Council backs fireworks sales on first reading

The ordinance would add a chapter to the Shelbyville Municipal Code entitled "Fireworks."

An ordinance had been passed by the council in 1953 that prohibited both the sale and use of fireworks. The city recorder could find no evidence of that document ever being changed.

Also, city manager Ed Craig stated last week that issues relating to fireworks are not in the city's code and haven't been since 1976, "so we need a new ordinance to make part of our code."

The measure would also would allow fireworks to be used in the city on July 1 through July 3 from 10 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. and until 11:30 p.m. on July 4.

Fireworks would also be permitted on New Year's Eve from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m. Jan. 1.

The council also voted to establish procedures for the access and duplication of public records under Tennessee's open record law.

The state's schedule of charges provides for the charge of 15 cents per copy of a document, but the city can also charge for labor if fulfilling the request takes more than an hour of an employee's time.

Council approval was also given to install a traffic turn signal at the intersection of Deery Street, Fairfield Pike and Gowen Drive.

A motion was also approved for the city's public works department to provide street signs for the Bedford County Highway Department for a fee.

Also approved was authorization of an agreement with Garver LLC Engineering Firm to complete the airport layout and capital improvement plan for the city's airport at a cost of $55,833.

The funding will be provided via a 90/10 grant with the Tennessee Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division.

A resolution was also approved for council members to attend the Governor's Conference to be held in Nashville on Sept. 14-15.

The council also gave approval for Mayor Wallace Cartwright to sign a document stating that an environmental impact statement would not be required for equipment to be installed at Shelbyville's new wastewater plant.

Shelbyville Power, Water and Sewer has applied for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for an odor control system for the new facility. The local match for the CDBG will be $135,000.

Odor control equipment will be placed at the main sewage pumping station and at the headwaters building in the new wastewater plant, which will be at the same location of the current facility. No date has been announced for the beginning of construction

Also, the council held an attorney/client meeting prior to the regular meeting to discuss a request from Bobby Sanders for reimbursement in relation to property he bought from the city in 1995, only to later learn it was owned by Walking Horse and Eastern Railroad.

Sanders is asking for either $120,000 or a conveyance of the city's one-half undivided interest in property located on North Main Street that Shelbyville co-owns with Bedford County.

Other business

* The council approved rezoning on third and final reading for two parcels in Sanders Estates Subdivision off Mac Street consisting of 12 acres. The property will be rezoned from R-1 to R-2.

* An ordinance was passed on second reading, asking that 419 and 503 Belmont Ave. be added to the Historic District and that 516 Deery St. be expanded into the Frierson-Eakin Historic District. Councilman Lee Roy Cunningham voted no.

* Also passed on second reading was an ordinance to amend the city zoning ordinance to re-enact creation of an I-3 zone concerning Special Impact Industrial District identified as an I-3 zone. Councilmen Cunningham and Al Stephenson voted against the measure.

* A bid of $35,675 was accepted from J.R. Warren for waterproofing the exterior of the Shelbyville Recreation Center, however Cunningham questioned why it needed to be done. Mayor Cartwright explained that the building had been in need of waterproofing for the past ten years.

Councilmen Cunningham and Stephenson both voted against the bids.

Bids to relocate electrical service at Central Memorial Gym were rejected and the bid committee voted not to complete the project at this time.

* The council also appointed David Crowell, Wendell Agnew and John K. Teague III to six-year terms on the Industrial Development Board.