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Trezevant Inducts New Councilman

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TREZEVANT (January 8) — Trezevant’s Board of Aldermen met in their first session of 2019 with a short agenda of business. Mayor Bobby Blaylock declared a vacancy on the board due to the resignation of Alderman Joe Fowler, who has moved from the town since the last meeting in November. Blaylock recommended former Water Department supervisor Tim Rogers to fill the vacancy which was unanimously approved. He was present at the meeting and was sworn in by town attorney Charles Trotter.
The board heard updates on the status of properties being cleaned up and the recent engineering survey done on Park Street. Street department employee Mary Jo Hall told the board she had not had any contact with the Grimes since early December as to the cleanup process at their property. City Recorder Kathy Edwards advised Mr. McRae had been in touch and made much progress at his property. It was announced that the preliminary survey work had been completed on Park Street by A2H Engineering and the town would soon be able to proceed with work to be done on that project.
Jeff Goad advised the Board an amendment to the water budget would be necessary because the state had sent $168,640 to pay Tegrah Engineering to pay for water line related survey work being done to the proposed four lane. Goad said there would be no expense to the town.

Goad also advised the board the water department budget was approximately $15,000 over budget due to unexpected repairs but they would be fine at the end of the fiscal year if there were no more big unexpected expenses. He told the board it was a good time to open discussion on a water rate increase. He reminded the board that in Tennessee if any town or city’s water department budget had a deficit for two consecutive years the state would come in and set the water rates for them and he didn’t think they wanted that. The choices brought up were either do small incremental increases or end up having to do a large increase later. It was mentioned that the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) would come in and evaluate their water department budget as a free service and advise the city what they might do. It was agreed to contact them and report back at next month’s meeting.
Board member Pam Bryant opened discussion on the need for another part-time employee for the Street Department or Water Department because there is a lot of things needing to be taken care of and not enough manpower to get it done. The town is already in talks with a potential employee to help with the water department but is looking for someone to come in and do whatever needs to be done whether it’s with the Water Department or Street Department. Discussion led to coming up with a list of duties and posting an ad in the paper for two weeks. The board approved the action.
Bryant also opened discussion on opening an old street connecting Foster Street and Deere Lane. Currently there is no short route to access the subdivision area in the event of residents having an emergency in that area. Discussion centered around the old street going across private property. No action was taken except to research the situation and talk to property owners.