The City of Smithville’s new automated side loader garbage truck arrived today (Wednesday) and it will soon change the way trash is collected.
Last December, the aldermen voted to purchase the garbage truck, a 24 cubic yard tandem axle Peterbilt 348, from Municipal Equipment, Inc. of Knoxville for $192,564. The city also bought 2,500 curbside trash cart containers from Municipal Equipment, Inc. for $120,500. The total cost to the city for the truck and cart containers is $313,064.
Although the new truck will be put in use on a trial basis right away in certain areas, the new garbage collection system won’t be fully implemented until the 2500 curbside trash containers are distributed to households and businesses throughout the city. The aldermen will also have to adopt a new ordinance establishing regulations and procedures for residents and businesses to follow. Only one garbage cart can will be provided by the city per home or business. If another cart is needed or desired, residents and business owners may purchase one. Only those cart cans issued by the city may be used for garbage collection. The city will not pick up garbage in any other type of can.

Unlike the city’s current garbage trucks, this new one will be manned only by the driver and equipped with an automated side loader for picking up curbside residential household garbage. The side loader can extend up to 12 feet in grabbing a garbage can and lifting it up for disposal into the truck.
For homes on narrow streets, the city plans to retrofit two of its existing garbage trucks with rear loaders. Under this system, operators will place the trash cans at the rear of the trucks and the loaders will lift the cans and dump the garbage into the trucks.
Residents and business owners will be provided written copies of the following regulations:
*Customers will be issued only one cart can. Another is available for purchase from the solid waste Department. Residential households who regularly exceed ninety six (96) gallons of garbage a week may obtain an additional container for a one-time user fee of $100 with a 50% refund should the additional container be returned to the City of Smithville in proper condition. When returned to the city the container is not to be painted, abused, mutilated, altered or modified in any manner.
*Residents are required to use approved trash containers supplied by the City of Smithville.
*Only refuse in the container shall be collected. Additional refuse left on the ground will not be picked up.
*Carts should be in place by 7:00 a.m. or the night before your pickup day. Carts must be removed the same evening as your pickup day. Your pickup day will remain the same for a few months, but due to the new automated method of pickup your pickup day is subject to change. The new method is much faster and allows the city to serve more customers in one day. You will be notified if your pickup changes.
*All items should be bagged and securely tied inside the cart. The lid on the cart must be closed flat.
*The container shall be placed in such a manner as not to interfere with overhead power lines or tree branches, parked cars, vehicular traffic, or in any other way that would constitute a public hazard or nuisance. Containers are to be at least four feet from any tree, pole, mailbox, fire hydrant, etc. and at least ten (10) feet away from any cars parked in the street.
*Do not place hot or warm ashes, batteries, paints, solvents, appliances, air conditioners, acid, rubber tires, pesticides, insecticides, metal pipes, plastic pipes, plumbing fixtures, building materials such as scrap lumber, plaster, roofing, concrete, carpet, brick, sand, dust or other flammable liquids in the cart. Also do not put Hazardous materials like chemicals, used oil or medical waste in the cart. Items of question to be put in the cart, please call. Cameras are mounted on the truck to assist the driver in detecting items that could cause damage to the truck. Anyone found placing such items that cause damage to the truck will be held liable for the damage and responsible for all expenses.
*Notify the Solid Waste Department if your cart is broken, damaged or stolen. Call 615-597-6318.
*If for any reason city staff incur difficulty dumping your container they are equipped with a notification form and they have been instructed to attach the form to the container that has posed the difficulty. This is just to let you, the user, know how to enable the city to service you quickly and efficiently. Sometimes even the smallest detail can make the biggest difference.
*Any resident moving to another location within the city limits, or out of the city limits, shall be responsible for notifying the public works department. The roll out container shall remain at the original assigned location. Additional containers shall also remain at the original assigned location unless the resident is moving to another location inside the city limits or may be returned to the city limits or may be returned to the city for a 50% refund of the $100 fee assessed for the additional container.

Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital and the physicians of the Family Medical Center practice have joined together in welcoming back five physicians from the Smithville practice to begin providing hospitalist services at the local hospital . The hospitalists, Dr. Kevin Rhody; Dr. Jack Rhody; Dr. Steven Cooper; Dr. Doug Hooper; and Dr. William Sherwood, in addition to making regular rounds to see patients, will provide coverage at Saint Thomas DeKalb 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
“We’re excited to work with Family Medical Center physicians to provide high quality hospitalist care to our community,” said Andy Wachtel, Chief Executive Officer, President and CEO at Saint Thomas Stones River, Saint Thomas Highlands and Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospitals. “These physicians are longtime members of our community and of our medical staff. This new relationship will further strengthen those ties between our two organizations, and our friends and family in the community will be cared for by physicians they may likely know already.” Saint Thomas Health is a part of Ascension, the nation’s largest Catholic and non-profit health system.
Prior to this change, out of town medical staff served as hospitalists at Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital but many in the community didn’t embrace it and the result was declining census numbers and more patient transfers to other facilities creating a concern about the future of the hospital.
ABOUT SAINT THOMAS HEALTH
In Tennessee, Ascension’s Saint Thomas Health operates nine hospitals in addition to a comprehensive network of affiliated joint ventures, medical practices, clinics and rehabilitation facilities that cover a 68-county area and employ more than 8,000 associates. Across the state, Saint Thomas Health provided more than $78 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty in fiscal year 2016. Serving Tennessee for 15 years, Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension is the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system, operating 2,500 sites of care – including 141 hospitals and more than 30 senior living facilities – in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Visit www.sthealth.com.

As DeKalb Utility District approaches a golden anniversary, it is marking another important milestone with the launch of its new water treatment plant. For the first time in its 50 year history, the DUD is now producing water on its own for the 5,300 customers it serves in either all or portions of DeKalb, Smith, Cannon, and Wilson counties.
DUD, which has been buying water from Smithville for many years, will officially cut ties with the city this week although the new DUD water plant, located on Yulonda Hills Road off Holmes Creek Road, has been fully operational for two weeks. It’s the culmination of a plan which has been in the works for several years. The project would have been completed sooner but for legal battles with others including the City of Smithville which tried to stop it.
Last Thursday, DUD Manager Jon Foutch and Andy Jacobs, certified operator, took WJLE on a tour of the new “superpulsator” water plant. (VIEW PHOTOS AND A DESCRIPTION OF WATER PLANT COMPONENTS SHOWN HERE)
Groundbreaking for the facility was held in July, 2015.
The 2.0 million gallon per day water treatment plant (all under one roof) is the centerpiece of the project which also includes a new raw water intake structure and pump station on the Holmes Creek Embayment of the lake, an 18-inch diameter raw water transmission line from the pump station to the water plant, an 18-inch diameter finished water transmission line along Holmes Creek Road, Allen’s Ferry Road, and U.S. Highway 70; and new 8-inch diameter water distribution lines along Dry Creek Road, Game Ridge Road, Turner Road, Willis McGinnis Road, and Sparta Highway (Highway to Midway).
Foutch told WJLE that the plant is built for future expansion if the need should arise. “We are permitted through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pull 2.0 million gallons per day. Our plant can treat up to 3.0 million gallons per day. Currently, our average use is between 900,000 and 1.0 million gallons per day,” he said.
After water from the lake is pumped from the intake to the treatment plant, a chemical is added and a flocculent is used. The water then goes into the superpulsator—a technology that utilizes a flocculation/clarification unit to remove color, turbidity and organic materials. After the solids formed by the superpulsator process fall to the bottom of the pulsator, the water goes through a conventional high-rate filtration step. Next, the water enters the plant clear well, and is disinfected, not with chlorine gas as some water plants use, but through a bleach generation system. The bleach is produced on site from a salt brine solution. The finished water is then ready to pump out to the distribution lines and storage tanks. Emergency generators at the intake and plant will keep the system operating and have already been used due to recent storms which caused power outages. The water plant also features a control room to monitor the operation and distribution system, a laboratory for water testing, and conference room.
The project was funded at $16-million dollars however the DUD has not spent its total allocation.
Fund sources for the project included $5 million in loans at 2.75% interest over 38 years and $1.25 million in grants from USDA Rural Development. The utility was also approved for $500,000 in grant funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission; two loans through the State Revolving Fund Loan programs in amounts of $2 million and $7 million at .6% interest over 20 years; and a $500,000 forgiveness (grant) from the State Revolving Fund Program.
In October, 2014 the DUD awarded bids on the project. W&O Construction Company, Inc. of Livingston got the bid to build the water plant at $6.9 million. Judy Construction Company of Cynthiana, Kentucky performed construction on the raw water intake at $4.1 million and Hawkins and Price, LLC of Wartrace, Tennessee was awarded the bid for construction of the 18 inch Raw and Finished Water Transmission Lines at $1.8 million.
The original project cost was estimated to be $12-million dollars. To cover the additional costs, the DUD requested and was approved for a $4,000,000 loan increase to the Drinking Water Fund loan. (part of the funding package as referred to above)
The new DUD water treatment plant will have two full time certified operators. Andy Jacobs is already on duty and a trainee is currently working on completing his certification. In addition to Foutch, the General Manager, the DUD is staffed by five employees who answer service calls and maintain the distribution lines, three office employees, and an office manager. The utility is overseen by a five member board of directors including Roger Turney of Cannon County, who is the Board Chairman; Danny Bass of Smith County, and Joe Foutch, Hugh Washer, and Jimmy Womack of DeKalb County.
The DeKalb Utility District currently maintains more than 400 miles of main water lines in its four county service area.
(PHOTOS TO THE RIGHT CORRESPOND WITH THE PHOTO NUMBERS AND DESCRIPTIONS BELOW)
Photo #1: DUD Intake Facility at Center Hill Lake on Holmes Creek Road
Photo #2: Emergency Generator at Intake Facility. Another Generator is at the DUD Treatment Plant
Photo#3: New DUD Water Treatment Plant now in operation on Yulanda Hills Road off Holmes Creek Road
Photo #4: Basin where the water comes in and settles out. This basin is indoors under one roof. By being indoors rather than outside the water is kept out of sunlight to avoid the growth of algae, evaporation, and objects falling in the water
Photo #5: Superpulsator which contains the water basin is the center piece of the water plant and its all under one roof. It includes the basin and all the components which control water levels in the basin
Photo #6: Pipe Gallery at the bottom of the filters. Blue pipe carries good drinking water. Brown pipe transports waste water or backwash water. Green pipe is for air. The system backwashes with water and air taking the waste water out
Photo #7: Air compressor used to backwash the filters
Photo #8: The big tank is a 4,000 gallon storage tank which feeds into 120 gallon day tanks. The water is pumped from the day tanks into the water chemical injection system
Photo #9: Chemical feed area where day tanks fill up from the main tanks. The green pumps inject the chemicals into the water
Photo#10: 4,000 gallon storage tanks (each) for aluminum sulfate used in the water purification process and for caustic soda which adjusts the ph value of the water
Photo#11: Bleach generation system. DUD does not use chlorine gas. Bleach is used to disinfect the water to kill bacteria. The 9% bleach is produced on site from a salt brine solution
Photo #12: 40 ton silo behind the water plant building holds salt solution used to produce the bleach for disinfecting the water
Photo#13: Variable speed high service pumps. Each capable of pumping 1400 gallons of water per minute
Photo#14: Another view of the 1400 gallon a minute high service pumps and the line as the water is pumped out from the plant
Photo#15: DUD water plant has 3-1/2 miles of conduit and 8-1/2 miles of wire which feeds the system and the main control room where operators can monitor everything throughout the entire plant
Photo#16: Variable speed pumps at the intake facility near the lake
Photo#17: Electrical control panel at the intake facility near the lake
Photo#18: Laboratory where the water is checked and verifies that all computers continually testing the water are within range
Photo#19: Andy Jacobs, Certified Water Plant Operator, testing for turbidity levels
Photo#20: DUD Certified Operator Andy Jacobs Monitoring Screens in the Water Plant Control Room
Photo#21: Control Room. This screen monitors everything at the intake including pumps in the lake, wet well, and pumps that carry water from the lake to the plant two and a half miles away
Photo#22: Control Room. This screen monitors everything at the water plant. From here operators can control the water coming in, the filters, and the chemical feed system
Photo#23. Control Room. This screen monitors everything in the distribution system including all pumps, master meters, and levels in water tanks. If anything goes wrong the system triggers alarm lights and sounds a warning
Photo#24: DUD Water Treatment Plant has a conference room

Two people were involved in a one car crash Monday night on Highway 70 at the intersection with South Driver Street on Snow Hill.
Trooper Jason Cobble of the Tennessee Highway Patrol told WJLE that 43 year old Peggy Bain of Smithville was west on Highway 70 in a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am when she crossed the center line into the opposite lane. The car then went off the highway and struck a rock embankment coming to rest in the middle of South Driver Street. Bain was trapped in the vehicle.
Members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department Rescue Team were summoned to the scene and popped the driver side door open with their extrication tools.
Bain was taken by DeKalb EMS to St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital. 40 year old Bobby Pinegar, a passenger of the car, was not injured.
Members of the Liberty Station of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department deputies were also on the scene.

The Smithville Aldermen adopted a new $6.4 million budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year on first reading Monday night.
The proposed budget totals $6-million 411-thousand 679 dollars. Under the new spending plan, the property tax rate will remain the same at 64.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. The city property tax rate is budgeted to generate $884,000.
Water and sewer rates are to increase effective July 1. City water customers are to pay $7.25 per thousand gallons of usage, up from the current rate of $5.00 per thousand gallons. Rates for customers outside the city limits are to be $10.88 per thousand, an increase from the current rate of $7.50 per thousand gallons. City sewer customers will see an increase from the current rate of $5.00 per thousand gallons plus the flat usage rate of $3.62 to $6.75 per thousand gallons. The rate increase is to help make up the difference in the loss of $775,000 in revenue due to the departure of the DeKalb Utility District as a water customer.
The new budget includes a 2% across the board cost of living pay raise for city hourly and salaried employees except for the police department which already has a wage scale with scheduled step increases for its employees. The cost to the city for the pay raises is $40,000. The city is implementing a new method of awarding Christmas bonuses in the new budget. Bonuses will be paid based on longevity ranging from $250 for employees with up to five years of service to a maximum of $600 for those with more than 20 years of service. Previously, the city has given bonuses at 1% of an employee’s salary paid in December at Christmas time. By making this change, the city will save $2,000.
The budget includes $925,945 in proposed capital outlay expenditures in the general fund but most of that, $725,945 is for the new fire pumper/rescue truck which the city has ordered and $83,000 for three used police cars and a used investigator’s car which Police Chief Mark Collins has requested. The fire truck will actually be paid for over two budget years.
A total of $50,000 has been included for the city hall building, most of which is expected to be used to make repairs to the elevator at city hall after lightning from a recent thunderstorm put it out of commission. The budget includes $15,000 to add side loaders to garbage trucks as the city prepares to convert to a new street side automated side loader garbage collection system. A total of $2,000 has been added to purchase software and handheld scanners for more efficient processing of water bill collections especially at the city hall drive through window.
Alderman Josh Miller last Thursday night during a workshop requested that the city’s allocation to the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad be increased by $500 from $1,500 to $2,000. That request will be funded.
The city is expected to wrap up the 2016-17 general fund budget year June 30 in the red by $640,150 primarily due to the city’s purchase of a new automated side loader sanitation truck and new garbage collection containers which costs $350,000 and for the city’s matching construction costs of the new Holmes Creek Bridge which was $111,485. The total bridge project cost $723,000 but the state paid most of it at $611,515. Another factor adding to the deficit is the city’s $350,000 cost for street paving. A total of $201,000 has already been spent for paving this year with more expected. If the city does finish the year with a deficit, the difference will be drawn from the general fund surplus to balance the budget.
For the 2017-18 year, the city is projected to end the year on June 30, 2018 with a general fund deficit of $802,840, most of which is due to the new fire pumper/rescue truck at $725,945 and for the purchase of four used police cars at $83,000. Again, should the city end the fiscal year in the red, the difference will be taken from the general fund surplus to balance the budget.
The city’s water and sewer fund is expected to end the fiscal year June 30 with a surplus of $242,179 but even after the rate increases the water and sewer fund is expected to only break even by the close of the 2017-18 fiscal year on June 30, 2018 after the departure of DUD as a water customer. The city is underway with a sewer plant rehabilitation project which is costing $2,750,000 and $40,000 for tube settlers for the water plant. To help pay for the cost of the sewer plant project, the city was awarded a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $525,000 from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Although the grant will fund part of the costs, the bulk of the funding to pay for it will be appropriated from the city’s water and sewer fund surplus.
The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will meet in special session on Monday, June 19 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall to adopt the new budget on second and final reading.

Fireworks sales inside the City limits of Smithville are now legal during the Independence Day and New Year holiday periods.
The Smithville Aldermen Monday night adopted on second and final reading an ordinance authorizing the sale of fireworks under certain conditions. The vote was 4-0. Aldermen Danny Washer, Jason Murphy, Shawn Jacobs, and Gayla Hendrix supported it. Alderman Josh Miller was absent.
Under the new ordinance, a vendor may apply for a permit good for 12 months (June 1 to May 31) at a fee of $500 but sales will only be permitted from June 20 through July 9 and from December 21 through January 5 covering the time periods of Independence Day and New Year’s Day.
Applicants must also adhere to state laws applicable to the sales of fireworks (including obtaining a state fire marshal authorized permit) as well as other regulations outlined in the city ordinance.
Lou Ann White, a city resident, addressed the mayor and aldermen in opposition to the sale of fireworks inside the city limits due to safety reasons. “ It’s too dangerous to have a fireworks stand on a commercial lot near a residential neighborhood with so many people living so close together. It could blow up. I feel that is dangerous,” she said.
White, who sells fireworks herself during the fourth of July each year outside the city, said there could also be fire hazards if a large vendor like Wal-Mart is allowed to sell fireworks. “Walmart will be the number one seller in the city. They will have it inside their building where they had an electrical fire only a few months ago,” said White.
While vendors as large as Wal-Mart could have tents outside their businesses to sell fireworks, one of the requirements in the ordinance is that no structure from which fireworks are sold may exceed 3,200 square feet in size.
Alderman Gayla Hendrix asked Fire Chief Charlie Parker for an opinion on the safety issue, saying she had been contacted by a few people with concerns.
“The only issue I have is with the storage of fireworks (in the event of a fire) but I think the ordinance covers that. If they are stored inside a building there has to be sprinklers. I recommend that they be stored outside the building in a separate metal storage container so we know exactly where they are at. They should not be kept inside the building where it could be a surprise (in the event of a fire),” said Chief Parker.