"I Have Not Been Fired" : New Information on Sickler Road Bridge

Due to an extreme lack of communication, or miscommunication, or straight up false communication, two entities attended the Commissioners Committee meeting Monday night, March 4th, to “set the record straight.”

In regards to the State Aid Bridge Programs, TDOT Bureau of Planning Transportation Manager Ms. Lisa Dunn was in attendance to clarify, in person, details that have been skewed. Kyle Bobo opened the conversation by asking, “Where are we at today regarding the Sickler Road Bridge project?” “Last I heard,” said Ms. Dunn, “the previous engineering firm was fired and a new firm hired, and all the past plans and files have been sent to them. I don’t know who the new firm is. That information has not been given to me. They do need to be TDOT pre-qualified.” She goes on to inform, “Once we get the final comments back on the hydraulics, then the structural design plans, final plans and calculations can be submitted. Once I get the bridge certification, all they have left to do is make sure they have their right of way and permits in place. If this is all done by June, I will tell them to put it to bid so that by July 1st, I can get a contract in place and construction can start.” Worst case scenario, with 14 projects ahead of you, as I was reminded of three others by TDOT that I failed to remember in previous emails, it will be July 2025 before the bridge construction begins.

Bobo, wanting to have her word-of mouth information on the record, asked, “Prior to the Mayor reaching out to you, we were not on the list to get the bridge completed. Is that correct?” “Correct,” Ms. Dunn responded, “Kerry reached out to me January 4th to remove that bridge project. We had talked about possibly completely demoing the bridge. I told him he didn’t want to cancel the project, because even if you do demolish the bridge and not replace it, we can still use the funds to demolish the structure. He said he was unaware of that, and I haven’t heard anymore about that from him. Then Mayor Keltner reached out.” Bobo then asked, “Were there any plans ever given to you in regards to what the goals were for that area?” Ms. Dunn informed, “The only plans I have are to replace the bridge, nothing to demo the bridge. Of course, demo is in the replacement plan, but JUST DEMOLISHING the bridge would be a completely different set of plans.”

Commissioner Austin Carroll asked, “So, if a new firm has been hired, are we going to have to start all over with plans and pay them as well?” Ms. Dunn replied, “Cagle called me Tuesday after the Commission meeting and told me the first engineering firm had been fired, and all their CAD files had been sent to a new firm. So I was under the assumption they weren’t starting from scratch.”

Ms. Dunn’s response came as a shock to Chad Collier of Collier Engineering, who was in attendance at the Committee meeting, who only knew about the decision because, “someone sent me a picture of the article in the Herald.”

“I want to talk a little bit about the history of this project, first,” he began. In the last 19 years, we have 372 of the projects across the state. I work in 53 counties across the state, so I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Over 50% of the bridges that comes out of Ms. Dunn’s office comes through and are completely by Collier Engineering.” He continued, “We started this project back in 2020 after the contract was signed in 2019. Of course, 2020 was COVID year, so from the start, we were set back a year. The preliminary plan was completed on June 7th, 2021. We got a request back from former Commissioner of Highways Joyce Holt that the right of way didn’t work and needed a complete revision. That was done in May of 2022 and resubmitted to TDOT. A new property owner then asked for a road alignment to be moved downstream, which triggered another redesign of the bridge plans from 5/22 to 10/22. The project is located in a FEMA flood area, which complicates it. The hydraulic model we turned in back in October of 2022, we received back from the state in December. About that time is when rumors started floating around that we couldn’t get plans approved and our plans were rejected. I have the completed plans right here, and they are at TDOT.

In December, I came to the Highway Department in Hohenwald and met with Austin Carroll, Kerry Cagle and Joyce Holt. They asked me to help stop the bridge project. The reason, according to Kerry, was that it was expensive and was going to spend all of his bridge money and the High Priority Bridge Money. He had other projects he felt were a higher priority and were higher traffic areas than Sickler Road. They wanted to talk about stopping the structure. The letter that is going around that I wrote, Kerry asked me to write to help them stop the structure. Your Commissioner Austin Carroll was in that meeting, so he knows. And, I kind of feel like a scapegoat in this whole thing for a few things.” He then presented another document, an agreement between Lewis County and Collier Engineering for the firm to survey, design, and manage construction of the bridge. When that is completed, I will sign a construction verification letter, give it to Ms. Dunn, and the money will then be given back to the County. 70% will come from the High Priority Bridge Fund, and 30% from Bridge Grant Fund, equalling 100% payment from State Funds.” Ms. Dunn confirmed this was correct, “The Highway Department is never out any money on this. Once the job is ready for completion, and the invoice is sent, Mr. Kerry will be given a check to then pay Collier Engineering and the contractors. No Money Comes Out of His Pocket Up Front At All.

“Kerry,” Mr. Collier went on, “asked me if it would be better to just give away the $700,000 of HPGF money and just spend the Bridge Grant fund on the smaller jobs he believed to be more dire. I told him that choice was completely up to him. He then told me that is what he would like to do, so I wrote the letter they asked me to write.”

He goes on to address Kerry’s firing of Collier Engineering. “I have received no notification of any kind about being fired from this project from anybody in Lewis County. I have the contract here, and I have never not finished a project. Ever. We’ve done hundreds of these projects, and this whole things is just very odd. In fact, we have already submitted the completed bridge plans AND have been paid by the state.”

Bobo said he would work diligently to ensure his firm stays on this job. He pointed out that neither Kerry Cagle nor Joyce Holt were in attendance, and stated, “that speaks volumes in and of itself.”

Bobo spoke up, “I have one other question for you, and it’s really just to have it on record. In one of the many emails, there was mention of Blueway access. Can you tell me about that and who that conversation originated from?” Ms. Dunn responded with, “That conversation started with Joyce Holt when I first came into the office four years ago.”

Mayor Keltner ended the discussion, “It sounds to me like this is all in Mr. Cagle’s court, and if we want this project to be completed and completed with Collier Engineering, we need to have an outcry at Mr. Cagle’s office, stressing how important this is to the community. He needs to be urged to move forward quickly, because if Ms. Dunn doesn’t have what she needs by June, then it’ll be the same waiting game again.”

Mr. Collier spoke up, “One last thing I’d like to say is, I haven’t had any CAD files shared, as Mr. Kerry said, and if I did, I would protest to that. Also, whoever designs the bridge has to sign a construction certification at the end. So, if you want to swap horses in the middle of the stream, the county is going to have to pay the new engineer to do everything I’ve already been paid to do. And, this job is probably the most expensive one this county has ever had. That just doesn’t make good sense.”

The Commissioners voted to create a resolution to keep Collier Engineering on as the hired firm to complete the bridge project, as it is the will of the commission. The resolution will be brought up and voted on at the regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting in March.

*Note: the State will never send a letter to close a bridge until the weight limit reaches below 3 tons.