The Issues
Planning and Zoning
Monteagle is a great place to live and a great place to locate a business. On average, about 38,000 cars a day pass by Monteagle. Those 38,000 cars represent an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs. That opportunity means that Monteagle can be picky about what and where new businesses locate. The town needs to grow and have new businesses, but they need to be located and built to improve the quality of life of our residents, not degrade it. Monteagle also has a desparate need for affordable housing. New growth should also be informed by the limits of our infrastructure. During the last 4 years, Monteagle has approved a comprehensive plan that prioritizes quality of life for families. We have improved our zoning ordiance to make it easier for small businesses to locate in downtown, and have made it easier to build affordable housing downtown. But we are not finished.
I have recently secured funding to work with landowners in downtown and adjacent neighborhoods to help design new buildings and residences. This seed money is intended to be the spark to light a fire for new residentail and business development downtown.
Current Monteagle zoning map
Budget
Over the past 6 years I have learned a lot about Monteagle's budget. Just like road plan, our budgets need to be comprehensive and forward looking. If we have a road plan that shows a local road will need paving in 2030, our budgets should be looking that far ahead and make sure the money is there to make it happen. The same is true for parks, utilities, and quality of life expenditures. Too often residents come to the alderman with requests that are rejected because there is not money budgeted. That is not a lack of budget, but a lack of budget planning. If we set multi-year budgets with priorities, we can better anticipate what revenues are needed and identify local, state, and federal funding opportunities that can make it happen.
I am proud to say that we have made progress in the last 4 years, but still have a long way to go. Last year the council made the single largest deposit into our capital reserve fund in the last 15 years. We have begun to save and if I am reelected it will continue.
Water and Sewer
In 2024 I wrote a grant to bring in outside experts to help Monteagle better plan for more water and sewer capacity. Through much of 2025, I met with a group of concerned citizens and water representatives from across the region to imagine and plan what a sustainable regional water authority might look like. The Monteagle Resilience Plan is now live.
This plan is both a road map on how to move forward, and a fundraising tool. It has already led to funding to model the financial implications of a merger with Tracy City, and will be funding a study of the Laurel Lake Watershed.
Roads
Last year I developed a comprehensive road list for the Town of Monteagle. From that we now know that Monteagle owns and maintains just under 26 miles of roads. That gives us a general sense of how much we should be spending annually on road maintenace. I am currently working on building out that road list with construction details and current condition, so that we can provide citizens with with a long term maintenance plan so that everyone knows when and where maintenance is going to happen.