PROPERTY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
2 JULY 2021
ATTENDEES: Chairman Roger Reedy, Harold Brooks, Larry Worsham, Joyce Morgan, Tracy Wilburn, David Adams, and Brad Butler; OTHER ATTENDEES: County Executive Melissa Greene, Other Commissioners: Tommy Pollard, Joseph Sutton, Gayle Jones, Duane Jones, Terry Harwell, Judy Pruett, David Wamble, and Erin Curry Other County: Ambulance Dept. Roy Griggs and Chastity Hobbs PRIVATE CITIZENS: Ruth Owens, Anne Arthur, Flora Smith, Bill and Debbie Young, Thomas Moore, Lynn Golden, and Maclallan Hubbard
Chairman Roger Reedy opened the meeting with Harold Brooks providing the prayer and leading the pledge. A motion to approve the previous minutes was made by Larry Worsham and seconded by Joyce Morgan. Approved.
First agenda item: Lease County Properties. County Executive Melissa Greene provided verbal and written information on a portion of the Campbellsville Road spring property, describing the property as exceeding overgrown. Further the property is not suitable for hay or cattle due to the overgrowth. Melissa recommended not pursuing lease. Questions on access and available water at that section. David Adams moved that county not lease and Larry Worsham seconded. Motion approved. Additional information was provided on county property near Exit 14. Currently the county mows the property and a request has been made to allow hay cutting by private individual. Questions on impacting waste water treatment permit (no)/ and dollar amount (would have to be bid out). Motion by David Adams and seconded by Harold Brooks to bid out was approved.
Second agenda item: James Monroe Brown Memorial request. Melissa provided information, verbal and documentation, on the request. That included showing both the achievements and community involvement of Mr. Brown as well as potential memorial marker. Location of the marker would potentially be placed on the Giles Courthouse grounds. Motion by David Adams and seconded by Brad Butler that request be approved. Discussion topics included cost of marker and who would assume (typically family based on other historical markers); location of marker (already two on SE corner); and should county consider that there may well be other requests. Per Melissa the county currently has no written policy and she has already had several requests; and finally is there a better way to recognize the achievements of county citizens. Per Chairman Reedy future recognition will require more discussion. Several locations and types of future recognition were mentioned, e.g. trails at AgPark. Lois Aymett mentioned the Pulaski Community Advisory Council and their work in identifying potential recognition possibilities. Motion was then approved for Mr. Brown.
Third Agenda Item: Bodenham Community Center. Ruth Owens, President of the Bodenham Community Club, provided a concept drawing of a potential add-on building. Funding from the radio auction as well as a private donation is allowing a metal building to be placed next to the original building. Concerns about the septic system and the removal of a dirt bank were discussed by Ms. Owens, resulting in the concept drawing she provided. Motion by Tracy and seconded by Joyce to allow named changes and to pursue engineering drawings. Motion approved.
Fourth Agenda Item: Milky Way Lots. County owns 4 lots, approximately one acre each, due to non-payment of taxes. Previous attempts to recoup taxes through selling failed and road access and condition almost impassible. Under the Financial Management Act ’81, Melissa recommended starting the selling process of these lots. Questions on the road (county ownership – no), deeded right of way (possibly but would require further research), dollar value of taxes (not available at this meeting time), appraised value (approx $25K per lot). Mr. Tom Moore discussed problems his son, who owns a home nearby these lots, has had with the road. He mentioned he had personally had to repair the road to make it passable. Ms. Golden, co-owner of Milky Way Farm, mentioned she too had make repairs to the road, e.g. gravel added. Melissa mentioned that if the road were to become a county road, it would have to be built to specifications before county would take ownership. This is in keeping with any sub-division policy. She did say this would have to be figured out before selling. Tracy moved and Brad seconded to adopt the Resolution provided to offer the 4 lots for sale by sealed bids. Buying property by paying taxes rather than going through bid process was discussed including advertising that possibility. Ms. Golden had mentioned that she was an interested buyer. Motion was approved.
Old Business: Gayle Jones mentioned she had been in discussion with an owner of an 10.4 acre tract for a future ambulance location and a possibility of a trade for the current ambulance location. Appraised value $51.7K. Joseph Sutton mentioned there may be a cemetery on that location and care should be taken in considering. Melissa had discussed with another owner of the property south of town and had received the owner’s potential cost. A motion by Joyce and seconded by Larry to pursue further information on the property identified by Gayle was made and passed. Questions on response time from that property was raised by Roy Griggs noting that any location was more desirable for some of the population but not all of the population. Erin Curry mentioned any time a property on a state highway changes functions, a new permit must be obtained for the driveway. Tracy Wilburn mentioned the possibility of a Minor Hill ambulance substation which could be located for approximately $75K across from the water district location.
New Business: Melissa gave a comprehensive review of possibilities for Exit 14 through her discussions with current owners of businesses and owners of nearby property. The biggest holdback to making this Exit a more profitable entity for the county has been the treatment of wastewater. Current owners have indicated their interest in moving from their individual septic capability to a more efficient waste water treatment facility. The county can build such a facility but afterwards all operational costs must, by law, be paid by users. And that cost is significantly higher due to depreciation costs which must be recouped monthly as well. This “problem” for all counties has been discussed at state level, but is not the same problem for all counties. Some have already recouped much of the depreciation and some have many users and subdivisions nearby which have spread the cost. So legislative assistance seems unlikely. Ownership of some of the prime property by the exit have indicated they would not sell but would be willing to lease. Due to timing of developing a lease, many companies that might be willing won’t wait for six months or more to decide. Other owners of property are on the backside of the more desirable property, and potential businesses don’t like that. One promising possibility has to do with grouping both water and wastewater costs together and then spreading that cost to users. Bill Young who is an ardent supporter of fulfilling the Exit 14 promise spoke of a vision of a Cracker Barrel restaurant and having long lines of customers. He mentioned the UT Southern and what that might mean as well for the Exit.
Other new business: Melissa mentioned that the paving of the ambulance parking lot had been passed to this committee. Barry Hyatt, Superintendent of Roads, recommends hiring a hot mix company to do the complete job, since the job would include stripping the lot down to dirt and repacking. Whether the location of sold or reused by county, the recommendation from the ambulance committee was to proceed. The cost is estimated at $60K to $70K. Joyce made a motion and Harold seconded that this action be provided to the budget committee. Motion approved.
A motion by Tracy and seconded by David Adams to adjourn was made and approved.
