[0:08] Mayor Roland Dykes. Here. Vice Mayor Connie Ball. Here. Alderman Mike

[0:13] Hensley. >> Here. Alderwoman Luwanna Ottinger.

[0:16] Alderman Randy Reagan. >> Here. Alderman Steve Smith. City

[0:19] Attorney Terry Hurst. >> Here. City Administrator James Finchum.

[0:22] » Here. We do have a quorum and are able to

[0:26] conduct the business of the city of Newport. We would like to convey the

[0:30] regrets from Alderwoman Ottinger and from Alderman Steve Smith who were ill

[0:36] and could not be here tonight. We but we do have a quorum.

[0:40] Thank you. In your booklet, you have a

[0:44] copy of the minutes of previous meeting of session of record February 10th,

[0:49] 2026. You had a chance to look those over.

[0:54] We entertain a motion to approve those as read as presented.

[0:57] Motion approved. Second. Okay, we have a motion on the board to

[1:01] approve the minutes as presented. It has been properly seconded. Please

[1:05] signify acceptance by I. I. And may those have like sign.

[1:10] Hearing none, motion carries. Proclamations and recognition of

[1:15] citizens by the mayor. I only have one tonight. I'd like to

[1:20] recognize our Cocke County High School

[1:24] uh girls basketball team for winning the district tournament, the region

[1:28] tournament, and making the second trip to the state tournament.

[1:32] Third trip, I'm sorry. Yeah. Third trip to state tournament.

[1:37] Do you Anybody else have anything to add?

[1:41] They're in 11 and running now. Yes, they are. I just wanted to let you know. They

[1:45] stopped by on They stopped at A.I. High School on the

[1:48] way to do a little practicing before they

[1:50] get on the bus to Murfreesboro. Okay. What are we looking at?

[1:55] Okay. Next item is communications from the city administrator.

[2:00] Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council. Thank you.

[2:02] Thankfully, I can be a lot briefer than I was last last month.

[2:07] The first thing I want to take care of is just some housekeeping, and that is

[2:12] to correct something that I said last month. You know, I made the comment that

[2:18] my my facts have got to be accurate or because it's public and it's recorded

[2:24] and if if I mistake on anything, make a mistake on anything, I will get called

[2:29] out. I And so, one thing that I have learned

[2:34] that we were mistaken on is the 15% penalty on sales tax revenue if for two

[2:43] consecutive late audits. Now, that is true, but uh

[2:50] in addition to that, they have to be two outstanding late consecutive audits.

[2:56] And so, we only got that letter that day, and I become aware of it that

[3:00] afternoon. So, we uh we misinterpreted that and um I went with the information

[3:07] that I had, and um that's on me. Um if I if I say it, I got

[3:14] to I got to I try my best to be accurate, and I was inaccurate on that,

[3:18] and I apologize because uh and I I I tell everybody, "Please, please don't

[3:23] give me bad info cuz I pass it down." And uh that's the case where uh I gave

[3:29] bad info, and so I I have to correct that. And so,

[3:34] uh I stand corrected on that. Uh

[3:38] there is a letter two letters in y'all's packets, uh one from the comptroller's

[3:43] office, one from the auditors uh that address the issues that have been going

[3:49] on. Uh

[3:51] yeah, pretty much confirmed, uh, our position and our issues. The, uh, the

[3:57] mayor spoke with the controller. I spoke with two investigators from the

[4:02] controller's office. Tina spoke with the auditors.

[4:05] And so, we posed questions, uh, to each of those, and those letters are in

[4:11] response to the questions that we posed to them.

[4:15] And so, you all have copies of that, and I know the mayor had, uh, has talked

[4:19] about uh, sharing that with Craig. And so,

[4:24] hopefully we can put all this stuff to bed and move on.

[4:27] One thing that has also taken place, for the record, is that the, uh,

[4:34] the charter change amendment has stalled out in Nashville. And so, that will not

[4:40] be moving forward, so it's a dead issue. Um,

[4:46] Jeremy Faison brought that to my attention, uh, last week. Uh, he asked

[4:52] would we be interested in making any other, attempting to make other changes,

[4:56] and I told him no. We had no no interest in that, and we had no, I

[5:01] mean, we hadn't even talked about do it doing that till he brought it up.

[5:06] You know, that's the aggravating thing to me. I didn't address that to him. I

[5:09] started to, but uh, it was pointless to just start an argument with him. But,

[5:15] uh, if he hadn't brought it up, we wouldn't have have, uh, considered it

[5:20] put it on the agenda. And so, if if the support wouldn't there in

[5:24] Nashville, I wish he hadn't even asked us, uh,

[5:28] if we were still interested in doing it. He should have, in my opinion, he should

[5:31] have checked to make sure there was support there to do it before he

[5:35] proposed it to us. But, it is what it is.

[5:40] Um, our second issue that is going on is

[5:45] with the recently approved program where we are providing grants to property

[5:53] owners downtown to help them with condemned buildings.

[5:58] And someone has

[6:03] I want to say complained cuz I figure that's about as what it

[6:07] boils down to. But anyway, someone has brought it to the attention of the

[6:11] comptroller. And the comptroller has frozen the

[6:16] program until he can review it. Uh Tari sent them a they

[6:22] a letter of explanation. They came back wanting more information

[6:27] and Tari provided that and we we keep hoping that that'll that

[6:33] that'll settle the issue and he'll unfreeze the project because they have

[6:38] finished turn down the some more buildings and they're wanting to be

[6:43] reimbursed. And we can't reimburse them and now they're getting aggravated cuz

[6:47] we feel like they're being jerked around cuz they were promised reimbursement

[6:51] through through our grant process. Which requires us going through the

[6:57] the IDB and uh it's annoying because we we base this on

[7:03] how other places do it. The city of Oxford does it. Other cities do it. We

[7:08] didn't reinvent the wheel. We went by TCA and we went by the and we even added

[7:13] a step that's not required by TCA. We we added a review process by an outside

[7:20] attorney, Jeff Green, who goes through everything and make sure that everything

[7:25] is where it needs to be before he signs off on it. That's a step that Tina

[7:30] requested that that just added another level of review to it to make sure that

[7:37] that everything was looked at repeatedly to make sure that everything was being

[7:42] done the way it should be. So, I I don't know why somebody, you know, why do

[7:47] people do anything, but somebody has grumbled to the comptroller about it and

[7:52] uh want to know is that legal? And uh so, I

[7:56] would have thought that it would just be a quick review and and move on, but so

[8:02] far it has not been and that's actually what we were talking to Faison about

[8:06] Thursday was trying to get him. He talks all the time about how tight he is with

[8:11] the comptroller. Uh could he put a good word in with us for us down there and

[8:16] see what they need to speed that process up so we can get these people paid. And

[8:22] he said he would and we've heard nothing. Uh

[8:25] where's Gary? Have you heard anything? Uh we haven't

[8:29] spoken this afternoon. Have you heard anything this today this afternoon? I I

[8:33] have. So, that's that's where we are. Uh but

[8:38] uh you know, Terry reviewed the process. We looked at it like I say, we looked at

[8:42] what other cities were doing. We talked to Jeff Green about it. We we did our

[8:47] due diligence before we brought it to you all and got it approved. And we

[8:52] followed like I say, we followed the the guidelines right down the line, even

[8:55] added steps. So, I'm confident that they'll

[9:00] let it go at some point, but I don't know why they're just dragging it out

[9:04] cuz it's it's been nearly a uh a week now since they froze it. It may

[9:09] have been a week. Now, I actually >> been at least a week. I I replied to

[9:13] them Yeah, cuz that was on Monday you sent that letter. the first letter

[9:16] Monday. >> Yeah. And then they came back and then I

[9:20] replied to them Thursday afternoon of last week. Yeah,

[9:24] it was Monday last week you sent the letter.

[9:27] » Yeah. Cuz we got and that means we got

[9:29] contacted the prior week. So, it's been nearly 2 weeks.

[9:34] So, I don't know the know, I don't know. But, you know, stuff works I've said

[9:39] this I don't know how many times. Stuff works everywhere else, but it won't work

[9:43] here. You know, I I never I never cease ceases to amaze me and I never

[9:47] understand it. Why it is you can take something that's been done dozens of

[9:51] times somewhere else and here it gets stymied somehow.

[9:56] The only other thing that I have is uh today

[10:01] uh I had an occasion to have to suspend an employee.

[10:07] And um uh

[10:09] it as happenstance would have it, I just had this gentleman in my office on

[10:14] Thursday last week and counseled him on his attitude.

[10:19] And then lo and behold, on Friday evening a citizen comes in and complains

[10:25] about his attitude after I had just spoken to him about it

[10:29] the day before. So,

[10:34] he was one of Bains' guys and so I asked Bain to do an investigation into it and

[10:38] he did and he come back with the with a report.

[10:42] And and the the guy admits that that yeah,

[10:47] he was he wasn't feeling good and and so he he was exhibiting a bad attitude.

[10:53] Now, the the key part of that was uh

[10:58] the gentleman at the residence asking for his name.

[11:03] And he told him, "Don't worry about it." And and I had a real problem with that.

[11:11] You know, in the general orders of the police department, it's plainly spelled

[11:15] out in there that if any citizen asks for your name or your badge number, you

[11:20] must provide that. And uh I thought having dealt with the

[11:25] the the general orders for so many years, I thought that was in the

[11:29] personnel policy. But, it was not spelled out in the

[11:33] personnel policy. It does talk about having a bad attitude and being rude to

[11:39] citizens and that kind of jazz. So, I I used that as a justification for my

[11:45] action. But what I would like to do, if you all

[11:48] don't have a problem with it, and that's why I just got it on the on my part to

[11:52] discuss tonight, and I will if if you all don't have a problem with it, I'm

[11:57] going to put it on the agenda in April. But I would like to add to the personnel

[12:02] policy that if any citizen ask you for your name, you must provide it.

[12:10] Because I just think that's that's not an unfair question.

[12:14] If if you're on duty and you're you're doing something and good or bad

[12:20] and they say, you know, "What What's your name?" You know, it don't need to

[12:23] be, "Don't worry about it." You know, what what hurt is it What does

[12:28] it hurt to say, "Well, I'm James Finch." And you know, and so

[12:34] I I don't know, you know, like I say, we always at the police department, we had

[12:38] to provide our name. That was You didn't have way out of it. And uh

[12:42] And it's still I mean, it's like what I did today, I was justified by that other

[12:47] statute in the in the personnel policy, but I'd like for that to be clearly

[12:51] spelled out that and I can make that just my rule.

[12:55] But and and I've explained that. That is my

[12:59] rule. If you're asked your name, you need to provide it. But I would like to

[13:03] spell that out in the personnel policy. If you all don't have a problem with

[13:07] that, I will bring that back in April and ask for an amendment to add that to

[13:13] the personnel policy. Are Are all y'all okay with that? All right.

[13:17] I appreciate that. And I will I will have that on the agenda. That's why I

[13:21] put put my firefighters when I was there. That's why I put their name on

[13:24] their shirt. >> Right. They won't say it. Yeah, well,

[13:27] that's why, you know, I got mine right there. You know, when we do on the on

[13:32] the everybody's shirt, we put the some of them just their first name. It's not

[13:37] their whole name. But, uh you know, we do allow some to

[13:41] wear uh if they wear those uh reflective or

[13:46] uh neon yellow shirts, some of them they they'll wear ones they bought theirself

[13:51] and it doesn't have their name on it. And he he he wears them he he wears the

[13:56] ones he has that don't have the name on it. And that may be something I need to

[13:59] look at, too. Cuz I thought everybody was wearing the the shirts with the

[14:03] names on them that we provide. I didn't know that we were people were still kind

[14:07] of slipping through the cracks that was wearing their own shirts. Cuz that's

[14:11] what we do. We put everybody's name on them. But he was wearing one he had it

[14:16] on today when I called him in the office. Not the same one, probably, but

[14:19] similar. And uh he's, you know, cuz I mentioned

[14:22] that, and you know, when he said, "Well, I I wear my own shirt and it don't have

[14:25] my name on it." So, uh I may need to address that with

[14:29] the department heads next week at the department head meeting.

[14:32] But I appreciate it and uh and I'll have that on the agenda next month. Now,

[14:38] and I don't want to get too deep off into it cuz that's it and I promised to

[14:41] be brief. But um

[14:44] this gentleman's and I'm I'm not going to name him. If y'all want to know, I'll

[14:47] tell you after the meeting. Uh no need to embarrass him or his

[14:50] family. But his dad also works for the city. And his

[14:56] dad, I don't know what he went home and told his dad, but his dad is complaining

[15:00] that he was disciplined for defending himself against a dog.

[15:05] That had nothing to do with what he got disciplined for. Now, he was

[15:10] fussing about the guy's dog. It's why the guy asked him

[15:14] what was, you know, what's your name? And I told him plain in the meeting

[15:18] today with with HR and with Ben, this has nothing to do with the dog. You

[15:24] know, you got a right to defend yourself if a dog's coming at you barking, you

[15:28] know. He put a trash can between him and the dog and threatened to hit the dog or

[15:33] something. But, it was about not identifying

[15:37] himself. And I told him that very clearly. But, his dad is saying, "Well,

[15:41] you know, the city uh disciplined him because he was just

[15:45] defending himself against the dog and he don't think that's right." That is in

[15:49] case you get a phone call about it. That And I told him plain and Ben can attest

[15:54] to this and Missy can, too. I said, "This has nothing to do with the

[15:58] dog. This has everything to do with not

[16:02] identifying yourself when they ask your name."

[16:05] So, that's it, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

[16:09] Any other questions?

[16:13] All right. Next item on the agenda is appointment of boards, commissions, and

[16:17] committees. Uh item A is consideration of

[16:20] reappointment to the Beer Board, Mr. Derek Whitson,

[16:24] who has indicated that he is willing to be reappointed. And in my capacity as

[16:29] mayor, I I will uh reappoint Mr. Whitson to that position.

[16:35] Any questions?

[16:38] Hearing none, item B, discussion of appointment to Cocke

[16:42] County Municipal Solid Waste Planning Region, Alderwoman Luella Ottinger's

[16:47] term. And I've already spoken to Miss Ottinger

[16:50] and she is willing to be uh reappointed to that position. So,

[16:56] any questions?

[17:00] Reports from committees, members of the council, or other officers.

[17:05] Does anyone have anything? Council?

[17:10] Okay. Item eight is old unfinished old

[17:15] business or unfinished business. Item A is consideration of the second

[17:19] reading of ordinance number 26-01,

[17:23] budget amendment for the city of Newport. And mayor, I'll read the

[17:27] caption of that ordinance. It's ordinance number 2026-01,

[17:32] and the ordinance of amending the annual operating budget and capital improvement

[17:37] of the city of Newport, Tennessee, fiscal year 2025-2026.

[17:45] Can we do the roll call, please? Have a motion yet? I'll make a motion to

[17:50] make a motion. I'll second. Okay. Uh roll call, please. Alderman

[17:55] Alderman Mike Hansel Yes. Alderman Randy Reagan Yes. Vice Mayor Connie Ball Yes.

[18:01] Motion carried. Thank you. Item nine is new business. It's

[18:06] consideration of resolution number 2026-05

[18:11] to annex certain territory upon written consent of the owners and to incorporate

[18:16] the same within the boundaries of the city of Newport, Tennessee, property

[18:20] located off Rankin Road owned by further described as tax map 047-147-02.

[18:32] Alderman Um

[18:34] Yeah, this is um the lot we discussed

[18:38] that's been vetted and the um

[18:41] uh plan of services in front of you there.

[18:46] So, it's adjacent to the city. We're not going out and grabbing anything that'd

[18:49] be tough to service. It's and it's earmarked for uh housing

[18:53] development.

[18:57] And it has been requested by the owners. Yes, yeah, it is a requested annexation.

[19:05] Any questions?

[19:10] Okay. You've heard the presentation. What's the board's pleasure?

[19:13] Motion to approve. Second.

[19:15] You have a motion on the board there to approve consideration of resolution

[19:20] number 2026-05 to annex certain territory upon written

[19:24] consent of the owners and to incorporate the same within the boundaries of the

[19:27] city of Newport, Tennessee. Property located off Rankin Road owned by further

[19:32] described as tax map 047-147

[19:38] .02. It has been properly seconded. Please

[19:41] signify your acceptance by I. I. Nays have like sign.

[19:47] Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you. Item B is consideration of authorizing

[19:53] the Newport Fire Department applying for Tennessee Highway Safety Grant.

[19:59] Yes, we're going to apply for it. We applied last year, didn't get it, so

[20:02] we're going to try to do it again this year. Let's see if we can get it for

[20:05] $12,000. And it'll be buying extrication

[20:08] equipment, some other things for for accidents and stuff along the highway,

[20:14] stuff like that, and some flashlights and different things for visibility.

[20:19] Okay. It is a

[20:22] 100% reimbursement, so we buy it and then they they pay us back if we win the

[20:27] the certain thing. Heard presentation. What's the board's

[20:30] pleasure? Motion to

[20:32] approve. Second.

[20:34] You have a motion on the board there to for consideration of authorizing Newport

[20:39] Fire Department applying for Tennessee Highway Safety Grant has been properly

[20:43] seconded. Please signify your acceptance by I.

[20:47] Nays have like sign. Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you.

[20:53] Item C is consideration of authorizing the Newport Farmers Market applying for

[20:58] the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Grant. Hello.

[21:03] The Farmers Market would like to ask to apply for the annual grant. This is for

[21:08] supplies and advertisement, but this year we have two locations because

[21:13] Wednesdays we're going to be at the police department parking lot. So

[21:17] therefore we're eligible for two $3,000 and so that's what we're asking for to

[21:22] apply for both of them.

[21:26] Okay, heard the presentation. What's the board's pleasure?

[21:29] Motion to approve. Second. Okay, we have a motion on the board

[21:33] to uh for consideration of authorizing the Newport Farmers Market applying for

[21:38] the Tennessee Agriculture Enhancement Grant has been properly seconded. Please

[21:42] signify your acceptance by I. I. May I have like sign?

[21:47] And hearing none, motion carries. Good luck.

[21:51] Thank you. There's more. Item D is consideration of

[21:55] authorizing food trucks for the Newport Farmers Market.

[21:59] Okay, this was my idea.

[22:02] Uh where we're going to be down there Wednesdays to get more foot traffic

[22:07] downtown through the week. I would like to ask to be able to put

[22:12] food trucks up and I have a policy there uh

[22:17] and I had it reviewed by MTAS and Terry and James and Tina. Everybody looked at

[22:22] it. Uh they have to go by all the

[22:25] state of Tennessee regulations. The food trucks will be there Wednesdays

[22:30] only and we're only going to allow two. We're not going to allow the whole

[22:34] parking lot only two on one Wednesday, you know, every Wednesday if we can get

[22:39] them and hopefully they'll be local.

[22:43] Okay, heard the presentation. What's the board's pleasure? Motion to approve.

[22:47] Second. Okay, we have a motion in for for

[22:50] consideration of authorizing food trucks for the Newport Farmers Market. It has

[22:54] been properly seconded. Please signify your acceptance by I. I.

[22:59] May I have like sign? Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you.

[23:05] Item E, is consideration of request to sign a contract with McGill and

[23:10] Associates for engineering and architect services for parks and recreation. Yes,

[23:16] we we did a request for qualifications seeking professional in engineering and

[23:21] landscape architect services. Uh as you know that we have the

[23:25] governor's recovery money and also we have an an RTP grant which

[23:30] recreation trails grant that'll be presented to us soon. So, we're asking

[23:35] for us to enter into a contract with McGill and Associates to begin the

[23:39] planning and design of of the projects that we have in place which will be the

[23:46] uh park to float and the two new properties

[23:49] that we have that are joined there. So, we're asking to enter into a contract

[23:53] before their services.

[23:57] And the amount of that contract is I want to say that

[24:05] Yes. Okay.

[24:07] I'll let you make that. >> Okay.

[24:10] Okay, you've heard the presentation then. What's the board's pleasure?

[24:15] I'll move. Second.

[24:18] All right, we have a motion on the board then

[24:21] uh for consideration of request to sign a contract with McGill and Associates

[24:26] for engineering and architect services for parks and rec.

[24:30] It has been properly seconded. Please signify your acceptance by eye.

[24:34] Eye. Nays light side.

[24:37] Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you, Council.

[24:42] Item uh 10, bids, purchases and expenses.

[24:46] Item A is consideration of bids for repair of the outdoor pool at Newport

[24:51] City Park. Right. Uh we had solicited bids for the

[24:56] repairing the vinyl uh liner that is inside our pool and of

[25:01] course with that

[25:03] when we reviewed and looked at it the cracks

[25:08] uh that were the

[25:11] the it it's a complicated system and we do a

[25:15] good job managing it is the cracks in the pool liner and the

[25:19] outdoor facility remains so that we can keep it functional we're looking at

[25:25] repairing it from the slide up to the end of the kiddie pool and of course

[25:32] that bid came in at $19,792.90

[25:37] but there is a factor there that we would like to ask for

[25:42] for up to $25,000 for the project in case there's some

[25:47] incidences that we're not expecting in that repair of that pool.

[25:52] Okay. Okay. At the presentation what's the

[25:55] pleasure please? Motion to approve. Money's there.

[25:58] Money's there. Motion. You have a motion. Second. We

[26:03] have a second. For

[26:05] consideration of request to sign a con- No, I'm sorry. Consideration of bid

[26:10] for repair of outdoor pool in Newport City Park.

[26:14] It has been properly seconded. We need a roll call please. Alderman Mike Hensley.

[26:19] Yes. Alderman Randy Reagan. Yes. Vice Mayor Connie Ball. Yes.

[26:25] Motion carries. Thank you Council.

[26:29] And item 11 is comments from citizens.

[26:34] Is there anyone here that wishes to speak?

[26:38] I do. I was going to speak.

[26:42] Hey guys, thanks for having me. I'm Bree Hogan with Isaiah 117 House. So I am

[26:48] coming today to request that you all consider us in

[26:52] your budget for 2026. Um, if you're not familiar with what we

[26:56] do, we are changing the way that foster care begins. So, when kiddos are removed

[27:00] from their home by the department, um, instead of going to the state office or

[27:05] the police department or the gas station or wherever it may be, um, they come to

[27:09] the home that we have right here in the city, um, and they stay with us for up

[27:13] to 3 days while we provide all of their necessities and everything that they

[27:16] need, um, in order to be set up for success when they go to their foster

[27:19] home. So, I know you all will be reviewing it in April, um, but I did

[27:24] bring you guys a request letter and if there are any questions, I'll be glad to

[27:28] answer. Um, there are currently 77 kids in custody right now in Cobb County. So,

[27:34] it is definitely a need for our house to be there and be open. So, we appreciate

[27:38] your consideration.

[27:44] Uh, Tina, thanks for letting you wait there. I think we need a

[27:48] a copy of the budget and some instant and all the

[27:52] other things. And I already said that. She has provided everything. Okay. All

[27:56] right. Great program. Yes.

[28:03] Are there any other Anyone else wishing to be heard today?

[28:12] Going once. Go big red.

[28:17] Okay. I'll make a motion to

[28:20] I'll make a motion to Motion to we all adjourn.

City of Newport TN City Council Meeting March 2026

Transcript