The city of Red Bank’s 2025 operating budget was amended at Tuesday’s commission meeting. The amendment was needed to appropriate unbudgeted expenditures of $376,615 that included $19,000 for a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, $1,000 for miscellaneous equipment for the Fire Department, $98,015 for an Ashmore Slide Study, $156,000 for new bathrooms at the community center and $98,600 for two new pickup trucks. And unbudgeted revenues for the general fund included $20,000 from the HIDTA and Tennessee American Water, and a $4,000 driver safety grant.
The solid waste fund was amended for the $232,000 in unbudgeted expenditures to buy a brush truck.
Rezoning three properties has been approved on the second and final reading. Both 309 and 313 Midvale Ave. were changed from R-1 Residential to R-TZ Residential townhouse / zero lot line on the second and final reading. Six single-family detached houses will be built on the combined lots. The two properties are currently surrounded by high-density residential with Midvale Heights Apartments on one side and Pavilion Townhomes on the other, so the townhomes will be considered as transitional zoning.
The third property at 1109 Dayton Blvd. was rezoned on final reading was at the request of Mike Price and MAP Engineering. Until the recession and COVID pandemic, it had been zoned for 38 apartments, but he said now the market would better support townhouses. The request to amend the zoning was approved with plans to build 28 mostly two-bedroom units to sell.
Resolutions passed which authorized Red Bank to apply for two grants. If received, a Project Diabetes grant worth $150,000 for each of three years would come from the Tennessee Department of Health. And another authorized participation in the U.S. Department of Justice Bulletproof Vest Partnership grant. And a resolution passed that authorized the purchase of up to 20 computers to replace ones that are past their service life.
Announcements from the commissioners include a reminder that the city will be holding a city-wide cleanup day to celebrate Earth Day, on April 26. Registration can be done online. The next Food Pantry will be at the Red Bank Methodist Church on April 17 from 4:30-6 P.M. The Red Bank Jubilee to celebrate spring is scheduled for Saturday May 3. There will be local musicians, food trucks and city sponsored activities along with a petting zoo and multiple vendors. An event to fit car seats will be held at the community center on May 1. And the city will hold its first Decoration Day, modeled after an old Appalachian practice at the Red Bank Cemetery.
City Manager Martin Granum announced that city offices will be closed this Friday to commemorate the Good Friday holiday.