Billy Cannon has stepped down from the Red Bank Planning Commission after some Red Bank Commission members had issues with him attending a meeting with planning officials along with Mayor Hollie Berry.
Commissioner Ruth Jeno said she "was disturbed" after seeing a video of the meeting and said she believes it may have led to Red Bank getting turned down on a $1,350,000 state grant that would have funded a sidewalk from Signal Mountain Road to the Stringer's Ridge Tunnel as well as a traffic light at Ashmore Avenue.
She said Commissioner Ed LeCompte, who had appointed Mr. Cannon, was ready to remove him. No action was taken after Commissioner LeCompte announced the Cannon resignation.
Mayor Berry denied that their participation in the Transportation Planning Organization session on May 28 had anything to do with Red Bank not getting the grant.
She had Rachael Bergmann of the Tennessee Department of Transportation Region 2 office at the meeting. Ms. Bergmann said the primary reason the Red Bank grant did not get approved was because it involved a pedestrian walkway over a railroad right of way, and railroads often tie up such matters for years. She said the state did not want to wait that long.
Ms. Bergmann also said it is a very competitive grant program.
Red Bank officials are looking to reapply, though it was advised that the same railroad issue may again rule against them.
Vice Mayor Stefanie Dalton demanded to know where Commissioners LeCompte, Jeno and Pete Phillips had gotten the videos. The commissioners said it was emailed to them, though they declined to answer further despite the prodding of Vice Mayor Dalton.
She said that citizens and others can file Open Records requests related to commissioner emails. She said she and citizens want transparency and want to know a full explanation of upcoming items on the agenda.
Commissioner Phillips said, "I'm getting a little bit incensed that (it is alleged) that we did something wrong over here." He called the video "very disturbing."
Mayor Berry said Mr. Cannon "has been a real asset to the city for the last seven years."
She asked city Planning Commission members to attend the session to answer questions about Mr. Cannon. Two who did spoke well of him and said his engineering background was valuable to the panel.
Mayor Berry said she was disappointed that two veteran Planning Commission members chose not to attend.
Vice Mayor Dalton and Commissioner Jeno, who sit beside each other, sparred verbally on the video issue. Commissioner Jeno said, "You like to talk, but you don't like to listen." She added, "I don't sit and ask you questions about your email. I don't appreciate you questioning me."
A projector was set up to show the video of the Zoom meeting, but it was never shown.
Vice Mayor Dalton also said a look back at a 2003 Red Bank study had a number of ideas that have not been acted on. She said she brought up many of the issues during her campaign.
Commissioner Jeno, who was part of the early study, said, "You can sit here all day long and say nothing's happened, but Dayton Boulevard then was almost a Rossville Boulevard." She said a section of Ashmore Avenue that now has fine homes was in a deplorable rundown condition.
Commissioner Phillips said, "We've got a lot of stuff done. Back then, we had no street lights. I see the city moving really forward." He said he was offering some of his Dayton Boulevard property "and it gets shown three times a week. This place is hotter than fish grease."
There was a motion to table the Cannon issue, but it required four votes and the mayor and vice mayor did not go along.
Commissioner Phillips said, "You're keeping these people (audience) from home and me from my supper."
Vice Mayor Dalton said the city for a long time has been acting illegally in not sending certain matters before the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Phillips said that may be so, but he said the Planning Commission is advisory and it is up to the elected commissioners to make the hard decisions.
Meanwhile, the planned July 13 "civility training" for the commissioners has been pushed back. Commissioner Jeno said she will be gone then, but it was fine with her for the other four to go ahead with the session.
She said, "I'm 71 years old. I know how to act."
However, it was decided to delay the civility training until all can be there.