By ZOË HAGGARD - zhaggard@t-g.com
Bedford County Board of Commissioners met in regular session Tuesday night to fill open committee seats with new members.
Appointments were based off each commissioners’ rank choice. They then had to receive 10 votes.
Commissioner John Boutwell was appointed to the Rules and Legislative Committee. Commissioners Troy Thompson, Drew Hooker and Diane Neeley were appointed to the Courthouse and Property Committee. Commissioners Eric Maddox and Jason Boyette were appointed to the Law Enforcement Committee. Commissioner Scott Johnson was appointed to the Financial Management Committee.
Homelessness task force
A resolution was brought up before the board by Hooker to create a “Task Force to Study the Homeless Population.” This task force would consist of 16 community members: city mayor, county mayor, city police administration, sheriff’s department administration, two county commissioners, two city council members, two religious leaders, two social services leaders, city and county codes officials, and two school officials.
According to the agenda item, this task force would “identify ways that the county and city can work toward resolving issues within our homeless population.” They would meet monthly and make recommendations to both the city council and county commission to bring action items.
Hooker reiterated that this would not criminalize the homeless population, only find ways to assist them. Hooker said there are an estimated 100 to 150 people in the community who are considered homeless.
The City of Shelbyville created a homeless task force last year called HOPE (Help Our People Engage) Committee to study homelessness in Shelbyville. Commissioner Mark Thomas asked if it would be better to add on to the current group instead of creating a new one. “You get 20 people on a task force and probably nothing’s going to get done,” said Thomas.
Hooker added, “I have spoken with many people in that group. It feels like they need to continue that and move forward with some additional resources. I don’t think this is a single issue with just the city. I think it’s a community issue.”
He reiterated, “I don’t want this to be looked at as any type of additional criminalization towards these particular individuals.”
Maddox, who is in support of this task force, said, “It’s important to me that we also take a look at not only the city, but also our folks in the rural community because this impacts children and that’s dear to my heart,” he said. “Not everyone who’s homeless falls into a negative category.”
Commissioner Greg Vick made the motion to send the motion to the Rules and Legislative Committee, which will meet 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Courthouse. The motion passed.
Property assessor report
Tuesday’s meeting also presented county offices’ quarterly reports.
Property assessor Ronda Clanton said they have had over 1,500 property transfers this year. They are also on task to get over 5500 parcels this year plus all the new construction. “There is not a place in Bedford County where there’s not building going on,” said Clanton.
Clanton also wanted to reiterate the impact of property assessments. “When we set property values in a reappraisal year, those do not change. It doesn’t matter what the market is doing. Those values do not change for five years unless they’ve added something, taken something, remodeled a house,” she explained.
For example, a house might be appraised at $100,000 but is selling for $300,000, however, the appraisal will not be made $300,000.
