The Lakeland city board covered hours of territory at its Jan. 8 work session, including budget amendments, the creation of a new sewer master plan, and more.
City manager Chris Thomas advised the board that the city has more than 7,300 responses to date for the special census, and calls will begin to the remaining residents this week.
Thomas also said he has offered the parks director position to one of about 15 candidates and is awaiting a response.
He also advised that the city’s loose-leaf collection program has collected more than 1,400 cubic yards of leaves to date and is still ongoing.
Vice mayor Sherri Gallick also provided the board a look at entryway update ideas provided by a University of Memphis engineering design class who took that on as a class project.
Budget amendment
Jessica Frye, city finance director, presented background information for an ordinance to amend the FY2014-15 budget and transfer funds from one appropriation to another within the same fund and to allow such routine transfers in the future without going through the budget amendment process. The ordinance will be on the consent agenda* for the next city board meeting.
This measure will cover the following expenses that are higher than originally budgeted by these amounts:
- General Fund: Administration, $15,000 (for the special census); planning, $52,000 (an appropriation to reflect the two $26,000 EDGE grants the city will be receiving); code enforcement, $2,500 (mowing of abandoned or unkept properties); public works, $7,000 (temporary employees’ wages); and parks and recreation, $20,000 ($500 for youth basketball, to be recouped from parents; $4,500 for temporary employees to mow and maintain property; and $15,000 for median landscaping)
- Storm Water Fund: Capital projects, $128,000 (for Plantation Woods improvements)
- Solid Waste Fund: personnel, $20,500 ($8,500 in wages for permanent hourly employees for leaf collection and $12,000 in wages for temporary employees for leaf collection)
Details are available online at http://tn-lakeland.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/3881.
Bond reduction
The board discussed reducing the $378,000 bond for The Grove at Lakeland Subdivision to $30,000 for work that remains to be done. This will be on the consent agenda for the next city board meeting.
Sewer master plan
The board reviewed a contract amendment for A2H to complete an updated sanitary sewer master plan for the city for $35,000, with additional services to be billed at various hourly rates as approved by the city. The last such plan was created in 2003. The board agreed to put this amendment on the consent agenda for their next meeting.
The city’s system consists of one wastewater treatment plant that still has additional capacity, about 18 lift stations to pump wastewater from one drainage area to another, and about 62 miles of gravity sewer lines and force mains. Some of that was installed in 1963 for Lakeland Estates.
The city has been doing an aggressive inspection program on this collection system over the past eight years to assess its condition and repair areas as needed. The original tightly connected pipes become looser fits as tree roots invade and pipes crack. This allows rainwater to seep in and add to the volume the pipes must handle.
Currently, the flow at the wasterwater plant doubles when Lakeland gets a heavy rain, and the plant ends up treating about half a million gallons of rainwater.
The plan will assess the system’s current condition and capacities, determine whether some efficiencies can be gained to reduce the number of lift stations, evaluate which areas are mor susceptible to leaky pipes, and make projections on what is needed for the system to support the city’s anticipated growth.
Click here to review an infographic explaining issues that a municipal sewer system might experience. See another infographic here.
Term limits
Commissioner Clark Plunk said he wants to see a two-term limit for the mayor and commissioners, as he promised during his campaign. Mayor Wyatt Bunkersaid he supports this as well. Chris Patterson said it will need a private act of local application in Nashville. He will research and provide info and a draft at the Jan. 20 board meeting.
Chamber resource
Commercial real estate agents have a new resource in Lakeland, according to Ginny Dunn, economic development coordinator, Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce. She advised the board that the chamber has added a special feature on its website: A free opportunity to list Lakeland properties. Property flyers can be uploaded to the website and will be kept current to provide an accurate ongoing inventory.
See the listings at http://mylakelandchamber.org/available-business-sites/. For more information, contact Ginny Dunn, economic development coordinator, Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce.
Dunn also asked the board to consider granting a Lakeland business a temporary sign ordinance exception. The mayor asked the city attorney to research the sign ordinance to see if there is a waiver process; if not, he suggested creating a waiver process for temporary sign placement.
Other actions
The board and mayor also agreed for the following items to be on the consent agenda for their next meeting:
- A resolution appointing the city manager or his designee to the Shelby County Municipal Solid Waste Planning Board
- A resolution approving the Deferred Compensation Plan II (401 (k)) for city employees.
In additional business, the board and mayor:
- Agreed to continue discussing the city manager’s job performance at the Jan. 20 meeting.
- Heard an overview of the city’s 2014 property assessment. Cheyenne Johnson, Shelby County property assessor, spoke briefly to the board, and her chief administrator, Patrick Lafferty, presented the 2014 data.
- Heard the December fire report, including updates on the causes of two serious Lakeland fires recently.
On a positive note, the board also heard from Shelby County commissioner Heidi Shafer, who spoke on behalf of some District 5 constituents in Memphis who had trouble with a previous administration about getting their Lakeland business started. She said they invested many thousands of dollars in that business, and she wanted to let the city board know they have been happy with the city’s progress over the past eight months or so.
* A consent agenda is a meeting practice which packages routine reports, board meeting minutes, and other non-controversial items not requiring discussion or independent action as one agenda item. Grouping such routine items for a vote can save time for in-depth discussions on other issues.
Written by Carolyn Bahm, Express editor. Contact her at (901) 433-9138 or via email to bartlett.editor@journalinc.com.
