“The old county landfill site, behind the county Road Department, is not the place for it,” reported Mayor Linvlle. Among other problems with the site is the possibility of “settling of the ground” as the landfill deteriorates; the possibility that escaping methane might be a possibility and that methane monitoring might be necessary; and the fact that the integrity of the cap put over the old landfill should not be jeopardized in any way.
Linville recommended the committee studying the project look at a site on the other side of Old Hwy. 52 near the racetrack at the rear of the county fairgrounds and let them determine an appropriate site for a county dog pound. The mayor also noted that such a project needs state certification, and that some $460 in fees, $200 of them recurring twice each year for inspections, might be required.
The commissioners agreed to let the committee, consisting of commissioners Scott Gammons, Jerry Ray and Helen Hesson, study the siting and regulations for such a project and report back at the next meeting of the Body as a Whole on May 7.
A suggestion made at the last meeting to see what would need to be done to get a hotel/motel tax in Macon County met with a cool reception by Red Boiling Springs Mayor Kenneth Hollis, and Armour Hotel owner Labon Hilton, who both noted that the hotel business was not prospering and that they opposed any new tax that might be perceived as making their accommodations less attractive to potential visitors.
Commissioner Ralph Doss said it was his understanding that 71 of Tennessee's 95 counties have a local option hotel/motel tax in effect, and that most of them use the proceeds for tourist and visitor promotion.
However, Commissioner Larry Tucker said that local hotels and motels in a small towns are “having a hard go of it” and that a 2-cent... to 7-cent motel/hotel tax wouldn't justify enough revenue to justify the paperwork and regulation to deal with it.
“If this were Cookeville, with their volume of visitors, it might be worth it, but not in Macon County,” said Tucker.
Commissioner Lindbergh Dennis said everyone he'd talked to about the subject was opposed to it, and Commissioner Billy Bransford made a motion, seconded by Jerry Ray, to defer the discussion until a later date. The motion passed.
Bransford had noted that it was too late in the legislative session to get a proposal for a local option tax considered this year, and that the county would have another year to consider such action, if it wished to pursue it further.
THE PLANS FOR A COUNTY-WIDE CLEAN UP DAY or days in the Month of May were deferred beyond May to enable the county mayor to see if the Smith or Clay County landfills would consider opening for transfer of solid waste picked up on successive Saturdays in June, at the suggestion of Commissioner Jerry Ray.
Mayor Linville said he had researched the project, and found that the last time the county had done this was April 2003, and since that time both the Smith and Clay county landfills had begun closing on Saturdays.
Because of the potential size of the clean up project, four successive Saturdays would be required, with pick-ups by county Road Department trucks in five of the twenty commission districts each designated Saturday.
“Ms. (Debbie) Richardson advised me that the landfill ‘tipping fees' in 2003 had been $8,500 for the county-wide clean up project, and this expense is in addition to paying county Sheriff's deputies to supervise inmates helping with the pickups,” continued Mayor Linville.
“I don't think we should expect Ms. Richardson to take this expense out of her budget (at the county's solid waste transfer station), so there is a lot more planning to be done to do this,” said the mayor.
Commissioners Scott Gammons and Jerry Ray each suggested the mayor check with Smith and Clay counties to see if they would be willing to open their landfills for an hour or two late on successive Saturday afternoons to receive transfers from Macon County Highway Department tandem trucks.
Most of the commissioners remained in favor of conducting a county wide clean up; however, several saw obstacles to the project that advanced planning would be required to prepare for.
Commissioner Phillip Snow suggested that the clean up be done every year to allow for consistent planning and organization of such a beneficial project, and Sheriff Mark Gammons stated he was “still for it, because a clean up would help to make the whole county look a whole lot better.”
A COUNTY SURPLUS SALE netted the county $8,564 after advertising and auction fees were deducted, Mayor Linville reported. The Road Supervisor was not present at the meeting, but Linville said he had been informed that the road had been widened along Bottom Road between Driver Road and Claude Fox Road, and the county was ready to advertise for bids for a guardrail at the site of a fatal four-wheeler accident last December.
The Mayor also noted that the site for a Macon County Welcome Center had been changed, with land on Old Hwy. 52 (Brattontown Circle) near the Airport having been donated to the county for the project. Some $450,000 in state funding has been secured for the Welcome Center, with the city of Lafayette and the county required to put up 20 percent in matching funds. The new facility will also house offices for the Macon County Chamber of Commerce.
Linville also reported that the county was also “still waiting for (state) auditors to turn loose” of $64,000 in grant money that was left over from the Nestles Waters plant infrastructure funding. Nestles has given the county's senior citizens center fund this money to use toward constructing or buying an independent facility for the seniors use.
Mayor Linville said he was “not holding this us, and wanted to see it (become a reality) as much as anyone else.”
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