Alexandria Mayor Beth Tripp Gets “No Confidence” Vote from Aldermen (View Videos Here)
by: Dwayne PageMay 31, 2025
No confidence!
Alexandria Mayor Beth Tripp is on the hot seat with the Board of Aldermen and during a rare Saturday special called meeting the town council, in the absence of Mayor Tripp, cast a “no confidence” vote in her leadership.
The vote was 4-0 with Aldermen Sherry Tubbs, Bobby Simpson, Luke Prichard, and Jeff Ford all voting together. Alderman Jonathan Tripp, Mayor Tripp’s husband was also absent.
After the meeting WJLE made an attempt to contact Mayor Tripp for a response but was unable to reach her.
The aldermen, with this vote, are hoping Mayor Tripp will get the message and offer her resignation.
“We have four aldermen out of five that has no confidence in our mayor,” said Alderman Sherry Tubbs. “We don’t feel she is doing the job that she was elected to do. She has failed every citizen in the city, and we need to remove her and get over that hurdle and even when we get over it we’ll still have a lot of problems but with time we will get to where we need to go,” she said.
According to Alderman Tubbs, Mayor Tripp does not lead city government with transparency regarding issues the aldermen need to be briefed on including financials and there are other concerns.
“Under her (Mayor Tripp) so much has happened. There has been no oversight of bills, bills paid. We’re talking $42,000 bills that we (city) have paid that we (aldermen) knew nothing about. We’re not saying its wrong there is just no transparency and three of us (aldermen) voted for and supported her,” Alderman Tubbs continued.
“We have a business district that would like to flourish better, and they are not being supported by the mayor. We have citizens that go to her, and she is rude and disrespectful. We have aldermen that she won’t pick up the phone and talk to. We want someone to be a fill in mayor until the end of her term and that’s one year and four months. But the first thing we need to do is get a city attorney and no attorney is going to come here until she (Mayor Tripp) is gone,” said Alderman Tubbs.
Alderman Jeff Ford explained that while the board is not unified on every issue, they are united against Mayor Tripp.
“This board does not always agree. We have some big differences, and we have had big differences since day one, but we are all together on this because we all see that the town needs to be governed and managed better,” he said
Members of the town council are not the only ones unhappy with Mayor Tripp. Many city residents have also lost confidence in the mayor’s ability to lead including some who supported her in the election last August. The small meeting room was filled with people Saturday and most voiced their displeasure with Mayor Tripp.
A symbolic “no confidence” petition is now being circulated to possibly force her removal from office through any proper legal channels that may be available should she not resign.
The petition states that “We, the undersigned residents and stakeholders of the Town of Alexandria, Tennessee, formally express our lack of confidence in Mayor Beth Tripp. We believe that Mayor Tripp’s actions and/or inactions are not in the best interest of the Town of Alexandria and that her continued leadership undermines the well-being, integrity, and proper governance of our community”
“We respectfully call for her immediate resignation or appropriate removal by lawful means and urge town leadership and authorities to take action in response to this petition”.
‘We are asking her (Mayor Tripp) to step down. If she does not, we are going to get an attorney, take signatures, and we are going to go in front of a judge and ask the state comptroller’s office to help us and have her removed,” said Alderman Tubbs.
Mayor Tripp was elected in August 2024 to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term. She received a total of 88 votes to win the seat. Tripp’s name was the only one on the ballot for mayor, but an active write-in campaign was staged by two others, Rodney Allen Lawson, who received 64 votes and Russell “Rusty” Allen Bradshaw who had 18 write-in votes.
Meanwhile, the aldermen voted Saturday to appoint former Alexandria Mayor and Alderman David Cripps to fill the alderman position left vacant after the recent resignation of Alderman Tiffany Robinson who herself was appointed last August to fill the unexpired two-year term.
A former appointed aldermen Margaret Stevens earlier in the meeting had asked that she be considered for the alderman appointment to succeed Robinson.
The aldermen also voted to hire Addison Crawford of Cookeville as a full time Alexandria police officer. With addition of Crawford, Alexandria now has three full time and three part time officers
Shawn Richardson was also hired by the aldermen to assist with garbage pickup and mowing
Shut Down Again?
by: Dwayne PageMay 31, 2025
Residents near the quarry location on North Driver Road at Snow Hill are again speaking out after learning that SRM Materials, LLC (Smyrna Ready Mix Smithville Quarry) for the third time in nine months allegedly has been ordered by the state to cease operations without the required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharge of treated mine wastewater and storm water. SRM has filed an application for an NPDES permit but TDEC has apparently not yet approved it. Several people spoke out in person against TDEC granting the permit during a public hearing held in March at the county complex.
During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, Doug Walter of the second district addressed the county commission during the public comment period to bring awareness to the latest development and to urge enforcement of the county powers act.
“They (SRM) still don’t have a permit, and they started early in May. Citizens of the area contacted the state and for the third time the state had to shut them down for operating without a permit. I have heard that SRM has donated money to schools and potentially for the Jamboree to show good faith. But read the writing on the wall. This company has done basically what they want to do in Dowelltown since they first bought the property and blasted the next day,” said Walter. “This is not good corporate citizenship for the county and if you allow them to open the violations would probably continue within our county. I ask you to take the correct action and enforce the county powers act. Follow Grundy County’s lead and take up the fight. If you don’t I believe you are leaving yourself open for others to point out the lack of enforcement against SRM in this situation. The county mayor recently said in a meeting that they (SRM) are not in operation. I don’t see how you can grandfather a company that is not in operation at this time under the county powers act. You owe it to the citizens of this county to enforce the laws you passed be it a big or small fight and obviously this is going to be a big fight. This company has shown by their actions they don’t have a lot of regard for state, county, or local citizens. They do what they want with that quarry and we, the citizens of that area, are the ones who have had to contact the state to get them to stop. They don’t show enough respect to deserve being open and I think the county needs to take up the fight. When the time is right I am asking you to consider all the facts and not just the shiny thing they are doing up here in Smithville with money but what they are really doing in Dowelltown,” said Walter.
WJLE emailed a media inquiry this week to Jennifer Donnals, Senior Communications Advisor for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for a response about the latest citizen complaints regarding SRM.
She responded as follows: “SRM recently moved some equipment onto the site, but it is not operating on the site. When TDEC makes a final permitting decision, all citizens who participated in the public participation process will be notified of the decision,” said Donnals.
Neighbors in the Snow Hill area first became aware of SRM last summer after being shaken by a blast during the company’s prep work for the quarry at the site. Complaints were filed with the state and county. In August the state found that SRM had been crushing without issuance of an NPDES permit. (Inspection in response to a citizen concern regarding blasting debris and mining activities. Mining staff confirmed the presence of rock processing equipment on site and newly blasted limestone without permit coverage).
SRM submitted an application in September after which the site was determined to be inactive. (Inspection for Hydrological Determination (HD) Report received on September 12, 2024. Staff present included Daniel Lawrence, Bryan Epperson, Emily Bonts, and Rebecca Drennan. HD submittal was confirmed, though additional features further within the property were also identified and subsequently noted to the applicant. Site was not active at the time of inspection. Processing equipment was on site, as were several piles of crushed stone. All drainage was properly controlled. No discharge was occurring, and no condition of pollution was noted. Facility was out of compliance because a NPDES permit is not in place)
By November SRM was again found by the state to be in non-compliance for operating without a permit and halted activity at the site. (Processing rock without permit coverage. Mining activities on site have expanded since the last inspection via land clearing, and site entrances have been made accessible for construction and mine traffic).
According to the state, the permit application was deemed to be complete December 2 but SRM must wait until a permit is approved and in place before proceeding. SRM must also control drainage from the disturbed area.
County Commissioner Larry Green reported to the commission in April (last month) about a legal consultation he, County Mayor Matt Adcock, and County Attorney Hilton Conger had in Nashville recently with members of a law firm who has expertise in this area on where the county stands regarding enforcement of the County Powers Act.
Some members of the public have argued that three companies — the McMinnville Energy LLC cryptocurrency mining and the Jones Brothers and SRM quarries should be subject to the County Powers Act claiming they were not already “in operation” when the commission passed the local regulations last October.
“Their advice to us was to be patient and do nothing right now because the way the County Powers Act is written they (companies in question) have to do certain things before they can apply for a permit from us (county) and until they get those things done and go into operation we don’t have a case. They said you can’t get a cease and desist until they do something,” said Commissioner Green.
“Right now, they are not operating,” said County Mayor Adcock. “They are still in that period of trying to meet the prerequisites to be able to apply. Technically they are not violating anything because they are not in operation,” he said.
April Strong Month for DeKalb Local Option Sales Tax Collections
by: Dwayne PageMay 31, 2025
DeKalb County’s local option sales tax collections for April 2025 were better than the previous month and much higher than April, 2024 collections.
According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue, DeKalb County collected $226,958 in April, 2025, up from $179,966 in March, 2025 and better than $170,469 taken in during April, 2024
Local option sales tax collections in April 2025 were up in all four towns in DeKalb County compared to March, 2025 and April, 2024.
In Smithville, collections were $429,764 in April, up from $367,824 in March, and more than the April 2024 total of $426,387.
Alexandria’s collections increased from $32,698 in March to $56,812 in April and were up from $29,610 in April 2024.
Dowelltown brought in $4,030 in April 2025 compared to $3,322 in March and $3,342 in April 2024.
Liberty’s increased from $13,129 in March to $30,206 in April and came in over the total of $13,575 in April, 2024.
Net collections of local option sales taxes for the county and cities combined in April 2025 were $747,771, up from $596,942 in March and better than the $643,385 taken in during April 2024.
April 2025 sales tax collections reflect previous month activity.
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