Town Manager Elaine Brunelle’s “indelible presence pulled the town of Signal Mountain through a significant transition, and to see what she accomplished is remarkable,” said Council member Susannah Murdock. The accolades for the town manager came after her resignation was announced at the Monday night council meeting after working for the town for about a year and a half.
Mayor Charles Poss thanked her for all she has done for the town and said he was reluctantly accepting her resignation, which he said is due to personal reasons to spend more time with her family. He said he appreciated the time she was with the town and that she will be leaving Signal Mountain in a great position. Vice Mayor Elizabeth Baker said the amount that she has accomplished in such a short time is phenomenal, and her leadership ability is amazing. Ms. Brunelle replied it had been an honor and privilege to serve the town and community and that she is leaving with a heavy heart.
What comes next will be a repeat of the process that the town council used a couple of years ago. There will first be both an internal and external search for an interim town manager with people who are interested, sending a letter of interest to Town Attorney Harry Cash between now and Dec. 7. Honna Rogers with the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) will be asked to lead the search and to come to the Dec. 11 council meeting at which time the council also hopes to make a decision on an interim. The job description for the position was recently updated and will be used in advertising for the job. It will be listed before Christmas. Ms. Brunelle’s last day will be Dec. 27 so she will be at just one more meeting since the second meeting in December falls on Christmas night and has been cancelled.
The town is also in the process of looking for a new public works director. Ms. Brunelle has interviews with three candidates scheduled for Wednesday. Red Bank’s Public Works Director Greg Tate will be included on the panel for the interviews. And it is back to the drawing board to find a building inspector. City Manager Brunelle said the individual who had been hired previously did not work out, and so round two will begin.
Several topics discussed at the council work session included memos of understanding that the council is in the process of establishing with various groups that use town facilities. The first to be completed is with the basketball leagues on the mountain and it will be adapted to the other sports. One unknown at this time is if Signal Mountain’s insurer requires a town staff member to be present when the city-owned properties are in use. If not, a lockbox could be installed at the gym and the players and coaches given a key code. Each sports league will need to collect fees, some of which will go to the city to help cover costs it incurs to run and maintain the facility that is being used, such as for the cost of insurance. It is expected that the fees will be different for each sport according to which sport causes the most wear and tear, for example, on the gym floor. The town wants to be paid, but wishes to leave each league alone to run it the way they want.
Some of the leagues are already collecting the fee, but are not paying the town because they just do not know they are supposed to. And some groups that play are not actually established clubs, such as for pickleball, but are merely groups that gather to play a pick-up game. Mayor Poss said if the group or league has space, they should let non-residents play who are willing to pay a fee.
There is a question of how to collect fees from those groups. As of now, they are actually using the facilities for free. A suggestion was for the fees to be due at the end of the agreement and, if the town is not paid, then the group would lose the privilege of using town properties the following year. A MOU is the same as an enforceable contract, said the mayor. Each council member will talk individually with a different league about the MOUs.
The city is also trying to determine the actual costs of picking up and disposing of leaves and brush, while gathering the information for setting a sanitation fee. The council approved the purchase of a “burn box” for around $135.000 two years ago for disposing of this debris. The council was told that public works has had trouble getting permits to use it because it takes a large cleared property to operate it. Therefore, it has never been used. Mayor Poss asked for the name of agencies that do the permitting. This will be on the next meeting’s agenda.
The town’s records management policy was also discussed. Currently there is a retention policy for public records, but not for disposal of records. A resolution will need to be passed at a future meeting to establish the best practice for disposing of records.
A Christmas tree lighting will take place Thursday night jointly with Walden and Signal Mountain. It will be at McCoy farms at 6 p.m. and there will be cocoa and Christmas music.