Councilors spent a substantive portion of the Nov. 25 meeting examining city‑sticker compliance and whether the city is capturing uncollected revenue.

Speaker 4 reported the city currently sells about 59,000 city stickers, generating roughly $1.3 million in revenue, and estimated there may be 60,000–70,000 vehicles in city limits. "We sell about 59,000 city stickers, which generates about $1,300,000 in revenue," Speaker 4 said. Members discussed the limits of the county clerk’s online registration software, which currently presents the sticker option as a voluntary click‑through and may not automatically require purchase when renewing registrations. Several councilmembers recommended reviewing any memorandum of understanding with the county clerk to determine whether the registration process can be modified or whether the city can require purchase in year two as other counties do.

The council also discussed building and engineering cost recovery, including planning and zoning fees, vacant building registries and demolition liens. Staff noted Tennessee law does not clearly enable a vacant‑building registry and that other tools — demolition liens, receivership and environmental court processes — have limits. Council noted that recent state law requires written justification for development fees over $250, so staff will research comparable fees and prepare documentation that supports any adjustments.

Council direction: staff were asked to return with (1) an assessment of the county clerk software and any MOU limiting enforcement, (2) options other counties use to force or encourage sticker purchase, and (3) research on permitting and zoning fee comparables and required justifications for fees over $250.