Commission renames Airport; discusses Solid Waste Discount for Disabled Veterans

A resolution was brought before the County Commission on Monday night requesting that the Airport’s name be changed from “John A. Baker Field” to “Paul Bridges Field.” All commissioners were present except for Ronnie Brewer and Jason Fite.

Bridges served as the Airport Manager at the Lewis County Airport for 40 years without ever requesting pay. During that time he donated tens of thousands of dollars worth of his time and labor to the airport and Lewis County Government, as well as helped secure millions of dollars in grants, read the resolution.

Bridges unfortunately lost his battle with Covid-19 on January 29th when he passed.

“In no way am I minimalizing what all Mr. Bridges has done for us,” said Commissioner Wendell Kelley. “I just hate to see us take John Baker’s name completely off the field. I’d kinda like to see it named Baker Bridges Field.”

Commissioner Brian Peery then agreed with Commissioner Kelley, “I thought about this a lot and I agree with what Wendell said. Why can’t we leave John A. Baker Field and name the runway ‘Paul Bridges Runway?’” Commissioners Robert Brewer and Patrick Halfacre suggested naming the hanger after John Baker and the airport after Paul Bridges.

Don Barber, City of Hohenwald’s Vice Mayor and long-time friend of Bridges, stated that the commission could not name the runway and the airport separately, but they could name a hanger.

“Mr. Baker was kin to the Adcox family and served on the Board of Aeronautics. He was instrumental in getting the grant to acquire the real estate to build the airport here in Lewis County. I thought he might have owned the real estate and donated it, but that’s not the case. Then some two months after the grant was acquired, he got killed in a fishing accident and that’s why it was named after him. He never got to do any work at the airport, but he was on the Board of Aeronautics,” said Barber. “I think for the amount of time that [Bridges] spent out there, which is more than any resident of Lewis County has by a factor of ten, that it’s a well deserving name change.”

Lewis County Mayor Jonah Keltner then gave his seat to Vice Chairman Peery to step down from the podium and give his own opinion, “I think it definitely should be changed to Paul Bridges Field. I can’t think of anybody more deserving in my lifetime to name something after other than maybe naming the park after Coach Grinder. No offense to Mr. Baker... I don’t want to redo our history or anything like that, but I will certainly be in favor of naming it Paul Bridges Field.”

The resolution was passed in a roll call vote, with Commissioner Kelley voting no.

Discounted Solid Waste Fee for Disabled Veterans

A resolution went before the County Commission requesting that qualifying elderly homeowners, disabled veterans, widows of disabled veterans and disabled homeowners be allowed a minimum $25 discount on their residential solid waste fee.

Commissioner Brewer pointed out that there was no estimated or exact number given as to how much the discount would cost the Solid Waste Fund.

“I agree that they should all get a tax break. I understand that we have poor people in this town, but we’re going to be the poor people as the Solid Waste Committee because we don’t have the money to fund this program,” said Commissioner Jobbitt. “If you all want to vote to take this money out of the general fund, I’ll vote yes for all of it because I want them to have everything for free but I can’t pay for it out of the Solid Waste Fund. That’s the problem we’re dealing with right now.”

Commissioner Aren Ragsdale agreed with Jobbitt, “It’s not just disabled veterans that are in this resolution. I’m absolutely for giving them that discount. I just want to see what it’s going to cost and where the money is going to come from before I vote on this.”

“There shouldn’t be a rush to get this done tonight,” said Ragsdale, before motioning to table the resolution until numbers were brought before the commission. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Kelley.

The commissioners were exactly split in half: Commissioners Brewer, Peery, Kelley, Austin Carroll, Ragsdale, Allison Tanner, Jobbitt and Jerry Ashmore voted yes while Commissioners Larry Hensley, Timmie Hinson, Kyle Bobo, Halfacre, Jim Grinder, T.J. Hinson, Bill Dyer and Larry Pigg voted no.

It takes ten votes to table a resolution, so the resolution had to be voted on during Monday night’s meeting. Commissioners Brewer, Peery, Kelley, Ragsdale, Tanner, Jobbitt, Ashmore and Pigg voted no while Commissioners Hensley, Timmie Hinson, Bobo, Halfacre, Carroll, T.J. Hinson, and Dyer voted yes. Commissioner Grinder abstained. The resolution failed.

Budget Amendments

Solid Waste Transfer Station Part-time Secretaries

Previously, two full-time secretaries, Haley Skelton and Susan Adkins, were paid to operate the scales through the American Jobs Center’s Dislocated Worker Program, costing the Lewis County Government zero dollars for their employment.

Unfortunately, the program was “suddenly and unexpectedly shut down” due to the lack of federal funding on Friday, February 5th. Mayor Keltner informed the commissioners that there had been no notification or warning of the program’s end, “Two weeks earlier, I was told that it was a two year program.”

Six employees of the Transfer Station were affected by the program’s abrupt end. There was enough funding in the Solid Waste Budget to offer three a part-time position, but not enough for the remaining three.

The resolution was to fund the positions of the two part-time secretaries to run the scales at a cost of $17,472 until June 30, 2021 to finish this fiscal year. The two secretaries would be paid $13 an hour and would be scheduled approximately 32 hours per week, which amounts to $43,264 per year for both positions.

The money for their salaries would come from scales’ revenue, which was $19,143.24 since October 2020, which is more than enough to cover the salaries. The scales projected to bring in $57,429 per year.

Commissioners Halfacre and Jim Grinder sponsored the resolution and it passed in a unanimous roll call vote.

Library Grant from Elks Lodge

Commissioners Ragsdale and Halfacre sponsored the budget amendment which allowed the library to place $4,500 into their budget. The money, donated by the Lewis County Elks Lodge, will go towards the purchase of Wifi hotspots, Wifi boosters and the monthly service charge from Verizon to operate the hotspots for one year.

The Commission passed the resolution in a unanimous roll call vote.

Other Resolutions

Lewis County’s 2021 Community Development Block Grant

A resolution came before the commission to authorize Mayor Keltner to submit an application for a CDB Grant in order to “rehabilitate/replace existing sewer lines, service connections and manholes to reduce extraneous flow into the sewer system in the Piney Creek Basin area.”

The resolution gave the County Mayor the authority to submit an application for the grant in the amount of $630,000, and to enter into any agreement necessary to receive and administer the grant funds.

The total cost of the project is $715,910, stated the resolution. “The balance of $85,910 in local matching contribution will be provided by funds from the City of Hohenwald sewer fund.

Commissioners Halfacre and Timmie Hinson sponsored the resolution and it passed unanimously in a roll call vote.

Security Personnel Needed at County Courthouse

The previous full-time Court Officer, Joey Potts, has now been assigned to the Justice Center, which periodically leaves the County Courthouse without security.

As it stands, the County Government does have part-time security from Officer Cranford Durham, but he is only available to work two days a week.

Lewis County Sheriff Dwayne Kilpatrick agreed to provide an officer two days a week until June 30th, the end of this fiscal year with money from his part-time court security budget. Mayor Keltner also agreed to provide an officer three days a week with funding from the county buildings part-time personnel budget. This would mean that no new money would be used.

No decision was made.

Highway Department Declares Surplus Property

Lewis County Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution allowing the Highway Department to declare a 2009 Ford F150, 2007 Ford F150 and 1996 Ford F80 as surplus property.

This authorized the Highway Commissioner, Joyce Holt, to sell the trucks by means of public auction, sealed bids or transfer to another government department at a negotiated price.

FFCRA Extended for Highway Department Employees

A resolution requesting that the paid leave entitlements under the FFCRA be extended and follow the Covid-19 leave and quarantine protocol was passed by the commission in a unanimous roll call vote.