The Claiborne Health Department will be issuing checks to five county municipalities, including the city of New Tazewell, courtesy of a grant whose funds are geared toward enhancing physical activities. The Rural Access to Health and Healthy Active Built Environments (RAHHABE) Grants were created to support local governments in planning, developing and implementing projects designed to increase access to attractive, safe and tobacco-free places, according to a Tennessee Dept. of Health handout.
The New Tazewell Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) decided during its regular February meeting to use a portion of the $2,000 check to create a Parks and Recreation five-year assessment plan – something that is mandated by the state.
According to the handout, the funds will need to be spent by June 30.
It appears that some city residents appreciate the law enforcement services they receive. New Tazewell Police Chief Ben Evans said a couple had written a letter commending several officers on the force.
“What prompted the letter was, (officer) Tyler Williams had checked on them during the early morning hours. He had noticed a routine they had, at their house each morning – they would start the car and turn their lights on. When he came by, he noticed something was amiss. The light wasn’t on and the car wasn’t running. So, he went and checked on them. They were pretty impressed,” said Evans.
It appears city law enforcement has kept on its toes throughout the month of January. Evans said there had been 140 arrests and citations for that month, alone.
At the time of the meeting, the police department had just wound up a cooperative effort with Tazewell in a drug sting operation in which many offenders had been arrested.
The sister cities managed to collect 139.2 grams of methamphetamine, during the multiple-day raid. The sting also netted about $3,000 worth of narcotics, just from one suspicious vehicle that had been pulled over, Evans said.
In other action, the city council adopted ordinance 2017-326, on second and final reading. The ordinance amends the municipal code to better reflect existing international codes pertaining to chapter four of Title 12. The ordinance deletes a portion of section six and adds verbiage eliminating the need for sprinklers inside townhomes that have two hour firewalls between each unit.
A typical firewall is made of fire-resistant materials that have been found to prevent spread of a fire to an entire building, maintaining the blaze to just the section in which it originated. A firewall of this duration will allow protection up to two hours.
A public hearing on the matter, held just prior to the regular monthly meeting, drew no response.
The council unanimously approved the purchase of a Woods Batwing BW180X mowing equipment. The low bid of $11,000 was submitted by the Claiborne Farmers’ Cooperative.
After a bit of discussion, the BMA agreed to have city attorney James Estep III draft a renewal contract with Mitch Edwards, who manages the New Tazewell Municipal Airport.
The council decided that the existing contract needed ‘no changes’ and that the new contract will read ‘as is.’
Reach Jan Runions at 423-254-5588 or on Twitter @scribeCP.