Signal Mountain School Panel Nailing Down Budget; Memphis Area Visit Planned

  • Friday, June 23, 2017
  • Gail Perry

An update from the school system viability committee (SVC) was presented to the Signal Mountain Town Council at a work session meeting Friday afternoon by John Friedl, chairman of the committee. The group is in the fifth month of their mission to gather information to determine if creating a school district separate from Hamilton County is viable and how to do it. Dr. Friedl said over 100 questions have been received from the website and the committee has answered the ones that it could, but others cannot be answered because they go beyond the scope of what the committee has been charged to do.

 

The group of eight has spent hundreds of hours examining a proposed budget, buildings, demographics and legal questions, he said. The budget for the first year and year five and 10 is almost completed, and the numbers and sources of the information used have been verified, he told the council. He praised committee member Amy Wakim for an outstanding job in creating the budget. She determined that with BEP funding, the district would receive around $8 million from the state of Tennessee. This budget was sent to Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen who reviewed it and passed it to the director of finance who found the budget was only off $500,000. Also reviewed were the other sources of revenue, and it was found that the $20 million budget was only a few thousand dollars off.

 

This gave the group confidence that a good first-year budget has been developed, said Dr. Friedl. It will be compared to budgets of other school systems of similar size during a visit to independent school districts in the Memphis area during a trip there next week. The budget is expected to be made available in around two weeks.

 

Items left to evaluate are buildings, maintenance costs, deferred maintenance, demographics of the Signal Mountain community and what the future make up of students will be in 10 years.

 

When finished, the report will be put online for comments and then the replies will be compiled and posted. The report is expected to be completed sometime in the early fall.

 

The question that has created the most concern and anxiety in the community, especially in Walden and unincorporated Hamilton County, is if students living outside city limits will be excluded from the new school district. There were questions about what might happen in years to come and how a future council may handle increased costs if students living in the Town of Signal Mountain fill the schools to capacity. The fear is that they would not vote to increase taxes to support students outside of city limits. Town Attorney Phil Noblett has been involved in discussions about options to prevent that scenario.

 

Based on comments from one committee member who has requested an audit of the proposed budget, Council member Dan Landrum pressed other council members to pay for an audit of the document, despite the estimated cost of $50,000. He had also been assured that the numbers in the proposed budget have already been verified as accurate by the Tennessee Department of Education’s finance director who ultimately would be the one to approve it. Mayor Chris Howley repeatedly suggested to Mr. Landrum to let the committee finish their work and get the facts on the table, at which time discussions can take place.

 

Dr. Friedl told Councilman Landrum that the person on the committee who asked for the audit has been an obstructionist since the beginning and has requested multiple consultants, which has caused the dynamics in the meetings to be uncomfortable and interaction difficult. "I’m sorry he is not here to defend himself," added Dr. Friedl.

 

Councilman Landrum has also been answering questions from community members concerning the SVC study. "You are a conduit to the community," said Vice Mayor Dick Gee to Mr. Landrum, "but in this case you have become a 'back door,' in a sense, by setting yourself up as an information source. In this case, we have an organization. People view you as a way to subvert that. Mr. Landrum was told that the questions should come through Amy Speek, who is the liaison between the council and the SVC.

 

City Manager Boyd Veal informed the council about the MACC renovation project, which he said was moving forward with drawings and that bids would go out soon. There will be requests for bids on two plans so the town can compare the options and to decide which is the most cost effective. One would convert a workroom into a ladies room, and the other would use a room above the stairs for the restroom. This option would require the addition of an ADA lift and some work to a firewall would be more extensive, he said. He reminded the council that the rear areas that remain un-sprinkled cannot be used but there are no plans to tear it down. Civil plans have also been completed for drainage, he said.

 

Councilman Landrum made the suggestion of creating a public/private partnership to run the MACC. It would be converted into a non-profit organization 501(c)(3) and interested groups could raise money for specific items. He suggested that could fund installing sprinklers in the back of the building that the city is unable to do. The council was supportive of the idea and more discussion about it will take place at the next council meeting.

 

The future of the town’s water system was also a topic of discussion at the work session. RFPs are being prepared to either sell the system or contract out the management of it to Tennessee American Water or to Walden Utilities. A third option would be for the town to keep and maintain it.

 

Councilman Landrum questioned if the matter even needed to go out to bid and asked to give weight to Walden Utilities because it is local. Mr. Veal said the town’s capabilities to modernize operations was being evaluated to determine if a maintenance contract could do it better. He had been contacted by Tennessee American Water about their interest in owning the system, and was later joined by Walden Ridge’s Utility District. The bid process will give the town a way to determine the best value, he told Mr. Landrum. Mayor Howley said he wanted to see the options and that competition is good. “I don’t see a downside to RFPs,” said the vice mayor. By law, the town is not allowed to give preference to local vendors or suppliers, said Carol Thompson-White, finance director.

 

A request from a citizen of the town to ban on-street parking was considered at the meeting. City Manager Veal said it is a valid concern, however it is not feasible. There is only one street in the town where it would be possible to not cross a yellow line while passing a parked car, he said. The town will make sure the officers know the existing rules and that there will be more stringent enforcement of them. An officer will also be allowed to make a judgment to determine if a parked vehicle is creating a hazard.

 

The next regularly scheduled town council meeting will be July 10. 

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