In their regular business meeting last night (7.9.20) the Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved a motion to abandon a U.S. Highway 70 parks project and instead focus on developing the Athletic Complex on Memphis Arlington Road.
Mayor Mike Cunningham and Commissioner Richard Gonzales Jr. were at City Hall for the meeting. Vice Mayor Josh Roman and Commissioners Michele Dial and Wesley Wright attended electronically due to the pandemic.
Link to agenda: https://www.lakelandtn.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/935
Link to Livestream: https://livestream.com/lakeland/events/9209968
Shane Horn, city manager,
brought the Highway 70 project to the table, saying he and Will Patterson, city attorney, had been doing due diligence on a concept plan for the proposed park on 22 acres from Jones Gilliland Group, LLC. “Findings of the assessments were not what we desired,” he said. “There are five separate wetlands formations on a 20-acre parcel. Add that to the gas line formations and we hit the pause button.”
He asked BOC members if they wanted to continue to spend money on that project or mitigate the wetlands on the Memphis Arlington Road property where an Athletic Complex is already planned.
Commissioner Dial, liaison to the Parks and Recreation Board, said she felt P&R members would want to abandon the site and focus energies on the Memphis Arlington site.
Mayor Cunningham said,
“I would tend to agree we should go back to an all-in-one city park scenario. Since we do already own that land, it is the best option. I appreciate Commissioner Dial and Shane for bringing to us the right decision.”
Commissioner Dial said the Athletic Complex at Memphis Arlington can be a unique area, something really nice. “It is too much to spend on one park,” she said of the Highway 70 project.
“So utilize the land we already own, spend some money to mitigate and expand the plan.” She said the funds to purchase the new land are in the budget and can be redirected to mitigation on the Memphis Arlington property.
Vice Mayor Roman made a motion to abandon the project and focus on Memphis Arlington. The motion passed on a 5-0 vote.
In other business, all five resolutions on the agenda were passed:
- Approving change order #2 for a metal maintenance building – Vote was 4 yes, 1 no from the Vice Mayor.
- Approving a contract for the Fiscal Year 2021 Pavement Assessment Project – Vote 5-0.
- Authorizing a contract for City Hall security improvements. Vice Mayor Roman voted to table the resolution, saying he would like for the City to get confirmation that CARES Act funding could pay for this project. The motion failed on a 1-4 vote. The original resolution was approved in a 4-1 vote.
- Authorizing a contract for City Hall Board Room audio/visual improvements. The resolution was amended (and approved) to reflect a new cost of $32,202. The vote on the amended resolution was 5-0. The City expects that expense to be covered under the CARES Act funding.
- Approving a funding agreement between the City and the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce for Fiscal Year 2020. The vote was 5-0.
Michael Walker, finance and human resources director,
gave the June treasurer’s report, saying cash as of June 30, 2020 is $1.6 million higher than as of June 30, 2019. Local taxes are up 12.5%, state shared revenues are down 7.9%. Charges for services is the biggest reduction, due to a lack of recreation fees received in June.
His take-aways included:
The City’s cash balances remain strong, and are much higher than one year ago. General Fund revenues will continue to be monitored, especially sales taxes (both local and state-shared) and recreation fees. While May receipts overall were 21.1% higher than one year ago, June’s receipts are 11.4% lower than for the same period last year.
In his city manager’s report, Mr. Horn said there has previously been little municipality-specific data from the Shelby County Health Department regarding COVID-19. However, figures were released showing that in July, Lakeland had 52 confirmed cases and one death reported.
