Signal Mountain Mayor James Althaus, left, presents awards to Stan Crewe, center, and Glenn Showalter for designing and building the town's new Christmas Train. Click on photo to enlarge.
photo by Irby Park
The Town of Signal Mountain received a glowing report from its auditing firm at its regular monthly Town Council meeting at which a revised non-resident fee schedule was adopted and the creators of the town’s colorful Christmas Train were honored.
Brian Wright, a partner in the certified public accountants firm of Johnson, Murphey and Wright, presenting the annual audit for the year ending June 30, 2003, told the council that the “town is in very good fiscal shape.”
He said the firm issued an “unqualified opinion” on the financial condition of the town with no shortcomings and added, “This is rare. This is the only clean … report I’ve issued this year.”
In approving the new non-resident fee schedule, the town raised the total charge for all services from $176 in 2003 to $219 for 2004. The only significant increase, however, was for use of the town’s transfer station, raised from $8 to $59.
Non-resident users may pay any of the fees for the nine services individually or for multiple services, but the total for all services will not exceed $219.
The council also approved prorating the fee for the Signal Mountain Library on a quarterly basis and reduced the Mountain Arts Community Center (MACC) fee from $32 to $21 with the provision that the fee could be waived provided the non-resident user pays the approved class fee.
The council honored Glenn Showalter and Stan Crewe who designed and built the Christmas Train in the town park near the traffic light. Mayor James Althaus presented the creators of the train an award “given in heartfelt gratitude” by the council. He said the council wanted to recognize the two who devoted many hours in “a labor of love” to benefit “children of all ages” in the town.
Vice Mayor William Leonard presented railroad caps to the honorees designating Mr. Crewe as the engineer and Mr. Showalter as the conductor.
A sign at the site of the train notes that it was designed by Mr. Crewe and built by Mr. Crewe and Mr. Showalter with donors to the project including Alexian Village of Tennessee, Alice Benz, Betty Fillauer, Pat and Kathleen Kelly, Linda Nelson and Mary Niedzwiecki and that it was transported to the site by Push Hard Lumber Co., Rudd Montgomery, owner.
Thrasher School Principal Jean Trohanis appeared before the council to seek help in it’s effort to build a gymnasium for the school, noting that the low bid was $93,000 over the $400,000 committed for the project. The council agreed for the town to install a fire hydrant and line at the school and waive the building permit cost which will save nearly $13,000 for the project.
Ms. Trohanis said the PTA and school supporters had raised $300,000 and arrangements were being made to borrow $100,000, but the low bid was $498,000. She said they had managed to shave some off of the project to reduce it to $493,000. The bid included $14,500 for the hydrant and line, but the town can install it for $5,345. The town will also waive the building permit fee.
Mayor Althaus said the mountain schools, Thrasher, Nolan Elementary and Signal Mountain Middle School, were outstanding and scholastically rank in the upper 2 percent of all schools in Tennessee.
The new fee schedule for the town for non-residents is based on the amount of taxes the some 8,000 residents pay for those services. The Town of Walden has about 2,000 residents and there are about 6,000 residents of the unincorporated areas.
The fees under the new schedule are swimming pool, $29, an $8 increase over the previous schedule; tennis courts, $3, unchanged; ballfields, $30, a $4 reduction; summer recreation camps, $3, unchanged; gym, $10, a $1 increase; Mountain Arts Community Center, $21, an $11 reduction with the provision that under certain conditions it can be waived; library, $49, unchanged, but with the provision that it will be prorated by quarters; recycle center, $15, a $2 reduction; and transfer station, $59, a $51 increase.
The library fee, if requested before March 31, will be the full amount; from April 1 to June 30, $36.50; from July 1 to Sept. 30, $24.50; and from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, $12.25.
In discussing the audit report, it was noted that town funds include $551,000 set aside for building a new high school. Mayor Althaus said when the town passed an increase in the sales tax it was designated for the high school, but if no high school is built it must still be used for the benefit of mountain schools.
The town also has $400,000 set aside to build a new fire hall in the Shackleford Ridge area at some future date. The mayor said it is anticipated that with the growth of that area near Nolan Elementary an additional fire hall will be needed and the town has been setting aside $50 annually for that project.
The council also approved the reappointment of Bobby Pickrell, owner of an antique store and former mortgage firm owner, to another three-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals, ending Dec. 31, 2006.
It was announced that the town awarded a contract for tree cutting to the low bidder, Chattanooga Tree Service, at $8,950. There were five bids with the high more than $20,000.
Signal Mountain's colorful Christmas Train greets visitors arriving on the mountain. Click on photo to enlarge.
photo by Irby Park