Norris lawyer Robert Sain joins council
Robert “Bob” Sain
Although four people had originally applied to City Manager Scott Hackler to be considered for the council position, two had backed out by meeting time, leaving only Sain and Charles “Chuck” Nicholson as the remaining candidates.
The action to fill the council spot was moved to the top of the council agenda at the beginning of the meeting, and all four of the sitting council members nominated Sain for the position.
After a motion by Councilwoman Loretta Painter and a second by Councilman Will Grinder to select Sain for the seat, all four voted in favor of Sain, and he was immediately sworn in by the new city recorder, Lydia Beckwith.
Councilman Bill Grieve said before the vote that he believed Sain’s legal background would be an asset to the council.
Before the nominations, Sain addressed the council, and noted that he previously had served as city judge for eight years.
“We’ve been here since 1950,” Sain said of his Norris residency. “There’s a special feeling you get from living in Norris.
“We need to go slowly and not rush anything” to preserve the city’s heritage, he added.
Nicholson, who is a longtime member and now chairman of the Norris Tree Commission, said before the nominations, “I pledge to carefully study the issues [and] make decisions on what’s best for Norris.”
Grinder said that he believed both candidates were qualified to serve on the council, but wanted to nominated Sain.
Mayor Chris Mitchell said he believed that “Bob [Sain] fits the criteria best.”
Some council members had privately praised Nicholson for his service on the Tree Commission, and suggested that his talents were most needed there.
In other business:
• The council set up a workshop/town hall meeting to discuss the proposed ordinance to regulate short-term rentals such as those through Airbnb and Vrbo for 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, in the council meeting room.
The council had tabled the ordinance, which was submitted by the city Planning Commission, at the October meeting after some council members differed over provisions in the proposed measure.
Mitchell suggested that during the town hall meeting, council members might want to present their own opinions on what the ordinance should contain.
“We may have different views,” the mayor said.
He and Grinder took opposite stands on the ordinance, as written, during the October council meeting. Grinder said the ordinance was too strict, while Mitchell said he felt it was too lenient.
Mitchell told The Courier News after the October council meeting that he wants the ordinance to help keep investors from buying multiple properties for the purpose of setting up short-term rentals as a sort of “hotel” in the city.
• Officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority presented a check for $75,000 to the city during Monday night’s meeting as compensation for wear and tear on city streets from trucks hauling dirt during TVA’s recent massive renovation of its historic Norris Engineering Laboratory complex.
That renovation ended up with a formerly abandoned building being updated and reopened, and an additional 100 TVA employees moved to jobs in Norris, the TVA representatives said.