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Initiating a step toward future investment in parks and recreation, Morristown City Council approved the purchase of 69.89 acres on Ironwood Drive for the amount of $908,570.

The site is west of Wayne Hansard Park and south of the Norfolk-Southern railroad that runs along the Morristown Airport Industrial Park.

“The intent is to use the site as park land or industrial development, and probably both,” Morristown City Administrator Tony Cox said. “It was discussed during the budget presentation and is a planned part of the overall capital financing. We’ve done some due diligence with regard to purchase; we’ve found no problems that would keep us from acquiring the property.”

Evaluations are currently being conducted to determine how much of the property could be utilized for industrial purposes.

Prior to the purchase approval, council members voted to approve the reimbursement by the city to itself for certain expenditures relating to Public Works projects with the proceeds of tax-exempt debt obligations to be issued by the City in an approximate amount of $918,000.

“This is a resolution that gives council some options regarding the use of debt financing,” Cox said. “This will allow us to purchase some property now with City funds and then we pay ourselves at a later date with the closing of capital project financing. This resolution does not obligate the City in any way; it simply provides options in the future.”

Among other actions, council members approved engagement with the Public Entity Partners Safety Matching Grant program, nicknamed the “safety shoe grant.”

“This is a grant program offered by our liability group provider, PEP as it is commonly known,” Cox said. “We have participated in this program before; it’s used to purchase safety equipment among the staff.”

Council also approved the 2023 Justice Assistance Grant in the amount of $18,819; no matching funds are required.

“We used to share this grant with the Sheriff’s Department,” Cox said. “As the cost of the equipment became more difficult to get within the grant, we now take turns and it’s the city’s turn this year.”

MPD will use the funds to improve security in the department’s evidence area and equipment relating to fingerprinting.

Authorization to apply for the Tennessee Recruitment and Retention Grant was granted by Council for the MPD.

“The state is stepping in and trying to provide incentives for officers to remain in service,” Cox said. “This has been a problem across the nation and hopefully this will be an incentive to retain some of our folks.”

Construction of the last phase of Thompson Creek Road improvement is going very well, according to the administrator’s report presented to councilmembers.

“If you go by, you’ll see the grading is moving a lot of dirt, it’s making a change to the area,” Cox said. “It’s providing for the new roadbed as well as a building pad for the new Fire Station No. 3 and a fire training facility – and even at this point in the project, you can see it’s going to make a big improvement on the east end of town. We’re really, really excited about what that’s going to do. We’re talking about doing more in the Lorino park here in the next few months and making some improvements to those facilities. So that part of town is going to see a big change, a big injection in terms of investment from the city, huge improvements. These and other projects are really showing the commitment you have to high quality service and quality of life for our citizens. I think we are really showing that we’ve been making a great deal of progress and we’re excited about that.”

Morristown Mayor Gary Chesney noted the recent Tennessee Municipal League award presented to the city, coverage of which was included in a prior edition of the Tribune.

“This past week at TML, Morristown and its progress and the things that we’ve done over the last number of years certainly has the attention of other cities across the state. ‘How did you do it?’ is what they ask,” Chesney said. “Our council is how we do it. And following recommendations and guidelines and good financial management.”

Chesney paid respects to Jerry T. Williams, the former principal of Morristown-Hamblen High School East, who passed away early Tuesday morning.

“We’re going to miss Jerry. He was a friend of the city,” Chesney said. “He was very active in Parks and Recreation. Of course, he impacted lots of youngsters as principal of East High, and he was always helpful to city items and city projects, and we’re going to miss Jerry T.”

Councilmember Kay Senter said, “I worked with Jerry Williams for, golly, I guess 37 years. He was an influence, he was. He loved his students. Someone put on Facebook that Jerry was very, very supportive of the Special Education students. Anybody who knew Davey Joe or Tommy Mullendore and those young people, that took a special individual … He could be tough, too, but he was very genuine.”