Elections, Vaccinations, Tax Dollars and Trains

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As vaccinations are rolling out and most people are eligible to receive them, I’m glad to see our community getting back to a more-familiar feel.

The storms over the weekend were quite severe. I hope you and your family made it through alright. The City of Brentwood has a process to  assess storm damage and you can access it using this link. This process does not dispatch repairs or emergency assistance, but it is used to help determine potential eligibility for disaster aid.

Brentwood City Commission works hard to make the best use of your tax dollars. Over the next several months, we will be reviewing the Capital Improvement Program for 2022-2027. This is a very important process, and both your elected officials and our city staff take it very seriously.

As always, your perspective and comments are very important to me, and I want to encourage you to contact me at either  Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov  if it’s not “on fire” and 615-917-1384 (voice or text) if it is.

News :

Tennessee Department of Health Gives Detail on Vaccination Plans

• COVID-19 Vaccinations Now Available for All Residents Aged 16 and Older
• The Williamson County Health Department offers COVID-19 vaccination by appointment.
• To book your appointment:

1. Visit  Vaccinate.tn.gov
2. Click the blue “Proceed to COVID-19 questionnaire” button at the bottom of the page to start your registration.

• If you need help scheduling your vaccination, please contact the call center at (615) 595-4880.
• The CDC published thoughts on how to protect yourself and others once you’ve been fully vaccinated.  You can see them using this link.
• You can find complete details at BrentwoodTN.gov.

CSX Trains parked behind County Club Estates and on the Turner Property

• You may have noticed trains parked near Country Club Estates, Green Pasture Farm (The Turner Property), and Wikle Park in Brentwood.
• As has happened with many things this year, CSX Railroads is having to work hard to adjust to big fluctuations in demand for their services. Because of the load on Radnor Yard, they are having to park trains in areas where we don’t typically see them.
• CSX and the City of Brentwood are having an ongoing conversation about how to improve the process for residents. The Turner Family has been helpful and generous in granting access to their property to help CSX by providing additional options and flexibility.
• While it is a work in process, we are optimistic about the progress we are making to reduce the noise and inconvenience to residents as much as we possibly can.

Brentwood’s Best Ash — $2,500+ of prizes available

• A significant portion of the large trees in Brentwood are Ash Trees, but these trees are threatened by the  Emerald Ash Borer  – an invasive pest capable of spreading and killing all of our ash trees.
• To build awareness of this threat as well as to help locate trees for treatment or removal, we have launched the  Brentwood’s Best Ash photo contest.
• Prizes include $1,000 for the best photo, and $500 for the most trees located and mapped, among others.
• You can find full contest details here.
• Thank you to  State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company (SVMIC)  in Brentwood for sponsoring this contest, and to our media partner  Home Page Media and the Brentwood Home Page.

City Commission Election

• May 4, 2021 is Election Day for Brentwood’s City Commission.
• Brentwood has 7 commissioners who serve staggered 4-year terms with 3 seats up for reelection this year and the other 4 in 2023.
• On the ballot are:

1. Mayor Rhea Little
2. Former Mayor Regina Smithson
3. Mark Gorman
4. Gina Gunn

Old Smyrna Road and Alternatives

• Old Smyrna Road on the northeast side of Brentwood is one of our remaining unimproved roads with narrow lanes, no shoulders, and stacked-stone walls. People generally perceive it as elegant, challenging, sentimental, congested, dangerous, or a mix of all these elements.
• Old Smyrna is a City Road – not county or state – and any changes will be funded using resources from the City of Brentwood — local tax dollars.
• As Williamson County continues to grow, Old Smyrna Road will likely be more and more in the spotlight.
• As a community, Brentwood will have to choose between:

1. Committing significant tax dollars to drastically  increase the capacity  of the road, which could also drastically change the feel and character of this area of Brentwood.
2. Committing significant tax dollars to  preserve the character  of this road while  somewhat improving  the safety and capacity of this road.
3. Committing to spending few tax dollars and  keeping this road historic , but understanding the limits this will place on capacity and drivability.

• Old Smyrna was studied about 20 years ago, and the decision at the time was to  leave it alone .
• If you have feedback on this that you would like to share with me, I’d welcome your input if you can send it to me at  Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov.

LED Lighting for Streetlights in Brentwood

• Streetlights in the City of Brentwood are aging and, if you look closely, are different styles depending on when they were purchased and installed.
• Because of their age and technology, our streetlights are getting more and more expensive to power and maintain.
• We are working on options with  NES  and  Middle Tennessee Electric  to update our system to LED lighting to help make our lighting more efficient and reliable.
• As we move through the process, we will have decisions to make on the color temperature of the light and will also be looking at the impact on night skies. More on this topic can be found at  International Dark-Sky Association.
• If you have any experience or thoughts on this you would like to share, please email me at  Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov.

YMCA and One Brentwood

• The YMCA of Middle Tennessee is significantly upgrading the Brentwood Family YMCA on Concord Road to make it a  larger, state-of-the-art facility
• A portion of the funding for the upgrade to the Brentwood Family YMCA comes from the planned sale of the Maryland Farms YMCA.  This facility will remain open through late 2022.

Briefly

• Brentwood Police Department  is celebrating 50 years !
• Ravenswood Mansion  won a second consecutive “Couples Choice” award from Wedding Wire.  Congratulations to our team!  We have also added a “ virtual tour ” for folks considering a booking.
• Fire Station 5  is on schedule to begin construction this Fall.
• Brentwood Plans to add an  Inclusive Playground  to Granny White Park.
• Friends of the Brentwood Library  contributes $30,000 towards improvements to the John P Holt Brentwood Library.
• We are working on  significant improvements to the Murray Lane/Holly Tree Gap intersection  and are optimistic that we will be able to replace the stop signs with a much more efficient roundabout system. A study is underway, and we should know one way or the other by Summer 2021.

Calendar :

• Our full city calendar is available at  Calendar | City of Brentwood.
• April 3 –  Easter Parade  at the John P Holt Brentwood Library  – 9am-11am.
• April 4 – Brentwood Library closed for Easter Sunday
• April 12 and 26th – City Commission Meetings
• April 14-April 29 —  Early Voting  open at the John P Holt Brentwood Library, Brentwood City Hall, and the Election commission Office.
• April 17  and  April 24  – Spring Clean Up! Clean out your Garages, Attics, and storage Space.
• Summer Concert Series 2021 at Crockett Park  – we are back on!
  • June 6  –  Bicho Brothers
  • June 20  –  Six Wire
  • July 4  – “Red White and Boom” with  Tim Akers & the Smoking Section
  • July 25  –  Rubik’s Goove

This Month’s Focus: Long Term Large Investments in the Brentwood Community

Your Board of Commissioners is getting ready to start the process of reviewing our 5-year capital plan. We have the first draft of the plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2027 and have scheduled meetings to review and discuss our options.

Formal public hearings on this will take place at the City Commission Meetings on May 24, June 14, and June 28, 2021. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts with me at  Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov.

The primary focus of this program is to identify and address infrastructure, facility, and equipment needs and then set a plan to address them.

The Big Picture Capital Spending is:

• Transportation — $62,975,000 (45.6%)
• Utilities — $26,365,000 (24.4%)
• Facilities & Equipment — $22,895,000 (16.6%)
• Parks & Rec — $7,700,000 (5.6%)
• Technology — $7,090,000 (5.1%)
• Storm Drainage — $1,000,000 (0.7%)

Large Projects in Brentwood include:

• Upgrades to the Brentwood Traffic Signal System
• Improvements to the Murray Lane/Holly Tree Gap Intersection
• Opening our new Police Headquarters on Heritage Way
• Ragsdale Road widening (2023).
• Parks Department Operations Facility within Crockett Park (2025).
• Water and Sewer wet weather stormwater and sewer storage facility.
• Fire Station 5  on Split Log Road.
• City Hall Renovations to optimize space after Policy HQ relocates.
• Updates and upgrades to our water and sewer systems to match capacity to future use and to update aging water system infrastructure.
• Updating Brentwood’s network and computer equipment for 911 dispatch, Police HQ, security upgrades, and other general use technology.

Money to pay for all this comes from:

• 72% comes from local sources on a “pay-as-you-go” basis using local sources (commercial sales tax, commercial property tax, residential property tax, impact fees, etc).
• 14% comes from inter-governmental funding sources.
• 14% comes from the issuance of General Obligation and Water/Sewer Bonds.

The City of Brentwood currently has the highest possible bond rating from two major rating agencies – Moody’s Investors Service Aaa and Standard and Poor’s AAA.  This puts the City in an excellent position to issue bonds over the next 6 years and receive favorable terms.

The detail on the Capital Improvement Program is well over 100 pages, and I will post a link to the full document once it becomes available on the BrentwoodTN.gov website. Over the next several months, your City Commissioners will be going through it and the annual budget in detail to make sure we are putting your tax dollars to their best use in our community.

If you would like to reach out with some comments or feedback, please do so to  Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov

Resources:

• Full  City of Brentwood Calendar
• Interactive City of Brentwood Maps , including zoning, parks, utility district, land records, and Historic Places
• City of Brentwood  Commission Home page , including contact information, meeting schedule, and videos of past meetings
• City of Brentwood  Planning Commission Home page , including contact information, meeting schedule, and videos of past meetings:
• City of Brentwood  Water and Sewer Master Plan  and other information
• Full  contact information for your Federal, State, County, and local elected officials
• Complete list and links to download  Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for the City of Brentwood  back to 2005

Thank you again for all your support!

Nelson

Nelson Andrews
Brentwood City Commissioner
“From Brentwood, For Brentwood”
615-917-1384

Nelson.Andrews@BrentwoodTN.gov