Soddy Daisy Considers Paying Mayor And Commissioners

In the early years of Soddy Daisy, the city had an all-volunteer fire department. The commissioners at that time, declined to accept any pay since the firefighters were not being paid. Things have changed in the city and now the staff of firefighters are all paid. The commissioners, however still are all volunteers. An ordinance is now under discussion that would pay the mayor $500 per month, and the commissioners would be paid $450.

City Attorney Sam Elliott told the commissioners that Tennessee state law prohibits them from giving themselves a raise and that decision would have to come from a vote of citizens of the city. It is expected that there will be three of the commissioners running for reelection this fall. Also on the ballot could be the choice for compensation of the board members. If passed, the three who are elected this year would be eligible to be paid beginning with the first meeting after the election, but the other two would not.

Another option was to put the measure on the ballot in 2026 when a new, full board of commissioners will be in place and they all could be compensated. The commissioners chose the second option which means they will continue serving in their current role without pay until it is decided with an election in 2026. This new ordinance is seen as benefit for future commissioners.

Other citizens of the city also have the spirit of volunteering for the betterment of Soddy Daisy. There are several organizations that have been established by individuals to fill needs for residents. Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful is one of them. The group coordinates a clean-up day five to six times each year, to pick up trash along the roadways and in parks. The next one scheduled will be a week-long event from April 19-25. That week, volunteers will be able to choose where they want to pick up trash and they will be able to do it whenever they want during that week. In the week-long clean-up held last year, 23 teams collected 350 bags of trash, said Nate Sandin, who along with his wife Cindi and volunteer Jim Stewart, founded the group. So far, this year 10 teams have registered, consisting of 175 people. At the end of the week there will be an awards ceremony with pizza and prizes.

On March 23 the group held a clean-up event specific to Dallas Hollow Road within the Soddy Daisy city limits, about 3.1 miles. With 18 volunteers participating, 66 bags of trash, 14 tires and four bulk items, such as mattresses and sofas, were collected. Dereck Kukura organized that event and he came to the commission meeting to thank the city for its help. The city provided a dumpster for disposal of the trash and police to monitor and control traffic for the safety of those working.

Mrs. Sandin said that on April 20 Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful will also hold a recycling event at Kids Park for bulky items and electronic waste. Trucks will be parked there from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. that day, that can hold up to 50 mattresses that people wish to dispose of. Electronics can also be recycled that day with the exception of large TVs and appliances.

Another example of citizens volunteering their time and resources to help the city is the Kelcurt Foundation founded by Curtis Cecil and Kelly Flemings. This organization helps citizens of the city and others who need it in the surrounding areas in many ways. They began with the creation of the Soddy Daisy Community Library that has become a community gathering place that not only provides library services free of charge, but among other things, it also holds events such as movie nights, festivals, trunk-or-treat nights for Halloween, free lunches for children during the summer and it helps connect people to resources that they need. The city helps by providing locations for the events and employees to help the foundation manage them.

The most recent venture is to provide fresh produce to people who might not otherwise have it, through the arm of the foundation, Kelcurt Farms. Last summer, hoop houses were built so produce could grow year-round. What is harvested is shared with the property owner where the greenhouse structure is located and the rest is given away. During this past winter, the Kelcurt Community Garden was built with help from the city, which is leasing the property to Kelcurt for a period of five-years at $1 annually. The city also graded and prepared the site and other organizations have paid for building beds and the general maintenance for the area. The KFC Foundation also is a major sponsor of building the garden and fencing it. Labor to do the work is coming from volunteers. There are 12 raised planting beds and three wheelchair accessible beds are still to be built. Mr. Cecil said that residents were given the opportunity to claim a bed on a first come first serve basis. In the first 12 hours, 11 were already taken. The foundation will provide seeds for anyone who needs them.

Another group organized by Jim Stewart, from Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful, celebrated Arbor Day for the third year by planting 20 new flowering trees in Veteran’s Park to compliment the 35 shade trees they planted there last year. Again, the city helped with the public works department and their equipment, digging the holes, moving the large heavy trees and placing them in the holes. Volunteers completed the plantings. Their efforts to beautify the city was recognized by Mayor Steve Everett on Thursday night as he thanked all the groups that volunteer for the city.

In regular city business, approval was given to add additional exterior building materials to the existing building codes. Public Works Director Steve Grant said that new, attractive building materials have become available since the original ordinance was written. This will provide builders with more options for outside walls. Any building materials will still need to be approved by the building inspector, said Mr. Grant.

In response to some complaints that certain streets need to be restriped, the commissioners approved spending up to $50,000 for that work. Restriping will be done on 10 of the city’s streets.

City Manager Burt Johnson is having a market study done for the city. He said Soddy Daisy would like to have a hotel and this study will help determine if a hotel can be supported. The study will also provide specific recommendations pertaining to a hotel. He said the report should be finished in about five weeks.

Commissioner Gene Shipley reported that although the month of March was not the best time for building, Soddy Daisy still had almost $1 million in building permits.

At the next commission meeting, a discussion will take place to consider buying a third fire truck or if the money would be better spent to hire more full-time firefighters. Mayor Everett said he wants to get good input from the Soddy Daisy Fire Department about “what they have to have, what they need to have, and what they want to have.”