Norris OKs $410K fire truck, rejects political sign limits
The Norris City Council on Monday night gave unanimous final approval to the purchase of a new $410,000 fire truck to replace the one destroyed in a recent accident.
But the council rejected, on a 2-3 vote, an ordinance that would have placed strict limits on political signs posted on residents’ private property.
Council members passed a budget ordinance on final reading appropriating money for the purchase of the fire truck. The ordinance had been passed on first reading during a special council meeting the previous Monday night, Jan. 7.
Norris will replace its only certified fire truck, destroyed in a Nov. 12 accident, with a new Pierce Freightliner Commercial Pumper, which could arrive within four to six weeks, according to City Manager Bailey Whited.
The council on Jan. 7 declared the loss of the fire truck to be an emergency under state law, which exempted the city from having to seek bids on a new truck. Usually, any purchase over $10,000 requires such a bidding process.
A brand-new 2026 model, the Pierce pumper truck, with a 1,000-gallon onboard water tank, will be purchased from Siddons-Martin Emergency Group in Memphis.
“The Nov. 12 accident created an emergency situation that allows purchasing without competitive bidding,” Whited told the council last week.
Included in the ordinance was an allocation of $30,000 from the city’s general fund to pay for the truck – which was what was left owing after applying the $302,330 insurance payout for the crashed truck and money already in the current fiscal-year budget for the Fire Department.
Fire Chief Rick Roach told the council Monday night, upon questioning by Mayor Chris Mitchell, that the new Pierce pumper not only meets the Fire Department’s needs, but also “exceeds them.”
Once the truck is delivered to the city, it should be ready to be placed in service within just a few days, Roach said, pending certification by the state of Tennessee.
As for the proposed sign ordinance, forwarded to the council by the Norris Planning Commission from its Jan. 12 meeting, it would have limited political signs posted on private property to no earlier than 60 days from the first day of early voting for the race in question.
The ordinance was prompted by a spate of signs promoting Joshua Anderson’s candidacy for the Republican nomination for county mayor in the May 5 primary elections. The signs started going up across the city nearly two months ago, and have become common.
The first day of early voting for the primary will be April 15, which means that the ordinance would have required Norris residents to wait until Feb. 15 to post the signs in their yards.
Councilman Bill Grieve made the motion to approve the sign ordinance, and Councilman Chuck Nicholson seconded it.
But they were the only two council members to vote in favor of the ordinance. Mitchell and council members Loretta Painter and Travis Honeycutt voted “no,” which killed the measure.
“I value the right of free speech on private land,” the mayor said before the vote.
Mitchell said he felt that enforcement of the ordinance would be difficult, as the city would need to issue a notice of violation for each sign violating the rules, and go through administrative action and potentially even court to force the removal.
Painter, who also sits on the Planning Commission along with the mayor and five other residents, noted that the commission’s vote to send the proposed ordinance to the City Council was split, with two members – Alex Munro and Mitchell – voting against it.
The city already has an ordinance on its books limiting political signs on city property, and Mitchell noted that some of the Joshua Anderson signs are posted on city-owned right-of-way in front of residences.
He recommended that residents move those signs onto their own property to avoid having the city remove them, which it can do without notice.
In other business Monday night, the City Council:
n Approved awarding a contract for $35,000 to JTI Construction, LLC, for replacement of the gabled roof on the Norris Community Building.
The contract does not cover the roof over the gymnasium.
JTI was the only bidder for the job, which the council authorized to go out for bids in its Dec. 8 meeting.
Whited said the bid came in under budget, and that the contractor had done work previously for the city – putting a new roof on the downtown gazebo last year.
n Received a favorable audit report from the accounting firm Pugh and Company for fiscal year 2025.
Pugh representative Travis Lowe told the council that the city received a “clean audit opinion.”
“Overall, it was a good audit,” he said.
The city closed the fiscal year June 30 with $2 million in assets and a $1.2 million fund balance, Lowe said.
n Heard from Whited that the city received $4,000 more in hotel/motel sales tax revenue for the past year than the $5,000 expected. The $9,000 total came mostly from the Appalachia Ridge campground next to the Museum of Appalachia.
Photo submitted
This is an example of the 2026 Pierce Freightliner Commercial Pumper fire truck that the city of Norris will be purchasing from a Memphis dealer to replace the city’s only certified truck, destroyed in a crash.
