Bid awarded on TSR project; food truck rally, promotions approved

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Promotions and ordinances took up most of The City of LaFollette’s Council meeting agenda in yesterday afternoons meeting.

Six promotions were approved at the meeting starting with promoting Keith Fraley to assistant fire chief at a salary of $40,715.58. There were four promotions for the police department beginning with Homer Herrell to a full-time lieutenant at a salary of $41,715.44; Raymond Surber to a full-time patrol officer at a salary of $35,596.91; Jesse Ferguson to a full-time patrol officer at a salary of $35,596.91 and Shane Tielman to a full-time patrol officer at a salary of $35,596.91. There was one promotion for the public works department as Dillion Longmire becomes a full-time sanitation laborer at a salary of $26,437.22. All promotions take effect on Sept. 10.

Two ordinances had a final reading. Ordinance 2022-11 amending Title 8 Chapter 2 of Alcoholic Beverages and Ordinance 2022-12 amending personnel policy regarding personal relationships. Ordinance 2022-13 amending title twenty of the City of LaFollette Code had a first reading. The ordinances defines when and where the American Flag will be displayed. The ordinance outlines four holidays, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Independence Day and 9/11. In addition to the holidays, the flag can be displayed for former/current dignitaries, former current military (all branches), first responders (fire and police) and former/current city employees. The ordinance states the City of LaFollette Fire Chief is vested with the authority to decline to display the flag upon inclement weather, ladder truck availability, emergencies of the fire department’s need for the ladder truck.

In administrative matters, the council approved a bid of $372,850 to Shotcrete Contractors Inc. for the Cherry Street stabilization project. There was a reallocation of $200,000 of capital outlay funds to the State Route 9 (the four lane) and Towe String Rd (TSR) project. The council approved purchasing security cameras for the administration hallways from HIS Security and Technology for $2,562.97.

On Tuesday morning, the council accepted the bid of $161,958 from Osborne Excavating for the four lane-TSR project. Based on the bid invitation, construction is to begin within seven days of the bid being awarded and finished within 10 business working days.

The City has called a special called workshop for Thursday (Sept. 8, 2022) at 10am at City Hall. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss detouring traffic during the process of repairing the intersection of the four lane and TSR.

A food truck rally is coming to town beginning Wed., Sept. 14, in the back parking lot of the municipal building. At last week’s roundtable, Dale Akins and Mark McKinney spoke with the council about the rally calling it a “culinary adventure.” Akins stated that typically the rally consists of six to eight trucks all featuring different foods. The trucks will be set up on Wednesday nights from 4-7 during the weeks of Sept. 14 -Oct. 5. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 09/07/2022-6AM)