The Collinwood City Commission met in regular session on Monday, March 9th, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in the conference/courtroom of Collinwood City Hall.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Glenn Brown. Commissioners in attendance were Vice Mayor Danny Sandusky, Commissioner Jeremiah Stults, and Commissioner Butch Kephart. City Manager Gary Victory and City Recorder Cindy Kephart were in attendance as well. Commissioner Debie Pigg was absent.
Mayor Brown called the meeting to order, and the invocation was offered by Bro. Nelson Moffett. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
First was approval of the agenda. A motion was made by Commissioner Kephart and seconded by Commissioner Stults to approve the agenda as presented, and the motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held on February 10th, 2020. Vice Mayor Sandusky made a motion and Commissioner Stults seconded to approve the minutes, and they were unanimously approved.
Department reports were distributed to the commissioners for their review. Commissioner Kephart asked if the water tanks had been cleaned yet, and City Manager Victory said that a washout/cleanout had been done on the tank near the Dixie Youth park. He said that the other tank was set to be washed out and cleaned out around the first of April.
The first item of business on the agenda was the C-Wood Lumber industrial access road paving project. City Manager Victory said that a decision must be made by the commission as to whether to widen the intersection of Tennessee Street and Indian Creek Road. If the intersecting area were to be widened, it would substantially lengthen the time for the project to be finished, and gas & water lines would have to be moved. The commissioners verbally agreed that the intersection should not be widened, in the interest of saving both time and money on the project.
County water lines were next on the agenda. City Manager Victory stated that he recently received a phone call from county financial advisor Steve Bates expressing once again the county’s desire for the city to take over 20+ miles of water lines. No action was taken by the commission.
Next on the agenda was a discussion of city water meter set fees. City Manager Victory suggested that the city may want to consider increasing the connection fee for new customers from $500 to $600, since the cost of water meters has increased substantially since the connection fee was originally set. The commission agreed to revisit the issue in next month’s meeting.
Next, the commissioners unanimously agreed to draw up a letter of support to be sent to Tennessee and U.S. Senators and Representatives on behalf of the late Sgt. David Brown, a native of Clifton who was killed in action during the Vietnam War. Members of the Collinwood and Waynesboro American Legion posts have been working diligently to have the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously awarded to Sgt. Brown in honor of his extraordinary heroism and service to his country.
A camera system for the city was next on the agenda. City Manager Victory told the commission that he had recently spoken with Clayton Cross, Wayne County’s IT technician, about installing better cameras at the City Park, police department, utility department, and Depot Library. After a brief discussion, the commission agreed to hire Cross to install new, upgraded cameras.
Mayor Brown then presented the Wayne County Welcome Center report for February. There were 548 visitors recorded at the Welcome Center throughout the month, visiting from the United States, Australia, Japan, and Canada. Volunteers of the Month were Shawn and Jane Atchley.
Under “other” on the agenda, Mayor Brown asked about the status of the upcoming Music in the Park series. City Manager Victory said that musical acts were already committed for the months of April, May, June, and July.
With no other business to come before the commission, Vice Mayor Sandusky made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Kephart seconded the motion, and the meeting was adjourned.
