The Cumberland City Board of Mayor and Aldermen met at City Hall March 5 with all members present except Eric Milliken.
During the public comment section, Angela Mummaw with the group, “Appalachian Voices,” spoke. Appalachian Voices sued Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 2023 in an attempt to stop the gas plant from being constructed. “I have been working in Stewart, Houston and Dickson Counties helping people impacted by the pipeline and the gas plant TVA has been building. We recently heard on February 11, TVA announced they will continue to burn coal as well. There will be a coal plant and methane gas plant as well. I was wondering what the overall feelings of Cumberland City, if you guys are happy about that, I know it provides a lot of jobs, but it does pollute the air, a lot of folks I talk to get soot on their cars. A lot of folks may not want to move here because of the smoke stacks.” Mayor Phil Taylor told Mummaw the public comment is for comments not discussion or questions.
For the next item of business, all members voted on second reading for a $10k budget amendment to move forward with a Parks and Recreation master plan. In new business, Melissa Fields with the Stewart County Alliance For Substance Abuse Prevention spoke. Fields said she needed a government official to sign a memorandum of understanding. Fields said she would like to work more with and in Cumberland City. She said she’s already worked in Cumberland City. Taylor said because it is a binding contract he would like time to process before signing. Fields said she would provide everyone with a copy of the agreement before next month’s meeting so they could review it…