City Plans to Apply for CDBG Grant To Rehab Sewer Lines

December 28, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville plans to apply for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant to upgrade sewer lines.

For years the city has had issues with excessive surface water entering the waste water treatment plant through porous sewer lines especially during heavy rains.

City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson addressed the issue with the Mayor and Aldermen during their last monthly meeting.

“We are eligible again to apply for a Community Development Block Grant. The last one we had about two years ago was for our sewer plant in which we got a $525,000 grant and updated the sewer plant. We reapplied last year for another grant but fell just a little bit short with the state the way they score them. We were a few points shy of qualifying. Now that our sewer plant has been updated we can try again but we might need to ask for less than before in order to get a better score. We have spoken with our engineer, Greg Davenport of Wauford Engineering and with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and UCDD so we plan to apply for a $400,000 grant this year. That will help our chances. It just depends on what other cities and utility districts put in for. We don’t have to apply until February. This will be for sewer line rehabilitation,” said City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson.

In the meantime, Wauford intends to prepare an engineering report to be submitted with the grant application to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The Upper Cumberland Development District will be the grant administrator.

In correspondence with city officials, Davenport suggested making application for a $400,000 grant instead of a larger one.

“You are aware that the application for a $525,000 grant last year was not funded for various reasons which we will address in this year’s application with the help of Upper Cumberland Development District.  One important factor to consider is how much grant funding to apply for since the less money you request, the less your cost per person rating and therefore the higher chances you will be funded.  This is a balancing act in which you try to apply for as much funding as you think you can get funded although the pool of competition changes each year so there is no set formula for determining the appropriate amount.  If we reduce the requested grant amount going forth, the number you and I discussed was applying for $400,000 in lieu of $525,000,” said Davenport.

“We must also consider what problem are we trying solve, i.e. the scope of the sewer rehabilitation project.  Based on my discussions with you and Kevin over the last few times I have been to Smithville, I believe the City should consider a larger project whch would remedy several of the problem areas in the City and save future operation and maintenance costs.  The deadline for grant applications is early February and we expect them to be announced in the fall of 2019 which results in a construction project in the summer 2020,” said Davenport.

Work was completed in 2017 on a $2.8 million upgrade at the Smithville Waste Water Treatment Plant.

The project included a new headworks and pump station, a new electrical building to power the system, a new bar screen used to remove large objects, such as rags and other debris from wastewater, and a new grit classifier that separates rock, sand, and grit from screened wastewater and a new SCADA automation and monitoring system which the operators use to help maintain efficiency of the system.

“The new headworks is designed to hold 8 million gallons a day to run through it. We’re operating an average of 1 to 1.2 million gallons a day so we have a lot of room for growth,” said Anthony Hasemann, one of the sewer plant operators.

To help pay for the cost of the project, the City of Smithville was awarded a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $525,000 from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Although the grant funded part of the costs, the bulk of the funding to pay for it was appropriated from the city’s water and sewer fund surplus.

On another issue, the city is discontinuing the outsourcing of custodial services at city hall to a professional cleaning company. The service has been provided for three days per week. Instead  the aldermen have voted to hire a janitor/maintenance worker for approximately 25 hours per week at $12.50 per hour.

December 28, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County’s jobless rate for November dropped to 4.1% from 4.7% in October but was still slightly higher than the 3.9% rate recorded in November 2017.

The local labor force for November was 7,930. A total of 7,600 were employed and 330 were without work.

Jobless rates for November among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:

Van Buren: 4.5%
Jackson: 4.5%
Clay: 4.1%
DeKalb: 4.1%
Fentress: 3.9%
Cumberland: 3.9%
Warren: 3.8%
Pickett: 3.8%
Overton: 3.6%
White: 3.5%
Putnam: 3.4%
Cannon: 3.1%
Macon: 3%
Smith: 2.9%

Each of Tennessee’s 95 counties experienced lower unemployment in November 2018 according to newly released data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).

Ninety-one counties had an unemployment rate of 5 percent or lower during the month and only four counties had a rate higher than 5 percent.

Williamson County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.5 percent, which was 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the previous month. Both Davidson and Rutherford counties had a rate of 2.6 percent in November, a drop of 0.3 percent for each county.

The 10 counties with the lowest unemployment each had a rate of 2.9 percent or lower in November.

“It’s very encouraging to have so many counties with unemployment rates below 5 percent during November,” said TDLWD Commissioner Burns Phillips. “That means more Tennesseans were working and taking home a paycheck as we headed into the holiday season.”

The counties with the state’s highest unemployment still experienced significant drops in their rates. While Lauderdale County had the highest jobless rate in November at 5.8 percent that figure is a percentage point lower than the previous month. Bledsoe County’s unemployment rate dropped nearly a full percentage point from 6.1 percent to 5.2 percent. McNairy County went from 5.5 percent in October to 5 percent in November.

Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for November decreased from 3.7 percent to 3.6 percent. Nationally, unemployment held steady for the third consecutive month at 3.7 percent.

December 28, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Police Department will be accepting applications for one full time police officer beginning January 2 through January 11. 

Police Chief Mark Collins said applications can be picked up at the Smithville Police Department Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Application MUST be turned in no later than 5:00 pm on Friday January 11.