Commissioner Roy Smith started Monday’s meeting of the Bradley County Commission with an announcement of his retirement from his post as a commissioner, effective Dec. 31. He will be replaced by his wife, Willodyne Smith.

“I’d like to thank all the people who supported me over the years,” Commissioner Smith said.

Following this announcement, a number of commissioners thanked Commissioner Smith for his hard work, and Commissioner Mel Griffith recommended that Commissioner Smith’s wife be nominated to take his soon-to-be-emptied chair, a motion that was accepted unanimously by the commission.

The Commission then went on to approve the consent agenda 11-3 (Commissioners Griffith, Jim Smith and Howard Thompson voted against), which included budget amendments from the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office and the drug fund, as well as committee appointments to the county’s fire board and audit committee.

Commissioners had a few questions about the first new business item, which was approval of the City of Cleveland’s twenty-year growth plan. Commissioner Thompson stated that Cleveland should not have a twenty-year plan, as it was too large a plan. Rather, he suggested the city go with a five-year plan. Countering Thompson’s thoughts, Commissioner Griffith stated that the twenty-year plan the commission was being asked to approve was actually the county’s counter proposal to the city’s original plan. As such, much less land is included for potential annexation over the next 20 years, and much of it is owned by individuals already interested in selling.

Eventually, the twenty-year growth plan was approved by the commission 12-2, with Commissioners Roy Smith and Thompson voting against it.

Commissioners then approved a resolution to create an investment committee to handle management of funds from the sale of Bradley Memorial Hospital, authorized Bradley County Mayor Gary Davis to sign contracts for lighting at Bradley Industrial baseball field and Charleston football field, amended a resolution to allow Bradley County employees with 30 years of cumulative service to receive medical retirement benefits and passed a resolution 8-6 authorizing the finance committee to hire an independent expert to review Bradley County’s outstanding debt.

During the meeting, there was also a presentation from a representative from Cleveland Utilities, who is working with the City of Cleveland and Bradley County to provide sewer services to the county’s new elementary school on Minnis Road. According to the Cleveland Utilities representative, bids were submitted for installing sewer lines to the school and were greatly under budget. The representatives also expected to be completed well within the original timeframe, finishing by early June 2010.

daniel@danielkbrantley.com