| New fire chief chosen by board | | Posted: Friday, August 10, 2012 12:00 pm
| The Martin Board of Mayor and Aldermen dished out plenty of good news during an informal session held by the board Tuesday evening.
After advertising and interviewing candidates for the position of City of Martin Fire Chief, board members narrowed their selection down to two candidates last week.
The post was left open upon former chief Russell Schwahn’s departure last month. He and his family moved out of the area.
Potential candidate Lt. Jamie Summers, who serves as the department’s training officer, was in the running for the position.
A second candidate, City of Franklin Deputy Fire Chief of Operations Mike Culberson was also a top candidate for the position.
Martin Mayor Randy Brundige announced during the meeting Tuesday evening that Summers was chosen unanimously as the city’s new chief.
Summers will officially take over Aug. 20 at a salary of $50,500.
“I feel honored. This is a good city to work for and there are a lot of good guys down there at the department,” Summers said.
In other news, Brundige said the city had been working toward finalizing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Brundige said the city has worked through the general fund and reported no property tax increase for residents.
“This speaks well of our department heads,” Brundige said. The other cities throughout the county, along with Weakley County, increased property tax rates for the new fiscal year.
Brundige also announced there was something “built” into the budget for city employees.
“We have had pretty lean years in the past, but last year was good to us,” he added.
In other good news for the City of Martin, board members will be asked to approve two resolutions allowing a refunding of bonds.
The parks bond will mature in three years. The city paid a current rate of 3.7-4 percent. By refunding the bond, the city has received a rate quote of 1.68 percent for the remainder of the bond. The estimated savings with the new interest rate is $34,723. The cost to refund the bond is $1,000.
A second bond, the water and sewer bonds, will mature in 2017. The city currently pays a rate of 3.55 percent. With the refunding, the city’s rate would be 1.9 percent. The estimated savings for the city would be $73,777.
The cost to refund that bond is $1,500.
The board will be asked to approve those resolutions when it meets at 5:15 in the city courtroom Monday evening.
The City of Martin officially opened the spray ground in downtown Martin Wednesday evening.
Those who were young and young at heart attended the ribbon cutting for the completion of the splash pad project. The project was funded through a grant. N-Site Construction built the splash pad. The manufacturer was The Fountain People.
The splash pad is a concrete ring approximately 45 feet in diameter with fountain heads built into the ground. The fountains also contain LED lighting which can feature up to 1,600 possible displays.
The system is set to a timer.
City of Martin Parks and Recreation Director Brian Moore said his team member Brad Rickman will learn the functions of the system.
The splash pad will run from 6 a.m. each day until 11 p.m. during the warmer months.
It is located in Festival Park in downtown Martin. Published in The WCP 8.9.12 | | | | |
