By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Meeting in regular session Monday evening, the Henry County Commission approved the donation of easements to the city of Paris to allow the construction of new sidewalks and safety features to the Tyson Avenue/Hwy. 79 S intersection and surrounding area.
The city was awarded a multimodal access grant for intersection upgrades and sidewalks. The target completion date is the fall of 2025. The project has been discussed at length at Paris City Commission meetings for some time.
Paris City Manager Kim Foster explained to the commissioners that the plan is to tear out the existing islands and add pedestrian safety features for the crosswalk areas, as well as adding new sidewalks. “We already constructed new sidewalks in the Dale Street area and this will provide connectivity with that area and on to Inman School and Grove School,” she said. “This will be a big benefit for pedestrian safety.”
Foster said Pocket’s convenience store already donated easement to the city for the project, too.
In other business:
–The commission formally rescinded its earlier resolution authorizing the hiring of EMS employees. According to the original resolution, the county authorized the hiring of employees to assist American Medical Response of Tennessee in providing ambulance services in Henry County.
The new resolution indicates the county does not wish to continue the arrangement and authorized County Mayor Randy Geiger to withdraw from and terminate the county’s agreement with AMR as it pertains to county employees assisting with EMS services, effective February 28.
A large contingent of local EMS employees was on hand for last night’s meeting.
Geiger explained that the county entered into the agreement with AMR to hire some of their employees, but they since indicated to Henry County that they were not employees of the county but are instead private employees.
In a related resolution, the county commission also authorized Geiger to retain legal counsel to advise him and the commission on the matter. The resolution notes that a legal issue has arisen concerning a pension plan affecting up to eight current and/or former county employees.
The resolution states that the County Mayor wishes to engage an attorney with significant experience handling government pension plans. County Attorney Rob Whitfield said very few attorneys in the state have such specialized experience.
Geiger indicated he had met with the EMS employees. “AMR has agreed to work with us on that and we want to make those employees as whole as we can. To the employees who are here tonight, I wish it could be differently. We appreciate the services you provide to the county.”
–County Commissioner Monte Starks pointed out that Resolution 50517 governs trash on private property and that it explains fines that are issued when trash is not picked up and regulations are not followed.
Starks said the county needs to either ‘try to enforce it or get rid of it’. Geiger said, “This is an ongoing problem. I wouldn’t object to a group of people studying the issue and see if hiring a codes officer is the way to go. It’s a complex, complicated issue”. A resolution will be ready on the issue by the next meeting.
Photo: Kim Foster explains the pedestrian safety project. Shannon McFarlin photo.