Signal Mountain’s fiscal year 2020-2021 budget was approved on first reading at the commission meeting Monday, June 8. The property tax rate will remain unchanged at $1.8866 for every $100 of assessed value. The budget was described as conservative with an absence of capital projects. It does include a 1.5 percent cost of living raise for employees, a change to two observed paid holidays by adding MLK Day and Veterans Day.
This budget is operationally consistent with the 2020 budget, said City Manager Boyd Veal.
The council members voted to add a 7.5 percent raise for the city manager and to provide funds for a new email system. An amendment was also approved for the 2020 budget to provide for additional revenues and expenditures that occurred during the year. A public hearing and final vote for the budget will take place at the next council meeting on June 22.
Extensive discussion was devoted to utilization of the town’s recreational facilities prior to deciding how use will be phased in while following guidelines established by Hamilton County, the state of Tennessee and the Centers for Disease Control. A motion passed on a vote of three for and one against for limited use of the municipal swimming pool. Use of the pool will be restricted to residents of the town ages 16 and up for lane swimming only.
Reservations will be required and an employee will have a dedicated cell phone to schedule times. There will be one four-hour block of time in the mornings and one block in the evenings when people will be allowed to swim. With eight lanes in the pool, 64 people will be able to swim each day. Director of Parks and Recreation Jarred Thompson or another regular staff member will serve as a pool manager who will have the authority to supervise and ensure rules the council has established are followed. Mr. Veal said it would be about a week before lifeguards could be hired for opening the pool.
With the limited use, there will be no pool passes or fees this year. Town Manager Veal was directed to talk to authorities with the local swim team “Green Giants” to get ideas for how team members could safely use the pool for practice, although there will be no competitions this summer.
Only Council Member Bill Lusk disagreed with allowing the pool to open, even in a limited way, since he said cases of COVID-19 in Hamilton County are continuing to rise. He said despite rules put in place by the town to reopen parking at Rainbow Lake that managing it has become a problem, and he said he feared pool issues would be worse.
Two residents who live in Olde Town spoke to the council complaining about too many cars in their neighborhood, most of which appear to belong to non-residents. Despite signs for designated parking, drivers have been parking on James Boulevard in front of their homes and lewd behaviors have been observed. The situation has gotten out of hand, said one speaker, who asked for No Parking signs to be put along the road. The issue will be discussed at the next council meeting.
The council also voted to allow the rec fields to be used for non-contact recreational baseball leagues. Each league will have to execute an agreement with the town which designates all the responsibilities that the leagues must agree to, including Governor Lee’s guidelines. Included in the requirements is that parents do a COVID-19 health check before entering, staggering the games, two per night spaced 30 minutes apart. There will be no more than 50 people allowed in any area such as on bleachers, the field and parking lot and there will be no use of the dugouts. Nearby playgrounds cannot be used. There also will be no concessions and bathrooms must be cleaned every 30 minutes. Two board members will be present each night and will function as monitors. If there is a case of the virus, both teams will be asked to quarantine themselves for two weeks.
Mark Wyatt, director of the rec leagues, said 80 percent of parents surveyed are in favor of the organized play. The responsibility for carrying out the rules will fall on the parents. Mr. Thompson said that a lot of things do not happen the way volunteers think they will, then the work falls on his department, such as cleaning the restrooms and removing garbage. That problem will be mitigated at the front end, said the city manager, because the rec league directors will be told that the city will not do it. If conditions of the agreement are not upheld, it would lead to further council discussions, said Mr. Veal. Regardless, there will be a review in two weeks to see how both the ball fields and pool opening are working.
The theater at the Mountain Arts Community Center (MACC) will be used to tape performances of Nightfall concerts through June, which cannot be held in person this summer in downtown Chattanooga. There can be no audience during the sessions; only performers and staff will be allowed. The Amphitheater is large enough to space out seating and will be used for a monologue type play that will benefit the Playhouse, it was stated. There will be four performances in September.
The council agreed to move forward with a new agreement between the town and the MACC. The agreement lays out the provisions for the Signal Mountain Elementary Preservation Fund (SMEPF) to operate the MACC for one year, effective July 1. They will be responsible for operations and functioning as the MACC has done historically and following guidelines pertaining to COVID-19. This will be a lease agreement for $1 for the term of one year. The documents lay out the responsibilities of the SMEPF and what the town will provide, and makes it clear that events there are not a town function. Agreements that are entered into by the SMEPF cannot extend beyond the term of this agreement so the town can resume management if desired. A vote on this will take place after the planning commission reviews the proposal.
Four resolutions passed on Monday night for infrastructure projects. A culvert under Jane Cove will be replaced along with a water line at that location for $37,853. Repairs and reconstruction of Bugle Call Way was approved in the amount of $32,500. A contract was approved for $53,500 to make paving repairs and the reconstruction of Fern Trail. The lone bid to replace the roof on the city hall building was accepted in the amount of $23,750.