At the April 24 County Commission meeting, County Mayor Jason Bailey announced that Union County Commission would be taking action on the FY24 Budget at the May 22 meeting. He also noted that the Budget Committee will have two meetings, May 2 at 6 p.m. and May 16 at 7 p.m. to discuss budget concerns.
The May 2 meeting will discuss property for the justice center, voting machine storage, and the possible purchasing of property around the courthouse.
Bailey updated the grants and their status. The county has received a grant from Tennessee Risk Management to repair the sidewalk at the back of the courthouse.
The Farm Grant application is awaiting the design from East Tennessee Design Center before proceeding with the grant application to complete Heritage Park.
The Safe Routes to School Grant is still on hold pending a decision from the Federal Government regarding an easement to provide a sidewalk from LaFollette Housing to Luttrell Elementary School.
The firetruck should be delivered soon that will be provided to Northeast Volunteer Fire Department from the Community Block Development Grant.
Bailey called attention to the updated site plan for the new middle school. The new plan relocates some of the sports facilities to within the site and appears to allow for future expansion of the building. Building a new middle school will also be part of the budget discussion at the meetings.
Greg Clay, Director of Union County Schools, will present early information regarding the school budget at the meeting on May 22.
Luttrell Mayor Jerry Lawson notified Bailey and the county commission that the city was interested in owning the property at Luttrell Industrial Park. Lawson explained that the city would like to begin its own sports facility for the area children.
He further stated that the city wanted to apply for grants to develop the facilities.
Bailey told commissioners that the land could be leased, sold or donated.
Mayor Lawson said that the city is interested in the total property amounting to a little more than 43 acres.
The sheriff reported that 706 calls were handled in March: 9 wrecks with no injury and 26 wrecks with injury were worked. Booked into the jail were 100 persons and released were 101 clients. Currently 85 persons reside in the jail and 24 of those inmates are females.
According to the sheriff the jail is rated for 12 females and has double that number. The sheriff gave no information regarding violent as opposed to non-violent offenders currently in jail.
Commission approved an agreement to allow TDOT to perform road work near the railroad along about three miles of Luttrell-Corryton Road. Mention of TDOT sparked a discussion of state roads that intersect county roads where accidents have occurred and dangerous safety issues exist.
Commissioner Danny Cooke asked that the intersection of SR 144 Hickory Star Road and SR 170 Hickory Valley Road be reviewed. Another commissioner asked that the intersection of SR 170 Hickory Valley Road and SR 33 Maynardville Hwy be reviewed for increased signage. Mayor Bailey will follow up on the requests.