Bill Lusk Chosen To Serve As Mayor
by Judy Frank
posted November 10, 2008
Despite nearly unanimous opposition from the residents of pricey Fox Run and Windtree subdivisions who view the measure as a land grab, Signal Mountain council members voted Monday to annex the developments.
Officials said the annexation will add about $400,000 annually in tax revenues to the town coffers, and bring the residents of about 200 homes into the town.
And in other action, the council chose Bill Lusk – one of three of its members who recently won re-election – to serve as the town’s mayor for the coming two years.
Susan Robertson was voted in as vice mayor.
The action came despite the impassioned arguments of
outgoing Mayor Paul Hendricks, who revealed during a lengthy statement that he long ago let other members know that he wanted to remain in the post.
Until this past Friday, the ousted mayor said, he believed that he would be unopposed.
Even after he learned that Councilman Lusk also planned to seek the mayoralty, he did not contact other council members to ask for their support since he felt that would violate the sunshine law, he said. However, he said he did ask his friends and associates to let council members know that they supported him in the contest for mayor.
He said he has since been told by at least one council member that they would have voted for him if he had not organized such public input.
"If I should not have done that, then I apologize," he said.
The testy exchange came during a council meeting packed by Fox Run and Windtree residents, who wanted to reiterate their opposition to the proposed annexation and vowed to fight long and hard to prevent it from becoming a reality.
Opponents said the measure will provide few if any services they do not already receive, and will cost them money they do not want to pay.
Attorney Gary Starnes, whose home is among those affected, has been authorized by opponents of the measure to take legal action opposing it.
Monday, attorney David Evans told council members that the case is likely to take a long time to wind its way through the courts and, if residents lose there, they will appeal the matter to a higher court. Opponents already have the funds in hand to begin the legal battle, he noted.
"It will be extraordinarily difficult to get a jury to approve an annexation that they think is a grab for money," he told the council.
Further, he and other opponents said, the litigation will be costly and eat up taxpayer dollars that could be put to uses much more beneficial to the town.
But Signal Mountain attorney Phil Noblett said under Tennessee law, towns that annex areas in their normal growth areas are not subject to legal action.
"You cannot make decisions based on whether or not they will lead to litigation," he told the council. "You have to act based on what you think is best for the town."
Signal Mountain’s new mayor and other officials said municipal fire and police protection and garbage service will be provided to residents once the areas are annexed.
Opponents' contentions that the sales taxes they pay when shopping on the mountain already pay for any services they receive do not hold weight, because the sales tax base is inadequate to recoup such costs, they noted.
Further, they noted, about 7 percent of the students at Signal Mountain Middle and High Schools live in the area the town wants to annex. While their parents do pay county taxes which help fund the school, they do not pay the special tax levied on Signal Mountain property owners.
Residents of the two subdivisions also use Signal Mountain's ballfields and other services such as the recycling center, and it is only fair for them to help pay for them, the council said.
Annexation opponents said the Walden Ridge Volunteer Fire Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office already provide fire and police protection for Fox Run and Windtree residents, who contract with private companies for garbage service.
"The services we really need you are unable to provide," Lee Norris charged. "We've been lied to about that."
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