Lebanon WWTP Site Selection — Public Record Archive | Return to main page
Video recording (YouTube) — Transcript — Public hearing began 5:55 p.m.; regular meeting began 6:00 p.m., City of Lebanon Administration Building
This council meeting followed the Site Selection Committee's 4:00 p.m. meeting earlier the same day, at which the committee voted to recommend sites 22, 13, and 7 to the mayor and council (Site 2 removed by amendment). Mayor Bell referenced that meeting directly in his remarks: “we had a lot of conversation back and forth that everybody who was on that committee is in a really difficult position, but we're trying to do what's best for the city... when that comes to council, I'm sure there will be people that are not happy, but believe in my heart, the decision that is made by the council is what we truly believe is going to be best for the future of the city of Lebanon.”
Terry Monahan (511 Barton Shore Court) — Repeated his argument (previously made at committee meetings) that a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) requires only about 5 acres to treat 20 MGD, versus the committee's 60-acre site threshold, at a 13.5–15% cost premium over conventional treatment. New this meeting: he framed retrofitting the existing facility with MBBR technology — avoiding a new site purchase entirely — as the option that could offset that cost premium, rather than presenting MBBR primarily as a reason to prefer a smaller footprint at Site 13/Rockwood. He distributed comparison documents (a conventional Murfreesboro facility vs. MBBR) to the mayor and council.
Unnamed speaker (1610 Ponderosa Trail — the same speaker who addressed all four sites at the committee's afternoon meeting) — Reiterated opposition to Site 13/Rockwood despite it being inside city limits, citing its flood zone, a gas line running through the property, and limited room for future expansion. She then advocated strongly for Site 7:
“I think we need to look seriously at site seven because that's where the two lines will come together — one off the Coles Ferry and one... from this end of the world. And it's already got your park setting and it's already got a tree line buffer — you can't see nothing from the road on that property... I know it's two parcels and one of them already touches, it's already in this urban growth boundary and the other one touches it.”
She added that extending a sewer line to Site 7 could eventually support commercial development along Highway 109 north (“that's a tax base”), and argued the site would affect fewer homes and require less blasting/infrastructure disruption than the alternatives. This closely tracks her testimony at the same day's committee meeting (see the committee meeting notes).
Resolution 26-2886 — To accept bids and award a contract for electrical maintenance services for the wastewater treatment plant, presented by Regina Santana (utilities director) and Jeremiah Exom (WWTP plant manager). Approved on consent with no discussion recorded. This is a routine maintenance contract for the existing plant, unrelated to the new-site selection process.