Rocky Top to offer insurance for water leaks, add parking lot
Rocky Top utility customers will soon be able to buy water-leak insurance protection of up to $2,500 per occurrence through the addition of a $2.35 monthly premium added to their water bills.
The City Council authorized the insurance plan during its monthly meeting last Thursday evening, but made it clear that it is optional, and utility customers must choose to accept the coverage.
A note will be going out to customers to give them the option to accept the insurance, which will be good for a maximum of two claims per year.
Mayor Kerry Templin recommended the $2,500 insurance plan over two others, which would have provided either $500 per occurrence for a premium of $1.75 a month, or $1,000 coverage for $2 a month.
“We’ve had one leak pushing the $2,000 mark [in water loss charged to a customer’s bill] in the last six months, and one at $1,600,” the mayor said.
City Manager Mike Ellis said he has similar leak insurance on his residential water bill with the Anderson County Water Authority, and “It has saved me a lot of money.”
Also on Thursday, the council heard from Templin that the owners of the former Martin Funeral Home building and property at 225 S. Main St. have agreed to accept the city’s offer of $125,000 for the property, which the city intends to use for the first public parking lot downtown.
“We will never see development until we have dedicated parking downtown,” Templin said in March, just before the council voted to make the $125,000 offer to the property owners.
“There is no public parking [downtown] now; all parking is privately owned,” he said at the time.
“I think the city should look at purchasing the old Martin Funeral Home property,” he said. “To do this properly, the city needs to purchase all of this property.”
That includes the building, which Templin believes should be removed, along with the vacant lot next to it that has been used as a parking lot for the funeral home and the former Coal Creek Smokehouse restaurant next door.
“Some of the owners have expressed a willingness to sell,” he said in March. The property had been tied up in probate for some time, but now is available to be sold.
Templin said part of the property was once the site of a downtown gasoline station, so there are still “at least four old fuel tanks in the ground” that would need to be removed, which is an environmentally necessary operation.
“My recommendation is that we authorize up to $125,000 to the executors to purchase the property,” the mayor said. “I would also like to put in some [electric vehicle] chargers. The more people we can get downtown, the better.”
In other business Thursday, the council:
n Passed on first reading the budget for fiscal year 2023-24, which begins July 1.
The new budget will not include an increase in the city property tax rate.
A public hearing on the new budget has been set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 16, just before the May council meeting, when the council is expected to pass the budget on second and final reading.
n Passed a resolution to provide for financing of an additional $1.3 million for the major sewer-system upgrade the city has underway.
This is to finance the budget overrun the city incurred with the lowest bid for the entire sewer project, which is costing $5.45 million.
In January, the council voted to award a contract for the sanitary sewer system upgrades to Morgan Contracting of Knoxville.
This is the latest step in a multi-year project to eliminate environmental concerns with the system.
n Heard from Councilman Zack Green that the city is applying for a state recreation grant to pay for new bleachers, a press box and restroom upgrades for the city’s ballpark.
The grant would require a 50% city match.