By Audrey Scruton ascruton@mckenziebanner.com

   

HUNTINGDON (October 24) - The proposed 1,000-acre recreational lake, presently known as Carroll County Lake, will be complete by the year 2009 or no later than 2010, said Dale Kelley, secretary for the Carroll County Watershed Authority.

Authority members heard progress reports and accepted $946,000 in grants during their quarterly meeting at Huntingdon City Hall.

A state Local Parks and Recreation (LPRF) grant in the amount of $350,000 and a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Economic Development Initiative grant in the amount of $596,000 were both accepted by the authority. The LPRF grant must be equally matched with local funds.

A $95,000 contract with Geotechnical Engineering was approved for seismic surveys around the proposed dam site near Highway 70. The seismic survey should start in two to three weeks.

Project Engineer Kevin Young said land appraisals to purchase the necessary property are underway and should be completed by the January 23, 2007 quarterly meeting. Of the 51 needed parcels, two have been purchased, said Young.

A contract was approved with Upstate Freshwater Institute to perform thermal modeling to establish intake structure gate elevations for the lake.

As part of the wetland mitigation agreement, one mile of the channelized Crooked Creek will be put back into its original channel and 300 acres of trees will be planted near Highway 77 as part of the Crooked Creek project. Dr. Doug Smith of California will assist with that project. The Authority approved the purchase of general liability insurance for Smith's services.

A portion of Kirk Road, proposed to be relocated to accommodate the lake, will instead be elevated, said Young. Elevating the road will eliminate the need to purchase two homes, said the engineer. However, additional surveying must be conducted for the new lake configuration.

The state water quality permit expires April 10, 2007, said Young. He hopes to have the permit renewed before the January meeting.

Kelley reported a bank balance of $266,644 prior the receipt of the two grants.

Carroll County voters approved a $10 annual wheel tax to pay the local portion of the lake development.

Present at the meeting were chairman Tommy Surber, Larry Wade, Dale Kelley, Natalie McCullough, and Bob Clark. Absent was Kenny McBride.

 
HUNTINGDON - The Carroll County Health Department has received its first shipment of flu vaccine for the 2006-2007 flu seasons. The health department will begin making appointments on Monday, November 6.

The department has not received its complete shipment of vaccine for the season making the current supply limited. Additional vaccine is expected to be received later this month. For more information, call the Carroll County Health Department at 731-986-1990.

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CARROLL COUNTY - Approximately 10.3 percent or 1,938 of Carroll County's 18,826 registered voters participated in early voting for the November 7 General Election as of Monday, according to Linda Radford, administrator of elections. Early voting continues through Thursday, November 2.

Radford noted that 1,944 persons filled out applications for early voting; however six were voided or rejected. Primary reasons for voided applications were the person was not registered to vote or did not reside in Carroll County. Persons must vote in the county in which they are registered.

Radford stated incorrect wording on one amendment is listed on the voting machines for the general election. The programming error, which was committed at the state level, was detected just prior to the start of early voting and did not allow for time to reprogram the machines. However, the correct wording is placed to the left of each voting machine, in a plastic sleeve, where it can be read prior to casting a vote, she said. The correct wording also appears in a Sample Ballot in this week's edition of The McKenzie Banner.

The affected amendment, which deals with property tax relief for the elderly, has three parts, and only the first part, which relates to freezing property taxes for those 65 or older, is on the ballot. The second part deals with a taxpayer who reaches age 65 after the time the ordinance or resolution is adopted and the third part deals with adjusting property taxes based on improvements to the property and also reads that those eligible for property tax relief in either of the first two parts would not be eligible if they exceeded a total annual income to be determined by the state legislature.

Passage of the amendment would allow, but not require the legislature to implement a program of property tax relief for people 65 or older.

The first amendment to be voted on states that only legally recognized marriage in the state will be between one man and one woman, and that any other type of marriage license issued elsewhere will be void and unenforceable in Tennessee.

Passage of either amendment is determined by the majority of voters who voted in the governor's race, therefore those who cast a vote for governor but fail to vote for either amendment are essentially casting "no" votes on the amendment.

The Carroll County Election Commission office is located in the Carroll County Office Complex, High Street, Huntingdon. The office is open 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. through Thursday for early voting.

 

Dana/Plumley Companies in McKenzie will add employees in 2007.

MCKENZIE (October 24, 2006) - Dana Corporation announced Tuesday, October 24 that it would be closing its Fulton, Kentucky sealing products plant, located at 902 Kentucky Avenue, effective in the second quarter of 2007. Two employee announcements were made to Fulton during two shifts, one at 7:00 a.m. and one at 3:00 p.m., said Corporate Media Relations Director Chuck Hartlage.

Hartlage said that the closing would affect approximately 120 Fulton employees but that all would be offered positions at other area plants. "All production workers will be offered jobs at the Paris and McKenzie plants," Hartlage said. The Paris Dana plant is located at 100 Plumley Drive, while the McKenzie Dana/Plumley molded division plant can be found at 483 Airport Lane.

The good news about Dana's local expansion is coupled with good news about the county's low 5.2 percent unemployment rate - the lowest since December 1995. In 1999, Carroll County sustained double digit unemployment following the closing of local garment plants.

"Carroll County should be proud that the community was able to bring in an additional 40 jobs at Dana and save the existing 179 jobs," said Billy Barksdale, executive director of the McKenzie Industrial Board. The Board restructured the lease on the board-owned industrial building occupied by Dana at the Carroll County Airport. The Board agreed to upgrade the air conditioning system and possibly build an on-site storage building for Dana.

"Dana pays a good wage and are really good partners in the community," said Barksdale. "It would have been a major shortfall had they left the county."

Brad Hurley, president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, said "Dana's expansion is a good example of the local and state governments stepping up and working together." He complimented James Neeley, Tennessee commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development and a Carroll County resident, for providing the necessary resources to maintain the local jobs.

County Mayor Kenny McBride, upon hearing of the situation with Dana and the possibility of closing the McKenzie plant, said they went to work.

"We made the call to Commissioner Neeley, whose home is in Carroll County, to see if any offers were available to entice Dana-Plumley to keep the McKenzie plant open. We arranged a meeting with plant manager Christa Stamper, Neeley, Hurley, and myself."

"Neeley laid out a plan to entice Dana to stay in Tennessee," said McBride. "They submitted the plan to Dana's headquarters...No doubt in my mind that the input of Commissioner Neeley was a determining factor to keep the Tennessee plants open," said McBride.

Dana was the first industry to locate in the McKenzie Industrial Park-South at the Carroll County Airport in the mid-1980s. The company started in a small training building while the current facility was being constructed. The training facility, with several expansions, now is the home of Colorite-Precision Porous Pipe.


The Fulton closing was spurred by the decrease in sport utility vehicle purchases, reported Hartlage. "The [Fulton] plant makes a lot of products for light trucks and particularly SUV's," he explained. "Consumers have been buying fewer SUV's and more fuel efficient cars."

He added that the Fulton plant is Dana's smallest sealing plant in the country, and that "with too much capacity it was the best thing for our customers to close the smallest plant."

Hartlage also stated that no changes are planned for either Paris or McKenzie plants, but the two will absorb employees from the Fulton plant upon its closure.