:22:58] kids playing in that area. So, just
[1:22:59] something to think about.
[1:23:00] >> Okay. Thank you, woman. Sassy. Thank
[1:23:02] you, Renee. Thank you. appreciate you
[1:23:04] all working on this your initiative on
[1:23:05] it.
[1:23:06] >> Thank you.
[1:23:10] » Any other comments?
[1:23:13] All those in favor of resolution
[1:23:14] 2026-30, please say I.
[1:23:16] >> I.
[1:23:17] >> Those opposed, please say no. That
[1:23:18] passes unanimously. Thank you all. Uh
[1:23:20] other agenda items, we'll move down to
[1:23:22] reports. Uh brief committee reports.
[1:23:24] General committee. Uh Chairman Garza,
[1:23:25] >> I will try to be brief. It was pretty
[1:23:27] long tonight.
[1:23:29] Uh we had resolution 2026 u on a public
[1:23:32] hearing for the uh 1765 Avent Lane. Uh
[1:23:37] we approved that to go to Bulma. Uh
[1:23:39] resolution 202627 also related to this
[1:23:42] as to annex certain territories upon
[1:23:45] written consider the owners and
[1:23:46] incorporate said property into the same
[1:23:47] one 1765 Abbott Lane. That also went to
[1:23:51] Bulma approved. And then uh the
[1:23:54] ordinance 20269 and ordinance reszoning
[1:23:57] approximately almost 33 acres of
[1:23:59] property at again 1765 Abbott Lane also
[1:24:02] was approved to go to Bulma. [cough]
[1:24:04] Then we moved on to ordinance 202610 is
[1:24:06] an ordinance adopt revisions to the
[1:24:08] zoning ordinance for the city of
[1:24:09] Hendersonville. Uh that's going to go
[1:24:11] through the city also approved to go to
[1:24:13] Bulma. uh ordinance 202611
[1:24:18] amending the Hendersonville mis miscode
[1:24:20] title one uh video recording for the
[1:24:23] nonprofit contributions uh committee and
[1:24:25] that's been also approved to go to
[1:24:27] Bulma. We had a reading of ordinance
[1:24:29] 202612
[1:24:31] uh it's amending the municipal code here
[1:24:34] uh title 12 chapter 2 relative to the
[1:24:37] amendments to the revised edition of
[1:24:38] international residential code uh also
[1:24:41] approved to go to Bulma. Uh, this next
[1:24:43] one is the only negative one we had for
[1:24:44] the evening. It's the reading of
[1:24:45] resolution 202628 approving the letter
[1:24:48] of intent. Here we are again with the
[1:24:50] city of Hersville and Lanny sport
[1:24:51] properties spot property, excuse me,
[1:24:53] regarding the proposed lease and future
[1:24:55] conveyance of the Bradford Berry House.
[1:24:56] We did send it with a negative
[1:24:58] recommendation and of course tonight
[1:24:59] it's been pulled to a later date. So
[1:25:01] that was the purpose of that so we can
[1:25:03] start and continue the conversations
[1:25:05] with that issue. A reading of resolution
[1:25:08] 202631
[1:25:09] declaring certain real [snorts] city
[1:25:11] property to the surplus property excuse me and approving lease
[1:25:15] agreements with Pope John Paul 2. Uh
[1:25:17] also um a positive recommendation of
[1:25:20] Bulma and the reading of resolution 2026
[1:25:22] 29 a resolution amended the city
[1:25:25] employee innovation to more of an
[1:25:27] employee recognition program also
[1:25:28] approved to go to Bulma. And the last
[1:25:30] one which we just spoke about was
[1:25:31] resolution 2026-30.
[1:25:33] That's a resolution authorizing the
[1:25:35] placement of the bronze legend plaza at
[1:25:37] Memorial Park. And that was our report
[1:25:39] for general committee.
[1:25:40] >> Appreciate that, Chairman Garza. Uh
[1:25:42] Chairman Goodwin, public safety.
[1:25:44] >> We had a brief committee meeting. We
[1:25:47] discussed the resolution for the park.
[1:25:49] Sent that on to Bulma with a positive
[1:25:51] recommendation and had a brief
[1:25:54] discussion on Stark Knob Boat Ramp that
[1:25:56] we are going to monitor and watch. That
[1:25:59] concludes my report.
[1:26:00] >> Uh, thank you very much, Chairman
[1:26:01] Goodwin. Timothy Whitten, I assume that
[1:26:03] the only reason you are here this late
[1:26:04] is to provide our planning commission
[1:26:06] report.
[1:26:09] » Good evening. Uh, Timothy Whitten,
[1:26:11] assistant planning director, standing in
[1:26:13] for Keith Free, planning director
[1:26:15] standing in for Michael Martin for W 2.
[1:26:19] Uh so the uh planning commission um
[1:26:23] report for their meeting Tuesday, August
[1:26:25] the 4th. Uh they took the following
[1:26:27] action on the consent agenda. They
[1:26:29] approved Forest Park phase 1 amenity
[1:26:31] center site plan, uh Imperial Point
[1:26:34] building a site plan, Milstone phase 7
[1:26:38] section two final plat and Pope John
[1:26:41] Paul the second edition phase one site
[1:26:43] plan. And then they approved a wall
[1:26:46] mural for deck tai which is a new
[1:26:48] restaurant coming to the west main
[1:26:49] street area. Uh and then um they moved
[1:26:53] the following items forward to general
[1:26:55] committee and and the board of mayor and
[1:26:57] alderman. The uh annexation and plan of
[1:27:00] services for Avlyn as well as well as
[1:27:03] the uh combined development plan for
[1:27:05] Avlyn and then they also recommended the
[1:27:08] uh batch of zoning ordinance revisions
[1:27:10] as well.
[1:27:12] >> Any questions for Timothy? Thank you,
[1:27:14] Timothy.
[1:27:14] >> Oh, I'm sorry.
[1:27:16] >> Alderman Garza.
[1:27:17] >> Sorry. So, you approved the mural for
[1:27:20] Detai?
[1:27:21] >> Yes, sir.
[1:27:22] >> And can they open yet?
[1:27:24] >> Uh, I believe um
[1:27:28] there's no hold up on our end. Not sure
[1:27:31] I'm not sure what their what status
[1:27:32] their building permit is in
[1:27:35] >> or their UNO. I can check on that for
[1:27:36] you and let you know.
[1:27:37] >> Yeah, I just I once again I want to be
[1:27:40] very It was rumored, but I heard rumor
[1:27:42] that one of the reasons they they were
[1:27:43] not open yet is because they were having
[1:27:44] too much obstruction from the city.
[1:27:47] >> I'm not saying that's true. I'm just
[1:27:48] saying.
[1:27:49] >> Yeah, I'm not aware of that
[1:27:50] >> because they've been ready to go now for
[1:27:51] about 3 weeks.
[1:27:52] >> If anybody obstructing it would be that
[1:27:53] guy right there and he said he's not
[1:27:55] aware of it. So,
[1:27:55] >> no, I understand. I'm just saying what
[1:27:57] you know my calls come in going when's
[1:27:59] it going to open? And they heard this
[1:28:00] and I'm saying it's true, but
[1:28:03] >> by any means, but we need to get them
[1:28:04] open.
[1:28:06] >> They got a big investment in that place.
[1:28:08] >> Thank you, Alman Gar. Thank you.
[1:28:09] >> I I do hear the same thing about Rio
[1:28:11] Bravo and I know Rio Bravo there's no
[1:28:13] hold up on our end. Um they they've
[1:28:15] gotten all their approvals that they
[1:28:17] need through planning. So
[1:28:19] >> it's helpful. Thank you.
[1:28:20] >> Um uh Alman Evans, I'm sorry. Did you
[1:28:22] have a question for
[1:28:23] >> Yes, I do have a quick question. I
[1:28:25] wanted a clarification on when you
[1:28:26] talked about Alyn or Avalon or whatever
[1:28:29] it's called. Can you share with us all
[1:28:31] was that a unanimous approval on all all
[1:28:34] those
[1:28:36] >> on annexation?
[1:28:40] Uh, let me see. I'm not sure.
[1:28:41] >> I believe if I'm not right, I think it
[1:28:43] was a unanimous on all of those.
[1:28:44] >> I believe it was zero.
[1:28:47] >> I just wanted to make sure everybody
[1:28:48] knew that.
[1:28:50] >> Thank you. Thank you, Timothy. Thank
[1:28:51] you, Alderman Evans. Um, Vice Mayor
[1:28:54] Skidmore,
[1:28:55] >> can you come on down here, please? Um,
[1:28:56] I've had bronchitis for about two weeks
[1:28:59] and, um, I'm running a fever right now,
[1:29:01] and so I'm going to go lie down and, uh,
[1:29:03] let you be led by our vice mayor for the
[1:29:05] last two items. Thank you, Mark. Yes.
[1:29:18] Thank you. Now that the mayor's gone,
[1:29:20] we're going to do things our way. And
[1:29:22] so, no, seriously, I I hope he is
[1:29:25] getting bronchitis is a rough thing, and
[1:29:28] I hope he starts to feeling better. And
[1:29:29] I just have hope that the
[1:29:33] our city attorney, Lance Ray, if I screw
[1:29:35] up that he'll be able to help me along
[1:29:38] the way. But I I feel
[1:29:39] >> a lot longer.
[1:29:40] >> Yeah. [laughter]
[1:29:41] I don't know. Doesn't matter how long
[1:29:43] you've been doing it. It just takes one
[1:29:45] time to mess up. But anyway, so uh we
[1:29:48] are now on to the review of the employee
[1:29:51] pay and benefit report. And Josh, um I
[1:29:55] think you're here to give us a
[1:29:57] presentation on that. Is that
[1:29:59] I mean the Bulma report.
[1:30:00] >> Oh, is it a Bulma report? Oh, okay.
[1:30:03] Well, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm sorry.
[1:30:05] Thank you. Um, are you ready for the
[1:30:09] >> Yeah, it's it's Yeah, go ahead with the
[1:30:12] Bulma report.
[1:30:13] >> I don't feel that well either. So, if
[1:30:14] you want to go right to your employer,
[1:30:16] [laughter] that's
[1:30:17] >> all right. [snorts]
[1:30:19] >> Uh, so this report is wrapping up um
[1:30:23] some of the fiscal year 26 and it opens
[1:30:26] up some of the fiscal year 27. Our
[1:30:28] financial information we get from the
[1:30:30] state on revenue is always a month
[1:30:31] behind. Um so this report will go
[1:30:35] between two fiscal years. Our next
[1:30:37] report will all just be fiscal year 27.
[1:30:39] Just remember we get revenue a month
[1:30:40] behind because we get that information
[1:30:42] from the state. So this report starts on
[1:30:45] page 29 of your packet. Uh probably one
[1:30:48] of the most important things that we're
[1:30:49] seeing is that local sales tax or that
[1:30:51] sales tax is up uh local sales tax is up
[1:30:54] 4.1%. Our interest earnings are down a
[1:30:57] little bit from last year.
[1:31:00] And now if most of you follow the Fed,
[1:31:02] you'll see that there may be actually a
[1:31:04] chance for that rate to increase rather
[1:31:06] than decrease. So that is good for our
[1:31:09] interest earnings. It's not good if we
[1:31:11] want to borrow money. Um so our interest
[1:31:14] that we expected to get this year may
[1:31:16] actually be higher than expected is um
[1:31:18] it's likely that there could be actually
[1:31:20] a raise of interest rates.
[1:31:23] Um, when we look at sales tax combined
[1:31:25] with revenue from permit fees, that's
[1:31:28] actually down uh 1.3% from uh year-to-
[1:31:32] date 25 to 26 and that's uh mostly just
[1:31:35] due to the permit revenue being down.
[1:31:37] General fund expenditures are slightly
[1:31:40] up. Um we haven't finished all the
[1:31:43] acrruals for year end. So we have to uh
[1:31:46] book the acrals back. So that's still
[1:31:48] happening. So the general fund operating
[1:31:49] expenditures are an estimate at this
[1:31:51] point until we finish the uh year end
[1:31:53] acrruels which we will probably finish
[1:31:54] in September.
[1:31:56] If you go to page 31 and 32, this is
[1:31:59] reporting on our PIP fund. Um we've
[1:32:02] tried to do everything we can to be as
[1:32:04] transparent as possible with this fund.
[1:32:06] There's really no surprises.
[1:32:08] Um some of these uh uses of funds are
[1:32:10] more than we budgeted for the current
[1:32:12] year and that's because we carried over
[1:32:14] some POS from the prior year where we
[1:32:16] actually spent them in this year.
[1:32:18] If we go to page 33, you'll see that uh
[1:32:21] fire calls are up a bit, police calls
[1:32:23] are down a bit. Um really nothing out of
[1:32:25] the ordinary when we look for uh calls
[1:32:28] for service for both uh public safety
[1:32:30] departments. Uh page 35 shows our
[1:32:34] residential and commercial permit
[1:32:36] activity. Uh that's pretty much within
[1:32:38] the range of what we'd expect. Uh
[1:32:40] residential residential inspections are
[1:32:42] below previous year's numbers. Uh but
[1:32:45] the activity uh is kind of within the
[1:32:47] range that we've had the last couple
[1:32:49] years.
[1:32:51] We can go to page 37. This is going to
[1:32:53] be something that's going to be kind of
[1:32:54] neat. And if you would put this on the
[1:32:56] screen, Jason, I gave you two slides
[1:32:58] that you could put on the screen. Uh I
[1:33:01] don't mind which one you put up first.
[1:33:02] Okay. The landing ship tank LST 325 is
[1:33:06] coming to Sanders Ferry Park September
[1:33:08] 23rd and 29th. This is going to be open
[1:33:10] for tours. So, I understand this is the
[1:33:14] oldest operating World War II LST ship.
[1:33:17] Um, and they're going to be docked right
[1:33:19] at Saunders Ferry. So, when this comes
[1:33:22] next month, uh, it's $20 admission to
[1:33:25] walk through it. Uh, for kids, it's $10
[1:33:28] and then five and under is free. So,
[1:33:29] this is a pretty neat opportunity where
[1:33:31] this ship is going to be right at
[1:33:33] Sanders Fair and you can you can do a
[1:33:34] tour of it. So, on the weekends, I've
[1:33:36] been told there can be a line to get in.
[1:33:39] uh you can buy tickets there or you can
[1:33:40] buy them ahead of time. We'll still have
[1:33:43] one more time to announce this before
[1:33:44] it's here, but that's something to put
[1:33:46] on your calendar. That should be pretty
[1:33:47] neat. And then if you'd pull up the next
[1:33:49] slide, this is the food truck festival
[1:33:51] that's actually happening this Saturday,
[1:33:53] August 15th, from 4 to 8 at Veterans
[1:33:55] Park. Bring your canned goods there. It
[1:33:58] supports Feed Sumner. So, if you're
[1:34:00] going to attend, please bring your
[1:34:02] canned goods. And that really highlights
[1:34:04] the events that are on page 37.
[1:34:07] Uh page 38 shows storm water projects
[1:34:09] and paving. Uh storm water projects are
[1:34:11] off to a really good start. We've
[1:34:13] completed 10 of the 23 we budgeted for
[1:34:15] the year. Paving is supposed to start at
[1:34:18] the end of August. So we'll start to see
[1:34:20] those numbers in the future reports. I
[1:34:21] think August 24th is the start date that
[1:34:23] they gave us. Um
[1:34:26] right away really no change there. And
[1:34:28] then when we look at page 39 uh
[1:34:31] vacancies for fire are zero and PD
[1:34:33] vacancies are at four. So really low for
[1:34:35] both of those departments.
[1:34:39] That concludes my report, sir.
[1:34:41] >> Thank you very much this evening.
[1:34:42] Appreciate that. Does anybody have any
[1:34:44] questions from the board uh
[1:34:49] for Jesse at all on the report?
[1:34:53] All right. Hearing none, we'll go ahead
[1:34:55] and move on to the review of the
[1:34:57] employee pay and benefit report. And
[1:34:59] Josh, I think you're going to give us a
[1:35:01] little Jason rather. What did I say?
[1:35:04] Josh boy, I'm batting a thousand
[1:35:06] tonight, right?
[1:35:07] >> I've been called.
[1:35:08] >> Yeah, you look like a Josh.
[1:35:09] >> I appreciate it.
[1:35:10] >> Thank you. [laughter] I appreciate it.
[1:35:12] >> Anyway, uh so if you'd uh give us our
[1:35:16] report, thank you. We sure would
[1:35:17] appreciate it. Thank you.
[1:35:18] >> Yes, sir. Happy to do that. Yes, sir.
[1:35:19] >> Um so this is really just a report out
[1:35:23] of where we are at with the pay and
[1:35:25] benefit study. Um tonight, I'm not
[1:35:27] trying to make any decisions or do any
[1:35:29] of that. This is just simply to report
[1:35:30] out the information and then let you
[1:35:32] kind of mull it over. You know, if you
[1:35:34] feel like there need to be changes or
[1:35:36] things we want to address, maybe looking
[1:35:37] toward midyear budget or the next fiscal
[1:35:39] year, I'll let you all determine that.
[1:35:41] Um, but really, it's just designed to
[1:35:44] give information, let you kind of look
[1:35:46] it over. Um, I won't go through both
[1:35:48] reports. Both are in your packets. You
[1:35:51] have both the finalized pay study as
[1:35:52] well as the benefit study. Um,
[1:35:56] let's see. So on specialty pay, I just
[1:35:59] want to hit a couple quick things here.
[1:36:01] The purpose of specialty pay and why we
[1:36:03] do that is it's to compensate employees
[1:36:06] who have a specific skill set. So what
[1:36:07] we're trying to do is if somebody has
[1:36:09] specialized training, we recognize them
[1:36:11] for that. I will say that as they did
[1:36:14] this study, specifically within fire,
[1:36:17] there were areas that not all agencies
[1:36:19] did. So they had to kind of group them
[1:36:21] together. As I go through this, you'll
[1:36:24] see that there's some gaps. There's an
[1:36:26] asterk there and that asterk is they had
[1:36:29] to kind of put an average to everything
[1:36:30] because not everybody provides that.
[1:36:32] It'll make sense but the examples they
[1:36:34] give combine dive team rope rescue fire
[1:36:37] service communications right those are
[1:36:40] in some areas very specialized and other
[1:36:42] agencies they combine them all into one.
[1:36:45] So just as we go through this there's
[1:36:46] not an exact science not everybody
[1:36:48] offers the same exact pay benefits.
[1:36:51] So let's talk about shift differentials
[1:36:53] really quick. Um,
[1:36:55] just a high level, shift differentials
[1:36:57] are exactly what that sounds like. It is
[1:36:59] paying people additional money for
[1:37:01] working specific shifts. If you work a
[1:37:03] later shift, um, or midnight shift,
[1:37:06] that's that second and third shift, then
[1:37:08] we're going to give them additional
[1:37:10] money. The rotating shift would be they
[1:37:12] have a variety of times they could get
[1:37:14] called in. Just to point out that there
[1:37:17] is no participate participating
[1:37:19] employers that Burus Thompson had that
[1:37:22] did rotating shifts. we were the only
[1:37:23] one. Um the others out of all the
[1:37:27] employers they surveyed only 37% offered
[1:37:30] it. So I just want to put that in
[1:37:33] context. That's the graph below. That
[1:37:34] means that 63% of the employers don't
[1:37:38] offer differentials.
[1:37:40] So when we start looking at what's the
[1:37:42] 65th percentile, it's only the 65th
[1:37:46] percentile of that 37%. In other words,
[1:37:48] it's the top oneird of one-third.
[1:37:51] if that makes sense to you. Um, you do
[1:37:54] have a total survey median which is all
[1:37:56] of the people who reported out and then
[1:37:58] trying to grab that top third. So, where
[1:38:01] we stand, we are low in that. I'm not
[1:38:04] going to sit here and tell you that
[1:38:05] we're good. In comparison, we're low.
[1:38:07] That might be something that we need to
[1:38:09] address. Um, I was chatting with someone
[1:38:11] earlier and the differentials haven't
[1:38:14] been changed since they were implemented
[1:38:15] and I believe that was back in the 80s.
[1:38:17] So, they've served their purpose, but I
[1:38:20] think it's time to readress them. Um,
[1:38:22] others, you have the AMT, which is
[1:38:25] advanced EMT. We do not offer that uh
[1:38:27] with our firefighters. Um, but other
[1:38:30] agencies do, so we put that out there.
[1:38:32] You'll see the airpack and the dive
[1:38:34] team. Uh, while they have kind of an
[1:38:36] asterisk with annual amounts, remember
[1:38:38] those are the ones that we had to group
[1:38:40] together because we're one of the few
[1:38:42] that offer that. In other words, only
[1:38:44] 10% of employers that they surveyed
[1:38:47] offered the airpack or the dive team. Uh
[1:38:51] you have EMT. One of the things worth
[1:38:53] noting with EMT is while it's only 13%,
[1:38:56] other agencies combine it. So in certain
[1:39:00] areas, I know that they will combine it
[1:39:02] with a firefighter and it's baked into
[1:39:04] their base pay. So it's not an add-on
[1:39:07] like we do. It's just done differently.
[1:39:10] The other is the FTO program. um with
[1:39:13] our FTO program, if someone serves in a
[1:39:16] training capacity at the fire, uh at the
[1:39:18] police department, they will um get an
[1:39:21] hour overtime. So, what this calculation
[1:39:24] annually shows is that it is 5 hours of
[1:39:28] overtime a week for 12 months. Now,
[1:39:31] that's being very generous talking with
[1:39:33] Chief Jones about this. Average realist
[1:39:36] realistically, maybe six months out of
[1:39:38] the year they're training. So you could
[1:39:40] cut that number from 11 250 to about
[1:39:42] 5,500 and that still puts us ahead of
[1:39:44] the curve.
[1:39:48] Some others here we have the heat pay or
[1:39:50] swap pay. Um again only 23 um% actually
[1:39:55] provide that but when you compare our
[1:39:58] rates to others we are low in that one.
[1:40:00] Uh hazmat as well only about 10%.
[1:40:04] And again with insufficient data that
[1:40:06] just means they didn't have
[1:40:08] statistically enough people to give you
[1:40:10] that number. Um but you can look at and
[1:40:13] show that ours is a little lower. K9 is
[1:40:15] the same. Now one of the things that's
[1:40:17] not explained in K9 is there are some uh
[1:40:21] agencies that will pay for food. Others
[1:40:23] that require that employee to here's
[1:40:26] your budget and that includes food for
[1:40:29] the animal. So, those are things that
[1:40:31] are nuanced but aren't represented in
[1:40:34] the numbers that you see that you see
[1:40:35] here. Uh, motorcycle and mounted. This
[1:40:38] one was interesting. We are only one of
[1:40:39] two agencies that offer it. That's it.
[1:40:43] So, when we start looking at it, there's
[1:40:45] not many that actually offer that.
[1:40:50] » Sorry, let me back up.
[1:40:54] » What are the other Thank you. Thank you,
[1:40:57] mayor. Vice Mayor, appreciate it. Uh
[1:40:59] what are the other agencies? You said
[1:41:01] there were only two that
[1:41:02] >> so it's us and I believe it was Severe
[1:41:05] County.
[1:41:06] >> Severe County Pigeon Forge.
[1:41:07] >> Yeah.
[1:41:08] >> Are okay. All right. Thank you.
[1:41:09] >> So the Burst Thompson survey goes all of
[1:41:12] Tennessee, not just middle Tennessee.
[1:41:14] >> Okay.
[1:41:15] >> Thank you.
[1:41:16] >> Yeah.
[1:41:18] >> Uh negotiator pay again only 10% offer
[1:41:21] it, but again ours is low in comparison.
[1:41:23] On call is probably one of the is
[1:41:25] actually the highest that's in the
[1:41:27] report. And I want to point that out
[1:41:28] because 50% of the agencies have it. Um,
[1:41:32] ours annualized is $420.
[1:41:34] The average was 3,600 a year. So that
[1:41:39] might be something that impacts all
[1:41:40] departments, our public works
[1:41:42] department, parks department, um,
[1:41:44] police, uh, in some cases even fire.
[1:41:47] Areas that do have on call, that might
[1:41:49] be one that addresses that we address
[1:41:51] that helps all employees who have on
[1:41:53] call. uh paramedic. Again, similar to
[1:41:56] the EMT, not all agencies provide this
[1:41:59] and the ones that do, some of them bake
[1:42:01] it in, so they're not represented on
[1:42:03] this. And then the scuba inner spir um
[1:42:07] that's specific to fire. And again, only
[1:42:10] about 10%, but again, that falls into
[1:42:12] all those unique ones that the fire area
[1:42:16] has. Um others don't. One that I know
[1:42:19] has been a topic of conversation for the
[1:42:21] board over the years uh has been eay or
[1:42:23] education pay. So the way that ours
[1:42:27] stands versus others only about 20% of
[1:42:29] employers offer this. You can see kind
[1:42:31] of the up and down between them all. But
[1:42:34] even with all of the survey results, our
[1:42:36] pay for education pay comes in higher
[1:42:39] than most of all those other employers.
[1:42:41] We're above the 65th percentile there.
[1:42:46] All right. on the benefits program. Uh
[1:42:49] just a couple things to highlight here
[1:42:50] real quick. I'm going to summarize this
[1:42:53] uh the best that I can. So each area had
[1:42:57] a a possible score of nine. So that's
[1:43:00] where that green bar at the top. Our
[1:43:02] overall score was six. Our top areas
[1:43:05] were short-term disability. We were um
[1:43:09] tagged as having one of the most
[1:43:10] generous plans for employees who have to
[1:43:12] take time off whether it's for you know
[1:43:15] um a surgery or some other medical
[1:43:16] reason. Uh and it is employer paid. So
[1:43:19] our short-term and long-term disability
[1:43:20] are fully employer paid paid by the
[1:43:22] city. Uh retirement our TCRS no surprise
[1:43:26] is one of the most generous. Um it's a
[1:43:28] what I will say the quote there is is a
[1:43:30] strong traditional public sector
[1:43:32] retirement. So when you look at
[1:43:34] benefits, you know, from a public sector
[1:43:36] standpoint, this falls squarely in that.
[1:43:38] The other one is life and accidental
[1:43:40] death and dismemberment. Um, our basic
[1:43:43] life insurance that we provide, that
[1:43:45] basic life insurance is more than what
[1:43:47] other agencies are providing. Plus, our
[1:43:49] AD and D benefit was listed as one of
[1:43:51] the most generous. Some of the others on
[1:43:54] the other side of this, our sick leave
[1:43:56] acrruel which is down at the bottom
[1:43:59] toward and gets a rating of five is
[1:44:01] considered consistent with all other
[1:44:04] public sectors. Our dental is generally
[1:44:07] comparable but there is above average
[1:44:09] for basic services and then below
[1:44:10] average on annual maximums and
[1:44:12] orthodontia. So it becomes a balance.
[1:44:15] And then the last one which may surprise
[1:44:17] some people are paid holidays. we rated
[1:44:19] lower on. Um so that is the lowest
[1:44:23] category. This is predominantly because
[1:44:25] the city is not closed on additional
[1:44:28] holidays. So there are a few holidays
[1:44:30] that others recognize that we do not.
[1:44:32] And so um you know that would be a
[1:44:36] choice if we wanted to add those
[1:44:38] additional holidays or how we want to
[1:44:40] approach that.
[1:44:41] But overall again this is just to report
[1:44:43] out where we're at. The rest of the pay
[1:44:46] study this has all been complete. The
[1:44:48] remaining part of the pay study is doing
[1:44:50] the job descriptions. So, we've uh got
[1:44:52] two departments done and we're working
[1:44:53] through several others. So, that
[1:44:56] concludes my report.
[1:45:04] » Does anyone have any questions?
[1:45:08] >> Eddie. Yes. Hold on. Let me get over
[1:45:10] there to you, brother.
[1:45:13] >> Sheet that you had.
[1:45:14] >> Sure.
[1:45:15] >> Jason, can you pull that PowerPoint back
[1:45:17] up? Thank you. Yeah. In in the
[1:45:20] retirement, I read this. It's on page
[1:45:22] 76.
[1:45:24] >> I I don't unless I missed it, I don't
[1:45:26] see that we looked at any kind of uh of what some of our public safety
[1:45:33] employees are requesting, you know, the
[1:45:36] early retirement benefit. uh it it's not
[1:45:40] included in in the discussion of
[1:45:42] retirement, but did do we know of the
[1:45:45] peer group how many offer some kind of
[1:45:48] early retirement?
[1:45:50] So, no, off the top I do not. I can ask
[1:45:53] the consultant for that information.
[1:45:56] I can say offhand I only know of a
[1:45:57] handful of agencies around us that offer
[1:45:59] it.
[1:46:00] >> Okay. But overall we we received I think
[1:46:05] it said that is is
[1:46:08] uh among the most generous
[1:46:11] >> u than the typical public se public
[1:46:14] sector benchmarks in retirement because
[1:46:16] we don't require it's a non-contributo
[1:46:19] >> that's correct
[1:46:20] >> uh benefit.
[1:46:22] >> Okay. Thank you. That's all.
[1:46:28] » [snorts]
[1:46:31] » Director Gallow, you did identify a few
[1:46:34] areas that we were not super strong in
[1:46:38] shift differential on call
[1:46:41] >> paid holidays. Um
[1:46:44] do you intend m perhaps for the next
[1:46:47] fiscal year to propose changes in those
[1:46:50] areas or
[1:46:53] >> it's a good question. Yes, to some
[1:46:55] extent, but there is the part that goes
[1:46:56] with it which has been brought up in
[1:46:58] other topics and that's the point of
[1:47:00] funding. And so, while I can make the
[1:47:03] recommendation to increase things, um
[1:47:05] the bottom line is it does cost
[1:47:07] additional money to do that.
[1:47:10] So, yeah.
[1:47:11] >> Yeah, it it's not for this year.
[1:47:12] >> Yeah, [laughter]
[1:47:14] understood.
[1:47:15] >> It'd be nice to know. Um,
[1:47:18] I mean, I don't know
[1:47:20] what the impact of bringing us up a
[1:47:24] little bit in shift differential would
[1:47:26] be because I don't really have a grasp
[1:47:28] for how often that's utilized or the on
[1:47:31] call pay like that might be something
[1:47:34] that's not really utilized that much.
[1:47:37] So, it might not be a huge impact to the
[1:47:39] budget and we could be more competitive.
[1:47:41] And
[1:47:42] >> so just so you know for context,
[1:47:44] employees with on call pay have it paid
[1:47:46] as a monthly stipen regardless of if
[1:47:48] they get called in or not.
[1:47:49] >> Okay.
[1:47:52] >> Well, I'd like to learn more about the
[1:47:54] kind of the detailed and the nuances for
[1:47:56] next year.
[1:47:57] >> Okay.
[1:47:58] >> Thank you.
[1:47:59] >> Yes.
[1:48:09] » Motion to adjurnn.
[1:48:12] Second
[1:48:14] proper motion
[1:48:15] >> and adjournment proper second on the
[1:48:17] adjournment.
[1:48:19] >> All in favor say I know I know.
[1:48:22] >> All right. Thank you. All oppose. No.
[1:48:24] I know. So the nos have it. So
[1:48:28] everybody remain I'm not ready to go
[1:48:30] home. No. It's ajourned. Thank you guys.
[1:48:33] Appreciate that.
[1:48:36] » [music]