Wendy Woods, Director of the Union County Senior Center addressed the Union County Commission on Monday, February 23, 2026, to request funding for the installation of the new kitchen equipment. She requested $24,200 to install the new grant funded kitchen equipment. Mayor Bailey shared pictures of the current stove, ovens, refrigerator, and other equipment. The kitchen was built in the late 1970's and much of the equipment is now unusable and unable to be repaired. Commission approved the request and the new appliances and equipment will be installed immediately. Commissioners Simmons and Walker authored the motion.

Mayor Jason Bailey reported that the Blue Mud Improvements Project is back on track. TVA filed the permit that will allow the project to continue. The project has been on hold for several months possibly because of the Federal downsizing. The Appalachian Regional Commission Grant will fund the project. His office has applied for a Tennessee 250 Grant for $20,000 to help toward the Rush Strong School Improvements in Sharps Chapel.

The bid for the Sharps Chapel EMS Station is $150,000 greater than expected. In addition, the Community Centers for Big Ridge and Speedwell are expected to cost more than the $200,000 earmarked for each building. Greg Dyer, Chairman of the building committee requested to repurpose $300,000 of the ARPA funds for the three projects. The funds were originally part of the Luttrell Sports Complex funds. Commissioner Cheryl Walker from Luttrell questioned the funding and opposed the motion.

Mayor Bailey is searching for a person to fill a vacant seat on the Library Board. He appointed Crystal Flatford in the Finance office as the Keep Union County Beautiful Coordinator. Mayor Bailey complimented Tammie Carter in the Assessor's office for her service to KUCB and the quality program she maintained.

David Raley and Lisa Pratt requested that the new bridge on Highway 33 over Bull Run Creek be designated as a memorial bridge to honor Cody Collins, who was killed in a car wreck. Collins was in the US Army with a rank of E4. He is credited with saving the life of a truck driver involved in a different wreck near Eddie's Auto Parts. The Commission approved the request and asked the attorney to provide the resolution and complete any documents regarding the project.

Garnet Southerland introduced Haley Summers as the Interim Countyt Director.of the Union County
Health Department. Ms.Summers will assume this additional role along with her current duties as the Regional Projects and Communications Coordinator. Ms. Southerland will still work with Union County in her new position as the East TN Regional Assistant Director with the TN Department of Health.
Mayor Jerry Lawson returned to report that the Luttrell City Council was supportive of acquiring the Luttrell Industrial Park property to build a sports complex. Mayor Lawson stated,“You can never go wrong when you invest in our youth.” He explained that Luttrell intended to fund the project through grants over several years. He further noted that the city would not be able to acquire the amounts of funding that the county could secure. The county had previously been awarded $1M including the matching ARPA funds. But Commission voted to refuse the grant. He also said that Luttrell would need to own the land to apply for most of the grants needed for the project. The Sharps Chapel Commissioners, Greg Dyer and Eddie Simpson, offered a motion to sell the property of 36.81 acres to Luttrell for $275,000. Mayor Lawson commented that Luttrell did not have the means to make that purchase. The motion failed with only four commissioners voting for the sale. Then, Brad Woods, Chief of the Luttrell Volunteer Fire Department, joined the conversation. He proposed that a portion of the land could be used as a fire department training center. The center would require a minimum of two acres. It would alleviate the need to travel to Murfreesboro for training and could be used for all firefighters in the county. Finally, Commissioner Gerald Simmons, who as the former County Executive had purchased the industrial property from Bud DeVault, requested that the issue be on the March agenda and asked Mayor Lawson to return with a general plan and a list of grants to fund the project. Mayor Lawson responded that he could get the information.

Commissioners also asked Mayor Bailey and Commissioner Jessee to schedule a Jail Committee Meeting in order to review proposed additions to the new jail plan. The proposal is to expand the number of court offices from one to at least three to accommodate the County Judge, the Court Clerk, the Juvenile Director, and anyone else assisting the court, to expand the courtroom gallery to 200, and to add bathrooms. The 2100 square feet would be at an estimated cost of $1M and bring the total cost to $31M. The architects plan to attend the meeting.

The Farmers Market requested a contract for the use of Heritage Park to house the commercial kitchen equipment for the next ten years. Currently the kitchen is not being used by the school system but a new facility that is a teaching kitchen is being developed. The new kitchen will have 20 teaching stations but lacks the funding and is at least another year from completion. The contract was postponed to the March meeting.

Missy Brown, Finance Director, reported the status of the county debt. All of the county debt is associated with the school system. The debt includes the Paulette School bond which will be retired as of September of 2026. In addition the school energy program is part of the debt and paid by school system funds. Finally, the last debt is the first $9M for the new middle school. There is no debt attributed solely to the county. Ms. Brown noted that if every person of the 19,802 population paid $583 each, the school system debt would be completely paid.

Commissioners approved all Budget amendments and transfers and the Finance reports for November and December. The surplus from the sheriff and library was approved as well as three contracts that covered the Rescue Squad lease, the online bidding program, and amendments to make the opioid contracts coincide with the fiscal year.

Commission refused to allow the Live Free Program, a drug rehab information and needle exchange program to use the Union County Health Department. Currently the program is being implemented on private property with no building. But plans are being investigated for another location out of the weather where resources can be more appropriately offered.

A private act is currently before the Tennessee General Assembly to increase the county buiding permit cost to 50 cents a square foot. Apparently lobbyists from two large home builders, Smithbilt and D.R. Horton are opposing the bill. The Private Acts Committee will hear comments on March 2. Representative Dennis Powers is the Chairman of the Committee for Private Acts. The current fees are based on a private act that was passed in 1973. The bill was not approved last year and if not approved this term, the assessor's office will lose more than $200,000.. Building permits help fund the Assessor's office so that the county property tax does not have to pay for the state required department. Excess fees go to the general county fund to also maintain lower property taxes.

Ali Patterson Tipton will remain as the delinquent tax attorney. Commissioners also approved the list of Union County Roads.

The Commission scheduled Tuesday, March 24 zs a Budget Workshop at 5:00 with the Finance Committee at 6:00. The next regular Commission meeting is changed toMonday, March at 7:00.