Seller, White, Burnette among McFee decision voices: 4-1 to buy
After hearing residents’ mixed input, Farragut Board of Mayor and Alderman voted 4-1 to approve and ratify the purchase of 55 acres of land adjacent to McFee Road for $5.5 million from property owners Tim and Todd Scott during its meeting Thursday, Oct. 26.
Along with 55 acres, the Scotts are donating 15 acres to the Town with a request the Scotts be able to build a road to get to their other property.
While Alderman David White voted against the motion, Mayor Ron Williams, Vice Mayor Louise Povlin and Aldermen Scott Meyer and Drew Burnette voted in favor.
Citizens cite poor notice execution
Two of the citizens speaking against how the purchase was executed said Town leaders did not place a “purchase agreement” within the June 22 BOMA agenda, but instead a “purchase agreement” the Town executed through Town attorney Tom Hale and Town administrator David Smoak and signed by Williams Sept. 1, was only “in the meeting packet” and not publicly disclosed properly.
One of those speakers also said a Town plat map “was altered” within the meeting packet, “which omitted a 1.73-acre sinkhole in the good land — and the good land is in the 15 donated acres.”
Hale has strongly denied what both speakers claimed was a violation of the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.
One of the pair pointed out Town leaders, in fact, put items on the Oct. 26 agenda that were only in the meeting packet June. 22.
The co-seller: Timothy Scott
About reports the Scotts and Knox County Schools had talks about purchasing their land for a new Farragut school, “The school thing, somebody mentioned the school pulled out. I pulled out of the school thing because it got much political like this, and people started fighting in back rooms about the school,” Tim Scott said during the meeting. “I was just trying to do something for the community because we’ve got enough houses. ...”
About wishing to see the property become a park, “When the school thing failed. ... I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to make it a park, and if they’ll do a park I’ll give them some land,” he said. “... If Farragut wanted a park, what I nice thing it would be. We would be the premier place in Knox County with the greenspace that would be here for the community.”
“... At the end of the day .... I’m not for or against; whatever you all decide is great with me. ...
“And I hope they use it for the community; and I hope people who don’t live in Farragut, that don’t have the means to live in Farragut, can come and use these parks. ...”
Of the three citizens speaking who favored the purchase, one said the Scotts’ price was “a very reasonable rate.”
Another said the land “has great opportunities and possibilities,” including “educational classroom” and “Boy Scout and Girl Scout projects.”
The dissenting vote: White
White cited a combination of improper public notice of a Sept. 25 meeting scheduled in the early evening in Farragut Community Center, which would allow all voices on the matter of whether or not to spend the $5.5 million to purchase the land be heard.
Another issue he cited was the requirement, at the end of the Sept. 25 meeting, to use a smartphone to vote for or against the purchase: that a number of voters didn’t bring their phones into the meeting.
Some of White’s comments follow, while Burnette, also representing South Ward, cites one reason for his vote.
• White: “I requested a citizens’ Town meeting to discuss the land purchase. The mayor was nice enough to let me have that, and it was scheduled.
“Two weeks before, it wasn’t in the paper. I called Town Hall and asked why we weren’t advertising the meeting. I was told it was just too early, that there would be plenty of time before the next meeting.
“I was assured (the legal notice) would be in all the publications that we normally use to advertise a public Town meeting to do town business.
“Well, on the Wednesday before the meeting, it was not in the paper. I called Town Hall and asked why that it wasn’t advertised in the paper. I was told that it should have been. We didn’t know why. We would have to ask some questions and figure out why it wasn’t. It wasn’t on the Town website.
“On Friday morning, before the meeting, I received a call from Town Hall and they said they didn’t know what happened. It should have been advertised, and it must have been farragutpress that erred and didn’t get it in there.
“I was told at that time it was now on the Town website. I checked the Town website; it was not there. I called farragutress and I got a real nice lady who searched every website that they have where stuff could come in by mistake. It wasn’t there ... .”
• Burnette: Compared with White, “I had a very, very different experience with the Town outreach. If you were anywhere on social media, anywhere within five arms’ lengths of social media, you knew about this meeting.
“I’ll be very, very honest with you: Before this meeting was scheduled, I felt like I had a pulse of the South Ward at a very minimum, much less the entire Town, on the support for this project. ... I felt very comfortable I knew what a majority of residents wanted. ...”
Editor Alan Sloan contributed to this story
