Cumberland County Commission Meeting
The January 2022 meeting of the Cumberland County Commission was held tonight with all Commissioners in attendance except David Gibson and Jerry Cooper.
The Cumberland County Clerk and Master Employee Personnel Policies have been updated and were placed into the minutes of the meeting. Next, the following resolutions were considered, with the sponsor being in parenthesis.
RESOLUTION 01-2022-1 – FOR AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT BROADBAND FUNDING & GUIDANCE (GIBSON). This resolution was designed to help providers that are applying for state broadband grants. The providers get additional points on grant applications if the county will agree to provide some of their matching funds. These funds are an eligible use for American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds. This resolution approved matching funds for any grants that are received from the state broadband grant program and was approved 16-0.
RESOLUTION 01-2022-2 – FOR AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT WATER & SEWER FUNDING & GUIDANCE (KYLE DAVIS). This resolution was very similar to the one concerning broadband except it is for water utilities. This resolution was for South Cumberland Utility District, but all districts in the county will be eligible to apply. The resolution was approved unanimously.
RESOLUTION 01-2022-3 – TO REDUCE A RIGHT-A-WAY ON A COUNTY ROAD THAT IS CURRENTLY ON THE ROAD LIST (GIBSON). This resolution reduced the right of way on Wilson Road from 40 to 30 feet. This was fixed as there was a discrepancy between deeds and the road list. The resolution was approved 16-0.
RESOLUTION 01-2022-4 – TO ACCEPT THE 2022 VERSION OF THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY ROAD LIST (GIBSON). The 2022 version of the Cumberland Road list was approved by the Planning Commission and the Environmental Committee. The Commission voted to approve 15-0-1 with Commissioner Wilson abstaining due to an issue with Alyson Lane 911 addressing.
Financial Update
EMS collections for the month were $381,349 which is $48,016 above the monthly budgeted amount of $333,333. Year to date we have collected $2,435,753 which is $435,755 above projections.
Sales tax collections for the General Purpose School Fund came in at $1,132,259 which is $110,727 above projections. Year to date we have collected $5,597,750 and are $562,260 above budget.
Property tax collections year to date are approximately 57.1%. Last year we had collected 54.0% of revenue.
Cumulative Hotel/Motel taxes are $588,960 which is 72.83% of the budgeted amount of $808,712. Last year, with a smaller budgeted amount of $668,166, we had collected $289,617, or 43.35% of budget, at this point.
Cumulative Prisoner Boarding collections remain at $139,854 of the $602,396 annual budget. Last year we were at $132,327, or 21.97% of the $602,396 annual budget. Payments for prisoner boarding are somewhat sporadic from the state.
COVID-19 Update
The state of Tennessee has moved to reporting COVID-19 data on a weekly basis on Wednesday of each week for the previous Sunday through Saturday. I will update the numbers after they come out. You can also find it here:
https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/data/downloadable-datasets.html.
CMC and Covenant released a dashboard with information about current COVID-19 patients. You can see from the graphic that 60% of all COVID-19 ICU patients at CMC are unvaccinated, and 56% of all COVID-19 patients at CMC are unvaccinated. Currently there are 19 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations at CMC. At CMC, the median age of those in the ICU is not available as the number of patients is too small to report, and the median age of other COVID-19 hospitalizations is 68.5.
Covenant also releases aggregate data for the entire hospital system. Data provided indicates 70% of all COVID-19 ICU patients in a Covenant hospital are unvaccinated, and 62% of all COVID-19 patients in a Covenant hospital are unvaccinated. Currently there are 267 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations in a Covenant facility. The median age of those in the ICU is 61 and the median age of other COVID-19 hospitalizations is 68.
Complete Covenant COVID hospitalization data can be found here:
https://www.covenanthealth.com/covid-19-dashboard/
State Vaccination Dashboard:
https://data.tn.gov/t/Public/views/TennIISCOVID-19VaccineReporting/SUMMARY?:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link&:toolbar=no&:embed=yes
Cumberland County Health Department Update
The Cumberland County Health Department is currently offering the Pfizer COVID 19 Vaccine and Booster. Unfortunately, the Moderna Booster is not available at the Cumberland County Health Department at this time. There are several other local facilities that offer Moderna. A complete list can be found at www.vaccines.gov. If the status changes for the Moderna vaccine and booster, the Health Department will send out an announcement.
COVID-19 Testing Hours Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 11:00 am (MWF are self-testing days)
COVID-19 Vaccine Hours Monday – Friday, 8:00 pm – 4:00 pm
All COVID-19 Vaccines are currently being given inside the Health Department. No drive-thru option will be offered.
Thank you for being part of the solution and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your County Mayor. If you are interested in hearing my thoughts and views on news, events, and activities in Cumberland County, please subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you,
Allen Foster
Cumberland County Mayor
http://allenfoster.net
allenfoster.com 