KIMBALL, Tenn. - As a new waterline is installed by the South Pittsburg Board of Water Works & Sewers along Old Dixie Highway, Kimball will purchase and install two new fire hydrants to service the growing area.
At the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen's October meeting, the board unanimously approved the purchase of two fire hydrants from Walter A. Wood Supply Co. in Chattanooga for $5,365 and an estimated installation cost of $1,200 per unit.
Mayor Rex Pesnell said the hydrants will be installed about 1,000 feet apart along Old Dixie Highway where home construction has spiked recently and the new waterline is under construction.
Alderman Johnny Sisk asked about ownership of the hydrants once they are installed.
Kimball utilizes nearby South Pittsburg's water system, so when the new hydrants are installed, they will become the property of the South Pittsburg utility.
Pesnell said Kimball pays an annual fee to the South Pittsburg utility to maintain all of its fire hydrants.
If one is damaged, he said South Pittsburg's utility is responsible for repairing or replacing it.
One hydrant in town had been hit by cars "four or five times," Pesnell said, and the town never paid any extra money to repair it.
"The reason I asked the question was if they owned it, why should the city have to purchase the fire hydrant to put out there?" Sisk said.
City Attorney Billy Gouger said that issue came up during a recent Kimball planning commission meeting, too.
"The current regulations the town has did not require fire hydrants to be installed, or they [the utility] would have had to have put the water system in to that set of specifications," he said. "The decision to add the fire hydrants was the town of Kimball's decision. It was an upgrade more than what the regulations required."
The town is currently in the process of changing those regulations through its planning commission to require hydrants, among other rules.
In other business, the board unanimously approved the purchase of eight 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs to replace its current line of Dodge Charger police cars for $349,569 from a state bid through Wilson County Motors in Lebanon, Tenn.
Pesnell said Kimball is "spending an awful lot of maintenance" on the town's current patrol cars that were purchased in May 2012.
City officials will try to package those older vehicles and sell them to one town.
Kimball's police department will keep one or two of the current cars for backup vehicles.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.