Norris planning key special council meetings in the new year
Topics will include signs, utilities
The city of Norris will kick off the new year with some special meetings of the City Council in January that could have long-term effects on the community, including stricter rules on posting signs along public highways, and taking over control of the water and sewer utilities from the now quasi-independent Norris Water Commission.
At 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, prior to the regular council meeting at 7 p.m., the council will hold a public hearing on the proposed new sign ordinance. It will up for a final vote on second reading in the following council meeting.
The sign ordinance that’s already in effect in Norris would be strengthened by the new measure. It would allow the city to continue its push to remove commercial signs that have been posted along Andersonville Highway in violation of the current ordinance.
City Council members have indicated that signs posted by Covenant Life Church and the liquor store along the highway will be among those targeted by enforcement of the ordinance. The new measure would allow the city to confiscate the illegally posted signs and store them, and then notify the signs’ owners where they can come to pick them up.
The city has had an ongoing battle with Covenant Life Church over a sign it placed on state highway right of way contrary to the current Norris city ordinance.
In a letter to then-City Manager Scott Hackler from the church’s pastor, Tony McAfee, on Aug. 28, 2019, the church complained about the city’s efforts to have the church remove the sign, and indicated that it would not comply with the city’s sign rules – instead referring the city to make all further contact through the church’s attorney.
The letter also mentioned the city’s attempts to get the church to comply with the city’s zoning ordinances in connection with a recreational vehicle park the church built without first obtaining the proper zoning and building permits.
As for the utility issue, there will be a special council workshop meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, to discuss bringing the water and sewer utilities under control of the city manager, rather than the Norris Water Commission, which now oversees them. The move comes as the city continues to struggle with state mandates to correct environmental violations that eventually will cost the city potentially in excess of $7 million, and might even require construction of a new sewage treatment plant, which would cost even more.
Councilwoman Loretta Painter made a motion near the end of December’s regular council meeting to hold the workshop for the council to discuss creating a Utility Department that would fall under the control of the city manager, just as the city’s Fire, Police and Public Works departments are. Her motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was set for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, in the council meeting room at the Norris Community Center.
Mayor Chris Mitchell said at the time that he approved of the idea of discussing the possibility of making the change.
“Part of the reason we need to look at this is because we’re adding an assistant city manager and we need to look at how the city organization can find some efficiencies,” he said.
A second part of the process could be the elimination of the Water Commission as a separate body, and make the members of the City Council the members of the Water Commission, just as they are the members of the city Beer Board, Painter said.
“This is the way utilities are done in small cities,” Painter said. “It’s not uncommon to be set up this way.”
Painter told The Courier News that she has thoroughly researched the idea and has been in touch with the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service. She said she found out that the utility management changes could be made through ordinance revisions, and that they would not require modifications of the city charter, which would have to be done through the state General Assembly.