2026-07-16 July 16, 2026 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - FINAL
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6:00 PM City of Smyrna Mayor and Council Meeting 2800 King Street SE Human Resources Training Room Page 3 of 4 Mayor Norton stated that if this is approved, the council would like to see some stats as to how the vehicle is being used. Council asked for more data and information including the data for Metro response times. Deputy Chief Mohrmann reiterated that though this vehicle looks like an ambulance, it is a transport capable vehicle. The Smyrna Fire Department is not an ambulance service and does not want to be one, but they do want to have the coverage and capabilities readily available if needed. 4. Formal Business and Presentations A. COW2026-064 Parks Equipment Discussion – Parks and Rec Director Richard Garland Richard Garland, Community Services Administrator, discussed the landscape maintenance of the fields at Campbell Middle School. He reached out to Russell Landscaping, and they quoted an additional $40,000.00 a year to be added to the existing landscaping contract if Campbell Middle School maintenance is added. Mr. Garland researched ways that maintenance could be kept in-house. He believes this can be done if they are able to purchase some equipment: two Laser Z X-Series 72" riding mowers at a cost of $16,014.00 each for a total of $32,028.00 and one Vanguard Ride-On Blower at a cost of $11,880.00 totaling $55,788.00. Mayor Norton asked if the City has the manpower to do this. Mr. Garland stated that they will be bringing on additional people later in the year. The equipment will be stored at Public Works. 5. Review of Current M&C Agenda A. COW2026-056 Review of the July 20, 2026 Mayor and Council Meeting Notice and Agenda Z26-004: Joey Staubes, Planner II, provided the following background: The applicant is requesting to rezone 4691 Camp Highland Road, which is currently vacant, from GC to TD-Conditional for development of six (6) single-family attached dwelling units at a density of 5.71 units per acre. The Planning & Zoning Commission voted 5-0 to deny the application at the May 11, 2026, hearing. Following the vote to deny the applicant held an additional meeting with the surrounding neighbors and modified the site plan and elevations in response to those comments. The Planning & Zoning Commission voted to approve the revised site plan and elevations by a vote of 3-1 at the July 13, 2026, meeting. Neighbors’ concerns originally were the placement of the dog park and the detention pond. Those have been moved. Now their concern is the height of the buildings. The applicant is trying to amend their renderings to show that the front side is three stories and the back side is four stories. Mr. Staubes reminded Mayor and Council that at 5:00 PM on Monday the consultant is coming to discuss the Comprehensive Plan. ATH2026-089: Major Copeland stated that over the last two years, the Police Department has lost nine vehicles from the fleet due to traffic accidents as well as mechanical failures. Seven of the vehicles were marked patrol vehicles that are necessary for the continued service provided by the Police Departments to the City of Smyrna. The loss of these vehicles has left the department short of the necessary fleet needed to provide both emergency services and routine response required. Due to this shortage, other vehicles have had to be kept past the City’s established replacement schedule, leading to increased mechanical failure in the fleet which has led to operational downtime as well as increased vehicle repair costs.