City Council wraps year without voting on bond issue

Questions for Jackson Mayor Scott Conger were more about what did not happen during Tuesday's monthly Jackson City Council meeting than what did happen.

A pair of agenda items connected to a request for a bond issue up to $36.3 million to add to the City's debt was on the agenda before being removed on Monday.

"Council members had more questions about what we were asking and the debt structure, so instead of answering questions with each council member individually, we thought it best to get them together for a work session so we could go over them as a group," Conger said. "This is the first time a lot of the council members have done something like this, so a lot of them had questions just about the process in addition to what we were asking for, why, how much and other plans for the money."

Conger confirmed they will try to call a special work session in addition to the agenda review meeting and work session that typically happens five days before a council meeting to discuss everything connected to the debt.

"I'll get with all the council members and see when their schedules can get together for it, and then we'll let the public know when it's scheduled," Conger said.

With those two items off the agenda, the meeting was typical business for the City with budget amendments approved.

The City Council voted to make Jackson the first city in the state to approve single stairwell multiple family housing units in relation to recently passed Tennessee state housing codes. Multifamily housing required multiple stairwells for safety purposes in case of fire, but technological breakthroughs in housing construction and smoke detection have allowed for this to come to fruition.

Conger said this is a good thing for the City because it's another avenue for housing to be built in Jackson at a time when housing is needed more and more with expected growth in the coming years.

After it was mentioned briefly during agenda review and the Council approved a little more than $1 million of revenue from a land purchase by Great Wolf Lodge that closed on Nov. 15, Council member Richard Donnell asked Conger for an update on Great Wolf Lodge.

Conger said with the land purchase, they have begun doing the initial work toward construction but are still probably nearly a year away from actual building of the hotel and two years away from opening its doors for business.

"Building a $250 million hotel and resort is a lot different from building a house, and it takes more time to do, so this will be a longer process," Conger said.

All Council members were present for this meeting.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news