The Smithville Volunteer Fire Department wants the city to invest in aerial apparatus, commonly referred to as a ladder truck.
Wallace Caldwell, member of the department and a training instructor addressed the mayor and aldermen Monday night. “I know you’re probably thinking that we can’t afford this at this time, with all the other problems that the city has. But I think, not as a fireman, but as a citizen that we cannot afford not to have one. We’ve lived on luck and borrowed time for sometime. I know we only have a few buildings downtown that are considered tall by a lot of people, the Board of Education, the Courthouse, and the white corner there at Cantrell’s Jewelry. These people think that would be the only place that it would be used. But the buildings and the entire downtown area are old and very old. If an aerial apparatus was not readily available and if we had a fire downtown, we could be in a situation that would be much worse than a lot of us could even imagine.”
“If we were to get a call late at night and the fire is not caught before it spreads or begins to get large, we could lose an entire city block, if not more. Because a working fire will double in size every sixty seconds. Yes, we could get mutual aid from another county, but by the time they got here, it would be too late.”
“We have a lot of industries in Smithville in the area in which we cover, Shiroki Wickes, Walker, Star, Ferodo, the old shirt factory, and all the buildings downtown just to name a few. Industries that would like to locate here or might be looking at locating here would look at the infrastructure of a city, look at water and power, the workforce, and fire protection. Not to mention the ISO also looks at an aerial apparatus, which would help every person that has insurance inside the city, whether they own a business or home.”
“The last point I’d like to make is can we really afford not to give the firemen of this city the tools that they need to fight the fires? Not only that, we need to give the kind of protection to the citizens and to the industries of this city that they deserve. So please, don’t send us as firefighters to a gunfight with just a knife.”
A ladder truck to meet Smithville’s needs could cost from $800,000 to $900,000. The aldermen listened to Caldwell but gave no commitment .
In other business, the aldermen adopted an ordinance on first reading amending the city’s personnel policy to give city employees with ten consecutive years of service a three week vacation with pay.
The amendment states that “after ten years of consecutive service of full time officers and employees, there will be three weeks of paid vacation.”
The ordinance will be up for second and final reading passage following a public hearing at the June 15th meeting.
The aldermen also adopted an ordinance amendment on first reading establishing a flat rate court cost of $85.00 for the Smithville City Court.
Mayor Taft Hendrixson says “the city currently has court costs ranging from $20 to $95. Most towns around us have gone to a flat court cost. This ordinance proposes an $85 court cost straight across the board. It just simplifies the court costs and the record keeping.”
The ordinance states as follows: Whereas, the Municipal Court Reform Act of 2004 allows cities to set and collect reasonable municipal court costs in the amounts prescribed by ordinance;
Whereas, the City of Smithville has determined that it is necessary to establish reasonable court costs for the City Court.
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Smithville, as follows:
Section 1. The following section is hereby amended:
In all cases heard and determined by him, the city judge shall impose court costs in the amount of $85.00.
One dollar of the court costs in each case shall be forwarded by the court clerk to the state treasurer to be used by the administrative office of the courts for training and continuing education courses for municipal court judges and municipal court clerks. The above amount does not include the $13.75 litigation tax levied by the State of Tennessee.
The ordinance will be up for second and final reading passage following a public hearing at the June 15th meeting.
An ordinance was approved on first reading levying a litigation tax for the City of Smithville
Mayor Hendrixson says “On every case that goes before our city court, there’s a state litigation tax of $14.75 which goes to the State of Tennessee. Our clerk has to send it to the state. DeKalb County and, as far as I know, everyone around us, has their own litigation tax. It’s only people that break the laws of the City of Smithville, who will be paying this, it won’t be your taxpayers. It’s just a way to help operate the police department without raising taxes on the taxpayers. It will be an additional $13.75 city litigation tax.”
The ordinance states as follows: Whereas, Public Chapter 488 of the Public Acts of 1981, which imposed a state litigation tax, has been interpreted by opinions of the State Attorney General as allowing cities to levy a litigation tax in the same manner as the litigation tax now levied by state law in an amount not to exceed the amount of such state litigation tax; and
Whereas, the City of Smithville does not impose a litigation tax as authorized by law and desires to levy such a tax to help pay for court and police related expenses; and
Now therefore, be it ordained by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Smithville that:
Section 1. Effective on the first day of each month following passage of this ordinance, a city litigation tax shall become effective as follows;
On cases in the city court there is hereby levied a city litigation tax to match the state litigation tax of $13.75
Section 2. The privilege taxes levied pursuant to this ordinance shall be paid to the City Recorder monthly to be used to assist in paying for the operation of the city court and the police department.
Section 3. This ordinance shall become effective on the first day of the month following the final passage of this ordinance.”
The ordinance will be up for second and final reading passage following a public hearing at the June 15th meeting.
Archived News & Obituaries