By Holly Roeder
Staff Writer
Chester County Mayor Barry Hutcherson opened Monday night’s County Board meeting with a moment of remembrance of 9/11 victims. He then congratulated new and returning commissioners, commending them for their service. The evening’s roll call was answered by each commissioner stating the year elected. All commissioners were in attendance.
Approval of minutes from the July 18 meeting passed unanimously, and discussion moved on to the next matter at hand, election of County Commission Chairman. Nominations were Mayor Barry Hutcherson and Commissioner Barry Smith (D5). At this point Mayor Hutcherson turned the meeting over to Stacy Smith, as Hutcherson and Pro Tempore Commissioner Smith were both nominated for the position.
A request was made by Commissioner Alexander (D6) to make a motion to proceed with voting by secret ballot, however the County Attorney indicated this was not possible. An 11-5-2 roll call vote resulted in Smith being named Chairman. Eleven commissioners voted for Smith, with five voting for Hutcherson – Edgin (D1), Holland (D2), Higgins (D3), Moore (D3) and Emerson (D4). Two commissioners, Smith (D5; nominated for Chair) and Alexander (D6), opted to pass on the vote.
Chairman Smith took his newly appointed seat and proceeded to the next order of business, election of Pro Tempore. Nominations were for Commissioners Tim Crowe (D5) and Johnny Garner (D3). Garner declined and Chairman Smith asked for a declaration of “Aye” from those in favor. An answer of “Aye” from the bench and Smith announced the election of Crowe to Pro Tem passed.
Next on the agenda was approval of budget amendments. Chairman Smith explained a change to the procedure he would implement. “When we have budget amendments, the budget committee will meet prior to the county commission meeting and approve all budget amendments and the budget committee will bring the budget amendments to the commission.”
Chester County Schools Superintendent Troy Kilzer addressed the board concerning the Quarterly Report and Budget Amendments. Both were approved upon assertions of “Aye” from members of the board. Chairman Smith suggested the subject of the potential school board member be addressed at this time. Kilzer stated he had spoken with Administrator of Elections Kathy Vest and would present three options to the board. He explained there are two people willing to be appointed by the commission to the school board. If appointed by the commission, the appointment would be until the next General Election, which is November 3, therefore, the appointment would only be for two months. With this in mind, options are for these individuals to return petitions to the election office by Sept. 19 to be on the ballot or complete paperwork to be an approved write-in candidate. A third option is to wait until after the election, then come before the commission to be appointed. At that point, the next general election would be two years away.
School system report and budget were approved.
Other amendments passed upon statements of “Aye” from the board were County General Amendments, Library Amendments and a report from Todd Brown, newly elected road supervisor.
A revised committee list was passed out to commissioners by Chairman Smith, who said he had prepared the revised lists with anticipation of being elected Chair. Changes to the committees included removal of the ambulance committee and addition of a personnel committee. A motion to approve was made by Pro Tem Crow and seconded by Commissioner McKinnon (D2). Chairman Smith asked for assertion of “Aye” by those in favor, then did ask if there was any opposed, and was answered with “No” from at least two commissioners. This resulted in a roll call vote, which passed with 15 for, three against. Those voting against were Commissioners Holland (D2), Higgins (D3 and Moore (D3).
Next on the agenda, Mayor Hutcherson introduced Brandon Connor for the next EMA Director, which was approved with “Aye” from the board.
A lease agreement between Chester County and the American Job Center was addressed. Mayor Hutcherson explained the American Job Center was in need of local office space, and space was available at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology facility. As a side note, the job center reportedly shares referrals with TCAT, and TCAT is in favor of the lease arrangement. Mayor Hutcherson stated a lease agreement has been drawn up by the county attorney. Commissioner Faulkner (D1) questioned the item “Computers” listed in furnishings of the agreement. Mayor Hutcherson explained the computers are already at the facility and are being made available to the American Job Center, the county will not purchasing equipment for this purpose. The lease agreement was passed with “Aye.”
Also before the board was a request for a change of the county travel policy. Chester County Director of Accounting and Budgets Gary Irwin stated this change would simplify the policy for easier use, with rates published on the website. He added department officials will still have the option to use receipts if they so choose. The motion to approve the new policy was passed with statements of “Aye.”
Several individuals addressed the board to request a portion of the ARPA funding. Chairman Smith preceded the presentations expressing no moneys would be awarded at Monday’s meeting.
“We’re not going to take any action tonight,” he said. “We’ll listen to the presentations. I don’t want to entertain any motions, spend any money tonight. We’ll turn these requests over to the government affairs committee. They’ll meet before the next meeting, and they’ll make recommendations.” He continued to state the amount of ARPA funding remaining is $2,357,000-plus, adding “We may need some of that to help out with the budget. It will be up to the committee to prioritize…how to spend it.”
Chester County Library Director Savannah Gilbert approached the board with two proposals for library funding. These were a 3,500 square foot expansion at $1.4 million with a six month finishing time and a 1,500 square foot expansion at $600,000, also with a six month completion timeline.
Regarding whether she had requested funding from city, Gilbert stated she personally had not, that as she understood, former library director Nancy Canada had previously approached the city, several times, and had been told that as the library is funded through county, funding would need to come from the county.
Administrator of Elections Kathy Vest addressed the board on behalf of the Chester County Election Commission. “In a nutshell,” she said, “where we are is that our building does not work for the elections,” citing space, risk of damage to equipment and risk of injury to individuals.
“This is not new,” she continued, “this is not just because there’s ARPA funds. Mayor Hutcherson can attest that we’ve been talking about this for four years.” Vest referred to a November 2021 audit by the Department of Homeland Security which resulted in 17 pages of findings, showing Chester County is not meeting requirements.
Vest reported more than 50 paper jams during early voting, stating that Chester County was the only county having this issue, and it was determined to be due to moisture in the facility. She said ballots were holding the moisture and jamming in the machines, which resulted in voters questioning integrity due to machines having to be opened during voting procedures to clear paper jams. She commented on the rain on election day, and the necessity of moving equipment in the rain. It is unknown yet if this damaged equipment. She said a technician came to work on machines, and said the equipment needs to be moved, that he had seen counties in Alabama having to replace all equipment due to corrosion. If needed to replace the equipment, Chester County would pay $352,048.50.
Vest addressed the view someone had shared as to questioning urgency of meeting facility needs now, “We know if we don’t do something before the end of this calendar year, we will lose a $25,000 security grant. 2024 we have already been told is going to be unprecedented in terms of turn out and … whatever we do needs do be done in the next calendar year. We need to be where we need to be by October 2023.”
Vest then introduced architect Sandy West who has worked with the county and has volunteered his services. West shared proposals for prospective facilities, including the A-1 Pools building. He said he had recommended soil testing, appraisal of property, mechanical electrical engineer. A floor plan showed a possible layout with suggestions to add parking, ADA access, security aspect improvements and siding/roofing improvements with the cost of improvements around $200,000, or up to $300,000 for additional elements. He also suggested an estimation of $1 million for a new building.
Al Price addressed the commission on behalf of the Chester County Historical Society. “Anyone who is interested in the history and the genealogy of Tennessee and Chester County are welcome to become a member.” The Historical Society was started in 1999, Price said, and currently meets at the Chester County Senior Center, explaining that as they borrow meeting space, there is no permanent place to store historical items for public use No specific dollar amount was requested.
Algene Steele, Jason Bramblet addressed the commission regarding the Henderson Arts Commission. Steele explained the arts commission would like to create a consignment shop for local art and local authors, as well as classroom space. “Ultimately we’d like for this to be the center of creative activity for the county and the city.” The request was for $10,000.
Tender Loving Childcare’s Sylvia Flowers addressed the board concerning renovation of the childcare center. She stated they are a licensed Three-Star facility, and have been operating since 1994 (in the Old American Legion building). She was requesting funds for classroom, office and kitchen space.
Other business brought before the board included a resolution for county allocation for water, which was voted on in May, in the amount of $2,795,227.12, was approved.
Mayor Hutcherson gave an update on the medical building, stating the asbestos has been removed and the contractor plans on starting around the first of October. He added bids will be taken soon for the awning in front of the building.
Mayor Hutcherson also gave an update on the hotel construction. He said the contractor reports permits are complete and construction should begin this fall.
In final business, notaries were approved.
