The Lewis County Commissioners met in a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday night, March 21, 2022. Commissioner T.J. Hinson was absent for the Commission meeting.

Authorizing Purchase of Track Loader for Transfer Station

The first item on the agenda was a resolution authorizing the County to use the Local Government Recovery and Rebuilding Direct Appropriation State Grant funds to purchase a much needed track loader for the Transfer Station.

The 2012 963D Cat Track Loader cost the County $101,500 in grant funds which is $23,000 under the County’s budget for purchasing a new loader. The loader will be used to move dirt, pushing construction/demolition waste.

Commissioners Patrick Halfacre and Wendell Kelley sponsored the resolution. All commissioners voted in favor of the purchase except Commissioner Ronnie Brewer. The resolution passed.

Authorizing the Purchase of Three Utility Trailers for Cardboard Recycling Program

A resolution came before the Commission seeking to authorize the purchase of three utility trailers for the Transfer Station to pick up businesses’ cardboard in order to improve the timing and efficiency of the cardboard recycling route which currently has over 80 participants.

The trailers altogether would cost the County $6,900 for all three 77’ by 16’ trailers. If purchased, the resolution would also authorize the purchase of steel panels around the parameters of the trailers which would be done by TCAT Hohenwald. The cost for that was not listed in the resolution. Both costs would come from the Local Government Recovery and Rebuilding Direct Appropriation State Grant.

The resolution was sponsored by Commissioners Larry Hensley and Halfacre, and the resolution was put up for discussion.

Commissioner Doug Jobbitt started the discussion by asking why the resolution did not come before the Solid Waste Committee. He also stated that he had inquired about a single pull out trailer with roll off boxes that would unload itself with a lot less manpower and would be less time consuming.

County Mayor Jonah Keltner said that the Solid Waste Department had been having issues keeping up with the amount of cardboard coming into the landfill to be bailed.

“That’s why I brought up the single trailer where you could buy up to ten, 13 yard roll off boxes that you could unload, pick up a new box and go back out without getting backed up,” said Jobbitt, “I’m not saying we don’t need the trailers, I wish I knew about them ahead of time because... I found out about [needing trailers] after the agenda packet was put together. I’m just saying I hear more about what’s going on at the dump through [Commission meetings] than I do at Solid Waste Committee meetings.”

Commissioner Halfacre and the County Mayor informed the commission that there was an incident at the Transfer Station that gave them the idea to purchase the trailers. The incident occurred after this month’s committee meetings.

Commissioner Allison Tanner motioned to table the resolution until Commissioner Jobbitt could get a quote on the trailer he had informed the Commission of due to its efficiency. Commissioner Timmie Hinson seconded the motion, and the resolution was tabled in a unanimous vote.

Commission Discusses the Cost of Recycling Glass

Mayor Keltner informed the Commission that this item was added for discussion after being asked to look into recycling glass.

He announced that his correspondence with Ed Brown of Strategic Materials, Inc. indicated that it would cost the County an estimated $46 per ton to haul the glass, and would need extra labor to get the job done.

Commissioner Kelley was the first to start the discussion. “I don’t think we’ll be able to break even after the cost of hauling and labor,” said Commissioner Kelley. The other commissioners agreed and Mayor Keltner told them that if they wanted to reject the proposal, then he could use that as a negotiating point to hopefully get a better deal.

Commissioner Ronnie Brewer motioned to reject the proposal, and Commissioner Larry Pigg seconded. The proposal was rejected in a unanimous roll call vote.

County Partners with City to Improve Sewer System

City Mayor Danny McKnight came before the County’s Budget Committee to ask for their partnership to improve the City of Hohenwald’s Sewer System which is experiencing “severe infiltration and inflow in the municipal sewer system.”

The partnership would be built off of submitting a Community Development Block Grant application for the project. The project would seek to improve “sewer lines, service connections and manholes to reduce extraneous flow into the sewer system in the Piney Creek Basin area,” according to the resolution.

The resolution also stated the total cost of the project would be $765,485 and the required local contribution of $135,485 will be provided by the City of Hohenwald with no cost to the County.

Mayor Keltner noted that the grant could not be used for water projects. “As soon as we heard about the grant, we inquired about fixing the water lines to Indian Creek but this CDBG grant could not be used for that project,” said Mayor Keltner.

Commissioners Timmie Hinson and Brian Peery sponsored the resolution, and the resolution was passed in a unanimous roll call vote.

Purchasing New Fuel Pump for Paul Bridges Airport

A resolution came before the Commission requesting to purchase a new fuel pump for the airport due to the current pump being 40 years old. It has outdated technology and has frequent maintenance problems including being out of service for almost two weeks.

The resolution stated that the purchase and labor for the project “as well as other maintenance needs regarding our fuel system” would be funded by the Local Government Recovery and Rebuilding Direct Appropriation State Grant and would not exceed $12,000.

Airport Manager Gary Nash approached the podium to answer the Commissioners’ questions. Commissioner Jobbitt asked how funding the airport worked and if it made money. Nash said the airport makes money off of fuel sales and leasing hangars.

The labor quote was an estimated $2,000 and the pump and equipment quote was an estimated $5,778. The rest of the money would be used to level out the ground where piles of dirt had been left from the airport’s remodel.

“The pump is over 40 years old and it doesn’t have a retractable hose. So the hose is getting drug across the ground. It also needs a better filtration system because the one that’s out there is old,” said Nash, “Part of the money is to sump the tank because it hasn’t been sumped in a long time, and to update the fuel clock. And right at this time, there are 20 gallons of water in that fuel tank that has to be addressed.” Nash also added that he had made many updates himself to the airport.

Commissioner Tanner asked Nash how often the airport is used. “Well because it was under construction and was shut down for a while, it hadn’t been used much at all,” said Nash, “Now the word is starting to get out that we have a new runway, we have a nice lounge area. I actually made a nice snack bar for visitors where they can come and get drinks. A family of four just flew in from Florida last weekend and they were just tickled to death... So little by little the word is getting back out that we’re open again. Now because we have no fuel, and I have to put it on a website that shows we don’t have fuel, they aren’t going to land.”

The County Commission report will continue in next week’s edition of the Lewis County Herald.