Sparse crowd was at the last Signal Mountain Town Council meeting for the foreseeable future
photo by Joseph Dycus
During an emergency session of the Signal Mountain Council, future council and committee meetings were suspended indefinitely as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen. In a sparsely populated room with only 13 well-spaced occupants, Mayor Dan Landrum and the rest of the council also voted to pay Town of Signal Mountain employees for the next four pay periods (eight weeks), regardless of how much they work. This would apply to both full-time and part-time employees.
“The purpose of what we voted on tonight in regards to those employees is to keep continuity in their lives and to make it easy for someone who might be sick to stay home, and not fear that “I need to go in in order to keep the lights in my house on,” said Mayor Landrum.
“That’s what that’s about.”
Director of Public Works Loretta Hopper, along with the Council, also decided it was prudent to shut down the recycling center on Thursday. The man who often oversees the center is considered in the “at-risk” demographic, and any younger person who takes his place would also be just as likely to become infected with the virus, it was stated.
“It’s going to create a backlog if we continue to do business as usual. So the ask would be, to find a way to reduce and reuse, and use less if possible,” said Mayor Landrum. “We will continue to try to figure out a way to safely reopen the recycling center. But we have to see how this progresses, because it might not be even remotely possible.”
Town Manager Boyd Veal will take on more responsibility because the Council has deemed this to be an emergency situation. If it is critical that the town spend money on something, Mr. Veal now has the ability to do so without it going before the council. While this is a large amount of power for one man to wield, Councilwoman Susannah Murdock said Mr. Veal can be trusted. He has worked for the city in some capacity for 30 years and has been the town manager for the last six.
“The way some spending decisions work, there are limits that make it so the spending can’t take place unless it goes before the council,” said Mayor Landrum. “But if we are in an emergency situation and the council can’t meet, then Boyd can move more quickly instead of having to wait for the cycle of council meetings to fall.”
Various council members said that nothing on the upcoming agenda was so pressing that it required immediate council action. However, while meetings are currently suspended, there is a possibility the council and other town committees could meet electronically. Mayor Landrum said they are waiting to see what the state says. Any electronic meeting would still need to be open to the public in order to comply with state laws about open meetings.