“Amid the current dismal economic news, there is finally some good news for citizens of the Upper Cumberland area who are struggling to pay their utility bills,” recently announced Luke Collins, UCHRA Executive Director. The Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency has received notice from the Tennessee Department of Human Service of an award in the amount of $3,794,695, the same as last year’s award, for the FY 2013 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). “With these funds in the coming year UCHRA will be able to provide utility assistance to in excess of 7,000 low income Upper Cumberland households,” he continued. UCHRA will begin accepting LIHEAP applications at each of its county offices for this funding period beginning July 1, 2012.
LIHEAP is a federally funded program, through the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), designed to assist low income households in meeting home energy needs and is intended to supplement energy costs for those eligible households. Priority for service is not “first come, first served”, rather it is based upon a point system that takes into consideration such factors as household income (maximum of 150% of the Federal Guidelines), and having household members who are elderly, disabled, and/or children (under age 6). Another factor is the % of income the household pays for its energy.
Documentation of income will be required for the application process and include proof of all household income. This includes check stubs for 13 weeks, Social Security or Pension Award letters, unemployment benefit letters. Bank statements will no longer be accepted as income documentation. If self-employed an applicant should provide a tax return or 4 weeks of receipts and expenses. Applicants should also provide a copy for one month of the household’s electric and/or gas bill in the last 12 month (the highest bill is most beneficial to the applicant). Social Security cards are required for all household members. Some additional documentation may be required to process applications.
Assistance provided to households ranges from $300 – $600 depending upon its total points. Once an application has been submitted by a household it will be notified by mail within 90 day of the status of the application.
Households awarded assistance are required to continue paying their energy bills until the awarded payment has been received by its designated utility provider, and when benefit is exhausted the household will return to paying for the energy costs.
The UCHRA DeKalb County office is located at 726 South Congress Blvd., Smithville, TN and can be reached by calling 615-597-4504.

The DeKalb County Commission is expected to adopt budgets for all county departments and establish the property tax rate for the 2012-13 fiscal year during their next regular meeting on Monday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the basement courtroom of the courthouse.
(CLICK THE FOLLOWING PDF LINK TO VIEW THE PROPOSED COUNTY BUDGET FOR 2012-13. THE BUDGET HAS NOT YET BEEN APPROVED BY THE COUNTY COMMISSION)
DeKalb-FINAL 2013 Budget 6-21-12.pdf (194.41 KB)
The budget committee of the county commission voted to recommend passage of the budgets during a meeting held Tuesday night, June 19. “I think its kind of a very basic budget that’s not got any new ideas or new things in it much. Its kind of a continuation of the budget we’re in this year,” said County Mayor Mike Foster.
No pay raises are included in this budget for county general employees right now but Foster said the county is considering establishing a step increase plan for county employees, possibly later in the budget year. The County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) may be consulted in assisting the county in developing such a wage scale, possibly taking into consideration job title and years of service. “We’re going to be looking at it in August and September after we close the books in July to see where we are. We hope to institute a step system based on job classification and years of service. That would be primarily for all county employees, especially where there are like positions throughout the county,” said County Mayor Foster. “We have asked the County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) to do this study for us (wage scale). “They will give us the information and then help us structure it. They work with a lot of different counties and they’ll kind of base it on some of the other counties and job duties that the employees have,'”he said.
Last year (2011-2012), the county budgeted a new four tiered salary pay scale for employees of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department to bring their salaries more in line with other law enforcement agencies in the area.
Total appropriations come to $40-million 039-thousand 837 dollars.
The county property tax rate would remain at $1.62 per $100 of assessed value. One cent of the tax rate generates $42,548 in local money with a 7% delinquency rate figured into the equation.
The proposed tax rate is broken down as follows:
County General: 82 cents
Highway/Public Works: 3 cents
General Capital Projects: 10 cents
Debt Service: 12 cents
General Purpose Schools: 55 cents.
The solid waste fund, under this budget, would not receive any property tax money but would continue to be supported by revenues derived from payment-in-lieu of taxes, local option sale taxes, hotel-motel tax, bank excise tax and wholesale beer tax, etc. Up until three years ago, the solid waste fund was supported by a portion of the property tax rate. Since then the tax rate previously designated for solid waste, 20 cents, has been added to the general fund, and the payment-in-lieu of taxes has been removed from the general fund and placed in the solid waste category of the budget.
Capital projects fund expenses for the year include:
*Motor Vehicles (Ambulance)-$117,000. “We’ve got in there to purchase a new ambulance this year. We have been remounting the ones that we’ve had but you can only do that a certain number of times so this time we’ve got to buy one,” said Foster
*Other equipment (Power Cots for Ambulance Service)-$65,000
*Furniture and fixtures (County Complex)-$30,000
*Motor vehicles (Patrol Cars for Sheriff’s Department)- $80,000
*Other Construction-$65,000 “This is for probably part of a roof and to finish up work the county complex. We have to put in ceiling tile in a small area and floor tiles.” said Foster.
*Other equipment (Fire Department Turnout Gear and Compressor)- $45,000
* Solid Waste Equipment (Roll Back Garbage Truck)- $145,000
Total: $547,000
The beginning fund balance for county general to start the fiscal year, 2012-13, is expected to be $3.2 million, but projections are that by the end of the budget year next June, it could be $2.7 million, meaning the county may have to dip into its fund balance for operation during the year. “They (fund balances) are pretty strong but this budget proposes that we will probably spend a little more money than we are taking in, which I don’t like. We did that (projected deficit spending) last year but we’re actually going to come out in the black. I just don’t know exactly how much. We generally over estimate expenditures and under estimate revenues to build in a little cushion. It looks like we’re going to come out with maybe a $400,000 to $500,000 fund balance in the black this year,” said Foster. Fund balances for all county departments combined come to $14.4 million to begin the new year, 2012-13 and are projected to be $11.9 million by June 30, 2013.
Except for a few odds and ends, the county complex is complete. “We’re still waiting on the basketball goals to come in for the gym and two or three little odds and ends, but its pretty well finished. We have two part-time positions (at the complex) and we’ll have another part-time position to operate the sound equipment when we have a band performing out there,” said Foster.
The county complex project cost the county less than budget estimates, according to Foster. “It actually cost us less than we budgeted for, which is a really good thing, and pretty unusual when you’re talking about construction. We wound up with about $44 a square foot in it. The people who do our risk assessment came in without knowing what we spent on it and valued it at almost $100 per square foot. They have assessed the building alone at about seven million dollars. About $2.7 million is what it cost to remodel it plus the price we gave for it of $750,000. That’s about $3.4 million which is considerably less than we thought we would have in it. We had some money budgeted in there on up to four million dollars,” he said.
Foster said he is hopeful that revenues generated from rental fees at the complex will help offset the costs of operation. ” I think we’re a good bit ahead of what we estimated that the revenue would be out there (at the complex). Its hard to know yet but it looks like it may be three to four thousand dollars a month. That’s a good thing because it will pretty well pay for itself as far as the employees. Hopefully, it will bring in $40,000 to $50,000 in revenue. As far as somebody there to maintain it and operate it, we’re hoping its about the same amount of money (as the revenue). The biggest thing that I see that we probably didn’t plan for (at the complex) is maintenance of the floors out there. But we are really pleased with our utility bills out there because it and the courthouse have consistently been under what we estimated they were going to be. When we built it, we added some energy efficiency things to that building and its probably running about 45% of what we estimated it was going to be,” said Foster.
The school board’s requests have been met in this budget including a building/roofing plan, proposed to be funded with a $3.4 million note over a 12 year period.
A summary of the proposed extras in the new school budget are as follows:
A 2.5% increase for teachers along with the regular step increases and degree advancements
A local 2.5% increase for support staff along with the regular step increases per salary schedule
An increase of 9% for projected health insurance costs
The addition of one math teacher at DCHS
The addition of two extra teaching positions (one for kindergarten and one for DMS sixth grade) if needed due to enrollment (currently unassigned)
Putting custodians on twelve month contracts instead of the current ten month contracts
Replacing Bookkeeping Computers for the School Bookkeepers
Additional costs in Special Education due to contracted services
Normal increases for utilities, transportation fuel, and for supplies.
The food service budget, which is self supporting, includes a 2.5% increase for support staff with step increases as per salary schedules. The central office bookkeeper under food service will go from an 11 month to a 12 month position.
The spending plan calls for $600,000 in local funding to meet a 12.5% FEMA grant match for building eight tornado “safe rooms” at DeKalb West School. During the April school board meeting, Director Mark Willoughby announced that the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency had approved grant funds of more than $1.5 million for the safe room project at DeKalb West School, pending final approval by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The $3.4 million note would cover the $600,000 grant match, an $850,000 cafeteria and kitchen renovation project at DeKalb West School; a $1.1 million DeKalb Middle School roof project (roof and removal of metal overhang soffit), a $700,000 DeKalb West School roof project (roof and removal of metal overhang soffit and seal off gymnasium); and an $85,000 Smithville Elementary School roof project (8,000 square feet of the roof).
Three cents of the property tax rate, $127,645 helps support the county highway department along with a mineral severance tax, $25,000, Other than that, Foster said all of the county road department’s budget is funded by state allocations, mostly state gas tax revenues
Proposed expenditures for each department are as follows:
County General Fund: $6,861,550
Courthouse and Jail Maintenance: $68,255
Local Purpose Tax Fund: $2,169,820
Solid Waste/Sanitation: $1,582,037
Drug Control: $34,616
Highways/Public Works: $2,467,965
General Purpose School Fund: $19,959,698
Central Cafeteria: $1,794,125
Debt Service: $1,149,880
General Capital Projects: $551,891
Education Capital Projects Fund: $3,400,000
The county commission is also expected to adopt a resolution July 23 making appropriations of $135,387 to the following non-profit organizations:
DeKalb Sparks Softball- $150
Upper Cumberland Development District- $3,411
Tennessee Division of Forestry-$1,500
DeKalb County Rescue Squad- $11,500
Plateau Mental Health-$7,180
Families First-$750
Senior Citizens Program-$26,378
DeKalb Soil Conservation District-$29,592
DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce-$15,000
Imagination Library- $7,200
Genesis House- $1,500
Upper Cumberland Child Advocacy Center- $1,780
DeKalb County Fair- $1,500
WCTE-TV- $5,000
Prospect Incorporated-$12,500
Upper Cumberland Human Resources-$1,200
UCHRA Assessment-Homemaker Aide, etc-$9,245
DeKalb-FINAL 2013 Budget 6-21-12.pdf (194.41 KB)

The Smithville Aldermen Monday afternoon, acting on the advice of counsel, voted to settle a lawsuit for $130,000 brought last year by two former city employees, who lost their jobs after being charged with theft for allegedly taking scrap brass from the water treatment plant and selling it to a recycling center.
46 year old Kenny Waymon Dyal, Sr. and 43 year old Christopher Derrick Ferrell, filed the lawsuit in DeKalb County Circuit Court on February 17th, 2011 against the City of Smithville, asking for a jury trial. They wanted their old jobs back, compensatory damages for wages and benefits lost during the period of their unemployment, punitive damages for intentional, malicious, and reckless conduct of the city, for attorney fees and costs, and any other relief to which they may be properly and justly entitled. In the event they could not be given back their jobs, Dyal and Ferrell asked for lost differential wages and benefits to the date of their expected retirement.
Dyal was the supervisor of the Smithville Water Treatment Plant and Ferrell was a city maintenance employee and water meter reader.
During the brief meeting Monday, Dan Rader, the attorney appointed by the Tennessee Municipal League (TML), the city’s insurance carrier, recommended that the aldermen approve an offer to settle the lawsuit for $130,000 which includes $100,000 in city funds, $30,000 from TML funds, and up to $2,500 for mediator, discretionary, and court costs, if TML does not pay those costs. “This lawsuit was filed quite some time ago and it has been pending by Kenny Dyal and Christopher Ferrell,” said Rader. ” We’ve been defending that and we had a mediation. Prior to that we had an attorney/client meeting and I won’t reiterate or recount what the attorney/client advice was, but we have attempted to negotiate a settlement of this lawsuit. The plaintiffs started at $700,000 as their demand. The city made offers subject to this board’s eventual approval. The city’s final offer was a total of $130,000 which was going to be paid $100,000 from city funds and $30,000 from TML funds who is your insurance carrier. There are some issues with respect to whether or not they (TML) cover the claim. They (TML) have taken the position that they don’t cover any of the types of claims brought, except that they do provide you a legal defense. So they were contributing based on a cost basis. In any event, the plaintiff’s lowest demand at the mediation was $150,000 and the mediation ended and the case was not settled. Since that time, on Friday afternoon, the plaintiff’s lawyer called me and said that they would take $130,000 plus some costs, which include the court costs. They have asked for us to pay all of the mediator’s costs. Both of those are fairly standard. The only one that is not entirely standard is discretionary costs which are less than $1,000 but he didn’t have a firm total for me. I have attempted to call TML to see if they would pay that on your behalf but the adjustor handling the claim is out unfortunately. He will be back later this week and I’ll ask him if he will pay those costs on your behalf. But the question before the board tonight is whether or not to approve the settlement of the city’s portion of $100,000 for a total settlement of $130,000. I’d ask you to approve up to $2,500 in costs, if necessary if TML doesn’t pay it. The $100,000 plus potentially up to $2,500 would come from city funds,” said Rader.
Mayor Taft Hendrixson asked city attorney Vester Parsley what he thought of Rader’s recommendation
Parsley responded, “I think it is wise for us to go forward”.
Mayor Hendrixson then asked alderman Gayla Hendrix, who was present at the mediation, what she thought.
Alderman Hendrix replied ” I agree with Mr. Parsley, I think this is a good settlement and we should probably go forward with it”
Alderman Danny Washer made a motion to “accept our lawyer’s recommendation”. Alderman Hendrix offered a second to the motion and Aldermen Steve White and Cecil Burger joined Washer and Hendrix in granting approval. Alderman Shawn Jacobs was absent.
In January, 2011 Dyal and Ferrell, each charged with theft of property, appeared in DeKalb County General Sessions Court where, under a settlement, they agreed to make restitution in the amount of $1,348 jointly and severally. After they paid their half of the restitution, $674 the case against them was dismissed and their records were to be expunged.
Dyal and Ferrell alleged in their lawsuit that they were discharged by the city to keep them from talking to state auditors about alleged misconduct of city Secretary-Treasurer Hunter Hendrixson and Public Works Director Kevin Robinson and that they were denied due process by not being afforded an opportunity to state their case in front of a board consisting of the mayor, department commissioner, and the secretary-treasurer.
According to the lawsuit, “In or around the summer of 2010, the City of Smithville entered into a contract with W&O Construction to replace water pipes at the water treatment plant. The contract between the City of Smithville and W&O Construction indicates it is the responsibility of W&O Construction to remove all of the scrap metal from the construction.”
“When W&O Construction first began the construction process, another employee along with his son removed scrap pipe from the construction site and sold it to a scrap metal shop. To date, no charges have been filed against this employee nor have any disciplinary actions been taken by the City of Smithville.”
“Having witnessed this, Dyal asked Hendrixson for permission to take other scrap metal off to be sold. Hendrixson gave his permission,” according to the lawsuit.
“Dyal also spoke with Rick at W&O Construction to see if he could have his permission to remove the scrap metal. Rick told Dyal that the scrap “didn’t mean anything to W&O and that he could take it.”
“On October 21st, November 3rd, and November 4th, Dyal and Ferrell removed the scrap metal and sold it to a scrap metal business.”
“On November 4th, even though both the City of Smithville and a representative from W&O Construction gave permission for Dyal and Ferrell to remove scrap metal, a complaint was filed with the Smithville Police Department and Dyal and Ferrell were arrested for theft of property.”
“Without conducting proper dismissal proceedings as outlined in the City of Smithville Municipal Code, Dyal and Ferrell’s employment was terminated on November 4th. This occurred just six days prior to the audit.”
Further, Dyal and Ferrell allege that the “City of Smithville violated the City of Smithville Municipal Code by terminating their employment without a suspension period, by not providing a hearing within three working days of the suspension, and by not affording them an opportunity to state their case in front of a board consisting of the mayor, department commissioner, and the secretary-treasurer.”
The lawsuit claimed that “The City of Smithville’s conduct toward Dyal and Ferrell was committed in an intentional or reckless manner thereby causing them to suffer severe emotional distress.”

If someone should come to your home, claiming to be from the property assessor’s office, wanting to come inside to take measurements, beware!. It could be a scam.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that while no such incident has yet been reported in DeKalb County, the scam has occurred in counties close by. “Homeowners should be aware of this scam. Its where two individuals, most of the time males, will come up to a homeowner, knock on their door, and tell the homeowner that they are from the tax assessor’s office and that they need to come inside of their home and measure rooms for tax purposes,” said Sheriff Ray.
“The way the scam works is that one of the guys keeps the homeowner occupied, while the other guy, who is equipped with a tape measure and some writing materials, will go around and act like he is measuring out rooms. The whole time he is in there, he is stealing medication, cash, jewelry, and anything that he can put in his pocket. He is stealing that from the homeowner,” he said.
“I called the DeKalb County Tax Assessor’s Office. They told me that they very rarely go inside of a home to do any kind of tax appraisals. Any measuring they have to do on any building is measured from the outside, not the inside. They also use vehicles with signs on them while on official duty stating that they are from the DeKalb County Tax Assessor’s Office,” said Sheriff Ray.
If you suspect you may be the target of such a scam, Sheriff Ray urges you to contact his office to report it. ” I would appreciate it if you would give us a call here at the jail where our detectives could start investigating. You can also call the Tax Assessor’s Office at 597-5925 to verify any time that somebody there is doing a taxation of the property. If somebody does come to your house, stating that they are from the taxation department or the Tax Assessor’s office, call the 215-3000 number, which is our dispatch line, and a deputy will come down and check on it,” he said.

State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver said Monday night a bid letting for the new Sligo bridge may take place by February.
Weaver made that announcement during the monthly county commission meeting, while giving a legislative update. “Last week, I got together with the State Department of Transportation. I met with commissioner (John) Schroer and his department heads. We talked and continue to talk about Sligo. We have three entities. We have the Corps, the lessee (Sligo Marina), and the department (TDOT) involved. The are right now in the last option or negotiation for the bridge to move forward. As I met with them on Wednesday, that last piece of negotiation was going to the marina. Right now, it is setting on their desk as to whether they are going to accept it or not. The (Sligo Marina) lease (with the Corps) will actually expire in 2013 of January. Basically, if they (marina) are not going to embrace the option or the negotiation of what everyone has given them, then they (Corps) will let the lease expire and the (bid) let will take place as early as February, 2013. That’s where we are on that right now,” said Representative Weaver.
The state has been ready to proceed with plans to build the new Sligo bridge for months but can’t move on the project until a disagreement over right of way acquisition is resolved.
TDOT is in negotiations with the Corps of Engineers and its lessee Sligo Marina, trying to purchase right of way for the bridge.
Although the Corps is the only property owner involved, TDOT apparently has to take into consideration concerns of Sligo Marina, which is located next to Sligo bridge.
According to TDOT Chief Engineer Paul Degges, one of the major concerns is that the marina owners want the state to pay for “potential loss of business”to them during the construction of the bridge. The problem is the state cannot legally pay for those types of damages.
Normally, when an agreement cannot be reached on right of way acquisition, the state can resort to imminent domain proceedings. But in this case, condemnation is not an option because the state cannot condemn federal property.
Representative Weaver said she is hoping the issue can be resolved soon. “When you’ve got three separate entities involved, it does not go fast enough. It takes time for these things to move forward,” she said.

A 19-year-old college student, Junior Garcia of Saginaw Texas has embarked on a cross-country journey to draw attention to Jesus Christ, saying he believes God put it in his heart to carry a 12-foot cross from his home to the gates of the White House.
Garcia and those traveling with him from his home congregation, the Oasis Church in Saginaw, Texas, passed through DeKalb County Monday, walking along Highway 70.
WJLE caught up with him late Monday afternoon on Highway 70 at the top of Snow Hill.
“We left from Saginaw, Texas on June 7th, carrying a twelve foot cross headed to Washington D.C. The purpose of the walk is to bring this nation’s attention back to the cross in the name of Jesus Christ,” said Garcia.
The cross the college student is carrying is made of wood and has wheels at its base. Garcia said he is walking most of the way to the nation’s capitol but when parts of his walk become too dangerous due to traffic, his group hops into a small passenger van that takes them to a safer spot to continue the journey.
Garcia plans to conclude the journey in Washington, D.C., where he will hold a prayer service near the White House. “On July 13, when we arrive in Washington, we’ll hold a prayer service in front of the White House at Lafayette Park where we will pray for this great nation, lift up our leaders, and pray that they listen with their hearts and before they make decisions that they get on their knees and not lean on their own understanding but on his (Christ),” said Garcia.
In addition to drawing attention to Christ, Garcia’s efforts are also to help raise money for an Assembly of God program called “Speed of Light” that benefits a missionary in Mexico. “Our secondary purpose in the walk is to raise money for a missionary in Central Mexico, to purchase a vehicle for them to get the children to church,” he said.
Garcia said he had intended to stay on Interstate 40 through Tennessee, but was stopped in Brownsville, Tennessee. He said authorities asked them to leave the Interstate because it might not be safe, walking along the Interstate. He is now taking his journey along Highway 70 “We’re now just trying to get our mileage in, heading through little cities in Tennessee, trying to average about thirty five to forty miles per day.