Talk Union County Blog

Silent Night at City Hall

Maynardville City Hall — It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Maynardville City Hall Tuesday evening. A warm holiday embrace welcomed most of those who attended the Maynardville City Council meeting this month. It was clear, upon first entering the room, that this was no regular meeting. A larger than average crowd of city insiders, family, and employees were present, but they were not there for city business. Rather, they gathered around long tables decorated in seasonal décor in anticipation of a holiday feast that would later come to dominate the night’s agenda.

Like last-minute-shoppers, City Council wasted little time in marking off items from its December agenda. First on the program was discussion concerning the “Loy property,” and how the city was going to deal with it. After a few quick comments about the financial interests of a private citizen wishing to purchase this property, Commissioner Padgett made a motion to give Mayor Richardson more executive authority over the dispensation of the sale. The language of the motion was ‘open ended’, and broadened Mayor Richardson’s ability to personally control the ‘terms and conditions’ previously imposed by the city.

This action could in effect free or lessen certain restraints held against the property. Commissioner Heiskell did ask for some assurances to be made before the lien was released. However, in the end, Commissioner Padgett held tight to his original wording and the motion passed unanimously.

From thereon, the pace of the meeting only quickened.

Phase two of the Walnut Point project was very briefly described and approved.

There was some discussion concerning a donation promised by the city to Kathy Cox for the construction of tennis courts at Union County High School. Commissioners stated that they had not budgeted the donation into this year financial plan. Mayor Richardson asked why this had not been planned for. Commissioner Chesney stated that he believed the request had been for next year. Mayor Richardson said that he was pretty sure it was for this year, and the board agreed to look into the previous minutes to see for which year the donation had been promised.

In an effort to hasten the feast that awaited them, no ordinances were read at this meeting, and both the city manager’s and the city attorney’s reports consisted of no more than the verbal comments, “I’m good.” Their personal ‘well-being’ aside, a request for any written reports from these departments was made to the City Recorder. We were informed by Hazel Gillenwater that neither the city manager nor city attorney filed written reports for this meeting. The city engineer did tender a written report and answered a few questions asked by the board concerning land acquisitions.

It was then, perhaps driven by the smell of casseroles, and assorted side dishes, Mayor Richardson dispensed with procedure all together and called an end to the meeting. With a tap from his gavel, but without any motion to adjourn, this, the last of the 2006 Maynardville City Council meetings was put to bed. Members of City Council then quickly descended from their elevated posts to mingle with those who had been patiently, if not attentively, waiting for the Christmas feast to begin. Then with the thoughts and concerns of the City’s 2006 business year fading into memory, city officials, their family, and friends settled in to enjoy a respite from what had been just over 26 minutes of grinding municipal administration.