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Brentwood staff outline options to reallocate $17.95 million for city hall, roads, bike path and generator upgrades
Summary
City staff proposed using a $17.95 million capital pool to advance City Hall Phase 2, add contingency for Old Smyrna Road and McEwen Drive, and fund generator monitoring and stormwater work. Commissioners asked staff to refine costs and return with a prioritized list.
Brentwood city staff presented commissioners with a plan to reallocate roughly $17,950,000 in previously identified capital funds, asking the commission whether to hold the money as contingency or shift portions to higher-priority projects.
“the big question, $17,950,000 that we had identified would be the funding source for the racket facility,” said Jay, the city manager (identified by first name in the record), introducing the pool and the options for reallocation. Staff said the amount includes prior year fund balance and a possible bond component and is available to cover a range of capital projects.
Why it matters: staff framed the discussion around three near-term priorities — finishing City Hall Phase 2, protecting against market-driven cost increases on two large road projects (Old Smyrna Road and McEwen Drive), and addressing critical equipment and facility needs — while leaving room to fund parks and fire-station planning if commissioners direct staff to do so.
Key proposals and estimates offered by staff included: - City Hall Phase 2: roughly $3.5 million to complete a second phase of interior and workflow improvements focused on adjacencies and cosmetic upgrades. Jay said the number is conceptual and that staff would return with a refined scope. - Franklin Road bike/pedestrian path (phase 1): a roughly $3.3 million project for which Brentwood has an open TDOT multimodal grant application; staff recommended considering a local set-aside for phase 1 if the state grant is not awarded. - Generator monitoring and controls: about $100,000 to install monitoring equipment at two critical sites (Police Department Headquarters and the Robert E. Lee tower site) and an estimated citywide program cost of up to $500,000 to retrofit all generators for proactive alerts. - Storm-drain and culvert repairs: a targeted $140,000 for slip-lining and localized repairs identified by the public-works team. - Parks headquarters and fire-station property work: staff recommended acquiring property opportunistically and advancing at least design/funding work this year; preliminary planning numbers for a standalone Parks HQ were presented in the $5 million range (transcript contains a numeric formatting error that staff clarified as a $5,000,000 planning-level figure).
Commission response and next steps: commissioners generally supported addressing generator monitoring and storm-drain repairs immediately and asked staff to refine engineer estimates for the two road projects before committing contingencies. One commissioner said the Commission Chambers and lobby look dated and supported funding some Phase 2 improvements to improve staff workspace and public presentation on a modest scale.
On bonds and timing: the group discussed whether to add a $5 million bond issue (a recurring planning option) or rely on cash; staff recommended finalizing project scopes and refining cost estimates before bringing a bond recommendation back to the commission.
Staff will return with refined cost estimates, prioritized line items and recommended funding sources; no final reallocations or votes were taken during this session.
