CC Notes – May 15th 2017

CC Notes – May 15^th 2017

The May monthly meeting of the full Cumberland County Commission was called to order with all representatives present except Elbert Farley and Roy Turner.

Resolutions
The first resolution of the evening was the appointment of Rick Williams to serve as the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency Director. The current director, Keith Garrison, is retiring. The County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) reviewed, evaluated, and recommended Mr. Williams, and the Commission approved his appointment 15-1 with Commissioner Tim Claflin voting against.

Next, Nancy Hyder and Bobby Rhea were approved to serve as members on the Cumberland County Health and Safety Standards Board with terms expiring on May 15, 2021. Marsha Polson, Kenneth Carey, Dr. Danny Hall, Dr. Larry Reed, Dr. Randall Crowder, Jim Petty, Becki Hillis, Dr. Don Grisham, and Mindy Doyle were appointed as members to the Cumberland County Board of Health. All of these appointments were approved unanimously with Nancy Hyder abstaining on her appointment.

It is time for the county to apply for the annual Litter and Trash Collecting Grant for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. This grant comes from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and is used for litter cleanup and mowing. The application was approved 16-0.

The Emergency Medical Services department has old cardiac monitors that are no longer in use on our ambulances. A request was made for these monitors to be considered surplus property and donated to the City of Crossville as new monitors were recently purchased for the county ambulances. The resolution passed unanimously.

The Election Commission requested that the rates for election officials that work in the various precincts on Election Day be increased. The rates for these workers has not been increased in many years. Election days are long and require the workers to be at the polls for at least 12 hours. The rate was increased to $100 per day in a unanimous vote.

Funds in the amount of $9,126 were approved to go the Cumberland County Veterans Assistance Council (CCVAC). These funds are a part of the plea agreement with former VSO Mark Daniels for restitution from criminal acts involving missing funds a few years back.  The payment represents the weekly payments that have been made toward the final sum of $100,000 that must be paid by Daniels under terms of the plea arrangement.

Private citizens have donated $320 to the Library. A resolution was passed 16-0 accepting the funds and amending the budget. Cost for replacement of an HVAC system at the Community Complex exceeds the funds available in maintenance. A resolution was passed unanimously to provide $6,600 to replace the equipment. The Property Assessor is nearing completion of the reappraisal process and has underspent the part-time employee line in his budget. The Assessor has requested a vehicle for his department in the upcoming 2017-2018 budget. The Budget Committee recommended the use of the $11,465 in part-time personnel savings to purchase a vehicle. A budget amendment was unanimously passed to allocate these funds.

During recent work on the vehicle maintenance facility, a worker stepped through the roof due to the poor condition of building. Replacement of the roof at the facility is needed, and a resolution for $21,000 was approved 16-0 by the Commission.

The Recycling Center has had an increase in the number of waste tires processed in the County which will result in an increase in the Waste Tire Surcharge revenue and the tipping fees collected for this fiscal year. An amendment was unanimously approved increasing revenues by $19,000.

Financial Report
Property tax collections are at 100.3% year to date compared to 100.8% at this point last year, with revenues still appearing to be on target to make and possibly exceed budget. BOE sales tax collections have started to be a concern over the past few months. Collections were down $56,327 this month compared to budget, leaving a $23,922 deficit for the year to date totals. The Hotel/Motel tax continues to lag in collections with $578,552 collected or 71.4%, compared to 76.1% at this point last year. The Budget Committee discussed the slow collections and the possibility of compliance audits to see why the budget is down against projections. Ambulance revenues continue to rebound with $435,124 collected this month, bringing the collections to the point that they are only down $60,747 for the year. If receipts continue their pace, the annual budgeted amount of $3,650,000 should be achieved. Prisoner boarding is still strong as well with $356,865 collected year to date against a budget of $300,000.

Several people have asked me about the County’s lawsuit against Spirit Broadband. The next court appearance in the case is June 9 at 9:00 AM on a motion to dismiss.

Thank you for allowing me to serve the 4^th District and Cumberland County. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at any time.

Sincerely

Allen Foster
Board of Commissioners
4^th District Representative
http://allenfoster.net