The town of Signal Mountain has 13 different citizens advisory boards, committees and commissions, all filled with volunteers. It has become increasingly difficult to get applications to fill these groups and, once they have been filled, there is a lack of participation, officials said.
Different boards function in different ways: some meet only if there is an issue to deal with. Others are supposed to meet on a regular schedule. They all are supposed to hold elections at the end of the year to choose officers of that board. However when the meetings are scheduled, there may be three or four members who show up most of the time, but often, not enough members to have a quorum. The meeting would be allowed to take place, but voting cannot be done without a quorum. Therefore, in some of the boards, officers have not been elected in a couple of years. City Attorney Harry Cash said in that case, the person last elected continues in the position until a valid election is held.
The council is trying to find the best way forward with these advisory boards. One idea that was discussed at the council meeting Monday night is to have fewer by combining some that have similar goals. In the last several years, combining the Parks and Recreation boards has proven to be successful. Now there is conversation about combining the city’s Tree Board and the Recycling Committee. The tree board is one of the most active in the city, but the Recycling Board was activated for two years and has now disbanded. The members feel that it has served its purpose by educating the public of best recycling practices and improving the way recycling is handled in Signal Mountain. The council is considering combining those two boards into a single environmental education advisory board, with a goal of studying, investigating and promoting environmental awareness. The tree board has already expanded its work into other vegetation issues such as encouraging the practice “leave the leaves” last fall.
Those boards that meet only when needed may become the responsibility of the town council the same way that the council functions as the beer board when there is an application for a new beer license. But one complication with that approach is that the council has attempted to fill those positions with citizens who have some qualifications about what they are judging. An example is that architects, builders or realtors may be appointed to the Condemnation Board.
The MACC Board is already being changed since the town is taking over running the facility. Dick and Cheryl Graham, who have been running it for several years, are leaving. The town has put the old MACC Board on hold for the first year under the new management. During that time the town council will manage the MACC. Mr. Graham has met with council liaison Clay Crumbliss and has provided him with a job description for the next chairman of the MACC board.
The Planning Commission is the board that council members are the most concerned with the lack of meetings. Some boards with important work should be fully staffed with engaged citizens and be knowledgeable, said the attorney. The Planning Commission, which has not had an election in two and a half years, falls under this category.
Board members serve at the pleasure of the council, said Councilman Charles Poss so they can be dismissed without a hearing, but the council is hesitant to call out people publicly and embarrass them. The person last elected as chairman may be asked to talk to the individual members and find out if they still have an interest in being on that board. Attorney Cash said they need to meet in August if only to hold an election of officers. If there is no quorum at that meeting the council could remove all members and start over. Then, those interested would have to reapply.
The council is also hesitant to dismiss those few members who do show up for the scheduled meetings. Those serving on these various advisory committees need to know what is expected of them and of the board as a whole, said Mayor Elizabeth Baker. The attendance requirement is the same as requirements of the town council members.
Mayor Baker said she is frustrated enough to do that, but another problem she said is that the town is not getting applications for serving on the Planning Commission. “We’ve been discussing this since February and are getting nowhere,” said Commissioner Andrew Gardner.
There will be individual discussions about each of the boards in future meetings.
Just two items of regular business were decided at this meeting. The council authorized the expenditure of $16,151 for one year’s payment to First Due Fire Department Management Application. This software has been used by the Signal Mountain Fire Department since 2023 for documentation and record keeping for all functions in the department. That includes incident response, equipment inventory and maintenance, training, codes enforcement and community risk reduction activities.
City Manager Matt Justice said he believed in 2023, that the city had shopped around for options, but he has been unable to find records. Mr. Justice said that the fire department is happy with it and cannot do without record management software, but because the deadline for this year’s payment is due at the end of July, it might be necessary to look at comparable next year because of the high cost. The city manager and council also want to make sure functions of this software do not duplicate the other software that the city uses. The decision was deferred until the July 28 meeting.
The municipal court fee of $1 will be added to all citations. This was required because the state of Tennessee made the change. So either the recipient of the citation or the town would have to be responsible for the additional fee. The council voted to add it as a court cost and to inform anyone getting a citation, that the money was not added for the benefit of the town.