Oct. 26: BOMA’s final McFee decision
After months of debate, a final decision on whether or not to spend roughly $5.5 million to purchase 55 acres along McFee Road — plus 15 donated acres if the purchase is approved — is expected by Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen during its meeting, which begins at 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 26, in Farragut Town Hall Boardroom.
BOMA’s “Letter of Intent” to make this purchase passed by a 2-1 vote during the Board’s June 22 meeting, with Mayor Ron Williams and Vice Mayor Louise Povlin voting in favor, and Alderman David White voting against. Aldermen Drew Burnette and Scott Meyer were absent.
The exact BOMA agenda wording June 22 is as follows:
• “Approval of (i) Ratification of the Real Estate Purchase and Donation Agreement that was executed by the Mayor as previously authorized by the Farragut Board of Mayor and Alderman on June 22, 2023, between the Town of Farragut and Timothy and Todd Scott for the purchase/donation of a total of 70 acres of land located off McFee Road and being a portion of Knox County Tax Map 162, parcels 24.02 and 24.03; (ii) affirm the Town moving forward with the transaction with knowledge of the information gathered during the due diligence period, and (iii) authorize the Mayor, Town Administrator and Town Attorney to negotiate and execute the final closing documents necessary, in their discretion and judgment, to close the transaction in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the Real Estate Purchase and Donation Agreement.”
Editor’s Note: in response to an amended state law by Tennesse General Assembly earlier this year, which requires more specific language be used by any government body when presenting a given agenda item to the public before that body meets to discuss and potentially act upon that matter of business, Town attorney Tom Hale said the following during the June 22 BOMA meeting:
“... Those laws were actually amended recently; but we’ve been complying with the amended provisions of the law for years, every since I’ve been the Town attorney.
“... All we have to do is describe what is reasonably proposed. ... If we want people to read our agendas, we better keep them relatively short in today’s world ... people won’t read more than two sentences.
“But if they want to read more than two sentences on our website (townoffarragut.org), you can get every piece of paper that is sent to the Board and review the Letter of Intent yourself: it’s been on the website for I don’t know how long; it’s been at least a week (but) it’s only required to be there for 48 hours.
“... We do a lot more detail than most people do, and we do what the new law says we’re supposed to do and have been doing it for years.”
