Signal Mountain council to drop personnel committee, tighten attendance rules and press boards for engagement

The Signal Mountain Town Council on June 23 opened a multi‑topic discussion on boards and committees and reached several points of consensus: remove the personnel committee from the town code, clarify that liaisons and staff share responsibility for ensuring annual officer elections, update attendance language to mirror council expectations, and send a general letter to all board and committee members explaining attendance expectations and how to resign if they cannot serve.

Council members said the personnel committee has not met regularly in years and that the town now has an HR professional on staff; members argued personnel and sensitive employment matters are best handled at the professional staff level rather than by a volunteer advisory committee. Town Attorney Harry noted that personnel discussions often concern individual employees and “are discussions that really should be happening at a professional level, kind of outside of public view,” and council voiced concern about delegating sensitive personnel decisions to volunteer board members.

The council discussed persistent quorum problems on the planning commission and other boards. Council agreed the chair typically remains in place until replaced, but also directed staff to propose clearer code language so election of officers is not overlooked; liaisons will be asked to ensure meetings are called for yearly officer elections. The council agreed to cancel the July planning commission meeting given summer calendar constraints and quorum uncertainty; staff (Garrett Haines) will make scheduling decisions and notify members.

Members also discussed options for the recycling committee, which has struggled to retain volunteers after two productive years. Council and staff suggested researching whether to combine recycling duties with the tree board or broaden both into a single environmental or sustainability committee focused on citizen education, tree management, native plants and potential certifications. Council asked staff to check Tree City USA requirements and to consult Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) and other municipalities for models.

Training and procedural improvements drew support: council asked staff to organize onboarding and periodic refresher training on open‑meetings rules and Robert’s Rules of Order for new and existing board members; staff noted a recorded 45‑minute training is available and could be used for this purpose. Council also discussed using the code’s existing ad hoc, non‑voting member provision to include subject‑matter experts without expanding voting membership.

Next steps: Staff will draft redlines to the code reflecting council consensus, circulate those redlines to council in advance, and prepare an ordinance package for future readings. Council also asked staff to draft a general, non‑targeted letter to all board members describing attendance expectations and the option to resign if unable to meet commitments.