Sumner County

The committee meeting addressed several agenda items. Under Old Business, the discussion regarding Funding Ideas for VFD's was tabled until the February 2026 meeting. In New Business, a Study Session focused on Recruitment and Retaining Personnel, including a review of Sumner County's call volume and statistics. Following extensive discussion, the committee decided to invite a CTAS representative to the next meeting and unanimously passed a motion to present the idea of a Fire Coordinator as a recommendation to the Health and Emergency Services Committee. The committee also unanimously passed a motion to invite all Chiefs across the county to participate in the next meeting.

The meeting involved calling the session to order and confirming a quorum was present. The agenda was approved after an amendment was made to add a 'transfer of funds' item under new business. The committee approved the previous meeting's minutes and reviewed the financial report, noting strong interest earnings over November and December. The Director's report highlighted a significant uptick in call volume during the recent ice storm, with EMS and fire calls increasing substantially while law enforcement calls dropped. Staffing levels were reported as improved, with only a few vacancies remaining. Key new business included the unanimous re-election of current officers (chairman, vice chairman, and secretary treasurer), approval to transfer decommissioned surplus equipment to EMA for backup radio system use, and the approval of the FY25 audit with no findings. Major discussion centered on equipment purchases, specifically the need to replace core 911 operations hardware (servers, power store, VMware) at the primary site while moving current equipment to the backup site due to end-of-support issues. Additionally, 27 radio PCs used by dispatchers were slated for replacement due to being un-upgradable. Finally, a detailed discussion occurred regarding the end-of-support status for the central UPS, debating between expensive battery replacement versus purchasing a new unit, with vendor quotes provided.

The committee addressed procedural matters by accepting the agenda and striking one New Business item, and they approved the minutes from the December 2025 meeting. Under Old Business, the discussion regarding Funding Ideas for the VFD was tabled until the February 2026 meeting. New Business included a Study Session on Recruitment and Retaining Personnel, where discussions focused on Sumner County's call volume and statistics. Following this, the committee decided to invite a CTAS representative to the following meeting and unanimously passed a motion to recommend the idea of a Fire Coordinator to the Health and Emergency Services Committee. Furthermore, a motion passed to invite all county Chiefs to participate in the next meeting.

The document details the opening of sealed bids for Executive Recruitment Services for Sumner County. Several proposers submitted responses, including MGT Impact Solutions, LLC, Sumter Local Government Consulting, Inc., CTR Search Partners DBA CTR Executive Search, Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., and NP&S Management, Inc. DBA S. Renee Narloch & Associates. Sumter Local Government Consulting, Inc. was marked as awarded. One submission from Arndt Municipal Support was delivered after the bid opening deadline and was not opened.

The regular session agenda was approved with several modifications, including adding an EMA update and moving a resolution from the consent agenda to the Budget Committee report. Key discussions involved the failure to add a term limits resolution and the successful addition of the use of Gantt charts for construction projects to the agenda. The consent agenda items, which were approved unanimously, included resolutions for approving the 2026 County Road List, setting speed limits on Carter Ridge Road, approving the Emergency Communications Center Compensation and Benefits Policy, declaring surplus property from EMS, appropriating funds for the Mayor's parking lot project, allocating funds for website rebuild for ADA compliance, approving copier lease agreements for Gene Brown Elementary School, and transferring funds between ministries. The Board docketed informational Board of Education Budget Amendments and a court order. Recognition was given to the Liberty Creek High School Girls' Soccer Team for their State Championship win. Public recognition included comments regarding Resolution 2601-13 and the Brown House. The Chairman reported on sending a letter concerning Winter Storm Fern power outages. The body approved applications for Notaries Public positions. The Legislative Committee discussed and ultimately deferred action on a Memorandum of Agreement with the City of Gallatin concerning EMS building space usage and deferred action on a MOA regarding the FastTrack Water Infrastructure Grant, following legal advice regarding conditional funding clauses related to annexation moratoriums. The Budget Committee approved several resolutions, including appropriations for county buildings security and approval of Sumner County Board of Education Budget Amendment No. 2, while deferring action on an appropriation for the Election Commission pending an updated quote.