[0:00] The honorable chairman Shannon H presiding. God bless each United States

[0:03] the great state of Tennessee in this honorable meeting. This time Chaplan

[0:06] Adams will lead us in prayer. Afterwards, please remain standing for

[0:09] the pledge to our nation's flag. Chap. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father

[0:13] God, thank you for the day you give us. Thank you for your love. God, thank you

[0:16] for the privilege we have to meet together tonight. And Lord, I pray that

[0:19] you just may direct our hearts to them. Lord, that everything that we do,

[0:22] everything that is said will bring you glory now. Lord, help us to act in a way

[0:27] that's according to your will. and Lord, help us to do it in a manner that gives

[0:31] you glory. Lead us now and direct us. Thank you for each one of these men and

[0:34] women that serve you. God, thank you for them that serve our county that have

[0:38] given themselves to to hold these positions. Lord, bless them in all that

[0:41] they do. We pray. We thank you and love you in Jesus name. Amen.

[0:45] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:51] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:58] justice for all. >> Thank you. May be seated. Please silence

[1:01] your cell phones. >> Mr. Chair,

[1:05] » before we start, I'd like for us all to keep Sharon Templeton in our prayers.

[1:09] She's going through some some tough times right now. Just keep her in keep

[1:12] her in our prayers. Thank you. >> Thanks, sir.

[1:17] » All right. We do have 12 items on the agenda. We are pulling two, so it's down

[1:22] to 10. Uh do have form. We have 141. At this time, I'll take a motion to approve

[1:28] the minutes of the 13th July meeting.

[1:33] » Motion by Wilson, second by Doug. Commissioner Wilson.

[1:37] » Nothing further. >> Commissioner Doug,

[1:39] » nothing. >> Any discussion? Any debate? Madam

[1:43] [clears throat] cler

[1:49] [clears throat] motion carries accept committee reports and correspondence.

[1:53] Take a motion. Motion by Barry. Second by Gan. Commissioner Barry.

[1:57] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh on number five, I just want to report to you that

[2:01] our our hotel motel tax has done exactly what we uh we hope it would do. Last

[2:05] year we had 150 plus,000. This year thus far, we had $241,222.

[2:12] our retail motel tax is uh is is is doing what we wanted it to do. Other

[2:16] than that, number 13 on our uh on our report there, there's

[2:23] just so much stuff going on now that that I'm sure uh executive can

[2:29] » can help us on that because uh there's a lot of interesting things in there and

[2:33] there's a lot of things that we just need to make sure that that that we're

[2:36] doing. Thank [snorts] you. [clears throat]

[2:39] » Commissioner request. >> Excuse me. Was there a question?

[2:42] » Well, I'm just saying we our our ERC people are really are on top of all

[2:45] this. There's a lot of a lot of stuff going on. New stuff, old stuff, stuff

[2:49] that that public is is interested in making sure that we're doing the right

[2:53] stuff. I just want to make sure we're >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. No question. All

[2:57] we have Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. G, you have a second?

[3:00] » Nothing, sir. >> Any discussion? Any debate?

[3:03] Madam Cler.

[3:08] All right, motion carries 141.

[3:12] List of notaries. Let's do those and then we're going to amend the agenda.

[3:17] So motion by Henderson, second by Cunningham.

[3:23] Commissioner Henderson. >> Appreciate your will to serve.

[3:26] » Commissioner Cunningham. >> What he said. [clears throat]

[3:30] » Any discussion? Any debate? Madam cler.

[3:38] [snorts] All right. At this motion carries 141.

[3:42] At this time, I'll take a motion to amend the agenda. We're going to do a

[3:44] proclamation first. I have a motion. >> Motion by uh

[3:50] Parks, a second by Wilson. >> It was not Wilson.

[3:54] » No.

[3:57] » Thank you. >> Take it away from somebody.

[4:00] » All right. Go ahead, boy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Miss Johnson,

[4:06] would you mind joining me up here? [laughter]

[4:10] This may not place to be standing here.

[4:19] » So, u just want to say this is an honor to get a chance to to be here. This is

[4:25] probably the only time um well, I know it's sort of the first time I've been

[4:30] able to do this. Hope probably the only time that we'll honor somebody 43 years

[4:35] of service to this. [applause]

[4:42] [applause]

[4:46] [applause]

[4:49] We have a we have a couple of things that we'd like to do for you. I've got a

[4:53] proclamation I'm going to read first and then uh Mr. Mr. pastor has something he

[4:58] wants to to give you as well. So bear with me just for a second. Whereas Beth

[5:04] Johnson has served the people of Rome County in the county clerk's office for

[5:07] over 43 years. And whereas Beth Johnson began her dedicated service to the

[5:11] county on March 1st, 1983 as deputy clerk and through her commitment,

[5:16] professionalism, and faithful service was appointed chief deputy on January

[5:20] 1st, 2018. And whereas on September 1st, 2018, Beth Johnson assumed the office of

[5:25] county clerk Continuing a distinguished career marked by integrity, compassion,

[5:30] and unwavering dedication to the citizens of Rome County. And whereas

[5:34] after more than four decades of exemplary service, Beth Johnson is

[5:38] retiring from the office of Rome County Clerk, leaving behind a lasting legacy

[5:42] of service and commitment to Rome County and its residents. Now therefore, I, Way

[5:46] Creswell, County Executive of Rome County, do hereby proclaim that Beth

[5:49] Johnson has served in the role of county clerk of Rome County with honor and

[5:53] distinction for her entire 43-year career. Rome County is grateful for your

[5:58] dedication and service and wishes you well on RET [applause]

[6:06] [applause]

[6:27] » [laughter] >> I get through.

[6:29] » Not that you need a Walmart. [laughter] That's all I make. So,

[6:36] » so it's extremely hard wood from Brazil. So, if you hit somebody with it, it

[6:41] won't break. [laughter] Break a stick.

[6:46] Watch >> out.

[6:50] [applause]

[6:54] I also want to take time to say that uh Freda Smith and Tina Stro are also

[7:00] retiring from Beth's office. Collectively, they make up 102 years of

[7:06] service to this county. >> So, what we're losing in this county,

[7:10] this office, uh in institutional knowledge and experience is is pretty

[7:14] irreplaceable. It take a long time. So, on behalf of me, my staff, Rome County

[7:19] government, thank you. Thank your team for ALL YOU'VE DONE.

[7:23] » [applause]

[7:31] [snorts] [laughter]

[7:36] » YOU KNOW WHAT THAT STICKS? It's called [laughter] when you holler at him, he

[7:41] don't ask you to poke him. Say come here.

[7:46] » Okay. Uh did the notaries. Next is a hearing of delegation. So if you want to

[7:51] address the county commission, please come on up. It must must be remain to of

[7:55] the county business and keep it to three minutes. So

[8:05] [clears throat]

[8:08] thank you sir for the opportunity. So my name again is Brad Taylor. Um, I was

[8:12] here a little over about 3 weeks ago in the budget committee met uh as far as

[8:17] giving out uh donations to organizations within the Rome County. Um, our shoes

[8:24] for soul was very fortunate to receive a $5,000 donation. [clears throat] And so

[8:29] we took that one week later and went to Walmart in Rockwood and we were able to

[8:34] give out 726 pairs of children's shoes. 6

[8:42] » [applause]

[8:44] » I JUST WANTED YOU TO know from the bottom of my heart how much we

[8:48] appreciate that. But I also wanted you to know that your money, your $5,000

[8:52] immediately went into the community to aid and assist children were less

[8:58] fortunate that put a backpack filled with school supplies on their backs. And

[9:02] it couldn't have been done without the cooperation and the support of the

[9:05] county government. Uh we have one of your own, Jennifer Hazw came down and

[9:09] donated her entire day and worked with us. So she can tell you firsthand what

[9:16] the look is in those children's eyes whenever you're able to give them

[9:19] something that they didn't think they would ever get to be able to start this

[9:22] school year. So again, thank you very much for what you do.

[9:25] » Brad, will you tell how that foundation was started real quick? How you started

[9:30] that? >> Yes, sir. So my brother Allan um seven

[9:33] years ago was diagnosed with pancreatic and stage four liver cancer. Um so

[9:40] instead of sitting around the last six months of his life saying poor biblical

[9:43] D, he had us as a family get together and we focused on him, developed a 501c3

[9:49] organization, Shoes for Souls. Um, we just with this last August 1st, we just

[9:55] passed 30,000 shoe pairs of shoes that we handed out in Rome County and over

[9:59] 15,000 backpacks to school age children here in Rome County. So, um, you know,

[10:04] we we do it for three, we do it for three reasons. Number one, we honor God

[10:11] because without God, none of us >> Number [clears throat] two, we honor my

[10:16] brother. Number three, we honor the county that we live in because these

[10:20] kids in this county whether they're and you know the beautiful thing about my

[10:24] brother is he said don't ever judge son. He said when a child comes up there you

[10:28] put a pair of shoes on. It doesn't matter whether mom and daddy look like

[10:30] they can afford them or not. You know and the the the selfishness of that act

[10:35] alone where every child looks the same. They all look the same in God's eyes. So

[10:40] u we're uh we're humbled. We're blessed beyond measure. will be at Walmart in

[10:46] [clears throat] December partnering with Operation Reach to do shoes uh and other

[10:51] items in December. >> It's awesome.

[10:54] » Thank you for sharing it, SIR. [applause]

[11:01] » All right. Next. >> Anyone else want to address the county

[11:06] commission?

[11:10] » Mike Parkerson, 222 Hawk Trail, Kingston, Tennessee. Um, I'm here

[11:15] tonight to talk about what I was told would be on the the agenda, a resolution

[11:20] to uh run a pilot program for the high density

[11:26] housing here in Rome County as and then the pilot being in lie of taxes, payment

[11:33] in le of taxes. Um, concern I've got is I've got several concerns with it. one.

[11:41] This should be addressed more openly, more transparently, I think, with the

[11:45] the citizens of the county and rather show up as a item on the budget.

[11:52] Sorry. And

[11:58] so, so I think that it should be addressed more openly with the people in

[12:02] the county so we know what's going on about it. I think that if there are

[12:07] taxes available to be given back, they should be given back to the citizens who

[12:10] have paid those taxes. So, if we want to do that, u you know, I think that that

[12:16] the growth in the county is good. I think that the county government is not

[12:20] responsible to provide housing for all the people who have jobs in the county.

[12:25] And so, I think we need to be careful where we step or we may overstep.

[12:30] Um, you know, it's I don't believe it's been brought to the budget committee.

[12:35] Um, I don't believe it's brought been brought to the planning commission for

[12:39] for any kind of input on and I don't believe it's been brought to the public

[12:42] in general. So, so I think those are things that we need to to address when

[12:46] we're looking at this. Uh, it is a a matter that's of pretty significant

[12:52] impact to the county because it does reduce the tax base that we have at

[12:58] least for a few years. And I don't think that we need to be encouraging that kind

[13:03] of growth, the high density, lower middle income growth in the county

[13:06] necessarily. So that's all I've got to say at this time. Thanks.

[13:09] » Thanks, sir. All right. Next.

[13:15] » All right. Anyone else? >> Hi there. Family 137 Elbertton Road. Um,

[13:23] I just spoke briefly last time about the clock cameras, and I was hoping that by

[13:29] now some people maybe have looked more into advanced license plate readers and

[13:34] their capabilities beyond just reading license plates such as facial

[13:37] recognition, connecting to your Wi-Fi on your phone, other things that they can

[13:42] do. And um, I I know that we can't make big moves all of a sudden or all at

[13:47] once, nor do we want to necessarily, but the one that concerns me the most is the

[13:52] one that is of ours. I don't understand why there's one camera there in front of

[13:56] that school when there isn't any in front of any others. There's children

[14:00] there. Those cameras can be hacked into. They can be spun around and looked at

[14:04] the playground. Those children deserve [clears throat] to be out playing and

[14:08] not have some weirdo from the internet zoom in and look on them and turn them

[14:12] into AI pornography. So, just I unfortunately left my phone at my

[14:17] parents house, so I don't have all my good notes for you, but I will come

[14:20] prepared next time. And um I just hope that we can continue to have a

[14:24] conversation about the dangers of these things that they cause. Yes, they have

[14:28] some safety [clears throat] things. Yes, if you're not doing anything wrong, you

[14:31] shouldn't have anything to worry about. But laws change every day. And something

[14:35] that could be right today could be wrong tomorrow. And there just comes a point

[14:39] where too much is too much. My granddad was born in 1917 and my dad was born in

[14:46] 1939 and my brothers and sisters were born around 1985.

[14:50] I was born in 1983 and I feel like I woke up in 26 in 2026 in George Orwell's

[14:56] 1984 novel and there's just cameras everywhere and I just worry about the

[15:02] children who are in kindergarten, first, fifth, sixth, seventh grade. They don't

[15:06] have a voice. They can't be here to tell you that they don't want this. And we

[15:10] need to use our discernment and our education to be reviewing these things

[15:14] and make sure that we're protecting those kids who can't be here or their

[15:18] parents can't be here because they're taking care of their kids. So if we

[15:22] could just work together and look more into that, I'd really appreciate it.

[15:24] Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Recognize

[15:27] Commissioner Goss. Can I ask Director SC question

[15:34] » who who actually owns that one there at the school? We uh we are working with

[15:39] our partners in law enforcement. It's a block camera system. I think we've done

[15:44] three of them through a grant three of theirs and all to my knowledge all it

[15:49] reads as license plate images only. There's no broad view. It recognizes the

[15:54] shape and the numbers of license plate and then it dings uh Captain Cook. If

[16:00] someone a sexual predator happens to cross in front of that camera, he gets

[16:05] notification. But no, No one in our office has any any ability. I have zero

[16:10] access to any images any footage but I think it just scans the rectangular

[16:16] image and numbers this way I understand. So

[16:19] » it's not it's not some outside company or some other

[16:24] » it's the it is the block system. I don't know where they're based and it's

[16:28] something that >> is that a private

[16:31] [clears throat] >> app.

[16:34] » We did get a packet on the clock cameras late this afternoon. We have it here.

[16:38] I've not had a chance to read it or digest it.

[16:42] » Have you Yeah, speak to it. >> Yeah. So, u

[16:47] obviously everybody's seen the attention that Flock cameras been getting

[16:51] nationwide. Um so it's part several discussions u in our office with uh the

[16:59] district attorney general Russell Johnson who's here uh both chief

[17:03] deputies chief chief or sheriff elect Phillips who's here um to talk about

[17:10] what we're doing locally um and to have a framework of accountability uh to

[17:16] assure that our public that a lot of the things a lot of the fears that are are

[17:21] out there that are addressed and I don't want to speak on their behalf. So I

[17:25] don't know if now is the time to open it up. We do that during my report.

[17:30] Chairman, what would you prefer? Because we came ready to answer any u we can do

[17:35] it now. Does anyone First off, anyone from the public want to speak? Anyone

[17:39] else from the public want to speak? Because I was thinking that'd be a ton

[17:43] of people here for Go. Come on, sir. >> Um I'm Scott. Um, I live at 169 Newport

[17:51] Lane in Kingston. I'm a black phone resident of Kingston and Rome County.

[17:57] Um, I also serve this county as a match straight. Um, and I see the benefits of

[18:03] FA cameras that are tracking down our criminals. Um, I'm here to speak on

[18:09] behalf of myself and my personal experience with my mother um who was

[18:14] diagnosed with uh Alzheimer's and dementia. [clears throat]

[18:17] And four years ago uh we found my mom's car missing my mother and I want to

[18:24] thank uh Rome County EM 911 dispatch Kingston Police Rome County Sheriff's

[18:30] Office. Numerous times have looked for my mother and found her safe every time.

[18:35] She was uh a flock camera was used. They caught a flock. Um they got hit at 6:00

[18:41] a.m. in the morning. She was leaving Lab County entering Blunt County. We've been

[18:46] searching for 4 hours in Rome County. That shifted our search. Um 2 hours

[18:52] later, a park ranger Kate Cove National Park uh contacted me and said, "Uh do

[18:57] you know Miss Barbara Gwyn?" I said, "Yes, sir." And he said, "Um we have her

[19:02] safe right here in the park." And uh I credit the f cameras for uh helping. Now

[19:09] didn't necessarily crack the case, but she was found safe and uh grateful

[19:14] grateful for a family from Michigan that that saw her wander in the park and uh

[19:19] helped her out. So that's a positive uh aspect. Uh anybody that knows that sees

[19:24] the news recently, a gentleman played this this county was picked up in

[19:30] Georgia by flock cameras. she was getting on a bus and he was a bad

[19:35] criminal. Did some horrible things to some uh juveniles. So, um I see the

[19:40] good, the bad, and the ugly in this county. And I want to thank the

[19:44] commission for entrusting me and my colleague to uh provide a service to

[19:50] this county that a lot of people don't know exists. Uh, and I'm grateful for

[19:55] the opportunity and I thank each and every one of you for entrusting me and

[19:59] uh, freedom as a master service gray county we live in. Thank you.

[20:06] » All right. Anyone else? >> All right. Go ahead.

[20:10] » Yeah. So, you all each received a packet says on security fact safety security

[20:17] claims and facts. Chief Han has been in contact with uh the flock our his flock

[20:24] representative that and they emailed this to us 3:30 4:00 this afternoon

[20:30] something like that. Um so that's why the reason I'm getting it on your desk

[20:34] and we want to get to you as quick as possible. Um but we do have if there are

[20:38] any questions anything discussion we do have uh officials here who can answer

[20:44] questions about how we handle flock locally. Um, [clears throat]

[20:48] but I do I do appreciate the conversation. I think there's a need for

[20:52] it and I think there's a an understanding that the public needs to

[20:55] have about the accountability measures that our law enforcement officials have

[21:00] taken to ensure that there's no misuse or abuse of information on these

[21:05] cameras. But I'm going to leave it at that because I can't speak really past

[21:09] that. Mr. Chairman, >> chair, vice,

[21:13] » I think we hit it on the head. I think we've all seen firsthand

[21:18] um the good side of these cameras. And actually, I'm probably not any different

[21:23] than most of you. I I didn't realize we had as many slot cameras in in the

[21:27] county as we did until until some of this stuff started. I think we have one

[21:31] at Green View Elementary as as well. Uh but we've seen firsthand what they can

[21:36] do. I mean, uh here in our own courthouse and here in our own

[21:39] community. [clears throat] I I guess the thing that I would like to

[21:43] see us have is It says here these cameras can use facial recognition. No,

[21:48] Flock does not utilize facial recognition technology. So I I guess

[21:54] what I would like to make sure that we do is is is understand exactly

[21:58] what the flot cameras in our county can do now

[22:03] so that when when they do change it and it's going to change the technology is

[22:06] going to be there that they can do facial just so that we can make sure the

[22:10] public understands what we have in our county in terms of these cameras. Uh

[22:15] there's no no doubt that they're usual, but if they if they're doing something

[22:19] beyond what what we're thinking they're doing, then I think this body needs to

[22:23] needs to be able to come back and and say yes, we we we will we will approve

[22:29] this. I think we just have to be careful of how we do it and how we proceed. I

[22:34] don't want to do anything to enter police, sheriff, uh schools, but but at

[22:40] the same time, I think there's a fine line there that that we never that we're

[22:45] using privacy to to to invade folks privacy. So, I I would just cautious

[22:51] have us be cautioned about how we do it, but but let's let's let's keep in touch

[22:55] with all of our all of our proper authorities to make sure that we know

[22:59] what those cameras are are are doing and they're not I I would have thought they

[23:04] would have been capable of doing facial recognition as we speak, but if they

[23:08] can't, then that that's fine. We know know that they can't. So that that would

[23:12] just be I would just ask us to be cautious.

[23:15] » All right. Anyone else? Chair Commissioner G.

[23:20] » So it says here it says block does not sell customer data to third parties. Is

[23:26] the only data collected for the tag unless the tag is not visible. Then it

[23:30] looks scans the car and tries to determine what what type make and model

[23:34] the car. Correct. If somebody >> it's taking a picture of the rear of the

[23:38] vehicle. So, it's taking a picture of the tag and from the rear of the

[23:42] vehicle, it it can tell, you know, what color it is and similar makes and

[23:46] models. That's that's all that it captures.

[23:50] » That's that's the only gap. >> So, it's it's going away from you. So,

[23:53] there's no way when you were looking at this this photo of the rear of the car,

[23:57] there's no way to see the occupants. And um I've not seen one where it shows any

[24:04] occupants that's visible because you're looking at a movie big, but it's taking

[24:07] a still image. So, >> who is the customer?

[24:12] » Who would be the customer for Rome County?

[24:14] » We are the Rome County Sheriff's Office. >> Does the Kingston City and Harman City

[24:19] Police also utilize Are they part of the same customer?

[24:22] » They do. And and if you have a cooperative agreement with the local

[24:27] cities, whether it be Kingston, Harington, Rockland, because everybody

[24:30] in this county participates uh in in that agreement that we can um

[24:36] allow them to look at our cameras, we can look at their cameras.

[24:43] » Anything else, Mr. >> No, that's it. Sorry.

[24:45] » All right. Commissioner Anderson Sheriff, uh, don't

[24:50] the red light cameras capture more than that camera? Is that right?

[24:55] » You know, I'm under the impression that red light cameras capture about the same

[24:58] thing that a flock camera does. You know, it's capturing that back of the

[25:03] license plate and in in the vehicle. But as far as I don't have any real

[25:09] experience with the

[25:13] » Yeah. So, they're telling me there's two cameras. There's one taking one from the

[25:17] front, one taken, one from the back. So that's going to be totally different.

[25:20] Flocks just from the back. We're not going to be able to see if there's uh

[25:24] loose drive. Thank you, sir. >> All right. Anything else?

[25:31] » Question.

[25:35] What about the security of cameras? He moving to people being able to maybe

[25:42] hack into his system. have security interpretations

[25:46] for bird >> and I know

[25:50] » so so in the literature it it addresses that the security features are built in

[25:54] there. It's not a a camera that pans and zooms and all that. It's taken steel

[25:58] photos and and you know the c the data is captured and housed within it's

[26:03] encrypted uh and it's it's stored in the cloud essentially and then every 30 days

[26:09] that uh gets overwritten and and so if you go you can't go past 30 days to

[26:14] retrieve any of that data. >> But all we're looking at is is the last

[26:19] play in the back of the

[26:24] » I guess uh Mr. If you I I assume we sign a contract with flock for for our

[26:31] cameras on a monthly monthly basis or something.

[26:34] » So it's it's a yearly basis. >> So So the contract that we signed if we

[26:38] sign it knowing that all they're doing is is what's in [clears throat] this

[26:43] that's what we're obligated to have them do. Right. Anything they do other than

[26:46] that then then we would have we would have option to go back.

[26:52] » I don't know. I don't know that I've seen the contract.

[26:57] » I I don't know the answer, >> but we we every each entity signs a

[27:00] contract. You signed one city of Marvin Kingston.

[27:03] » I don't have the authority to sign contracts. Um the purchasing agent or

[27:08] the mayor have the authority to sign contract.

[27:11] » So I purchased a would would go through legal to on our contract something like

[27:17] this. >> We don't have a legal we don't have a a

[27:21] written contract. the contract for the purchase order.

[27:26] » So, we don't have a contract establishing any any type of

[27:30] information. >> It's basically a subscription.

[27:34] » It's an agree it's an agreement. >> It's it's a subscription,

[27:38] » a subscription that allows them to access the network.

[27:42] » Okay. So, so we're doing that on an annual basis and there's money already

[27:45] in the budget for this year, right? That's correct.

[27:48] Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> All right.

[27:51] I know we could probably talk on this all night. Any anything else on block

[27:54] cameras? And I'm sure we'll have more discussions [clears throat] in the

[27:58] future on this uh as more information comes available. All right. Anyone else

[28:03] want to address the county commission?

[28:07] All right. Hearing none, seeing none, we'll move to the county attorney.

[28:10] [clears throat] Uh if you please, the chairman, I'd like

[28:14] to take you in executive session at this time to discuss the uh coffee machine

[28:20] contract with Novate and the letter that we received which is attached to uh

[28:27] 82607. All right, this time we'll move into

[28:30] executive session. Watch what they're saying.

[28:36] » Yeah. Hey, our camera and our sound is still on, so

[28:40] watch what you say while we're out. [laughter]

[28:54] Come on. [laughter]

[29:19] First round.

[29:41] » [laughter]

[29:50] » What do you think?

[30:00] » [clears throat]

[30:11] » Congratulations.

[30:39] All right.

[31:09] Thank you very much.

[31:23] I So two days

[31:35] [laughter]

[31:46] anybody. [laughter]

[31:54] How are you, sir?

[32:04] [laughter]

[32:34] Congratulations.

[32:56] Talk about

[33:36] Um [laughter]

[34:14] I'm okay. I'm sorry.

[34:28] 8:30 Monday morning.

[34:53] I was there.

[35:20] for

[36:19] That want to build.

[37:05] Can we host

[37:36] Thank you.

[37:53] baby.

[38:30] Family.

[39:12] I don't know personally, but I feel like my family

[39:17] didn't really

[39:25] What

[39:48] are you going to do?

[40:01] Don't tell

[40:11] me

[40:17] that.

[40:29] pretty good job. I probably did a better job than I'll take care of them. I only

[40:34] take care of them as much as I can.

[41:07] blood levels drop.

[41:11] Yes. time when you go to bed. You're going to

[41:15] be fasting

[41:34] as far as

[41:41] TVs and stuff. I guess there's

[41:47] 37

[41:54] time

[41:57] it's going to be fast immediately

[42:03] 10

[42:18] » [laughter]

[42:27] [laughter] >> All

[42:33] » [clears throat]

[42:40] » right, let's go and get back in order here.

[42:44] County attorney's report. Do you have anything else to report, sir?

[42:46] » No, Mr. Chairman. All right. Well, at this time, we'll move to the county

[42:50] executives report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, first of

[42:53] all, this will be from now on we're going to start this um process, but

[42:59] Justin Snow will report during my time. So, I'll yield my time to snow.

[43:08] Thank you. I'll be brief. Everybody has a copy of the July Rome lights recap and

[43:14] I'm going to hit a few high points. I want to talk a little bit about some of

[43:16] the grants that we've been going after the past few months. Uh, and of course,

[43:20] last month, Ron Lunch, in a partnership with Ron County IVB, we pursued a $4

[43:26] million grant uh with the state of Tennessee, we were awarded that grant.

[43:30] Uh, this is to purchase approximately $120 acres adjacent to the Rome Regional

[43:36] Business and Technology Point. I do want to point [clears throat] out the fact

[43:39] that there was $13 million in that bucket. Rome County got a third of it.

[43:42] So, I think that shows the importance of everything that's going on here in the

[43:47] county. Uh furthermore, uh the Rome Alliance in a partnership with the Rome

[43:52] County IDB, we went after some TVA and best prep grant funding. Uh we were

[43:57] fully awarded for that grant funding as well. So we went after nearly $5 million

[44:02] of grant funding and and Rome County got fully funded. So um we started we opened

[44:07] up the gates this morning to start our due diligence environmental work so we

[44:11] could get to the closing table. Um, other than that, I'll just say that last

[44:16] Tuesday we had our national night out, the fourth annual that we've done. And,

[44:22] uh, it's just a great opportunity for the community to come out and spend time

[44:26] with our cities, elected officials, our law enforcement first and our first

[44:31] responders. This was our most attended national night out. Uh, and we actually

[44:36] [clears throat] s we don't sell food, we give food away, but we run out of food

[44:39] this year. So, that was a it was a great event. So, uh, lot good things going on

[44:44] in the county, a lot of good things going on through the lines. Please take

[44:47] time to read the recap show the full scope of work that our folks that our

[44:51] team focuses on each and every day. Uh, that concludes my report. I'd be more

[44:55] than glad to answer any questions that y'all might ask.

[45:00] » All right. Thank you, sir. >> Mr. Chairman, just a couple things real

[45:04] quickly to uh, as always, if you all refer to the rundown. Couple points I'd

[45:09] like to point out specific to you guys. is uh first of all, please save the

[45:13] date. Uh August 21st at 10:00 a.m. in the criminal courtroom will be the

[45:19] swearing in ceremony for all elect recently elected officials. That's all

[45:25] of us. So, and I know there'll probably be a few who may not be able to make it

[45:29] to that particular time and we can obviously find times outside. That just

[45:33] happens scheduling wise. Not everybody's gonna be able to make it, but please

[45:37] make sure we do that before September 1st, uh, which is when you officially

[45:42] take office. Secondly, u, and find anybody that that's qualified to swear

[45:49] you in. >> Yes. Well, that's your preference on who

[45:52] you want to swear in. Um, I'll be available there. I've got to get sworn

[45:56] in myself, but I'll be available there if anybody wants to use me. you know,

[46:00] jud the judges have always typically made themselves available. Um, but yeah,

[46:06] any any officer just reach out to them, you know, whoever you want to use, we

[46:11] can do that, we'll accommodate. So, we'll be there with all the oaths and

[46:15] uh, you know, administratively, we'll be set up to crank it through, but but

[46:20] August 21st, Friday, 10:00 a.m., Judge Wick's courtroom.

[46:26] » Uh, Mr. Chris Wall, can do can do can do

[46:27] can do can do can do can do can do can do can do can you can you kind of get

[46:28] clarify the type of officials who are allowed to by law by state statute to

[46:33] swear folks in. >> I may need to lean on a county attorney

[46:35] for that. >> That's fine.

[46:36] » I may need to look at statute. [laughter]

[46:41] » If do you want me to email you? >> That'd be great.

[46:46] » I think several people are questioning what what are the requirements?

[46:49] » Who can swear who in? >> Yes.

[46:50] » Yes. >> Thank you, sir.

[46:52] » Could you verify it, please? I think it has to be a constitutional

[46:58] officer and only some of them. >> I think that they can [clears throat]

[47:04] but you would have to sign. They can read the oath, but I think you

[47:08] [clears throat] or someone would have to sign. We'll find out and say no. You

[47:11] will you have received a save the date to to date that that is at the you have

[47:18] not received any official communication on the election yet or swearing in

[47:22] because the election commission has asked us to hold off until it's

[47:26] completely final. Um and and we do have one race that's still um to be

[47:32] finalized. So that's why we haven't said a whole lot about it, but that we just

[47:37] send a save the date and you'll receive official notification from us about this

[47:41] coming up. >> Yeah.

[47:42] » Any other questions on that? Got one more quick point. Can you tell us which

[47:46] race? >> The Herman race.

[47:49] » Yeah. Yeah. The election commission was saying there was a couple of provisional

[47:52] ballots that still remain to be checked and it asked us to hold off on do

[47:56] anything before that was finalized. >> Sheriff, you got something. Is that date

[48:02] set in stone? I will be a new sheriff's school in Franklin.

[48:07] » And we can do something separate. But looking at the calendar, it gets so

[48:13] it has to be that's two weeks from Friday, but that's a week from Friday

[48:17] and the week after that um is training for so coup and coat or

[48:24] vote that next week. And I don't know what sheriff or road super or sheriff's

[48:27] do for preliminary training. You got to go to

[48:31] » two weeks. I go to one week of the seven the week of the 17th and I got to go to

[48:35] a second week the week of September the 7th. So I have to go to two different

[48:39] » they have to go to well reelected but new new commissioners have to go to coup

[48:45] for two days before they can serve and same thing for uh

[48:51] clerks trustees register de those they have to go that same week so

[48:58] it's tight. So I I I think we probably need to look at the calendar and set

[49:02] something up specific for you and you would feel me

[49:09] and one more thing Mr. chairman. Um [laughter]

[49:12] see uh and that's what it is about is coupe and that's the fourth fifth point

[49:17] down there is um our new our newly elected commissioners just like you all

[49:23] did will have to go to that. You all are invited. There's no uh registration that

[49:29] needs to occur. You can just go but you would you would get two days of CASS

[49:34] training credit if you did go and you can spend time. It's obviously good

[49:39] information. is, you know, basic and and foundational. A lot of y'all are past

[49:43] that, but um certainly you're you're invited to attend on the 24th and 25th.

[49:49] Kaylee Walker can give you much more information about that than I can. Mr.

[49:53] Chairman, that concludes my report. Glad to answer any questions.

[49:56] » Any point recogniz we talked a little bit about

[50:02] [clears throat] executive committee. I'd just like to share share with us.

[50:09] We've talked to the public a lot about what's happening in Rome County and and

[50:14] a lot of a lot of numbers and other things out just make sure we're on

[50:20] schedule with the companies that are there. Nobody's nobody's defaulted.

[50:24] Nobody's changed their mind. We're on schedule there. We're on schedule as far

[50:28] as as tax revenue comes getting property tax along the way. But the real stuff

[50:34] comes when you start bringing in the high dollar machinery and stuff where

[50:37] you where you get additional tax on the on the business property stuff. But

[50:42] we're fine in terms of where where we where we think we're going to be where

[50:46] we need to be in terms of all those companies. Is that

[50:49] » Yeah. Real quickly, let me try to go off top of my head on each one of them.

[50:53] Chyros Powers way ahead of schedule. >> Okay.

[50:55] » They've changed the fact that they may even be skipping a step

[51:00] uh to expedite their process. That sounds terrible. Don't quote me on that,

[51:04] but they're ahead of schedule. Radiant, um, they made a decision to come here in

[51:11] October, I think it was. They have steel in the ground going vertical as of last

[51:16] week. Oaklo is on track in their licensing uh,

[51:24] uh, discussions with NRC. They have already done land clearing at ETB.

[51:29] Standard Nuclear has purchased five buildings at ETP and just went public.

[51:34] Standard Nuclear >> and just went public about three weeks

[51:38] ago, I think it was. >> So, they're doing great. Rano is well on

[51:42] schedule. I spent a lot of time with John Luke last week. Um, Trio X is

[51:48] probably going to be the number three employer in the county. They are the

[51:52] first private company in Rome County to be able to poach

[51:57] employees from Y12 and OL to the point that's causing both of them a little bit

[52:03] of trouble. Uh for the first time we have a private employer who can compete

[52:08] with DOE wage rates and the rest of them will follow suit. They will have up

[52:13] their number right now is 1,500 employees. They just announced another

[52:18] expansion three weeks after their latest announcement last week. Um, and then so

[52:25] then going around BWXT, they've stood up their facility in

[52:29] January. It's fully operational. We still expect another announcement there.

[52:33] And then the big one is the big one, the biggest one is TVA Clinch River. And the

[52:39] appointment of Mike Scaggs as the new CEO of TVA I think is a gamecher for us.

[52:46] We got the chance to spend a lot of time with him last week at the now

[52:50] conference, the E Tech conference that they held and um [clears throat] he

[52:55] everything that we were going to ask him for from an Oakidge corridor

[52:59] perspective, he was already on board before we even got to him. So you put

[53:04] all that together, that's just Rome County. That's well over 4,000 jobs,

[53:09] well over 10 billion dollars depending on how you count. That's not including

[53:13] any DOE. It's not including TVA. We're well ahead. And that none of that has to

[53:19] do with the latest announcement that DOE made, which is a nuclear life cycle

[53:23] innovation campus, which Tennessee is a finalist for, but that could double the

[53:29] employment on the Oakidge reservation. Do you know when that might happen? Uh

[53:33] it's a conversation that's ongoing with the White House, DOE, and those five

[53:37] states right now. The governor's office briefed us on it last week just to make

[53:41] sure that that that we all understood our state is well in that conversation.

[53:48] We're in a good position. >> And is TVA still on four units or are

[53:52] they increasing the number of units? >> No, that that Mr. Scaggs announced uh

[53:57] couple weeks ago when we met with him at TVA Kingston that that's going to have

[54:01] five units. increasing. So there's so much happening and that's

[54:07] there's there's still way more I could go on and on and on but that's the

[54:10] basics. >> So I guess the only other thing left is

[54:14] is the cooperation is still >> very

[54:18] between >> if the cooperation stops things may

[54:21] stop. >> Yeah. And I guess only last

[54:24] [clears throat] we we invested some money in in in in the Oakidge cor money

[54:29] well spent. I mean, it's the greatest return on investment I think we could

[54:32] ever. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[54:37] » All right, let's move on to

[54:43] speak. >> Chair recognition Commissioner

[54:45] Henderson, >> Mr. Creswell, u you know, we hear all

[54:50] this good news about this coming in, but please don't none of y'all forget that

[54:55] we're going to have a bunch of sick workers out there. Okay, I'm one of

[55:00] them. My daddy died because I still ain't got my money. I still

[55:06] ain't got liver that I don't have anymore. [clears throat]

[55:10] So, you know, we while we're enjoying all this uh lowhanging fruit and

[55:16] everything, let's don't forget about the people in this county and other counties

[55:21] that they need to really be working on something like DOE has set up except for

[55:27] they'll release the money to the people when they're needed. Thank you. To that

[55:32] point in point number three, the nuclear regulatory commission will hold their

[55:36] final public hearing regarding TDA's construction permit for small module

[55:39] reactor small module nuclear reactor on the Clint River site on the August 13th

[55:46] that Thursday uh at 5:30 at Paul Auditorium in

[55:50] Oakidge. So I would encourage you to attend that and address those concerns.

[55:54] That's exactly what that's for. >> Last time I addressed my concerns, Mayor

[55:57] Frank told me to shut my mouth and sit down. She heard enough.

[56:01] » I mean you >> I have no idea today. So you know I will

[56:04] be there. >> Thank you.

[56:07] » And I think that's also included in our report that's that that environmental

[56:11] review board is looking at and all of that type of stuff as well.

[56:15] » Yeah. The environmental review board's list of things is

[56:20] » long >> is grown to the point where they need

[56:23] subcommittees. It is a long

[56:25] » I'm saying that that's part of what they're looking into. Oh, absolutely.

[56:28] It's probably number one thing. >> Absolutely.

[56:31] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[56:35] » Thanks, sir. >> All right. Let's move on to appointment

[56:39] of special orders. Appointment of Richard Owens to the board of zoning and

[56:43] appeals. Motion by motion by bracket, second by Henderson. Commissioner

[56:48] Bracket. >> Nothing.

[56:50] » Commissioner Henderson, >> I think you'll be a good one.

[56:54] » Any discussion? Any debate? Madam clerk?

[57:02] Majority pass. All right. One, two, and nine have been pulled. Uh, so madam

[57:07] clerk, if you let me know when you can. >> Yes. So, some clarity on number one is

[57:13] number one requires a public hearing even if it was [clears throat] uh even

[57:18] if we were going to recommend denial. So, we're going to have to punt that for

[57:23] a month and then have a public have have an adequate notice for a public hearing

[57:26] before we do that. So, it'll be on the September agenda.

[57:29] » All right, [clears throat] >> Greg.

[57:34] So, you ready? >> All right. Thank you. Uh resolution

[57:37] 082603, a resolution adopting a private chapter uh number 40, House Bill number

[57:43] 1717, Senate Bill 2176 uh 104 General Assembly, changing the title of Rome

[57:50] County Executive to Rome County Mayor. Motion by Wilson, second by Doug,

[57:55] Commissioner Wilson. >> I just want to say this one last time.

[57:58] Uh I'll I'm going to turn my time over to the county executive before it

[58:03] becomes mayor. I'm going to yield to the county attorney. [laughter]

[58:08] I think it speaks for itself.

[58:14] » Nothing. >> Any discussion in debate?

[58:18] » Madam clerk.

[58:22] [clears throat] >> All right. Motion carries 14. All right.

[58:26] 82604 resolution abandoning any interest in an undeveloped roadway that runs from

[58:32] Ferguson Lane and bisect Parkway 22 and 22.01

[58:37] uh control map 47. Motion by Barry, second by Henderson. Commissioner Barry,

[58:43] » further. >> Commissioner Henderson,

[58:45] » further. >> Any discussion? I need I just want to

[58:49] say I thought at one point uh we we had said that the this is not where the

[58:53] paper it's written on but we continue to to have these appear.

[58:58] » Well, I didn't put anything about signing a deed in these resolutions. So,

[59:06] if you want if you want to give people deeds, you'll need to to amend each of

[59:12] these resolutions. Um, this particular one is for a private

[59:19] easement. So, I couldn't see that the county has even dedicated any interest

[59:25] in this. >> This Mr. Chairman, if I may add, I think

[59:28] this is sort of kind of an alternative approach to that when [clears throat]

[59:31] you say when we used to deed a rideway that wasn't written, wasn't worth the

[59:36] paper it was written on. >> This is just abandoning that.

[59:39] » Okay. And so, these three that we're getting ready to address, you

[59:44] Yeah, there's there's no provision in any of these

[59:48] resolutions to deed anything to anybody. You're just making a formal statement

[59:54] that the county has no interest in these particular roadways.

[59:59] » Okay, it chair recognizes Commissioner

[1:00:02] Bracket. >> I guess my question in that there's been

[1:00:06] liability on at some point with us. >> [clears throat]

[1:00:09] » If we do this this way, are we totally out? If if the neighbors getting

[1:00:13] squabbled, if the Yeah. I mean, >> you you should be totally out. It's it's

[1:00:19] it's basically >> should be or will be.

[1:00:22] » You're Well, you're basically saying that the county has no interest in these

[1:00:28] road beds and you're leaving it up to the neighbors to figure out what to do

[1:00:32] from there. could turn. I mean, if if there was a

[1:00:36] squabble of someone, I guess it's a civil matter or something.

[1:00:39] » It's a civil matter. >> We're out.

[1:00:41] » Yeah. >> Chair recognized Commissioner Parks.

[1:00:46] » Is these [clears throat] the ones that the lady brought to the road committee?

[1:00:49] » I >> and and asked this about

[1:00:52] » I may be uh let's see. Yeah, these have all gone to road committee. Yeah,

[1:01:02] » these row Yeah, the these are >> one of them's still basically a guy's

[1:01:06] yard. >> Is this all the same person?

[1:01:09] » No, there's three different ones. Uh, one is I don't remember exactly, but I I

[1:01:16] just remember we vetted it pretty a good while and they were

[1:01:24] no issue that I could see, no problem with any of them. One of them basically

[1:01:31] was in a guy's yard and then another one was to a guy's uh a rideway to his own

[1:01:38] back lot. Yeah, I think this first one is the

[1:01:44] rideway to the guy's own [snorts] back lot and then the other two were on

[1:01:50] subdivision plat. So there the other two there is an implied dedication to the

[1:01:57] county but the road superintendent says they never been maintained as a county

[1:02:02] road but the first one is clearly just a private eman.

[1:02:11] All right. Any other discussion? BL

[1:02:20] motion car 14. All right. Uh resolution for abandonment. Any interest in a

[1:02:25] roadway running between parcels 24 and 25 on control map uh 111 BPA group A. Uh

[1:02:35] motion by Henderson, second by Wilson. Commissioner Henderson.

[1:02:38] » Nothing further, sir. >> Commissioner Wilson. Nothing further.

[1:02:40] » Any discussion? Anybody? Hearing none. Seeing none, madam cler.

[1:02:50] Motion carries. Resolution 82606, resolution for abandonment of a roadway

[1:02:55] running from Century Drive between parcels 22 and 21 on control M 391,

[1:03:02] group alpha. >> Motion by Hendrickson, second by Gan.

[1:03:06] Commissioner Henderson. >> Nothing further. Commissioner Gan.

[1:03:08] » Nothing further, sir. >> Any discussion? Any debate? Madam Clerk,

[1:03:18] » motion carries. Resolution 82607 authorizing the county attorney to file

[1:03:23] a lawsuit for uh declarative [clears throat] judgment and in

[1:03:28] conjunctive relief concerning expired coffee machine contract.

[1:03:33] Motion by Kirby, second by Gan. Uh, Commissioner Kirby. That's

[1:03:37] » Commissioner Gan. >> I say that we do it.

[1:03:41] » Any discussion in debate? Madam Clerk,

[1:03:48] » motion carries. 82608. Resolution making appropriations to nonprofit church

[1:03:53] organizations of Rome County for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and

[1:03:58] ending June 30th, 2027. Motion by Hamilton, second by Parks. Commissioner

[1:04:04] Hamilton. >> Nothing further. Commissioner Parks,

[1:04:07] » looks like they've done a good job. I don't that committee because that's a

[1:04:12] hard committee to to do. >> All right. Any discussion in debate?

[1:04:19] Hearing none, seeing none, Madam Clerk.

[1:04:30] All right. Motion carries. [clears throat]

[1:04:35] Let me bend my paper here. 8.2610 resolution to amend fund 128 recycle

[1:04:41] center uh budget of reappropriation resolution. Uh motion by DV, second by

[1:04:48] Wilson, Commissioner D. >> Uh this will allocate the remaining

[1:04:52] funds uh will actually switch where they are to be used so that we will have zero

[1:04:58] dollars left in the ARP funds. This is going to [clears throat]

[1:05:03] over there at the landfield. >> All right. Uh, Commissioner Wilson

[1:05:09] » 807. >> All right. Any discussion? Any debate?

[1:05:12] Madam Clerk,

[1:05:17] motion carries. 82611, a resolution to revise the Rome County annual budget

[1:05:22] approval policy previous approved under resolution 122413.

[1:05:28] Motion by Dove, second by Kirby. Commissioner Dove. Uh and this is a an

[1:05:32] addition on number fiveB uh where the budget committee will not

[1:05:36] approve or determine any individual department raises until all department

[1:05:40] budgets excluding schools have been presented. A final decision regarding

[1:05:45] crossboard raises for all county employees will be made only after all

[1:05:49] budget requests are complete. >> Commissioner Kirby.

[1:05:54] Any discussion? Any debate? Madam cler

[1:06:00] motion carries 82612 resolution authorizing a 25-y year lease with plan.

[1:06:08] Motion by Henderson, second by Goss. >> Stacy, would you like to talk to us

[1:06:13] about this? >> Um, I handed everybody um some

[1:06:19] paperwork. Um, just my thoughts and I'm sorry if it's all over the map. I get

[1:06:23] excited about talking about the shelter and we're moving forward. Um the

[1:06:28] previous organization that we leased the clinic to um originally had planned on

[1:06:34] being there at least three days a week, you know, and provide services for, you

[1:06:40] know, the shelter and county residents as well. They never moved past going,

[1:06:45] you know, being there only on Mondays. Um so I have talked to Plan Pet. Um, you

[1:06:53] know, they were talking about how bad their building has went downhill and

[1:06:57] they were, you know, trying to come up with the funding. Um, and I mentioned

[1:07:02] the, you know, leasing the clinic to them and, um, they came back and was

[1:07:09] very excited about it. Um, so I spoke with a pausing pause for a cause. uh the

[1:07:16] director there, she agreed with me that, you know, things hadn't turned out the

[1:07:22] way that we had originally planned for it to. She has another clinic in

[1:07:26] Knoxville that got really, really busy. So, she agreed that Planned Parenthood

[1:07:33] would be able to utilize the clinic better than she could. So, they're

[1:07:38] planning on being there four days a week and they are extending hours.

[1:07:43] um they're bringing back more services that they used to do back years ago.

[1:07:48] They've been in Rome County. They've served Rome County for over 20 years.

[1:07:52] So, we have the same views, the balance, and they have a passion for our

[1:07:58] community. I know plant owners and uh just folks that are trying to um you

[1:08:05] know, [laughter] tackle all of the barrel colonies.

[1:08:08] uh basically reduce the strays in Rome County to make it a better place to to

[1:08:14] live and to reside. Um improving the health of pets for pet owners as well.

[1:08:20] But I'm really really excited about Planned Parenthood coming in to the

[1:08:25] clinic and um I think we're really really going to see major benefits right

[1:08:30] away. Now, will they be giving us free or discounted uh

[1:08:37] sper ones that come into our shelter? >> Yes. Um they're the lease is actually

[1:08:45] set up to where they're paying their lease through

[1:08:49] services. So um and we also utilize the University

[1:08:54] of Tennessee uh College of Veterinary Medicine and you know we still have

[1:09:00] surgeries done there when when school is in session. Um we also utilize clause

[1:09:06] and pause for a cause. Um anywhere we can go basically but [snorts] they're

[1:09:13] also going to provide well checks. Um, and you know, in the shelter, that's

[1:09:18] that's a tremendous blessing for us. >> You know, they come in, you know, and

[1:09:23] you know, due to their roaming around on the streets, whatever, the condition of

[1:09:27] their bodies, uh, they can better tell us what's going on with that pet and

[1:09:32] should they be on the adoption floor or are they going to be repairable? You

[1:09:36] know, it's basically, um, a resource to me that's going to be priceless. But

[1:09:42] they will be they will be spaying and neutering as many as possible. And my

[1:09:48] goal is to not let anybody leave the shelter without being fixed at this

[1:09:53] point. So, and I think I'm going to achieve my goal. I'm working on it.

[1:09:57] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[1:09:58] » All right. Chair Mcnor, [clears throat] Mr. Chairman, the

[1:10:02] biggest thing I want to say is I want to thank Stacy

[1:10:06] sound listening to talking barking dogs ear

[1:10:11] drums the environment stuff down there does a phenomenal job. I've been in and

[1:10:15] out of that building a lot. Been sitting there aisle. Uh all the money that the

[1:10:20] county put into it, you know, it's not being utilized. Uh I think it's going to

[1:10:25] be a valuable asset and I want to thank Stacy for spearheading that getting

[1:10:29] going. We'd actually talked about, you know, a little bit. She put my brain on

[1:10:33] it, but I'm not that. I love animals. I think people seen that through the

[1:10:37] through my election campaign, but uh she doesn't know on the job. That building

[1:10:42] is definitely going to be an asset to long as it didn't look like bones when

[1:10:48] chair recognizes Commissioner. >> Uh a question I have concerning this

[1:10:53] lease is a 25-year lease. Is that that seems a long time. Is that the norm?

[1:10:58] is exact my response. >> Yeah.

[1:11:00] » So, we ensured that termination clauses um were in it.

[1:11:06] » Okay. >> But I won't don't want to say too much

[1:11:09] legal, >> right?

[1:11:09] » Said by the next county attorney. You want to say anything?

[1:11:14] » Well, if they breach the lease, you can terminate, but it is a

[1:11:21] » 25 year lease. So, as long as they're providing the required services to the

[1:11:28] animal shelter, then it's 25 years old.

[1:11:36] » You want to speak to that? >> Yeah. Um,

[1:11:40] yeah. The one thing that they were concerned about whenever I did speak

[1:11:44] with them about it was, um, you know, they've been at the location that

[1:11:49] they're at since they opened. Um, currently they they leased the property

[1:11:54] from Winrock. Um, they own the little double wide building. Bless their

[1:11:58] hearts, it's falling apart. Um, they wanted some stability.

[1:12:03] » Yeah. >> And and I understand that because they

[1:12:06] are all about their business. They are compassionate. Um,

[1:12:14] » yeah. They um they just basically wanted that stability, reassurance

[1:12:22] uh and the communication that we have and will be working with so closely. You

[1:12:27] know, we're have Greg on speak should we have [clears throat] any questions that

[1:12:31] they are fantastic to work with. I worked with them since I came to the

[1:12:35] shelter in 2016 and I've been on our issues.

[1:12:39] » Thank you, >> Chair recognized Commissioner Bracket.

[1:12:42] I'm not against this probably by any means, but to me this should go through

[1:12:46] the property committee, take a look at it through proper channels before we

[1:12:50] enter 25 year lease with somebody. That's something we've set up to do. I

[1:12:55] think we need eyes on it and we might want to change it. I don't know.

[1:12:59] [clears throat] That's what the committee's for.

[1:13:05] » Make an amendment. >> Are you making a motion to amend to send

[1:13:08] back? >> Make a motion to amend it. Send it to

[1:13:10] property committee. Come back. [snorts] >> A second.

[1:13:13] » All right. So I have a motion from bracket to send to property committee. A

[1:13:16] second by Hamilton.

[1:13:20] » Any discussion? Any debate? >> Quick question here. Stacy, is there a

[1:13:24] time sensitivity all this? >> Um, as far as getting started,

[1:13:31] » as far as ex executing the agreement, >> um, basically soon as possible.

[1:13:39] um they're working on transitioning things at this time. Um

[1:13:45] you know, and I I know that they would be willing to, you know, negotiate. Um

[1:13:51] but here's here's the problem with that, and I understand 100% where you come

[1:13:57] from, but we won't have committee meetings again.

[1:14:01] » That's true. >> Until the third week of October,

[1:14:05] » right? There won't there won't be for them

[1:14:11] » I mean we got the committees for a reason.

[1:14:14] » Yeah. >> Right. But as of October as of August

[1:14:17] 31st we don't we won't have them again until this body approves the new

[1:14:24] committees in October. >> Not to be insensitive but I mean

[1:14:29] » business is business. I mean to protect us. We're looking at 25 years a

[1:14:34] building. I mean, business is business.

[1:14:40] » Brian, you had something? >> Yes, sir. We're moving the phones on the

[1:14:43] 17th. So, um, if we if we're not moving

[1:14:48] through it, we need to know that immediately because once we move their

[1:14:51] phones there, they will have

[1:14:57] » 17th of this month. >> Yes, sir. Next month. [laughter]

[1:15:02] Chair recognized Commissioner Leman. >> Would you entertain an amendment for

[1:15:07] one-year approval to we can come back to the committees?

[1:15:11] » I think that would be to the county at I mean I you know with everything that's

[1:15:16] said in this contract, >> you know what I mean? I mean I'm not

[1:15:20] saying I'm against it. I'm just saying that

[1:15:22] » understand I just don't want to stop with you.

[1:15:25] » Yeah. >> We shouldn't know about it a month ago

[1:15:27] maybe. You know, and I know it sounds cruel, but if we don't get it right, we

[1:15:32] could be in the violence way. >> I agree. 25 years is a long time to

[1:15:42] are you. So, you're taking a friendly I don't know that you can amend that for a

[1:15:46] year versus 25. Well, >> you have to

[1:15:50] » You've got a motion to send it to committee. So, that would take

[1:15:55] preference. Now, if the 25-y year lease gets sent to

[1:16:02] committee, I guess somebody could make a motion to

[1:16:07] authorize a lease under the same terms for a lesser period.

[1:16:11] After that,

[1:16:15] » chair recognizes Commissioner Bry. >> What are they le facility?

[1:16:20] » Yes, the clinic next door to the clinic. >> Just the clinic. Yes. It doesn't really

[1:16:25] have anything to do with the rest of the facility.

[1:16:28] » No. >> So, so can we can we narrow this down to

[1:16:33] the to just the facility that they're leasing?

[1:16:36] » The clinic. >> That is the lease.

[1:16:38] » I'm saying it's just the it's just the clinic, right? It's not

[1:16:41] » it's just not the entire operation. >> No, just

[1:16:46] the clinic. Uh what what we use the clinic for other

[1:16:51] [clears throat] than

[1:16:54] Um we won't the won't be used um until

[1:17:00] someone plan comes in to utilize it. [clears throat]

[1:17:10] It just it just seems like just the whole facility that's one that's one

[1:17:14] thing. But if we're just talking about clinic that's not being used uh and and

[1:17:20] they've already got plans for services being and I agree I agree with

[1:17:25] Commissioner Bracket uh you know we we we said we were going to use committees

[1:17:30] and stuff but maybe this was just fra it's just a clinic

[1:17:38] I think I think we just need to say that here and it's not it's not the uh

[1:17:45] It's not the said facility, it's the clinic.

[1:17:53] » Can we grant them temporary office? >> All right, guys. Let's use the push to

[1:17:57] talk button here because I've got people that's already questioned in front of

[1:18:00] me. >> All right. Chair recognized Commissioner

[1:18:03] Wilson. >> Uh, when was the lease up for plan F?

[1:18:12] Um >> can you restate that please?

[1:18:15] » For uh pause and clause for a cause the the one that was before.

[1:18:19] » Yeah. >> Um

[1:18:22] that would be in mid July. So they vacated in mid July and cleaned

[1:18:28] up. >> No, the one that is currently looking to

[1:18:31] lease. That's the one I'm talking about. I'm sorry.

[1:18:34] » I'm sorry. I'm not sure when their lease is up with the Windrock property that

[1:18:38] they're on right now. Is that what you're talking about?

[1:18:41] » Yes. Okay. I think that's the big >> I'm not really sure about that date. I

[1:18:44] just I do know that they are trying to get everything moved over quickly

[1:18:48] because they're juggling surgeries at that location and they would like to

[1:18:52] start surgeries at the new location. >> That I guess that would be the the

[1:18:58] barriers that would fall in if we if there's not an extreme urgency to to do

[1:19:04] that then I could see. I hate that the committee is is six weeks away. That's

[1:19:10] that's the the province of it. Do what? >> Got nine weeks left.

[1:19:17] » That's a long time to deal with business.

[1:19:21] » Okay. Chair recognized Commissioner Hooks.

[1:19:26] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So we would be without

[1:19:33] these pl

[1:19:39] » Yes. >> For the entire

[1:19:42] » for your shelters.

[1:19:46] » When when did we first learn of this transition?

[1:19:51] » Um about maybe a month. Well, it was mid

[1:19:56] 1st of July, mid July. It just kind of it happened. It just happened.

[1:20:02] » Falls and Paul was not going to renew their contract or you

[1:20:07] » No. >> Or someone decided that they weren't

[1:20:10] going to >> Yeah, we mutually agreed. Um, you know,

[1:20:13] I talked with her about how she felt, you know, about being open more days a

[1:20:18] week, and I knew that she she just wasn't able to, um, due to demand that

[1:20:23] she's got going on at the other facility that she runs in Knoxville.

[1:20:27] And, um, I even spoke to Brad about it, you know, that

[1:20:33] there's so many things that could be happening should the right person be in

[1:20:37] the clinic, you know. Um, she actually agreed for Planned

[1:20:44] Parenthood to be able to utilize it more than she would be able to to benefit

[1:20:50] Rome County and the children. [clears throat]

[1:20:55] » This question, Mr. Mr.

[1:21:02] until the new committees get set.

[1:21:09] Is the acting committee still

[1:21:14] » until the end of August? >> And not beyond that.

[1:21:21] » Not beyond that. No, because it was disappointed

[1:21:26] [clears throat] through the end of August.

[1:21:37] September. >> Well, we could call them by the end of

[1:21:41] the month.

[1:21:44] » Yeah. At least to get it to September meeting.

[1:21:51] » Who's chairman?

[1:21:55] » So, I'm I'm sorry. y'all talking back and forth. So, are we

[1:22:01] good through September? >> You're good through the end of August.

[1:22:05] So, you could have a meeting this month, make a recommendation, and then put it

[1:22:10] back on the agenda for September.

[1:22:18] » All right. Is that [clears throat] you, Commissioner Brack?

[1:22:22] » I'm good with that. If we can get a a committee meeting in, check it out.

[1:22:27] So, we still have the amendment that we're discussing. So, let me get through

[1:22:30] [clears throat] everyone's request to speak here. Commissioner Gan,

[1:22:34] » so why cannot we grant him temporary occupancy?

[1:22:39] » Well, you can do that after you deal with this amendment, but you've got one

[1:22:43] motion on the floor. >> Then, let's do this amendment and go

[1:22:46] ahead and grant him temporary occupancy pending the outcome of that. And so,

[1:22:51] nothing's held up. Grant, we should be able to grant them temporary occupancy.

[1:22:56] which [clears throat] Brad's moving the phones August 17th. So

[1:23:00] I doubt we'll have it.

[1:23:03] » Was it the 17th this month or September? >> This month, right?

[1:23:07] » Yes, sir. Next Monday. >> Next Monday. They're moving the phone.

[1:23:10] » Next Monday. >> So,

[1:23:13] but so let me understand. Let me clarify for everybody. So, here we go. The

[1:23:18] current one is going to have to go back. We're talking about the amended uh A2612

[1:23:24] as amended to go back to the property committee.

[1:23:28] » Probably be better just to classify as a motion to refer it to the property

[1:23:34] committee because if it's an amendment, you've got to amend it than vote on it.

[1:23:38] » Okay. So, we just motion to refer it back. But you're wanting to also grant

[1:23:42] temporary occupancy. >> Well, I

[1:23:46] that would be a separate motion after this motion. All right. Well, it ain't

[1:23:51] on the agenda, so >> but but it's uh this is a regular

[1:23:56] meeting, so you can bring up other stuff.

[1:23:58] » All right. 82612 recommendation was to send back to the

[1:24:03] property committee. That motion was made by bracket. Uh voice vote. All in favor

[1:24:08] of sending this back to property say I. >> All oppose like sign.

[1:24:14] All right. So that motion carries. Now we deal with the temporary occupy of the

[1:24:22] plan owner clinic.

[1:24:26] » So you >> I'll make the motion that we issue

[1:24:30] temporary occupancy in the clinic for the use.

[1:24:33] » All right. Do I have a second for that motion?

[1:24:37] » Multiple seconds. >> Uh all in favor say I.

[1:24:42] » Okay. Stand tight. >> What what is what is temporary? I mean

[1:24:46] what what period of time >> in the out getting in the outcome

[1:24:49] decision of property >> so actually be a commission commission.

[1:24:55] » So what we're doing is we're asking we're asking these folks

[1:24:59] » to move without without a period of time involved. They've got they've got till

[1:25:04] we come back September meeting basically.

[1:25:07] » Well they would be in they would be granted that occupancy

[1:25:10] » till till the September meeting till we can vote on it. If the C Romney

[1:25:14] committee meets it this month, approves it, we get we get September. So they

[1:25:19] would be asked to move without any guarantee of anything until for now

[1:25:24] September. >> Yes, they would be.

[1:25:26] » Thank you. >> Okay. All right. U my council comment

[1:25:31] who who else on here wanted to speak or anybody. [clears throat] Have I cleared

[1:25:37] Have I cleared the board? >> All right. So I answer your question. So

[1:25:41] grant temporary oxy. I had a motion and a second. Uh all in favor voice vote say

[1:25:46] I. >> I.

[1:25:48] » All oppose like sign. >> All right. Any other business come

[1:25:53] before the Rome County Commission. >> Yes sir.

[1:25:55] » Said I'd just like to take a moment. Thank y'all for your service uh working

[1:26:00] with us and it's been a pleasure. And all I got to say is don't make me come

[1:26:06] by. [laughter]

[1:26:10] With that said, Commissioner Hansen, will you give us a motion to adjourn?

[1:26:13] » Motion second.

Roane County Commission Meeting - August 10, 2026

Transcript