Aldermen OK Roadblocks; Melton Picked To Board

KEITH READY, Courier Contributor


Several roadblocks and Dillon Park reservations were made during Tuesday night's (April 3) monthly meeting of the Woodbury Mayor and Board of Aldermen.

Roadblock fundraisers will be conducted April 14 for the Cannon County High School prom committee, May 19 for the Cannon County Rescue Squad, and May 26 for the American Legion Post 279.

The Cannon County Senior Center received the green light to proceed with the Good Ole Days Parade on May 19. The Cannon Ball parade will start at the fairgrounds and make its way through town. There's no fee for the parade but participants must register to get a number.

The Cannon County Chamber of Commerce gained permission from the Aldermen to hold the 5K Run starting at Dillon Park October 6.

June 9 is Free Fishing Day in the State ofTennessee. In observance, Mark Vance of the TWRA was granted the use of Dillon Park to host a Fishing Rodeo in a remote part of the East Fork near the park. The rodeo will be for kids 12 and under and the TWRA plans to release around 150-200 pounds of catfish into the small area.

In other business:

• Alderman Dottie Duggin made the motion and the motion passed naming Adam Melton to the Board. Melton will be taking the place of Shade Cason for the rest of Cason's term, which ends in November. Cason passed away in March.

• The Board waived the building permit fee for the renovation and addition project of the Adams Memorial Library. The amount waived was nearly $3,400.

• Mayor Harold Patrick reappointed Bill Smith to the Woodbury Housing Authority as his term had expired.

• The Board chose to rescind the action taken last month of awarding a water plant basin drainage improvement project to Gilispie Construction and reject all bids and the project will now be rebid. The Board had approved awarding the contract to Gilispie despite a minor oversight in the bidding process that was pointed out by another competing construction company.

• Mayor Patrick told the Aldermen that Unisan, a company that purchases cell towers, contacted him about buying the water tower the town currently leases to AT&T for $1200 a month.

Unisan offered the Mayor $114,000 to purchase the tower. One of the provisions of the purchase was that anyone leasing the tower from Unisan, 50 percent of the monthly rental would be income for the city. Mayor Patrick then made a counteroffer and presented it to the aldermen. Unison had not responded but the mayor suggested that he might bring something more concrete in front of the Aldermen to look at in May's meeting.

Woodbury Fire Chief Bill Johnston approached the Board to let them know that a motor in one of the Fire Department trucks went out and it costs too much to repair it. Chief Johnston said that he will be asking in the next budget for $25,000 to purchase a good used fire truck in the future to replace the broken down one.