Volunteer efforts at park will continue

By RANDALL ALLEN

Horizon Reporter

CELINA-In their first official appearances since taking office earlier this month, new aldermen Michael Boles and Tracy Mills joined re-elected alderman Kenny Westmoreland and mayor Luke Collins in addressing several issues facing the City of Celina at last week’s July meeting.

The second reading of the budget was approved, and street paving, infrastructure replacement, and Donaldson Park were also discussed.

Prior to the budget vote, Collins spoke about the city’s finances.

“Our sales tax is down in May and June, it is concerning,” Collins said.  “Sales tax really runs Celina.

“We have made a lot of investment in infrastructure.  We bought a new fire truck… a new trash truck, excavators, trucks, and I don’t know how many (water) valves put in.

“The aldermen at the time, a lot of those (improvements) were kicked down the road, forever,” the mayor continued.  “So we wanted to take initiative and get some of those fixed.

“(We invested in) our water plant, there were a lot of things that needed to be fixed.  Our sewer plant, a lot of things needed to be fixed.”

Collins explained the city spent a significant amount on infrastructure and continued to talk about how those investments affect the overall viability of the city in the future.

“That itself depletes the fund balance, because you are making these big one-time purchases,” Collins said. “The reality is that if sales tax continues to decline, then we will have to make some decisions, (but) this budget is a good budget.”

Following Collins’ comments, Mills made a motion to approve the second reading of the budget.  Boles seconded the motion, and it passed 3-0.

Paving

When the topic of paving city streets was discussed, Boles offered his opinion on the issue.

“I think we need to wait until we fix the sewers and that stuff (water lines) first,” he said. “If we pave and then just cut up (the new roads), we will just have the same mess we have right now.

“If we are going to do it, get the infrastructure done first and then come back and cover it, so it looks nice for a long time.”

“Some of the streets that have been paved have already had to have been cut up,” Collins responded. 

“There will always be some that have to, but if we already know there is a grant to redo some of the water and sewer lines right, why don’t we, there is no rush to do this,” Boles replied.  “Get all of the underground stuff fixed first and then come back and pave.”

To finish the discussion, Collins told aldermen the city could always reapply for a USDA loan in the future if the current loan expired without being used.

Park

Jason Upton, a local resident who has been volunteering his time and expertise in forestry to help improve Donaldson Park, also addressed alderman at the meeting.

“I came here to volunteer down there on a number of things,” Upton said.  “As I looked into the lease agreement for the park, part of that agreement is to remove invasive species of plant life, which is something that I know about… I would like to continue to do that type of thing.

“I am here to ask for your permission to do that.”

“You have got mine,” Mills said to Upton, before Westmoreland also threw his support behind the effort.

After some discussion about the invasive species removal, Upton updated aldermen concerning the park’s mosquito problem and offered some possible solutions, including the effectiveness of recently-installed bat boxes.

“We have two confirmed bats in the boxes,” Upton reported, before explaining bats will eat some of the insects in the park, including mosquitos.

The bat boxes were installed in late May, and Upton offered his appreciation to several people and organizations throughout the community for their help in bringing the project to life at that time.

“We have gained knowledge from several different sources, and received help and support from friends, neighbors, students, teachers, (and) the list goes on,” Upton said in a May 26 Facebook post.  “Thanks to Desmaray (Brown) at the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers, Mallory Tate from TWRA , Matt Craighead and the Clay County High School Ag students, Celina Lumber Company, Copeland’s Rural Supply, Robert Thurman, Rocky Thurman, Joseph Short, PAJCH Homeschoolers Inc., TN Dept of Agriculture, museum staff, and City of Celina Mayor Luke Collins.

“Bats are good!  These two bat boxes/rocket boxes house 300+ bats each.  Bats eat six times their body weight every night,” Upton continued.  “That equals thousands of insects, and that’s just what we need to help balance the insect population, especially the mosquitoes in Celina.

“Hopefully in the future more rocket boxes can be placed throughout the city to help support the endangered species of bats and to help with the mosquito problem as well.”

At the meeting, Upton also discussed the possibility of a Corps of Engineers-approved, small controlled burn in the areas where the mosquitos are laying their eggs.

Additionally, he talked about working to establish an arboretum, which requires 30 trees to be identified in order to be classified as such.

“The Corps loves the idea of an arboretum, and they love the bat boxes,” Upton said in closing.