Two ‘no’ votes to FY Budget 1st read; greenway issue
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen passed its 2025-2026 budget on first reading at its Thursday, June 12, meeting — but not without disagreement and confrontation.
After a lengthy discussion, ending in an argument over the Turkey Creek road improvement/greenway project, the Board voted 3-2 to pass the budget as presented.
Mayor Ron Williams, Vice Mayor Scott Meyer and Alderman Drew Burnett voted for the approval while Aldermen Alex Cain and David White voted against.
In the budget Town administrator David Smoak presented, $500,000 was allotted for the “Turkey Creek Road Multi-Modal Improvements” for 2026.
However, Cain made a motion to delete the funding for that project, which was seconded by White.
“Several months ago, residents of Brixworth subdivision, who were going to have some property negatively impacted by the Turkey Creek greenway (project) by removal of trees along Turkey Creek Road, asked me to come down and take a look at their property,” Cain said. “I walked in the backyard of some of these homes, behind the tree line, and what I saw, first of all, was a rocky 8.3-degree slope that’s currently hidden by the road by the trees.
“I’ve wondered how the design had gotten so poor that we were at that point,” Cain added, noting the resident provided the aldermen with some engineering drawings “that resembled ski jumps from the Olympics.
“The project has five different steps that have to go down that 8.3-degree incline,” he continued. “At this point, I kind of wonder why it was included when in the 2022 budget; there was an alternative titled Brixworth Greenway Connection that went off the end of the Turkey Creek greenway connection and then eventually worked its way through the neighborhood back to Virtue Road.
“When I was a candidate for this seat, back in 2024, I asked this Board and the (Farragut Municipal) Planning Commission to remove this project from the (Capital Investment Plan),” Cain added. “As a Town, we’re now sitting in pending litigation with this project.
“So, over the last few weeks, I received a transcript from the Chancery Court involving the summary judgment motion put forth by the Town of Farragut, which is all public record. Within that transcript, the attorneys and the Chancellor referred to a court case in Bristol, Tennessee, that established precedent that greenways are linear parks.
“I feel that the homeowners, who are all Farragut residents, have been forced unnecessarily to spend money on a lawsuit. I believe that the Town is in a predicament that they shouldn’t have been.
As a result, “I call for an amendment to the motion (made by Meyer and seconded by Burnette) to remove the Turkey Creek greenway (project) from the Capital Investment Plan) due to the safety issues that have been discussed, and I ask that the Town enter into discussions to settle this case with the plaintiffs,” Cain said. “I also believe that in the future, we should not have to put any other homeowners through something like this.”
His motion was seconded by White; however, Meyer said, “I’m not amending my motion for that.”
“Then we have no choice but to move on,” the mayor said.
However, Town administrator David Smoak said the Board “can take that motion itself and just vote on that.”
“I’d like to hear everybody else before we have any vote,” Williams said.
“I’m OK to listen to everybody,” Cain said.
“It seems unwise to really talk about a project that we’re in litigation over,” Burnette said. “I can’t really ask Tom (Hale, Town attorney) stuff right now.”
However, “If you look back in the meetings, you will see the Brixworth greenway project and why it was passed over unanimously, from costs to (Americans with Disabilities Act),” he added. “All those are detailed out. The price is way more expensive. The land does not allow for it.
“We didn’t do things to people,” Burnette continued. “We brought a plan, just like the road we’re working on at Virtue right now. We’ve got a plan that’s years out. We’re meeting with neighbors; we’re talking; we’re seeing what neighbors want to do.
“I think we’re going to have a meeting in July for the whole community over Virtue Road, and that’s how we do things. We can’t do that for this greenway project because we’re in a lawsuit and we’ve got to let it play out, so it’s unfortunate that we don’t get to communicate with everybody.“
He asked Town engineer Darryl Smith about the “ski jumps” on the plan.
“That’s a 3 percent grade,” Smith said. “You have to have a landing. That’s what’s proposed on the Turkey Creek (greenway plan).”
“There are no ski jumps,” Burnette said. “It’s an ADA thing. You can’t jump it.”
“There’s a 3-to-1 slope at Brixworth that’s a lot steeper,” Smith said.
Meyer said he was one of the aldermen who walked the resident’s yard and looked at the scope of the project.
“To me, it doesn’t make sense, with the project as it is currently, that we would be able to deal with the slope of the hill,” he said. “I’m also very concerned about taking folks’ property.
“I want to see the project be aligned with the right-of-way that we have with the Town property but not go outside of that,” Meyer added. “But I don’t want to take the money out of the budget. I want to keep the money in the budget so we can work together and come up with a solution that everybody can live with.”
Burnette noted the first thing people see is the architect’s initial plans, which are “crazy bigger than we ever want.
“That’s not what we want, but it’s the first thing that comes out,” he added. “It scares the snot out of people … we get reactions and lawsuits … We need a way for our initial design not to do that. That would cause less headaches for the community and us.”
The Board voted 3-2 against the motion to amend the original motion.
Regarding the Turkey Creek project, Smoak said the Town staff “never had a chance to have communications (with the residents) because they filed litigation against us. Because of that, everything stopped.”
“There’s a whole lot of smoke and mirrors,” White said. “That trail is 25 feet up in her front yard. Strangers are walking close to her house, so let’s mention the whole thing, guys.”
When Burnette started to make another comment, White interrupted and then said, “I’m sick of hearing it. Let’s move on.”
At that point, Williams struck the gavel, telling White, “You’re out of order.”
“I don’t think I am,” White retorted.
“Anybody that asks to talk on this Board, let him speak,” Williams said.
“He’s repeating the same thing over and over, just in a different way,” White said.
“So are you,” Williams replied. “Let’s move on.”
“No one is going into the front of anyone’s yard on Turkey Creek. Nobody,” Burnette said. “Like David (Smoak) said, we’ve not gotten to discuss the plans at all. We know they don’t work out there … There is no greenway, no sidewalk.”
“Mayor ... we’re talking about the greenway that we planning on building for (goodness) sake,” White said.
