Committee continues capital improvement planning; mayor urges census outreach and holds payment on parking garage until stormwater, cameras and crosswalks done

City planning and outreach topped the Gallatin City Council Committee’s Jan. 14 work session after the committee completed its agenda of ordinances.

Rachel Nichols, presenting the draft capital improvement plan, asked council members to email their top five priorities from the department-submitted project lists within one week so staff can assemble a consolidated draft for the Jan. 28 meeting and aim for council approval in early February. Nichols said the general fund contains the largest number and dollar value of projects behind the new water plant; staff have begun grant searches and identified potential MPO and developer contributions and have been setting aside committed reserve funds for known items.

Nichols told the committee she would collect each member’s top-five priorities, refine funding-source options and return a consolidated draft at the Jan. 28 meeting. She said a bond issue would be a last resort if other funding sources — grants, MPO dollars, developer pro rata contributions, or reserves — do not cover priority projects.

Mayor Brown used the other-business portion of the meeting to urge council members and departments to accelerate outreach for the 2020/2025 census response. Brown said an accurate count affects state-shared dollars and local funding allocations and asked council members to help in their neighborhoods; staff noted the city already will place QR-code decals on city vehicles and is coordinating outreach with school principals and department field staff.

On the downtown parking garage, Brown said the city has withheld the remaining payment (about $900,000 referenced by county budget-committee inquiries) because the contractor has not completed cameras, a crosswalk and stormwater work. Brown said the city has made concessions to allow occupancy but that persistent runoff from the garage has caused new flooding on North Water and Franklin Street; she said staff have suggested signing a contract for the stormwater work and proceeding with completion before releasing final payment. She warned a county budget chairman plans to ask the city why the payment remains unpaid.

Public works and utilities staff also provided project updates. A major culvert-replacement contract on South Water and East Winchester (in front of the jail and past Winchester First Baptist Church) is under contract with LNG Construction and will begin mobilization next week; the contractor has 120 days to complete the work. Staff asked the public to report problems during construction so the city can help affected residents.

City utilities staff clarified a previously reported exceedance at a water-treatment plant outfall. Staff said the discharge at Outfall 2 was sampled in January 2024 and measured a settleable-solids value of 0.7 milliliters per liter — above the plant’s 0.5 limit but below typical wastewater limits. The volume was about 48,100 gallons; the exceedance was self-reported in routine monthly reporting and TDEC provided correspondence indicating no further action was required and no public notice was warranted. Staff emphasized the discharge was treated process water and not sewage to homes.

Staff introductions and personnel updates concluded the session: the city introduced Josh Cross as its new special projects director; staff noted Cross’s local background and recent legislative experience as a benefit to the office.

Ending

City staff will consolidate council priorities for the capital improvement plan and return a draft for committee review on Jan. 28. The mayor and staff urged increased neighborhood-level work on the census and said the city will maintain its position on withholding the parking-garage final payment until outstanding stormwater, camera and crosswalk work is performed.