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Included in the City of Morristown Fiscal Year 2024 budget presentation process were a number of statistics regarding Public Safety, a division of the proposed budget that has significant spending goals.

Ranking high on the 2022 Community Survey completed by Morristown city residents was the category of “Safety” – it ranked above Parks and Recreation and Health and Wellness, ranking 70% on the quality scale and 90% on the importance scale.

The rankings of overall feelings in the sub-categories of Safety, Safety in Your Neighborhood and Safety Downtown were all lower than in past years. Comparisons dating back to 2018 show a decline of nearly 10 percent (from 70% to 62%) in survey respondents’ overall feeling of safety.

As for the statistics – the reality when it comes to safety – reported property crimes have seen an overall increase of 62 incidents since 2018. The property crime numbers by year range from:

• 1,698 in 2018

• 1,766 in 2019

• 1,763 in 2020

• 1,661 in 2021

• 1,762 in 2022

Crimes against persons, however, have decreased overall by 14 incidents in the same time period, with year-to-year fluctuations.

• 864 in 2018

• 799 in 2019

• 850 in 2020

• 836 in 2021

• 850 in 2022.

During the presentation, City Administrator Tony Cox described the city’s portion of the Tennessee Advanced Communication Network Radio system purchase as a “transformational investment.”

The City partnered with Hamblen County government, and Walters State Community College to officially join the network in October 2022, making this area the first local government in Tennessee to go to a full state (TACN), AT&T FirstNet and LTE cellular antenna supported system. TACN provides local first responders the ability to have double coverage to talk on the radio with surrounding state communication towers and cellular capability during major events and disasters. The City utilized about 1/3 of its American Rescue Plan Act allocation for its funding of the project.

For FY23, Cox described his vision for a transformational investment in Public Safety as “working smarter.”

Proposed budget capital equipment purchases total $878K for the city’s police department and $145K for the fire department.

The totals reflect purchases of 10 MPD patrol vehicles, an upgrade to gun sights, night vision rifle scopes, gas masks, cameras and Tasers. For the fire department, budget expenditures include HVAC in stations, a washer manufactured specifically for turnout gear, air packs and mask microphones.

Public Safety extends to the city’s Public Works department in the FY23 budget.

A total of $280,110 in proposed spending reflects the purchase of capital equipment to include barricades for special events, LED traffic warning lights and the installation of a security fence at the communications tower.

In order to “maintain momentum,” Cox proposes $10 million in bond funded projects to be initiated in FY23.

The new MFD Station No. 3, to be constructed on Thompson Creek Road would claim $5 million of the bond issue.

At the time of the presentation, site plans were being prepared by city staff for the bid process. Cox predicted construction would begin sometime in 2024.

“This is a longtime goal,” Cox said. “We have been working on this for a while.”

To be located adjacent to the new station is a Fire Training Tower (approved by City Council in February and included in the FY22 budget in the amount of $584,971), a purchase driven by anticipated ISO (International Organization for Standardization) requirements, according to Cox. The pre-fabricated structure has already been ordered in a shade of blue chosen by Morristown Fire Chief Clark Taylor.

The recreational vehicle once used by MPD as a mobile command vehicle is no longer suitable for that purpose, Cox said. As part of the bond issue, he proposes to replace it with a custom 24-foot trailer to include work stations, a half-bathroom, and a support system for multiple electronic equipment to be utilized during critical incident response.

The purchase of a MPD storage building was proposed, to be located on the Public Works campus and to include a separated evidence processing area.

A pending Public Safety issue for the entire community, Cox said in his presentation, is the subject of School Resource Officers.

On May 10, Gov. Bill Lee signed school safety legislation into law, recognizing the investment of more than $230 million to strengthen safety at public and private schools across Tennessee.

At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, Gov. Lee introduced a bill to strengthen physical security at every public school and enhance accountability in school safety protocols, in addition to an initial budget proposal that included $30 million for 122 Homeland Security agents to serve students at both public and private schools in every Tennessee county.

Following the mass shooting on March 23 at The Covenant School (a Presbyterian Church in America parochial elementary school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville), Lee worked with the General Assembly to enhance his legislation and increase funding in the Fiscal Year 23-24 budget to place an armed SRO at every Tennessee public school, boost physical school security at public and private schools, and provide additional mental health resources for Tennesseans. School districts will be responsible for a 25 percent match.

Hamblen County Schools Superintendent Arnold Bunch said in his May 16 budget presentation to the Hamblen County Board of Education that FY23 proposed spending for Schools will include new security officers.

“We are going to add 17 security officer positions at this time,” Bunch said. “When we add those we will have a total of 20 throughout the district.”

“We’re going to add a security officer supervisor that will ensure each officer is up to date with their training and teaching them how to do exercises,” Bunch added.

During their May 23 budget work session, City Council members agreed to send the proposed FY24 budget to a first reading as part of the regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday, June 5.