Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen May Consider Sales Tax Agreement Extension Thursday Night
by: Dwayne PageJan 29, 2025
Will they, or won’t they?
The Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen are scheduled to meet Thursday night, January 30 at city hall and on the agenda is the “local sales tax” issue.
A decision was expected December 17 by the mayor and aldermen on whether they would extend the town’s local option sales tax agreement with the county through the year 2055 to help support long term debt payment on new school construction as the other three municipalities have done but there was no vote, because there was no meeting due to the lack of a quorum.
This month’s meeting, set for Tuesday, January 28, was also postponed until Thursday night, January 30 at 7 p.m.
Alexandria has not yet publicly signaled whether it will or won’t extend its sales tax agreement. The county’s self-imposed January 1 deadline to hear from Alexandria was extended to February 1, 2025.
Under the existing sales tax agreements with the county, which are set to expire in 12 years on July 16, 2037, the four cities, Smithville, Alexandria, Liberty, and Dowelltown turn over to the county for schools a greater percentage of their local option sales tax collections than they would otherwise be required to do. By law, the municipalities must contribute 50% of their sales tax money to the county for schools but by agreement, since 1968, the towns give basically two thirds of their share and all that sales tax money goes into what is called the Local Purpose Tax Fund for Schools to help fund school operation and debt. Officials say the county must be able to count on that extra sales tax money coming in from the cities over the life of a 30-year bond up to $55 million in order to cover the costs of a new school without having to use or raise property taxes to fund it.
All five county schools have benefitted over the years from this local purpose sales tax fund which has helped support various school construction and renovation projects including at DeKalb West School. In fact the debt has apparently yet to be retired on the Tornado Safe classroom addition project which was completed over 10 years ago. The construction debt on Northside Elementary School was paid off only recently, within the last two or three years.
Meanwhile the Alexandria city meeting agenda for January also includes the following:
*Mayor Beth Tripp opening the meeting
*Roll Call
*Prayer and Pledge
*Approval of previous meeting minutes
*Zoning-second and final reading
*County Mayor Matt Adcock (scheduled to speak)
*Open floor for residents (public comment)
*Local Sales Tax
*Department monthly reports (mayor, fire, police, streets, financial, attorney)
*Unfinished business
*New business- Seay Church, Senior Citizens Center
*Any other business properly submitted by board members
*Adjourn
Car Wash Confrontation Lands One Man In Trouble with Law
by: Dwayne PageJan 29, 2025
A car wash confrontation has landed one man in trouble with the law.
19-year-old Izayah Young of Smithville is charged with aggravated assault, vandalism, and possession of a weapon. His bond is $13,500. According to Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, officers were called to a report of an altercation January 13 between Young and a victim at the car wash on West Broad Street where Young allegedly busted the driver’s side window of the victim’s car and then pulled up his shirt to expose a gun in his waistband in a move to allegedly intimidate the victim. Young was taken into custody.
38-year-old Justin Murphy of Smithville is charged with violation of an order of protection. He is under a $2,500 bond. Chief Collins said that officers were summoned to Highland Drive on January 11 because of an unwanted person and upon arrival found Murphy, a respondent to an order of protection. The protected person in the order was also there. Murphy was placed under arrest.
32-year-old Sonny Smith of Smithville is charged with domestic assault and interference with an emergency call. His bond is $6,000. Officers were called to Wade Street on January 12 due to a domestic incident in progress and upon arrival they spoke with Smith and the complainant. Chief Collins said police found evidence of an assault and determined Smith to be the primary aggressor. They learned that the complainant had tried to call 911 but Smith disabled use of the phone. Smith was placed in custody.
Jerry Rackley of Smithville is cited for aggravated criminal trespass and will be in court on February 6. Chief Collins said that on January 14 police were called to Village Place due to a possible burglary in progress and upon arrival they found Rackley on the property. Police learned that the house was vacant but that Rackley was living there inside without consent of the owner.
Two people accused of property theft were cited by police on January 15. 43-year-old Eric Fish and 44-year-old Janet Fish of Smithville will make a court appearance on February 6. Chief Collins said that police were summoned to Kwik-N-Ezy and upon arrival learned that Eric and Janet Fish had allegedly electronically deposited their payroll checks in amount of $413 and $ 465 and then cashed the checks at Kwik-N-Ezy.
33-year-old Stephen Babich of Smithville is charged with public intoxication, violation of the open container law, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting arrest. His bond is $10,000 and he will be in court on January 30. Chief Collins said that on January 17 police were called to check out a suspicious vehicle at a business on South Congress Boulevard and upon arrival found Babich in the automobile. According to police, Babich became aggressive, appeared to be impaired, and he refused to cooperate. Officers also spotted an open alcoholic beverage in the center console and a large glass pipe with white residue. When officers told Babich that he was under arrest, he physically pulled away but was subsequently placed in custody.
33-year-old NithunNag Kardi-Giridhar of Nashville is charged with DUI. His bond is $2,500 and he will be in court January 30. Chief Collins said that on January 18 police pulled over a vehicle on East Broad Street for failure to maintain lane of travel. While talking with the driver, Giridhar, the officer smelled a strong odor of alcohol. Gridhar said that he had just come from Midnight Express and had been drinking. Giridhar submitted to but performed poorly on all field sobriety tasks and he was placed in custody.
31-year-old Dalton Moore of Smithville is charged with public intoxication. He is under a $1,500 bond and will be in court on February 6. Chief Collins said that on January 19 police were summoned to South Congress Boulevard due to a suspicious person and upon arrival found Moore who was acting very erratically and showed signs of impairment. He was placed in custody.
49-year-old Anthony Lewis of McMinnville is charged with DUI and cited for driving on roadways laned for traffic. He is under a $5,000 bond and will be in court on February 6. According to Chief Collins, police conducted a traffic stop January 25 on Short Mountain Highway for failing to maintain lane of travel. While speaking with the driver, Lewis, officers noticed he showed signs of impairment. Lewis submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks and said he had been drinking. Lewis was placed in custody.
42-year-old Hollie Michels of Smithville is charged with domestic assault. Her bond is $5,000 bond and she will appear in court on February 6. Chief Collins said that on January 26 police were called to Jennings Lane due to domestic incident in progress and upon arrival they learned that one of the parties had been assaulted and injured. Police determined that Michels had been the primary aggressor. She was placed in custody.
Brandon Donnell Appointed to Fill Third District Vacancy on County Commission
by: Dwayne PageJan 28, 2025
The third district has a new county commissioner.
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission appointed Brandon Donnell to succeed Susannah Cripps as a member from the third district. Donnell was sworn into office by County Mayor Matt Adcock after the meeting. He will serve out Cripps’ term which expires August 31, 2026.
Six people had sought the appointment along with Donnell including Johnny Croom, Eden Nokes, Tim Perricone, Stuart Colwell, and Len Dickens.
The appointee had to get at least seven votes from the remaining 13-member commission in order to fill the vacancy. Donnell received 10 votes from the commission.
The names of Croom, Donnell, and Colwell were placed in nomination from the commission and the vote on each was taken in that order. Commissioners were allowed to vote for more than one candidate.
Croom, nominated by Commissioner Tony Luna, received five votes including from Luna, Larry Green, Beth Pafford, Myron Rhody, and Mathias Anderson.
Commissioner Tom Chandler nominated Donnell and his 10 votes came from Chandler, Larry Green, Greg Matthews, Andy Pack, Mathias Anderson, Glynn Merriman, Daniel Cripps, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, and Tony (Cully) Culwell.
Colwell was nominated by Commissioner Andy Pack and he received votes from Pack, Tony Luna, Larry Green, Myron Rhody, Mathias Anderson, and Tony (Cully) Culwell.
Donnell, a Smithville Police Department Detective, formally introduced himself to the county commission on Thursday night, as did the other five candidates, during a committee of the whole workshop meeting.
“I am a Christian and attend the Smithville First Freewill Baptist Church. I align myself with conservative values. I am a Republican and a lifelong resident of DeKalb County. I graduated high school here in 2005. I currently work at the Smithville Police Department as a detective. I have been with the department for 14 years. Before that I worked at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department for a little over four years. I started working there when I was 19 years old. I have been serving the people of DeKalb County pretty much all of my adult life. My wife is Kaylah. We have been married over 18 years. She is an assistant manager at Wilson Bank & Trust in Smithville. She has worked there over 18 years. I have two children. My son Carson graduated high school last year. He is now a student at Tennessee Tech. My youngest son Collin is an eighth grader at DeKalb Middle School. My whole family lives here. I am going to retire here. I care deeply about this county. I want this county to thrive. I want my kids to graduate here, go off to college and get a good education, come back, start their families here, raise their kids here and be proud of DeKalb County just like I am. I don’t know everything there is to know about all the issues this county is facing but that’s the reason why I would like to serve, to learn more and do more for the betterment of this county,” said Donnell.
The 14-member county commission (two from each district) is made up of nine Republicans, Tom Chandler, Sabrina Farler, Brandon Donnell, Tony (Cully) Culwell, Greg Matthews, Larry Green, Glynn Merriman, Andy Pack, and Mathias Anderson; three Democrats, Jeff Barnes, Beth Pafford, and Myron Rhody; and two Independents, Tony Luna and Daniel Cripps.ere
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