Commission reelects Anderson as chairman; rejects Buffalo Rd. rezoning

By Crystal Huskey

Anderson County Commission met Monday night for its September business meeting. For the second month in a row, the meeting room was almost at capacity — an unusual occurrence since the pandemic.

The mostly masked audience was primarily filled with residents of the Buffalo/Mountain Road/Brooks Gap Road area who came out to voice their opposition to the proposed re-zoning of a 17 acre parcel on Buffalo Road for the purpose of making it an RV Campground.

Commission unanimously rejected the re-zoning request which had been forwarded from the planning commission.

Commission also formally voted to change the zoning of the former Empire Gas site on East Wolf Valley Road to I-2 (heavy industrial), for the purpose of relocating the Claxton Convenience Center, currently located at the intersection of East Wolf Valley and Clinton Highway.

District 3 Commissioner and Chairman Joshua Anderson, as well as Vice-Chairman Shain Vowell, were unanimously re-elected to their respective positions for another year.

Finance Director Robby Holbrook reported that the county’s July sales tax revenues were about $1,000 lower than last July, but that it seemed to indicate more of a leveling off of sales tax revenue than an actual declining trend.

Director Holbrook also brought forward a recommendation to pay off two bonds totaling $1,169,000, saving the county $115,000 in interest. The bonds were the 2006 Jail Bond, and the bond which was used for the upgrades to the DARC building in Oak Ridge and the 205 Main purchase.

Commission voted unanimously to pay off the bonds using money in the county’s 151 debt service fund. The money in fund 151 is restricted to paying off debt, and approximately $500,000 will remain in the fund after the payment is made, according to Anderson.

Director of Schools Dr. Parrott announced that Phases I and II of the ESG energy savings plan has saved the schools a total of $9,059,184, approximately $2.6 million more than projected by ESG.

Dr. Parrott plans to use some of the savings to renovate the facade of Norris Elementary and Middle Schools. He also announced plans to host a town hall meeting in Norris to roll out the plans for expansion of Norris Middle School.

Anderson attended the Tennessee County Commissioners Association’s regional conference held on Tuesday evening in Knoxville. Leaders from the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS), provided the commissioners and mayors who were present with updates regarding Federal and State COVID money that is beginning to become available.

“There is currently $500 million at the state level for broadband, $400 million of which is dedicated to expansion into new territory, with the remaining $100 million being allocated for need based connecting among existing markets,” said Anderson through email. “The economic forecast discussed during the meeting advised caution in budgeting for the next few years as this influx of stimulus money will have repercussions such as inflation already being felt.”

State and local governments, particularly those whose primary revenue sources are sales tax and property tax driven, are very sensitive to volatility in consumption and inflation.