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This is the first in a series of articles summarizing decisions to be made by the Morristown City Council in the coming months.

The three-hour City Council Work Session held Friday morning focused on topics ranging from a proposed $10 million bond issue and amending outdated portions of the city’s Charter to changes in elections and wide-ranging cost options for easing traffic flow into and out of Frank Lorino Park.

The first hour-long session focused on the bond issue.

“What we’re trying to do today is lay the foundation to make sure that we’re prepared for the steps that will be coming up in the next weeks and months,” City Administrator Tony Cox said, before referring to the list of proposed capital projects that would be funded by the $10 million which includes Morristown Fire Department Station No. 3, with site development already under way, and the acquisition of land near Wayne Hansard Park for just over $908,000 approved by Council on Aug. 2.

“What we want to talk about is how we go about financing it, how we go about getting the resources we need to accomplish those projects as we move forward,” Cox said.

Chris Bessler, senior vice president of Cumberland Securities Company, Inc. in Knoxville, discussed with council members the timeline that would be needed to ensure a bond issue would be closed, at the latest, before the end of 2023, and more advantageously, by mid-October.

“What the council has to decide is whether to fund all or a portion of it (the $10 million). Once you decide how much you want to fund then it’s a matter of what’s the process to get to market and get the funds at the end,” Bessler said.

The city has positioned itself for the issuance of a bank qualified debt issue, with a ceiling of $10 million in any given year. Banks who purchase the debt issue get an extra tax benefit, which would allow the city to get a lower cost of funding.

“To be able to do up to $10 million this year, the city last year took care of the landfill debt issue to try to make sure that you would have as much available this year to do bank qualified as possible,” Bessler said.

Steps would include two resolutions: the first being a simple resolution stating the city intends to issue debt on various projects and stating what those projects are.

“It’s a very small resolution and it is for the purpose of notifying the public that the city is considering the debt issue,” Bessler said. “Once the resolution is adopted, we publish that resolution in the (Citizen Tribune), so that citizens have the opportunity to be able to see that resolution and they have 20 days to gather protests … if enough people submit a petition – 10 percent of the voting population – the petition being against that, then instead of moving forward, it would force it to a referendum. That normally does not happen, especially on general, non-controversial projects.”

The second step for council would be to issue a bond resolution.

“That is what authorizes the city to move forward with an actual debt issuance and so we would go through the terms of the debt and at that point the structure: whether it’s going to be a 10-year amortization or a 20- or 30-year amortization, whether you’re going to issue a fixed rate debt or a variable rate debt … That all gets worked out in that bond resolution.”

Once the two resolutions are adopted, then the process moved forward.

The Charter amendment discussions included a number of outdated powers, unnecessary appendices, and rules for the Civil Service Board, along with updates to Morristown Utilities (sewer) language and minor and odd issues.

Some of the outdated powers in the Charter included terms like “hucksters” and “bawdy houses.”

Assistant City Administrator Andrew Eller provided a light-hearted moment when he advised councilmembers not to google “bawdy houses” on their city-issued devices.

Jason Elliott, principal engineer with LDA Engineering in Morristown, utilized a PowerPoint document to discuss a number of concepts for updating access to Frank Lorino Park and/or alleviating traffic along its current singular entrance on Pope Road.

The concepts ranged from utilizing Snyder Road at an estimated cost of $185,000 to building a 3,850-foot roadway from Thompson Creek Road to the Lorino soccer fields parking area at a estimated cost of $4.7 million.

The six concepts include: relocating the driveway at the main parking area (Snyder Road), three different roadways from Thompson Creek (800’ to the baseball fields, 1,900’ to the soccer fields or 3,850’ to the soccer fields), a 700’ foot addition to Carroll Road, accessing the skate park or a 600-foot addition to Carroll Road, accessing the parking lot at the soccer fields.

While the work session was taking place, Cox told attendees that Morristown Police Department new officer written exams were administered in the Public Works building, with physical testing to be follow in the afternoon at the Morristown Landing gym (sounds of the testing setup in the gym could be heard from the upstairs meeting room). Also on Friday, the continued installation of a new video/recording system was ongoing in Council Chambers at the City Center, according to Cox.

See upcoming editions of the Tribune for more work session discussions.