Commission backs update to Rutherford County private act for Highway Department, forwards it to budget

The Public Works and Planning Commission on Feb. 3 unanimously recommended that the county move forward with proposed changes to Rutherford County's private act governing the Highway Department and highway commissioners and send the draft to the budget committee for approval.

The change was presented as a cleanup of an old private act that, presenters said, contains antiquated provisions and no longer aligns fully with county uniform highway law under Tennessee Code Annotated. Highway Superintendent Greg Brooks said the draft revises meeting rules, elections of officers and purchasing thresholds to match current county practice. "The private act that we were operating under is quite old, and it had a lot of antiquated language in it," Brooks said during the meeting.

Commissioner Kush, who reported steering's discussion, said county attorney Nick Christiansen explained the legal changes at steering. Kush moved to support the draft and forward it to budget; a roll-call later in the meeting recorded unanimous support from Commissioners Peay, James, Dodd, Piercy, Boyd, Cush and Chairman Johnson.

The commission and the road board have already discussed the draft: Brooks said the road board voted 6'yes with one member absent. Commissioners noted the draft changes the private act's purchasing provisions "to mimic what county general does," meaning higher allowable spending limits and standardized procurement language. Several commissioners said steering had reviewed the legal rationale and that sending the draft to budget is the next step before the county's legislative delegation considers a private-act bill at the state level.

The commission took no final legislative action; forwarding to budget is a procedural step. The item will return to the commission after budget review and, if advanced, would be transmitted to the county's legislative delegation for consideration in the General Assembly.