At the March 26 meeting, the Bartlett city board approved taking $250,000 out of existing resources to fund the survey and design for the city shop, as well as approving two amendments for the Bartlett City Schools budget for several projects. The votes were unanimous. All board members and the mayor were present.
The board also unanimously approved the second reading of Ordinance 19-01, which will amend the city’s beer laws. The public hearing is set for April 9.
Changes to the beer ordinance are necessary if the city wants to accommodate one establishment’s unique need. A Bartlett business that sells ice cream and frozen desserts would like to start selling menu items that include alcohol. The amount of alcohol is low enough that it wouldn’t be governed by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The amendments will expand the definition of “alcoholic beverage” to include such items, give jurisdiction over such products to the city’s Beer Board and expand penalties for selling this type of product to anyone under the age of 21.
Ted Archdeacon and Mark Brown presented the city’s five Employee of the Year awards, reading a list of distinguished contributions by each of the honored employees:
- Bartlett Police Department: Sharon Farley, records clerk
- Bartlett Fire Department: Dustin Habben, firefighter
- Public Works Department: Jessica Vaughan, administrative secretary
- Parks & Recreation Department: James “Jimbo” Draffin, maintenance manager
- Other City of Bartlett departments: Trey Arthur, electrical inspector for the Code Enforcement Department
Sharon Fryman of the Healthier Bartlett Wellness Council, presented the city with two statewide awards the organization recently received. They included the Outstanding Social Media Award and the “Move More” initiative for last October’s Marathon in a Month event. Bartlett placed third in the nation for Marathon in a Month.
Fryman also said this month is “Million Mile Month” with online tracking of team exercise efforts to further distinguish what a healthy community the greater Bartlett area is. Communities across the globe are competing to add up more than a million miles, and teams are vying to see who can rack up the most miles. See events.healthcode.org for details and registration.
In other business, the city board:
- Received an update on the First Responders Monument project. The granite obelisk and the granite for benches have been ordered.
- Approved a special event for the Bartlett United Methodist Church 5K Run, which will be 8 a.m.-1 p.m. April 20.
- Approved a seasonal event permit for the Bartlett Station Farmers Market. The market will operate 8 a.m.-midnight on Saturdays May 18-Sept. 21, 2019, at W.J. Freeman Park.
- Accepted the lowest bid for three 2019 Dodge Durango SUVs for the BPD. The bid went to TTC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram at $28,329.36 each for a total cost of $84,988.08.
- Authorized the finance department to apply for a credit increase on the city’s corporate Visa card with First Tennessee Bank. The increase is necessary because of increased usage of departmental cards in recent months.
- Accepted the highest-rated proposal from Burris, Thompson & Associates to conduct an employee compensation study for the city.
- Accepted the treasurer’s report for February 2019.
