Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

The Lewis County Board of Commissioners met on Monday, May 16, 2022, at the courthouse to discuss approval of loans for the new high school, giving a one-time bonus to county employees who were left out of the previous bonuses and increasing the weekly allowance of pit material at the dump. All commissioners were present except for Aren Ragsdale.

During the alloted time for public input, Angela Leigh spoke to give the commissioners and audience an idea of why they should support and approve of the loans for a new high school.

“Prior to working as the Administrative Assistant for the Lewis County Schools, I served as a board member for the schools in the 4th district for seven and a half years. With that being said, I have worked very closely with the budgets for the Lewis County schools,” said Leigh. “As most of you know, it has been in the works for almost twenty years to build a new high school. So much work and time has been spent by those directly involved in this process. YES, we need this school. For almost two years now, people have had the opportunity to attend the board meetings or come into Mr Pace’s office to discuss this matter.”

She discussed that there would be a $725,000 per year payment, and how current Director of School Benny Pace had proven it was possible by saving $12 million for the building project by having it budgeted year after year. She also disclosed that $836,835.75 had already been paid to architects, $47,653 had been spent on Fire Marshal inspections and $40,234.49 to Civic Site Designs for site planning/engineering.

Leigh also noted why the new school was needed by way of safety for the children, saying that the new high school would allow middle school students to get out of the rock building which is the school system’s most vulnerable building when it comes to safety. She also added that it is the hardest to heat and cool as it was built in 1927.

Four resolutions came before the commission asking for the commission’s approval on USDA loans that would start the building process.

The first resolution sought approval for a $9,000,000 USDA loan, the second was for $8,000,000, the third was for $6,765,000 and the fourth was to give approval to sign contracts such as the “Equal Opportunity Agreement” and the “Assurance Agreement.” The three loans totaled $23,765,000 to begin the building process. The loans have an interest rate of 2.125 percent and payments will be spread across forty years. The annual debt service payment would be approximately $863,000.

Allen Trull, who assisted Mr. Pace in overseeing the project, was the school system’s spokesperson during the meeting. “We qualify for $23,765,000 in loans but we only need $19,000,000 to fully fund the school,” he said.

Trull also stated that there had been talk of holding off on the building process until a new director was officially chosen. He believed waiting would be a mistake.

“Right now, Hewlett/Spencer guaranteed a maximum cost of $29,387,544 for this project. With building materials going up the way they are, it would be nearly impossible to have a guaranteed maximum if we stopped now and started again later,” said Trull.

The report also stated that there will be two budgets during the time of construction that will include $725,000 for payments that will not have to be made giving cushion for anything unforeseen.

All four resolutions passed in a unanimous roll call vote, giving the school system approval to enter into necessary loan paperwork.

County Employees receiving a bonus

Three resolutions came before the Commission to give select county offices and departments a bonus. One resolution was for firefighters and dispatch workers, the second was for employees of the Health Department and the third was for the UT Agriculture Extension Office.

Lewis County Mayor Jonah Keltner announced to the commissioners before each of the resolutions that the offices and employees mentioned in the bonus resolutions were left out of last year’s bonuses, and believed they should not have been.

Each bonus was funded by the remainder of the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, grant.

The fire department would receive a one-time payment of $500 for 28 individuals at a total cost of $14,000. The dispatchers would also receive a one-time payment of $500 for 6 individuals at a total cost of $3,000.

The Lewis County Health Department full-time employees would receive a one-time payment of $1,000 for 6 individuals, and a one-time payment of $500 for 4 part-time employees for a total cost of $8,000.

The Lewis County Ag Extension Office would receive a one-time payment of $1,000 for four individuals for a total cost of $4,000.

Each of these resolutions passed in a unanimous roll call vote with little to no conflict.

Increasing pit material allowance at the Transfer Station

After the closure of Decatur County’s landfill, the Lewis County’s solid waste budget began to dwindle until reaching a negative fund balance. In an effort to gain back funds, Lewis County implemented a recycling program and installed scales along with a scales fee policy.

The policy stated that those who utilize the transfer station would have a 250 pounds weekly allowance of pit material before having to pay a fee.

Thankfully, the County Mayor, County Commission and Solid Waste employees have worked together to implement 30 steps to reduce spending and generate revenue which has now resulted in a stable Solid Waste Fund balance.

As a result of that, a resolution came before the Commission requesting to increase the allowance of pit material from 250 pounds per week to 250 pounds per day.

Previous Solid Waste Director Bradley Loveless, who now volunteers as an advisor for the Solid Waste Committee and will be running for District Seven Commissioner uncontested, said the new policy would not cost the county an exorbitant amount of revenue when asked by Commissioner Robert Brewer.

“One day in April, the scales only made $75. Then a man tore down a house and it was about $300 on Monday,” said Loveless. “I’m still aiming to have $150-200 per day [because that will be self-sustaining.]”

The resolution was put to a vote where it passed unanimously.

More topics will be covered in next week’s issue.