Aldermen Ratify New City Charter

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen held a brief special meeting Tuesday morning, June 18 at 7:30 a.m. at city hall to formally ratify the new charter before election day voting began at 8:00 a.m. The vote was 5-0 to adopt the new charter.

(CLICK PDF LINK BELOW TO VIEW LEGISLATION ADOPTED BY STATE LEGISLATURE ON NEW CITY CHARTER)

HB1363.pdf (117.79 KB)

The aldermen wanted to enact the charter before the election because it extends the length of terms of the newly elected aldermen from two years to three years. Beginning with those elected next year and with all future elections, terms of office for the mayor and aldermen will be four years.

A resolution, seeking these and other changes in the charter, was passed by the Board of Aldermen in February and sent to the Tennessee General Assembly.

Legislation amending Chapter 486 of the Private Acts of 1941 to make these changes in the charter was adopted by the Tennessee General Assembly on Friday, April 19. However, by law the aldermen had to wait at least sixty days before taking action to ratify it. Tuesday, June 18 marks the 60th day.

According to the legislation, "This act shall have no effect unless it is approved by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the legislative body of the City of Smithville, with such vote to be taken not fewer than sixty (60) nor more than one hundred twenty (120) days following the passage of the act by the General Assembly".

City Attorney Vester Parsley, Jr. recently sought an opinion from the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) on whether the aldermen could meet election day, which is the 60th day, to ratify the new charter.

In reply, Josh Jones of MTAS wrote that " I do not think it violates Tennessee law to have the ratification vote of the governing body and the election for aldermen on the same day."

Jones based his judgment on a State Attorney General's opinion in a Springfield charter change which was decided by a public referendum. "In the (AG) opinion, the private act charter of the City of Springfield was amended by private act of the general assembly. The amendment increased the length of aldermanic terms from two to four years. However, to be ratified the private act had to be approved by referendum. That referendum was occurring during the same election as the vote to elect new aldermen. Hence, the term length of these aldermen was dependent upon the outcome of the referendum," wrote Jones.

"This parallels the situation in Smithville. The only difference being a 2/3 vote of the governing body as opposed to a referendum is required to ratify."

"In the opinion, the Attorney General stated that both elections could be held simultaneously and the fact that one affected the other was not fatal."

"Based on my reading of this opinion, I do not think it violates Tennessee law to have the ratification vote of the governing body and the election for aldermen on the same day," wrote Jones.

Under the new Smithville city charter the terms of office will be extended for the mayor and aldermen. It extends voting rights to county residents that own commercial property in the city (two persons per deed), allows property rights voting to county residents who own at least 3,500 square feet of property in the city, and allows by ordinance regular city council meetings to be held only once per month.

The new charter calls for city elections every two years, on the first Thursday in August to coincide with the county general election and state primaries. Terms of office for the mayor and aldermen will go from two to four years.
The three aldermen elected Tuesday, June 18 will serve a three year term until after the August election in 2016. From then on three aldermen will be elected to serve four year terms.

Next year under the new charter, a mayor and two aldermen will be elected on the first Thursday in August. Those elected will serve for four years.

Because the voter registration deadline has already passed, no new voters including property rights voters can register in time for Tuesday's election.

DCHS General Metals Class Assists County Fire Department with Tanker Project

Over the course of the last few months of the 2012-13 school year, the DeKalb County High School's General Metals Class has partnered with the DeKalb County Fire Department to complete a very important project that increases the capabilities of three of the department's tanker trucks. The project entailed planning, fabricating, and installing storage racks on our tanker trucks for the portable folding water tanks that the department uses to supply water in areas where hydrants are not readily available. This ability is vitally important in order for the department to be able to maintain adequate water supplies that meet the Insurance Services Office (ISO) minimum criteria for water supply. "In order to maintain and improve our county's fire protection rating, we have to demonstrate that we can provide water supplies that can allow us to flow at least 250 gallons per minute for a constant 2-hour period. This equipment will greatly enhance our ability to do that," says Chief Donny Green.

Todd Cantrell, General Metals Class Instructor, and Steve Repasy, DeKalb County Firefighter, planned and directed the project from start to finish. Repasy contributed about 50 hours of design and development. In total, Repasy and other firefighters donated 64 hours of installation labor. According to Cantrell, the class performed about 160 hours in fabricating the tank racks.

Chief Green says he wants to personally express the department's thanks to the following individuals for making significant contributions:

Todd Cantrell and DCHS General Metals Class (fabrication and labor)
Steve Repasy, DeKalb County Firefighter (Project Director)
Tracy Foutch, Foutch Industries (painting)
Phil Boner (painting)
Brian Williams, DeKalb County Firefighter (labor)
Captain Michael Lawrence, DeKalb County Firefighter (labor)
Jeremy Neal, DeKalb County Firefighter (labor)
Lieutenant David Agee, DeKalb County Firefighter (labor)
Stan Morris, DeKalb County Firefighter (labor)

In combination, the class and other volunteers donated a total of about 274 man hours and services for this project allowing the cost of this project on all three tankers to be less than $400 total; solely for materials. Green says that purchasing such racks from a fire service equipment vendor, and having them installed, would have easily cost the county fire department a minimum of $5,000.