After four months off of the Signal Mountain Council, Charles Poss is returning. At the Monday night town council meeting, he was selected to replace former Councilmember Eddie Smith who was elected in November 2024 and resigned in February 2025. Mr. Poss was appointed by the sitting council members rather than with a special election that would have cost the town $20,000 to hold.
The council expressed gratitude for the seven citizens who volunteered to fill the vacancy. Residents of Signal Mountain participated in the selection process by sending questions for the candidates whose answers were posted on the town’s website. At the cut-off time for questions, 40 had been submitted. At the meeting before the council voted, the candidates were each given three minutes to address the council. John Barlew, Rufus Marye, and Greg Sullivan made statements about why they wanted to serve the town and Charles Ellis, Chris Gailmard and Charles Poss were unable to attend the meeting.
Mr. Poss was chosen in the second ballot. Andrew Gardner, who was on the council for four years with former Mayor Poss, said that during the past year the council had to make some hard decisions. He said that as mayor Mr. Poss shared his goal of always doing what was best for the town and had always been very respectful and diplomatic although he did not always agree with the others.
Current Mayor Elizabeth Baker said that the town’s administrative department heads are for the most part new, with only two department heads having more than 18 months on the job. So she said stability is vital and the town could gain from Mr. Poss’s experience. Vice Mayor Clay Crumbliss also recognized Mr. Poss’s ability to respect a consensus vote despite the fact that he might have disagreed with the outcome and said that he would be a good choice for the town.
The new council member will be sworn in at the March 24 council meeting work session along with the newly hired Finance Director John Harr.
Discussions during the meeting included the concerns for safety and inconveniences caused by large trucks coming up and down Signal Mountain Road that get stuck and stop all traffic. Mayor Baker said there would be talks with TDOT about the most recent incident, which caused people to miss meetings and appointments, leaving ambulances unable to get to patients and leaving children at day care centers off the mountain until parents could get down to pick them up. It causes more than an inconvenience, she said.
The Signal Mountain tree board will be giving away free saplings in conjunction with an arborist at the recycling center on April, said the vice mayor. He also would like to remind people about outdoor safety to prevent the number of tragic events that took place in town during spring last year. He asks everyone to learn and use the best practices. And, he said from the questions and answers submitted in the search for the new council member, he saw a lot of people commenting on the financial stability of the town. He said that he wanted to make it clear that Signal Mountain is solvent and in good financial health. Where there is a problem, he said is in the budget, which if left as is, will continue to climb and is unstainable.
City Manager Matt Justice reported that inspections of the town’s buildings have begun. Three quotes for the property inspections will cost the city $4,700 for town hall, the MACC, the police building and the fire stations. The inspections will help the council prioritize the needed work.