At its regular December session tonight (12.12.19), the BOC (Board of Commissioners) voted unanimously to accept the audit report for Fiscal Year ending June 30th. The monthly meeting was at City Hall.
Link to agenda: https://tn-lakeland.civicplus.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/896
Link to Livestream: https://livestream.com/lakeland/events/8927918
Of the audit, Matt Shorter, senior associate with Watkins Uiberall, PLLC, said an unmodified or clear opinion was provided for Lakeland in financial statement and compliance audit opinions. He said the net position of the City June 30th was $75, 982,677 with $56M invested in capital assets, $3.4M in restricted assets and $16.3 in unrestricted assets. He said it is an increase of almost $7M in net position. He said there were no deficiencies in internal controls with either material weakness or sight deficiency. He noted there was one prior year finding in 2018 related to TDOT but that was corrected.
Vice Mayor Josh Roman said that was very exciting news, noting the information about internal controls and increase in positions.
Judge Kim Koratsky
The new Municipal Judge for Lakeland was sworn in by Judge Larry E. Potter, former Shelby County Environmental Court Judge, in front of family, friends and elected officials. Attending with Judge Koratsky were his wife, Mick Ann Koratsky, their children Britt Anderson and Megan Anderson and nieces and friends.
Link to Google album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8eDVfEt9oYvNJyRd7
TLD approval
In a vote of 4-1, the BOC approved an amendment to The Lake District (TLD) PDP (Preliminary Development Plan) to allow 109 townhomes to replace 64 single family residential units. Commissioner Richard Gonzales, Jr. voted no. The request brings the total number of all residential units (single family, townhome, multi-family age-restricted, and multifamily above retail) from 805 to 849 units, a net increase of 44 units.
November treasurer’s report
Michael Walker, Lakeland finance and human resources director, reviewed the November numbers and presented slides with graphs and charts. See below:
Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) report
Deputy Matt Mercer said there was one residential burglary which has been solved; two thefts from motor vehicles, two cars unlocked; two thefts of motor vehicles which have been recovered; and two thefts of vehicle parts.
City Manager’s report
Shane Horn met with Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Jr. who would like to schedule a Town Hall meeting for Lakeland citizens with SCSO, the Shelby County Fire Department and Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright. The forum would allow residents to ask questions of the various officials.
Mr. Horn said he is thrilled over the moon about the funding for the Lakeland high school being transferred to the Lakeland School System today. “This has been a laborious and long process,” he said. “I am very pleased to get this and hand it off to the school.” Lakeland will be getting its first high school in time for the 2022 school year. To this point, the System has operated an elementary and middle school with high schoolers attending Arlington High School through an interlocal between the two cities.
The good news for Lakeland, said Mr. Horn, is two leaf vacuum units were delivered to the City. The bad news is that the trucks ordered to pull the units have been delayed and won’t be delivered until March 2020. He said he had hoped to start curbside pickup in January but it will be impossible without the special trucks.
He completed his report with a “year in review” of 2019 which showcased some of the action from this year: New business districts and residential areas under construction, safety cameras for the City, the second St. Jude Dream Home in Lakeland and the biggie — high school funding. He said there are great projects on the books for 2020 and he looks forward to working with commissioners for great things in Lakeland.
Remaining regular agenda
Five ordinances, first readings, were approved including an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget and four related to Land Development Regulations.
Resolution #8 was moved to January and resolution #9 was withdrawn. Resolutions #10 – #12 were approved.
Resolution #13 on the 2013 meeting calendar was amended to cancel the Jan. 2nd BOC meeting as well as the Oct. 8th meeting. The amended version was approved.
Resolution #14 was amended to include language about single family detached housing community and was approved.
A fifteenth item was added by Vice Mayor Roman authorizing the City Manager to offer photos of previous mayors not used by the City to family members. That added motion passed.
… Photos by Jim Willis, Lakeland Currents
