At the May meeting, the Signal Mountain Town Council was given an update on how the town is operating during the coronavirus pandemic.
The way business is being carried on has adapted while the city hall building remains closed and the full staff of employees work remotely from home. Building permits are being issued online and water is being turned on and off either online or by phone.
Town Manager Boyd Veal said that the revamped recycling center and transfer station operations, which both have been reconfigured for social distancing, are working well. Now hours will be expanded for both facilities on Monday through Friday. The recycling center will be open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. which should spread out the volume and reduce wait times. The transfer station will be open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. People should go to both facilities on the same day as their garbage pickup. Both areas are restricted to use by residents with no contractors allowed. Next month, he said, bulk pick-up will be resumed. Brush removal is now being done as well as right-of-way mowing. Both the MACC and Library remained closed.
Use of the recreation facilities during the pandemic was one of the main topics discussed at the meeting. There have been no problems at the ball fields where people have observed the rules limiting use to small groups and families. The tennis courts have been opened but the gym remains closed.
The biggest concern for residents and the council is use of trails with people working from home and wanting to spend time outside. Green Gorge is now open and well used, but the Rainbow Lake trail is still closed after crowds there did not allow for social distancing when the shelter in place order began. Now the council is getting requests from residents to open it back up. How to do that and at the same time limit the number of people was debated. Suggestions of limiting parking with signs and barricades, or no parking at all, so that only near-by residents could walk to the trail, were discussed. Allowing only people who live in the town limits of Signal Mountain presented the problem of also preventing residents of Walden to use the trail. It was decided to leave the parking lot closed at the trailhead on Ohio Avenue and post a sign to inform people they could access Rainbow Lake trail via the Cumberland Trail at entrances in Prentice Cooper State Forest from Timberlinks Drive or Shackleford Ridge Road.
The city manager’s main worry now is the community swimming pool and how to have it open yet enforce social distancing. He said on a slow day there are 100-plus people that use the pool with children playing. Guidance from the state of Tennessee and from the Hamilton County Health Department have not yet been received. If recommendations are to open the pool, how to achieve the health guidelines and limit groups to 10 or fewer people to control virus transmission will be an issue. In addition to the public safety aspect, there is also an economic aspect which could mean a large monetary loss for running the pool that would be exacerbated by operating it in a limited capacity. The topic will be revisited at a future council meeting.
Maintenance and improvement of the water system is being planned with the purchase of 3,500 new water meters. Two type of meters are available - AMR which automatically records data and is read with a unit mounted inside a car, and AMI, a newer but more expensive technology that uses towers and collecting units placed around town to collect data that would be transmitted to town hall. The meters themselves are the same, having the same capabilities, storage and life expectancy. The way the information is collected is the difference, plus AMI meters can provide up-to-date information such as alerting to water leaks. The labor necessary for meter readers would be an additional expense for the older technology.
Not counting installation, the initial cost estimate for the AMI meters themselves would be around $2 million and $600,000-$700,000 for the AMR style. The next step is to check references from utility companies which currently use these meters and to find the true installation costs of each system. There is also the possibility that Signal Mountain’s water company can join Walden Ridge Utility District or Hixson Utility District to increase purchasing power and reduce costs. Councilman Bill Lusk asked to see a comprehensive cost of everything that it will take for the meters to work with both systems before making any decision.
Resolutions were passed Monday night that gave the city manager authorization to purchase personal protective equipment for the fire department. This turn-out gear for firefighters will be bought through a purchasing cooperative at a cost not to exceed $16,608. Buying a new dump truck for the water department was also approved for $89,547. Both purchases were budgeted items. The council also authorized the application for a Tennessee Highway Safety Office grant for $15,000. The city applies for and has received this grant every year, said Mr. Veal. If received this year it would be used to buy four new radar units for police vehicles and would pay officers overtime to reduce speeding, aggressive driving, driving under the influence, and non-use of seat belts.
In his report, Mayor Dan Landrum said he has been cautioned that because of the pandemic that grants already approved may not be received. He said that he does not expect Signal Mountain to have as many economic difficulties as larger cities that rely on income from sales taxes. In a call with state representatives for this area, he was told that so far Tennessee will be receiving $3 billion in aid from the federal government to be distributed to municipalities. However, use of that money will not be discretionary. It will be tied to Covid-19.
The next meting of the town council will be a budget meeting on May 20, held with ZOOM, starting at 9 a.m.