At a strategic planning meeting in February, under the MTAS consultant Honna Rogers, the Red Bank Commission set its goals for the coming year. The mission statement is that “Red Bank strives for a vibrant growing and inclusive community by pursuing excellence, enhancing safety and celebrating our neighborhood character and stewarding our natural landscapes.” Each commissioner is leading the effort to achieve one of the goals.
Mayor Stefanie Dalton is heading the plan to develop a new land conversion agreement with TDEC and the National Park Service.
Commissioner Jamie Fairbanks Harvey will help create priorities for safe streets: curtailing speeding, enhancing pedestrian walkability, and cycling routes.
Commissioner Terri Holmes will help launch economic development efforts to attract investment and support local businesses.
Commissioner Hayes Wilkinson is in charge of implementation of the parks master plan.
Vice Mayor Hollie Berry will take the lead in low-cost activation of city property with improvements such as tables and gardens.
The new budget for fiscal year 2026 will be done with those goals in mind. The process for developing the budget is set to begin April 15 with the second and final vote to take place on June 3. In between there will be other workshops and opportunities for Red Bank citizens to weigh in. Most but not all of the budget discussions will take lace at regular commission meetings.
Several resolutions were passed to keep the city moving forward. A newly established company in Red Bank, Cadence Sitework, provides some services that the city previously had to rely on out-of-town businesses to provide. The city entered an on-call servicer agreement with Cadence Sitework for guardrail installation and maintenance, on an as-needed basis.
An on-call agreement was also authorized for pavement marking and road striping maintenance with Superior Pavement Markings and Volunteer Highway Supply Co. If the cost of guardrail or painting work exceeds $10,000, authorization will be required from the commission.
A new security camera will be installed at the city’s impound lot on Midvale Avenue. This camera will be leased from Skycop, Inc. The installation, use and maintenance of the camera will be up to $3,300 annually for a three-year subscription.
Three new trucks were ordered in 2023 but never delivered. The order remained unfulfilled and then in February, Ford Motor Co. was in preparation for restarting production of the trucks that had paused due to the chip shortage. At that time Red Bank’s order was cancelled for an unknown reason. The city chose to pursue the purchase of two Ford F-150 Lightning Pro EV trucks instead. The cost of the two trucks will be $98,600 and they should be delivered by the end of June this year.
On the second and final vote, the commission gave approval for a $20,000 budget amendment. The new financial director came from a temp service and the city has agreed to pay $20,000 to break the contract with that agency. And the commissioners voted to amend the beer ordinance so that for city sponsored special events, vendors who sell beer can apply for a single beer license each year without needing to come back and apply for a new permit for every city sponsored special event.
Announcements from the commissioners included that the new ADA compliant restrooms outside the Red Bank Community Center are now open. The ribbon cutting took place on Tuesday afternoon. The next food pantry at the Red Bank United Methodist Church will be on Thursday from 4:30-6 p.m.