Signal Mountain Mayor Chris Howley said Monday that County School Supt. Bryan Johnson at the last minute backed out on a deal to bring positive improvements to the Signal Mountain schools and end talk about a school pullout.
Reading from a prepared statement at the regular town council meeting, Mayor Howley expressed his surprise and disappointment in the outcome of a joint public meeting with Dr.
Johnson and officials with HCDE for what had been slated to be a “community conversation” about the issues brought up by the Signal Mountain School Viability Committee’s study.
During multiple meetings between the school superintendent and his staff, prior to that public meeting, the mayor, Dr. John Friedl, chairman of the SMSVC, and Town Manager Boyd Veal, were under the impression that the HDCE was finally “a willing participant to listen, engage and discuss issues,” said Mayor Howley. Another meeting was with the superintendent and the town’s school board representative Kathy Lennon for creating a plan for a resolution loaded with inexpensive improvements to educate the entire mountain community and ideas and improvements for other county schools, it was said.
One day before the public meeting, said the mayor, he received notice that it was not going to happen. This illustrates that “the petty politics, lack of leadership and lack of focus on kids remains the same at HCDE,” said Mayor Howley. Despite the discussions surrounding the study that have been ongoing during the past year, Kathy Lennon continues to claim that she does not know what the issues are, or what Signal Mountain wants, yet not once has she met with, discussed or listened to the citizens that had the initial concerns, said the mayor.
These things lead Mayor Howley to believe that unless there are drastic changes, that little will change and that the Signal Mountain community will not receive even the simplest improvements. To effect positive change within the education system, the HCDE board needs to work together with the communities, he said.
The council agreed to ask the SMSVC to postpone a special called meeting that was scheduled for Thursday morning. Instead, Dr. Friedl will be invited to come to the workshop meeting on Jan. 20, where the council will give the committee guidance about what to discuss at the next SMSVC meeting.
Town Attorney Phil Noblett reiterated the five questions that most council members want answers to before making a decision about the school system, but which Councilman Dan Landrum did not recall. These are how the entire community including Walden and people living in unincorporated Hamilton County on the mountain can vote on the issue along with residents of the town of Signal Mountain. How students could be part of the system and not just be allowed to attend the schools needs to be known. Verification of the number of students in the town is needed. The question of in-kind funding is still unknown. This could prevent tax increases since contributions other than money could be considered as part of what the town would be required to provide for a separate district. And the town is waiting to get the Tennessee attorney general’s opinion about the question of buildings and land.
In other business, the council was asked to include citizens’ opinions when reviewing the requests for proposals (RFP) concerning the Signal Mountain water system. The two companies that are expected to submit bids are Walden Utilities and Tennessee American Water. The proposals will consider the companies buying or merely maintaining the water system with the option that it may be in the town’s best interest to keep complete control over the system that it has owned and operated for 80 years. City Manager Veal agreed that the timeline for making a decision can be extended for the time needed to include the public’s comments.
Approval was also given to amend current regulations in order to allow daycare centers to be in the Highway Commercial District. This had been recommended by the planning commission prior to coming to the council.
A resolution was passed to recognize and honor Grey Wagner, who will have her 100th birthday on Jan. 25. Ms. Wagner has long been active and engaged in the town. Jan. 27 will be known as Grey Wagner Day in the Town of Signal Mountain.
The Timberlinks playground is being discussed again. Money has been set aside to replace an old playground. The location of the new playground may be different than the old one, so the exact location needs to be determined by the recreation board before getting bids to build it. The playground has been planned to be built in two stages.
Ethan Fell, who built a sidewalk leading to Nolan Elementary School for the safety of walkers, was named “Mayor for a Minute,” by Mayor Howley.