Pond convenience Site – Commissioner England

Commissioner England held a meeting with the people in his district. They appeared to be happy with the current location of the site and did not seem to be bothered by the increased fee the landowner is asking for. Mr. England also noted that this site is the third ranked site for usage based on the tons per month handled. He also noted that the problem encountered with this site could occur at other sites, as the majority of them do not have any official lease agreements and could be subject to the whim of the current landowners. He proposed a motion, after much discussion, to offer $200 per month for the current site and find a way to cut the trash budget so the net cost would be zero. The yes votes: Wetterau, Corlew, and England. The no votes: Sesler, Suggs, Smith, Larkins, Spencer, Gray, Reed, Tidwell, and Loggins. This motion failed. No alternate plan was offered at this time. As a side note, the estimated cost to move the site is stated as approximately $17,000 - $27,000.

Selling of Downtown County Building

Commissioner Gray made a motion to not sell the building at this time and leave it as is. Commissioner Wetterau wanted to amend this motion to add a provision to allow the sale of the building at a later date should the situation warrant it. His amendment did not get a second and was dropped. The original motion was voted on. The Yes votes: Wetterau, Smith, Larkins, Spencer, Gray, Reed, Tidwell, and Loggins. The no votes: Sesler and Suggs. Mr. Corlew passed and Mr. England abstained (he objected to the vote being called before the discussion was completed).

Discussion of BFD and Rescue Squad oversight – Commissioner Wetterau

Mr. Wetterau said he did some “homework” on this issue and decided that an oversight advisor was not needed. He apologized if his suggestion caused and problems and asked that the subject be dropped from any further discussions.

Presentation of Budget for 2005 – 06

The beginning budget was presented. This budget did NOT include the school portion. This budget also did not include and “new” additions. All of these things considered it still calls for a $0.67 increase in taxes to cover next year with $0.15 of that increase going just to pay debt service. The highway department did not ask for any increase in this budget. It is also noteworthy that the last audit stated that the highway department had a large fund balance at the end of the last audit period. The school budget is still under discussion but the preliminary figures are calling for an increase of approximately $700,000 for next year. The final budget is supposed to be approved by July 1. The first budget discussion will be at the next meeting. Subsequent meetings will be held separately from the regular commission meetings and will probably be weekly so as to not drag out the budget approval process.

Financial Report

The financial report was included in the 05 budget. The final version of the 05 budget (the one about to expire) was presented along with this year’s amendments. The amendments tell where the county currently is with its spending. The current situation shows that the county will have a deficit of $72,000 by June 30 (the end of this year’s budget period).

Other business

Jails – Commissioner Reed

Mr. Reed was appointed the new chairperson for the jail issue. He wanted some questions answered before he would call for the first meeting. Mr. Loggins reminded the commissioners that the point of the first meeting was to answer his questions. Mr. Reed asked, would the commission raise taxes to fix to the jail problem? Where will they put and new jail space? Will they fund any solutions provided? Sheriff wall suggested going back to the previous studies done for this very issue. Money was already spent but those studies were voted down at that time. Mrs. Gray suggested next Monday for the first meeting to discuss this issue. This discussion will be open to the public but would be separate from the regular commission meetings. Related to this issue the Mayor brought a resolution to the commission to support the findings of a study done by TCSA (go to www.tncounties.org for more information on this group). They are a lobbying group that the counties pay to get things changed at the state level. Their main intent is to protect the counties from state level legislation that costs them money (like “un-funded” mandates). They have done a study on the issues many Tennessee counties are facing regarding the issue of jail costs. The mayor asked for the commission’s support of their findings. This resolution was approved by all present.

The imagination library

The mayor proposed a resolution to approve the presence of the imagination library organization in Dickson. The approval is only to state that the county will grant them official support and try to find groups willing to provide financial backing. The county is NOT to provide any of the funding. This resolution was approved by all present.

Public hearing for zoning amendments regarding saw mills to be held May 16, 2005 7pm.

County employee’s insurance plan

A Mr. Smith gave an accounting of the current status on the health insurance plan for the county employees. Blue Cross (the current carrier) did not raise the rate on the base coverage. The Gap insurance company (US Able – owned by Blue Cross) did ask for an increase. Mr. Smith stated that this would amount to a total average cost increase of 2.5% - 3%. The county has a committee looking into getting new quotes for the insurance plan and is looking for bids by insurance providers. The problem they are having is that the insurance providers are asking for much more information than what had been provided in the past. Since the committee is not made up of elected officials they do not have direct access to all of the information being requested. This means they have to work through the mayor and this is causing some delays and miscommunication. As of now there are no new bids so this subject is a work in progress. This question will need to be answered before the final budget is approved, as the insurance plan is a significant portion of the county budget.

Commissioner England with proposal for making former inmates pay for their stay

Commissioner England has brought back the idea of charging people for their stay in the county jail. He believes that the county can recuperate a significant amount of money if they make people pay for their stay in jail. Commissioner Reed commented that he did not think it would work, as the judges are currently not even collecting fines from some of the people that are jailed. The sheriff said that the county did collect a significant amount of money last time this was tried. He thought it would be a good idea as long as it was executed properly (apparently it was not done properly with the last attempt).

Meeting adjourned