Budget

The Macon County Commissioners voted to send the budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 to the Full Body meeting at their Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, August 9.

“We made some cuts in most every department. Basically, we just asked all elected officials, what do you have in there that you could possibly do without, that is not a necessity? Most every department got cut some. They was very cooperative, all elected officials, all department heads was very cooperative with the budget committee so we've come up with a budget with the same tax rate, no property tax increase,” said Macon County Mayor Shelvy Linville.

“The budget committee met seven or eight times and worked hard on this, and, in my opinion did an excellent job, and I want to commend everyone that is on the budget committee on the excellent job that you did.

“There's nothing cut out of this budget that's really going to affect any department, I mean, it's not going to be detrimental to any department. I mean, it's just the facts of the times that we're in now. We just have to be conservative, and be good managers, and kind of watch our nickels and dimes, and think that's what allows us to have a budget without a property tax increase. I don't know if any of you have been following the surrounding counties, the shape they're in financially, the state, federal. Personally, I think we're in pretty decent shape here in Macon County. I just want to commend the budget committee and the work they did to come up with this budget and all the elected and appointed officials that met with us and was willing to do whatever was necessary to keep this tax rate what it is without having to increase property taxes.”

CDBG Project

The commissioners also voted to send to the full body a resolution that would appropriate an additional $35,000 to the waterline exension project. The county received a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $500,000 dollars with $95,000 in matching funds from the county. The total project was estimated at $595,500, with $479,500 appropriated for construction.

The lowest bid was $504,412.50 from Williamson Construction in Murfreesboro. It was recommended to the commissioners that they be awarded the project by project engineer Pedigo Engineering, Consulting Engineers. Alternate deducts will be applied to the project to lower the amount to $490,992.50.

“We're going to have to appropriate a little bit more money, based on the construction costs. What money we're going to have to actually have to do the project, we're going to be short $11,493.50. Now it is also a recommendation by the state that we have a five percent contingency of the construction costs. So that five percent contingency would total $24,500. What that means is we have to appropriate that amount. We may not use it, hopefully we don't, but, if something should go wrong, then you need to have that as a buffer to fall back on.

“It's either that or cut out some of the area that we're going to cover with these other lines.

“Personally, I would hate to do that because, if you leave off, say, four or five families down there, odds are they may never get water.

Linville stated that he had been informed that prices on materials had gone up in recent months, and that was why they had not received any lower bids for the project.

Schools

“We did have our opening day today, and I'm either happy to say or sad to say, however you want to look at it, our numbers are really up. If everybody shows up Thursday at Macon County High School, we could have 993 students,” said Macon County Schools Director Dan Hampton.

“We're up in every school with the exception of Central. Ms. Thompson told me her enrollment was down for the first time in six years. So we're going through a little bubble. Red Boiling Springs, I stopped by to visit with Don, his numbers were up. He had about 24 or 26 he hadn't even put in the computer yet.

“I know Westside's in a tough situation because, at the elementary school, we get in a situation where we have mandated numbers, and, because of elementary, we can only have so many students in each classroom. Well, he has 32 in one classroom, and he already has 23 kindergarteners, and that's three students over the limit.

“I'm going to meet with all the principals on Monday and try to get a better count, and I'll try to let you know something about where we stand.”

Portable classrooms were purchased for Fairlane Elementary, Macon County High School

When given the opportunity to address the director, the issue of the band concession stand was raised.

“I've had a lot of calls on the band house ordeal. Can you explain what the problem is?” said District 13 Commissioner Annette Looper.

“What happened was the boosters went out, and they actually called Ms. Meador to say they were painting and were doing some renovation work over at the stadium and asked to paint. They were going to paint those two buildings, the concession stands and those buildings, and, without even thinking, Ms. Meador told them, “Yeah, paint them.” And of course, by the time they got done, they'd painted over the murals and everything else that has been there all those years. I've gotten several phone calls myself,” said Hampton.

“There's conflicting stories,” said Looper. “What I'm hearing is that it's come from the football coach.”

“No, that's incorrect,” said Hampton. “The boosters, the people that were over there volunteering their time to paint it, actually called Ms. Meador, and then Stephanie said—the buck stops with she and I, and we'll take the hit for it. She made the comment they called and asked about painting. She told them to go ahead and paint it, that it needed painting. It hadn't been painted in years.

I've had several calls too, and I understand. And I'm sorry it happened. I actually talked to a gentleman last Thursday, and I invited him to come back and put it back on there. If he wanted to come back and put the mural back on, I didn't have any problem with it. It needed to be cleaned up anyway, it had gotten kind of dingy, and I told them that, in regard to the band, if they wanted to come back and redo it, they were more than welcome to come back,” said Hampton, stating that Mark Pemberton, MCHS's new football coach was oblivious that a miscommunication had been made and even asked if the boosters had checked on painting the concession stand before it was done.

Shariah Finance

In June, Commissioners tabled the passage of a resolution prohibiting Macon County from doing business with any organizations or banks that honor Shariah Law until this month. Mayor Linville and the Commissioners sought the legal advice of County Attorney Guy Holliman on the issue.

Holliman responded with a letter to Linville stating that the resolution would not be legal according to Article 1, Section 3 of the Tennessee Constitution and the First Amendment of the United States.

“If the intent of the proposed ordinance or resolution was to not have the county engage in business with companies that support terrorism or terroristic groups, then I would suggest that the County do that very thing, state Holliman in his letter. “In other words, a resolution could be passed specifically saying that the government of Macon County, Tennessee shall not in its banking or any other business knowingly engage in business with any company that supports, or otherwise engages in business with terrorist of any kind, domestic or foreign.”

A motion was made by Ralph Doss and seconded by Helen Hesson to have Holliman draw up a resolution based on his recommendations. One dissenting vote was cast by District 3 commissioner Vernon Biggs.

Other items moved on to the full body meeting on August 16:

-The addition of a portion of Galbreath Lane to the County Road Map at the recommendation of County Road Supervisor Audie Cook.

-Approval of county officials bonds

-The EMS Fiscal Year Report

-A petition from residents of Beech Grove Road to raise the speed limit on that road to 30 or 25 miles per hour.

-Ron Morey addressed the commissioners about concerns he had about safety at the Justice Center. The commissioners