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By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Former County Commissioner Ralph Davis addressed commissioners at Monday’s workshop regarding a tire grinding business that is trying to purchase property in the Oswego area at the county industrial park. Davis said the company Traxion Materials did not have state permits in place for its business and that the 33 acres the company was trying to purchase from the county for the business was in a flood zone. Davis urged the commission to retract the property from the Industrial Development Board (IDB) and make sure permits are in place and “everything is done right and safe.”
Davis said he had been in contact with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and that the business would need two permits from the state.
“They cannot store tires on the ground; they have to be in an enclosed facility where the water and the sun cannot touch these tires. They have to be documented and not left on the site for over a year,” Davis said. He said he was for grinding the tires, but that certain things needed to be in writing.
“They have to do a proposal to you guys on how they are going to store it, how they are going to grind them, where they are going to go, and everything about it, and you guys have to approve it; I’m hoping that one of you guys will withdraw the sale of this property until all this is proven. The state of Tennessee said they should have filed for a permit and to make sure this property would be permitted to be bonded – it is in a flood zone and that will just about kill the sale … I live there, it floods,” Davis said, adding that part of the 33 acres was in a 100-year flood zone and part was in a 500-year flood zone. He said there are two Jellico wells located on the property. Two months ago, the county gave both of those wells to the Jellico Utility, according to County Mayor Jack Lynch.
Back in July, the county commission transferred the property to the Industrial Development Board. At that meeting, County Mayor Jack Lynch said a company was interested in the property. At the July Commission meeting, commissioners transferred that property to the IDB board.
At Monday’s Commission workshop, Commissioner Rusty Orick suggested retracting the property transfer from the IDB board until all of these questions could be answered to “set the standards in place.”
“While we were at the conference, I talked to a representative for CTAS (County Technical Assistance Service) and she is well informed and takes care of the TDEC stuff and we talked about the tires, stuff I didn’t know, that I found out last week, would that be the best suited? I don’t think anybody on this commission wants to do any harm to anybody… if that’s fine with you all, IDB has not made any business decisions,” Orick said. He said he thought it should be brought back to the table and that he would put it on the agenda for next Monday night (regular county commission meeting) to retract the property transfer.
He also said it should go before the sanitation committee to set regulations with CTAS and TDEC before it is handed off to IDB to “make sure it is done right.”
Scott Stanfield seconded Orick’s motion and said he thought the commission needed to ask CTAS and TDEC to come to the meeting to answer any questions.
County Mayor Jack Lynch said the company never said anything about storing tires and that they needed the building on the property, which actually belongs to Jellico. The two wells on the property now belong to the City of Jellico as well.
County Attorney Joe Coker said the City of Jellico needed an opportunity to participate in the discussions as well and that they needed notice to be heard.
“We need to just take a step back and set the parameters. I think myself, it is needed, I’m like Ralph, I wouldn’t want 30 acres outside my place storing tires, but that wasn’t told to us. And I checked, Kentucky Power is going to generate electricity from these tires and all they are doing now is going into the landfill,” Orick said.
Lynch said if anybody had come in and said they wanted to store 30 acres of tires, he wouldn’t talk to them, I never heard anything about storage,” Lynch said.
Davis said he knew the county needed to get rid of the tires, but he wanted it “done right”.
“All I am asking is don’t do it, unless it’s done properly and safely for the community and I am 100-percent no for melting it down for oil, it stinks up, if you smell it folks, it gets in your system. Just don’t melt it down here,” Davis said.
Commissioners will vote next week about retracting the property from the Industrial Development Board. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-10/15/2025-6AM)