PROPERTY/BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
12 AUGUST 2025
Chair Commissioner Tracy Wilburn opened the meeting asking Commissioner Roger Reedy to provide a prayer and lead the pledge. The minutes of 7 March 2025 were moved for approval by Commissioner Erin Curry, seconded by Commissioner Evan Baddour, and were approved unanimously. County Executive (CE) Graham Stowe provided the following announcements: Former Highway Department Steve Kelley’s memorial on 13 August; non-profit allocations on September agenda; two candidates identified, for Commissioner Tim Risner vacancy, through written application, and will require nomination plus any other from the floor to be voted by all commissioners; and a handout provided on Giles County leases.
Leases
Campbellsville Rd spring property divided into two sections, one the “back lot” 100 acres and two the spring property with road frontage of 22.48 acres. In the past the 22.48 acres were leased for $1020 a year but the current lessee wants out of the lease. Others have shown interest, from row-cropping to grazing; no hunting is allowed on the property, which is stipulated in the lease. The property is publicized with sealed bids due 3 September 2025. Commissioner Erin Curry noted that UT Southern has used the back 100 acres in the past for educational activities with the CE saying there is a MoU with them.
The county has a lease with the Bodenham Community Club that ends August 2029.
Bradshaw Cr Exit 14 includes a waste water permit that was recently extended. The current lease on the property expired May 25; the CE stated he was extending this lease through spring 26. With the possibility of development in the very near future, along with potential for wastewater treatment, the CE said we need flexibility to embrace that opportunity when it arrives.
Two Peach Road Properties are in the flood zone per FEMA guidelines. Leased for $1 a year, and although the person died who had that lease, the heirs desire to continue.
Truist Annex lease expires October 2027.
Joint ownership with Pulaski on 65 acres where the water tower is located on Rocky Road. Pulaski paid to survey so that 12 aces could be split off for the tower property. Recommendation on balance of acreage would be to transferred to the IDB for potential housing development. The CE said he would bring a Resolution in October timeframe to transfer to the IDB. Goal is to put this property back on the tax roll for future revenue.
Commissioner Terry Jones asked about the land near the airport if it is in a lease, noting someone is maintaining. The CE said that property is not leased, and that it is city-county owned. Commissioner Tracy Wilburn asked if the Milky Way property sale has been finalized with the CE saying yes, now on tax roll.
Commissioner Gayle Jones asked about the long-term plan for the school property with Knox Vanderpool, Chair of School Board, noting UT Southern has expressed an interest and there has been a survey for the first appraisal of the property. Mr. Vanderpool noted that transportation and maintenance are still on the original property and new locations would be needed for them. Commissioner Shelly Goolsby asked about some of the sports fields with some noting they are jointly owned by the city.
Commissioner Evan Baddour asked for information on the Truist rental agreement, expiring in October 2027. He asked if a decision was made to end the lease at that time, what the lease agreement might say about when the lessee would have to be notified. The CE said while the rental is approximately $10K monthly, the county leases the drive-thru for $1200 a year from Truist. He mentioned the building, while meeting ADA accessibility guidelines, has most of it’s public services on the 2nd floor. He noted the drive-thru helps with that situation. He further said in the future the building could be used for government services such as trustee, clerk and possibly election offices, bringing most-visited public services to the ground floor, improving accessibility.
The CE said a lot of today’s meeting is informational and discussion was then led by Josh Young, Emergency Management Chief. A handout on the FEMA-compliant safe space future building was provided. Mr. Young said currently there is a third party doing a peer review to make sure everything meets required FEMA standards. Total cost of the safe space will be nearly $6M, funded under a 90/5/5 split with FEMA, state of Tennessee, and Giles County funding those amounts respectively. Currently $77,923.25, $4,329.07, $4,329.07 (FEMA, state, county) has been spent. Commissioner Gayle Jones asked for clarification on use of the space, i.e., events, rentals, with the following discussion: will seating be available; up to 800 people standing shoulder to shoulder in event of disasters; re events only one bathroom and minimum electrical outlets available so would have to be modified for events; concerns over placing additional infrastructure inside space which could negate FEMA interests; sewer capability , upgraded pump included in grant. Commissioner Terry Jones asked couldn’t we have used this safe space for some portion of the ambulance needs, e.g., beds. Commissioner Brad Butler said the timing of both was different and per Commissioner Roger Reedy the location for the ambulance building was at odds with the safe space. Commissioner Gayle Jones said in the original requirement for the ambulance building there was to be a meeting room and an exercise room, and could this safe space be utilized for that. Commissioner David Wamble asked about other counties and what they would use their safe space for. Chief Young said Fayetteville has made use, in a monolith dome, the space for their high school gymnasium and for public meetings. Chief Young said more people show up for discussion on the safety issue and mentioned the city of Pulaski, an 8-mile circle, will be the biggest beneficiary for the new building; that he would like to do for the outlying areas. He said he gets more questions on where to go in disasters than any other type questions. Currently he said we have to depend on churches and someone has to open those. Member of the public, Cheryl Albury, mentioned fold-up furniture with Chief young saying his goal is to fund some, and he is looking at possible grants. The CE said their goal is to keep this project strictly utilitarian to conserve county’s contribution; come under 5% on this grant and that could potentially free dollars for other areas in the safe space. Commissioner Annelle Guthrie asked which churches are open for protective locations during a weather disaster, with Chief Young saying Baptist churches (Oakgrove, Elkton, Richland, 1st Baptist), First United Methodist, and East Hill Church of Christ with several others in dealing with especially cold weather problems. The Chair asked about the basements in schools in Minor Hill with Chief Young saying that is a Dr. Beard question (mentioning security of schools). Commissioner Terry Jones said he had heard from a lot of citizens who think this is going to be a state-of-the-art concession stand. The CE stated the Ag Park Board knows the limitations of what they are getting, and that it does not include concessions. Commissioner Evan Baddour asked about the medical storage facility which had been considered by the commissioners and Chief Young said that funding from the state never materialized.
EMS status. In a handout the CE listed 3 options, Buy and modify the Speedvette building; renovate and expand the current EMS building; or delay the decision until the next commission takes office. He stated the new building, estimated at $9M was not an option. The CE noted each option would have varying long-term costs. Commissioner Terry Jones said before any option should be selected how to fund them should be identified; and he did not think another tax such as a wheel tax would be acceptable at this time. Commissioner Annelle Guthrie noted a similar cost estimate done for the 911 building which was approximate $1K per sq ft. Commissioner Caleb Savage recommended a revenue search be conducted to see what that would buy us, look at timing of upgrades, push for state to give us back dollars taken. Commissioner Shelly Goolsby asked that after finishing the budget process, what dropped in after finalization of last year. CE noted that budget was $1.9M short, so the additional revenue need is $2M to merely balance the budget. Given funding in fund balance, approximately $9M+ the county has currently, along with enough sales tax revenue to potentially service a $10M bond. The CE also mentioned the ratio of the fund balance to the total budget, which is steadily declining – a concern. Willow Chavez, Chief Ambulance Service, discussed the Speedvette building as possible new location for ambulance service. She said while not perfect if the commission would commit to purchase and phase the upgrades over a few years, the building would meet the needs of the ambulance service. Commissioner Gayle Jones on purchasing the Speedvette building, addressed the drive way egress that a nearby church would have to approve. Commissioner Brad Butler addressed the state decision to retain more of the state sales tax in prior history when the state had funding issues but now they are over $500M in the black. The CE said state representative Clay Doggett would be coming on Monday and the commissioners can talk to him at that time. Commissioner Caleb Savage, on remodeling Speedvette, said could do $1M every year and wouldn’t have to go into debt. Commissioner Erin Curry said Gerald’s Auto Repair already has an agreement with neighboring church. Commissioner Matt Rubelsky said he wanted to focus on revenue, what we can or can’t do. For example, he had been in a meeting which focused on tourism, and revenue that potentially brings into the county. Commissioner Caleb Savage said we all want to get something done, but we need to consider both the long term and the short term. Commissioner Roger Reedy noted the time new commissioners usually take to understand county government, and as a result did not want to delay this for the next commission. Commissioner Evan Baddour asked if living arrangements would have enough space in Speedvette, with Chief Chavez said there is room for 10 single occupancy rooms upstairs. Commissioner David Wamble suggested with approximately $10M to work from, divide in half and do important upgrades to courthouse with the $5M, and cap Speedvette rehab to $5M. Commissioner Terry Jones said we have tried for three years to get the courthouse structure fixed and we are no closer.
Courthouse – The CE said considering several projects as separate/distinct “silos” is problematic; all need to be considered together given finite revenue and reserves. He mentioned he will be meeting with Commissioner David Wamble and OHM tomorrow to discuss cheaper HVAC improvements; outcome of this meeting will be probably result in a revised proposal to be shared in an open meeting. He said we will need to convene another Property meeting where decisions can be made on both EMS and the courthouse. He further said while the commission has finite resources, we should do at least one of the projects completely vs. cutting corners on 2-3 projects. On the courthouse, he said the goal is to make improvements that support the building for another century of service, and that in October he and Financial Manager Beth Moore-Sumners need direction to shop for a bond. Commissioner Erin Curry said she thought a decision should wait until after October (potential Exit 14 decisions) and Commissioner Evan Baddour said looking toward a decision for the state legislature (to return sales tax dollars). He mentioned that would help all municipalities as well. Commissioner Annelle Guthrie asked with a favorable decision at Exit 14 how long before any tax revenue would come in with the CE saying at least a year. Leah Bailey (public) said she had discussed with Maury County their new Judicial Center, cost $30M – $34M, funded by grants. The CE said that was funded from litigation and other taxes, not grants – that grants are available to support courthouse museums but not active courthouse/justice-centers. Ms. Bailey said re need for new EMS building, and based on population growth, she recommended looking at more satellite services. Commissioner Caleb Savage replied that the current EMS facility doesn’t meet current needs, let alone future needs. If we spend $13M on courthouse, we couldn’t do EMS. He suggested reducing the courthouse scope, so the county could do the EMS project; and give OHM a budget for the courthouse and see what that buys. The CE gave recent history on the new EMS building; cutting spaces had reduced the cost to $8.5M, clearly still high. Commissioner David Adams said we have already been told we have no water, so no growth and so can’t build more houses. Question on sending the project out for bids, with the CE saying the county must first have construction drawings and specs, which is all preliminary work, and that the commission needs to finalize decisions before projects are publicized for bids. He explained that the EMS project had gone through a professional cost estimator; those numbers are based on local comps and real-time construction and materials estimates, good for only 90 days; he emphasized you don’t put out schematic (i.e. preliminary) drawings for bids. Ms. Bailey said, look where population growth will be going and also look for grants. Commissioner David Wamble noted that Economic Director Phil Reese had given the county a projection on growth. Commissioner Shelly Goolsby said we are trying to sustain what we currently have; planning for growth is important but we’re still trying just keep up the status quo. EMS needs work and the courthouse is to fix structural problems; noted that we are renovating schools, not growing our schools. Ms. Bailey mentioned our location, being between Huntsville, Al and Nashville, and population data showing growth, and possibly look at a new justice center. Commissioner Terry Jones said we are doing what needs to be done now with a Judicial Center being a long-term consideration; CE stated that we’d looked at that, with estimated costs of $15-20 million. Commissioner Evan Baddour said we haven’t outgrown our courthouse, but we do have a precarious situation where a beam holding up the building needs repair. Also, he said there are a lot of moving parts that must be considered. Ms. Catherine Bailey (Public) said there was an attendee in a previous meeting that recommended and had she been contacted. The CE said we have access to grant-writing support, and that after extensive research, as long as the courthouse is functioning as our justice center, many grants not available. Mr. Scott Bailey (public) said if we are broke, why talking about doing any spending. He questioned the expenditures for TACN, since cell phones are so prevalent. Knox Vanderpool, School Board Chair, re discussing revenue streams his research shows in next five years, 737 new housing units, as well as rental properties, will be built, and with that taking place in near proximity to Pulaski, that water system will be available. He mentioned the students from UT Southern and their housing needs, e.g., 3 – 4K students needing housing. He reiterated that growth is coming, within the next five years. Commissioner Gayle Jones said the main floor space needs in the Courthouse are for records, which should be cheaper to maintain than other needs. Sheriff Joe Purvis spoke to the TACN comment, specifically mentioning that in or about 2010 the FCC narrowed the frequency band that emergency services could use; i.e. communications were degraded from what they had been 20 years ago. He invited all to come along for a ride to see the lack of coverage for themselves. Ms. Leah Bailey said she did not say right now for growth but it is coming. The Chair said the courthouse project started when we wanted to consider fire suppression within the courthouse. The Chair indicated based on discussions that the committee would wait after October to make a decision on options.
Unfinished business – None. New Business – Commissioner Evan Baddour mentioned the earlier discussion on the Rocky Road Fire Tower and said citizens had voiced concerns over type of homes that could be built. The CE noted the revised 2025-2026 budget is available for pickup.
Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Erin Curry, seconded by Commissioner Carman Brown, and was approved unanimously.
ATTENDEES: Members of the Committee – Chair Commissioner Tracy Wilburn, Other Commissioners members Evan Baddour, Caleb Savage, Erin Curry , Brad Butler, Shelly Goolsby (for absent Judy Pruett), Annelle Guthrie (for Tim Risner), Other Commissioners in attendance: Terry Jones, David Wamble, James Lathrop, David Adams, Roger Reedy, Gayle Jones, Carman Brown, Joseph Sutton, Matt Rubelsky, Rose Brown Other – County Executive Graham Stowe, Sheriff Joe Purvis, Josh Young, EMS Chief, Public speakers Leah Bailey, Catherine Bailey, Scott Bailey,