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JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – County commissioners met via Zoom on Monday evening, discussing multiple issues and setting the agenda for next week’s meeting.
During the workshop, commissioners met with Tennessee Department of Transportation representatives Josh Metz and Matt Edens who discussed the construction safety concerns regarding the paving work on Highway 63 in front of Food Lion and an further up on Highway 63.
Potter Southeast is the contractor on the $17.2 million dollar project, which has an estimated completion date of May 21, 2023. Once completed, it will be two lanes in each direction with a turn lane in the middle.
This is a federal oversight project with funds coming from the federal government.
Metz discussed changes that would be done to make the area safer for traffic during this construction period. He also addressed the problem of damaged water lines which have been damaged repeatedly due to how close the new line has to be put in beside the old line. According to Metz, TDOT has had the contractor move water line installation to night time from 11 pm to 5 am to lessen the impact on citizens.
Metz said TDOT was going to try to have better communication with citizens and with LaFollette Utility Board (LUB) to deal with these water line issues. The plan is to put up a message board on the road. LUB has employees on site to repair these water line breaks as soon as possible.
Commissioner Lisa Lester asked about having a turning lane put back in for Davis Chapel and also if there was a way to cut down on the school traffic that backs up in that area leading into LaFollette. Metz said he would look into it. He also said complaints had gone down once waterline construction switched to night time. Metz said TDOT would be providing updates on its website to help the public know what was happening and when.
Commissioner Robert Higginbotham brought up the continued safety issues on Hunters Branch Road where it intersects with the four lane due to the new rock quarry. Higginbotham read a letter penned by County Road Superintendent Ron Dilbeck to be sent to TDOT regarding these safety concerns of dump trucks pulling out on the highway and asked other commissioners to sign the letter next week.
Also briefly discussed was the need to Apply for a TDOT Litter grant, which is a yearly process.
Expected to be on next week’s agenda is an agreement with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office and an IT company. A representative of the IT company will be in attendance at next week’s agreement to discuss the proposed contract.
The approval of the 2021 Campbell County Road list will be discussed at next week’s meeting.
Several roads in a subdivision that had not been adopted by the county but needed to be finished will be discussed. The roads discussed were Chelsey Lane and Sussex Road. “We would be accepting a road not up to standard, and it’s really not our place to talk to the developers, but we need to help these people,” said Commissioner Rusty Orick. “It went through LaFollette’s planning commission and not ours,” Orick said. Several commissioners and Road Superintendent Dilbeck said they would talk to owners about the problem and ask if they had spoken to the developers about finishing the road and “see what they could do to help the citizens living in the subdivision.”
County Mayor E.L. Morton announced that Campbell County had moved into risk phase 1c for the vaccination, which includes age 65 and above. Commissioner Rusty Orick said the health officials in the county were doing an “outstanding job.”
The mayor also informed the commissioners that the Senior Center has a plumbing issue and has asked for help with that problem. The senior center provides meals for many seniors, especially during the COVID-19 virus.
Commissioner Scotty Kitts said he planned to sponsor a budget amendment resolution for next week to ask for funds to donate to fix the problem and install a grease trap in the facility and fix the clogged pipes. Commissioners will discuss this at the next meeting and possibly vote on it since the “need is imperative.” Kitts said he would meet with the finance director and also get a cost analysis of the project.
Included in Monday evening’s discussion was a previous issue in which the County Commission in November requested the Tennessee legislators add two more seats to the Powell-Clinch Utility Board. Now the PCUD is saying the addition of these two spots would cost additional funds. Commissioner Rusty Orick said he planned to put on the agenda to retract the request, because he didn’t want to be the “scapegoat” on the raising of rates.” “Hopefully we can meet again with the board over the next year and get this worked out,” Orick said. This will be discussed more next week.
The commission looked at putting a uniform contract out to bid for the sanitation department as well as putting trash compactors out to bid.
Next Monday night’s commission meeting will be in person at 6 pm in the county courthouse. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/09/2021-6AM-PHOTO COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)