Six candidates, each with a storied history in the area, are vying to claim one of two Crossville City Council seats up for grabs in the November election.
Incumbent Rob Harrison, former mayors J.H. Graham III and James Mayberry, former councilman Danny Wyatt and political newcomers Kris Cole and Mark Fox are on the ticket for city voters to decide to represent their interests for the next four years.
“Tonight, the voting public will have a chance to get to know our candidates better,” said Ethan Hadley, president and CEO of the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce, as he opened the Oct. 3 candidates forum at Cumberland County Playhouse.
“Their vision, their opinions, and then when we go to the polls to vote we can make a more informed decision,” he added. “Or, I should say, informed decisions.”
The Chamber sponsored the forum.
Each candidate was given an opportunity to introduce himself and then answered a series of questions posed by moderator Cliff Wightman.
Hadley was the timekeeper for the event, and microphones were cut off when candidates exceeded their limit to answer questions.
Excerpts of the candidates’ remarks, in alphabetical order by last name, include:
Kris Cole is a political newcomer and the youngest candidate on the ticket.
“I was born and raised here. Most of you are my family, my friends, and I know the struggles that we go through, I know the sufferings that we deal with,” he said. “I know the burdens, but I also know the beauty of Crossville.”
Cole said he’s prepared to work with the city and its residents on problem solving and finding solutions that won’t conflict with other measures.
“The reason that I’m running is to preserve, protect, not just our quality of life but our way of life as well as to find a solution for any of our current problems but also the ones that are unknown,” he said.
He said he’s been impressed with the city’s openness and officials’ willingness to work with the residents and one another. He encourages community involvement and communication.
Cole said he’d like to see the city make outreach more accessible online through livestreamed meetings and dialogue. The city recently renewed its contract with Grancius, a digital engagement platform, and part of that service includes livestreaming and video archiving of meetings.
“I believe you could almost say Crossville is doomed to succeed,” he said, noting the city’s growth. “The cat’s out of the bag. People know Crossville is a great place to be. People want to be here, the money’s going to keep coming here, I believe.”
He aims to preserve downtown as the heart of the business district with safety in mind. As part of that concept, Cole would like to see heavy traffic diverted from busy Main St., making it more pedestrian friendly.
“I do think the smartest, biggest decision we can make could be public parking,” he said. As tourism picks up, he’d like to see the city investigate offering both free and paid public parking as an investment in the city.
“There’s a lot of money in just parking where people pay and nothing is done but maintaining the parking lot and the machines,” Cole said.
He expressed concerns about the city’s infrastructure.
“Look how congested it’s already starting to get,” Cole said, stressing the importance of keeping the city flowing smoothly as it attracts tourists and business development.
As the city grows, Cole said he expects homelessness to become an even bigger issue. He suggested the city partner with Bread of Life, an emergency shelter on Fourth St., which he praised as “doing amazing things for Crossville.”
He praised his fellow candidates and said he looks to them as role models whose advice he will seek as a council member.
“The future of Crossville is bright,” Cole said. “It looks good, and the other gentlemen up here on this forum with me, give me hope — inspire me to know we’ve got a good future ahead of us. There’s five other great men right here beside me that are looking to make sure that that’s what happens.”
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Mark Fox, a Crossville general and trauma surgeon for the past 34 years, said his son, daughter and granddaughter played into his decision to make his first bid for city office.
“When your children move back to where they were raised, that’s a very humbling experience,” he said “It gives you a renewed enthusiasm to want to make where they’ve moved back to, keep it beautiful, keep it fiscally sound, and keep it progressing in a safe direction.”
The Cookeville native and former U.S. Naval Reserve lieutenant commander said the key to Crossville continued progressiveness is sustainable, strategic growth. He’d like to see the city have a forum with business leaders to hear their concerns and needs.
Fox said safety is one of his uppermost concerns, and he hopes the sidewalk project now underway downtown will include lighting. He also said he’d like to see police officers walking a beat through downtown, something he believes would be well received by both the officers and the public. He added that Crossville’s police and fire personnel are role models envied by other areas of the state, and the services they provide are paramount for businesses and residents.
“That is on the minds of people in our community,” Fox said. “They want strong protection. They want to know when there’s an emergency, there will be people respond. And certainly the water needs and the roads needs will always remain, but they can come as our growth comes, but we’ve got to have adequate protection.”
Listening and gathering information from the public served is one thing Fox said he promotes and welcomes. He praised current city leaders for welcoming such feedback in recent years and expressed a willingness to be more open to it to study various scenarios, even those unique which will allow them to make contingency plans.
“I think we could really gain benefit from partnering with businesses,” Fox said. “If a business wants to build a pavilion at no cost to the city, it then becomes a city asset, and if that business wants a plaque acknowledging their contribution, I think that’s something that we should welcome. That not only has a new capital facility for the city, a new amenity, a new trail, a new venture, but also rewards that business.”
In his work and while campaigning, Fox said he has heard from five generations and learned a lot. People want to be progressive in a strategic plan fashion while employing conscientious fiscal stewards of the city’s resources. They want strong protection and a strong infrastructure.
“It’s an exciting time in Crossville. People will tell you that,” he said. “People are enthusiastic about the positive direction Crossville’s going.”
Fox added, “We want to incentivize our young folks to return or stay in Crossville and make this their permanent home. That’s the voice that people I’ve visited want, and I am the man with that voice.”
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J.H. Graham III lives and works from the S. Main St. address that’s been his home for 76 years. He has amassed 22 years on City Council as a past council member and 16-year mayor. In his job of 53 years, he prepares state and federal tax returns.
“One of the reasons that I feel like that I needed to run again was the way that the city was being managed,” he said. “I disagree with having so much capital. I think it’s redundant to have $25 million worth of surplus in the city’s budget.”
He later added, “We think that’s too much. We think these taxes that we put in there to draw interest instead of being used to the fullest extent.”
The former mayor voiced his opposition to the recreation and aquatic center that’s in the works.
The city activated a Sports Authority earlier this year to sell bonds to raise funds to build the facility. This prohibits the city from using property tax revenues to make bond payments, which officials say will come from sales tax revenues that have increased exponentially with opening of the Buc-ee’s mega convenience store and other businesses.
The Putnam County YMCA, the third partner in the facility, is in the midst of a $10 million capital campaign to raise funds to equip and operate the center until it becomes self-sustaining, a period that’s been estimated at three years.
“We don’t feel like the individuals in the city of Crossville were given their rights in not having the referendum in regard to the indoor recreation facility and we believe it’s just too much money,” Graham said.
Economic growth for the city, Graham said, is tied in with tourism and retiree recruitment.
“You see, 10,000 baby boomers a day retire in the United States,” he said. “What we need to do is get our fair share. And we do that by supporting individual projects like Fairfield Glade and the events that we have at Fairfield Glade, the events that we have at Tansi. And we’re going to promote that. We’re going to widen our area to include some of Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville as far as bringing these tournaments — these golf tournaments, these soccer tournaments and the things that large teams come to Crossville with.”
Graham said he’s proud of the Cumberland Business Incubator, which was opened with the cooperation of the city, county and Roane State Community College to give assistance to entrepreneurs.
His main goal for downtown Crossville is to develop public parking.
“Several years ago we designed some areas in Crossville that we thought might be great public parking areas,” he said. “We will go back into that and develop a strong information task force where we will bring people in, invite them in, and let them tell us where the best places would be to park and then work with those owners in paving those areas and providing public parking for the businesses downtown, especially the Palace Theatre.”
Graham said his focus will be as it was in the past: roads, water, fire, sewer and police protection. He said he plans to rely on the police and fire chiefs to ensure they have adequate equipment, and he’s focused on making sure the city has an adequate water supply.
“We’re going to try our best to keep the plans going as far as increasing the size of Meadow Park Lake,” he said. “We’re going to go through our sewer systems and put some tile down — put some tile in and refurbish through concentrated CDBG grants, this $500,000 grant from the state to make sure that we will be able to have the infrastructure that we need in 2030.”
Called City Council meetings and Sports Authority sessions have recently convened at noon, with one Council session called at 10:30 a.m.
“I would like to see the meetings that we have at the city be after we get home from work — in the 5 o’clock or 6 o’clock hour and not have any more noon meetings that most of us can’t attend because we’re at work,” Graham said. I’d like for these to be done at a reasonable time where we can get there and see what’s going on on an individual basis.”
He concluded, “We love this community, and we’re going to fight for it.”
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Rob Harrison, the only incumbent on the ticket, traces generations of his family back to Crossville. He heads up Plateau Properties, a family business that’s operated on Main St. since 1900. He was raised in Crossville, worked at PriceWaterhouse accounting firm after graduating from Vanderbilt University and moved back to his hometown with his young family in 1997.
“I wanted to try to grow our city and our county and the surrounding counties and make more job opportunities for everybody, but especially for the young people.”
Harrison defended his support for the recreation center. He explained that the Sports Authority by state law does not permit property tax revenues to be used in the project, and that he had listened to people who favored putting the issue to a vote.
“I wanted to have a referendum,” he said. “My fellow councilmen felt like it had been discussed and put out in open meetings for four years. There have been some elections in there, so they outvoted me on that.”
Harrison recalled the overwhelming support city voters gave for supporting the Palace Theatre in the 1990s. “I sort of figured that’s the way the recreation center would go if it had” been put to a referendum, he said.
“I do have a chart that shows we can pay for this,” he later added, offering to show it to anyone who asks.
Harrison believes teamwork and a unified spirit are necessary to move the city and county forward. He praised both Hadley of the Chamber of Commerce and county leaders for fostering a cooperative spirit.
“One of the reasons I got on the council — or ran for it — was because I was troubled by the fussing and carrying on that was going on,” he said. “I wanted to try to first do no harm, and then try to create an atmosphere of kindness and helping each other.”
He added, “I’ve heard people say who have moved here you don’t know how friendly everyone is. Y’all have a great thing here, and I worry that we might lose that. So I’ve tried from the top, at least at the city, to try to encourage that we be a role model of kindness.”
Harrison is proud the area has attracted heavy hitters like Whisper Aero, a firm that is attracting scientists and engineers from all over the country to work on its quiet propeller technology. He believes that company and the Flatrock Motorsports Park under development in eastern Cumberland County will lead to the creation of niche entrepreneurships that cater to those areas of interest.
He said Whisper Aero officials have told him they find businesses like Grinder House Coffee and Forte’s particularly appealing. “But they want more.”
That, coupled with attracting young families, including young physicians to Cumberland Medical Center, was why Harrison said he voted in favor of the recreation center.
“It is going to increase the offerings that we have downtown and make it more vibrant, in my opinion, in addition to building community and other economic development, helping with recruiting all over the county.”
The city has to overcome issues with water and sewer, Harrison said. He wants to continue with the raising of Meadow Park Lake, one of the city’s water sources, but there are challenges.
“We’ve got some work to do with our regulators on that and our environmental groups,” he said. “Like, a lot of work.”
Harrison noted the city is also facing sewer capacity problems, with groundwater and stormwater seeping into the pipes and going through the wastewater treatment plant. The issue, called infiltration and inflow, is a common one throughout the Southeast, and it can cause sewer volumes to exceed capacity.
“I want to see Crossville grow and thrive and make everybody better off, and for our kids to be able to stay here or return after they get higher education and to keep families together,” he said “I hope you will think of the city council election as if you had a $50 million business with 180 employees of your own, and you would want the best candidate to fulfill these three questions: Can they do the job? Will they do the job? And will they get along with everyone?”
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James Mayberry was Crossville’s mayor from 2014-22. He was born at Cumberland Medical Center 68 years ago and heads up the downtown mainstay Mayberry’s Furniture, his family’s longtime business on S. Main St.
“I never really wanted to get into politics, but about 10 years ago, there was a project planned for infrastructure and some refurbishment of Main St. in Crossville, which got killed by the then-City Council,” he said. “That bothered me, and the more I looked, there were about five vacant dirty window buildings on Main St., which was looking pretty bad. Right out of the Main St. district was two shopping centers that were vacant, and then down the road just a little bit was another shopping center where a Kmart had moved out of.
“It kind of bothered me, and I thought instead of complaining, I might just run and try to do something about it.”
He cited his previous record of cooperation, saying he’s developed an excellent rapport with County Mayor Allen Foster, and he wants to continue to work in the spirit of teamwork and cooperation with the county and Chamber.
“Crossville is not an island on its own,” Mayberry said. “We’re all in this together. It’s the whole county.”
He expressed pride in the city and county joining forces to build an industrial pad in Interchange Business Park. That relationship has continued: the two are partnered with a state grant to construct an industrial spec building on the site.
He said his one regret is that the international pandemic forced national chains to back out of a planned 33-acre development that was in the works.“That would have been a major asset to the sales tax revenue,” Mayberry said, and it would have been such an asset for all the people that lived here.”
He’s also proud of the downtown Main St. development that’s occurred over the past several years.
“One problem is that we’ve got these big 18-wheel trucks that run up and down that road,” Mayberry said. “Main St. is a state highway and also is considered a federal highway and it’s hard to divert traffic off that, but it can be done. We’ve been working on it, but it’s just not happened yet.”
He added, “The off street parking is a big deal. The problem is acquiring property and property owners that will work with you to make that happen. I don’t think there’s any possibility of anything being torn down to create parking.”
Mayberry agreed with Graham, his mayoral predecessor, that roads, water, fire, sewer and police protection are key. He echoed Harrison’s concerns about sewer capacity and stormwater and groundwater seeping into the pipes and overloading the wastewater treatment plant.
“Right now our development is restricted north of I-40 because there’s not enough — the pipes aren’t large enough to transfer it to our sewer treatment plant,” he said. “There is a herd of hotels or motels that wanted to go on Genesis Rd., and there’s no capacity. They can’t get approval to move forward with that.”
Mayberry noted expressed confidence in the city’s employees and said council members should listen to their recommendations.
“We rely on the employees that we have who are, I feel, experts in their field. I am very impressed with the employees with the city of Crossville from the time that I was there, and I think they’re pretty much all still there.” “We have to rely on their expertise to educate us so that the council can make decisions on how to move forward.”
Mayberry said he’s keen on moving forward with development, and he applauded Lake Tansi and Fairfield Glade for attracting retirees to the area. He wants to steer the city toward developing amenities that will attract young families back to the area. He shared an incident in which the president of one of Crossville’s industries commuted daily from Knoxville because the city had none of the amenities they sought.
“My goal is to help increase the amenities for these younger families and let them stay here and be with us,” Mayberry said, “so we don’t have to travel 600 miles to visit our grandkids.”
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Danny Wyatt, a retired Crossville businessman, served on City Council from 2010-18. He calls the upcoming city election a referendum on the recreation and aquatic center.
“That gives you the opportunity to get your voice back. This is not right, and your charter calls for that,” he said. Therefore, that’s where I’m going to hang my hat’s getting your voice back.”
Wyatt said he’s not opposed to the center. His concern lies, he said, in paying for it.
“Your voice was silenced this year on this $45 million deal. And you’re going to hear $40 million, you’re going to hear $45-$50. There can be misquotes on both sides. When you take the property purchase, and the $2 million that’s in the budget right now — 4 and a half million dollars and add 40 to it, that’s pretty close to $45 million. So therefore, I’m going to be pulling to let your voice be heard.”
An architect from Upland Design Group in August estimated the cost at $38.338 million. City officials said they play to use sales tax revenue to fund it.
Wyatt praised the vast field of volunteers and pledged support for area nonprofit. He also pledged teamwork toward economic development and defended the delay of the downtown infrastructure project that took place during his tenure.
“2014, that was $13 million,” Wyatt said. “It was approved in ’18 before I left at $3 million. Therefore, you see why it got delayed.”
He said he supports keeping the downtown area thriving and mentioned a resolution he brought before the Council to purchase various properties near the courthouse, including the Snodgrass Building, that are near the amphitheater on Division St.
“It needs to be full more,” Wyatt noted of the amphitheater. “I’ve watched it this year. It needs some help.”
He added, “I’ll do anything I can for downtown Crossville, for sure.”
Issues he believes are important include school safety.
“I want the council to get with the police department and ensure that we’re 110% safe at our four schools in the city. We don’t need to wait until after something stupid happens. We need to make sure it don’t happen.”
He wants to bring back sports tournaments that he said “were big time and helped us pay our bills back in the prior to ’16.
“I don’t know how they got away, but they did,” Wyatt said. “We need to get back to our road schedule that we had when I was in there that we paved eight or 10 streets a year and not get behind. Some of them will jar your false teeth out.”
He also expressed a desire to maintain strong water and sewer departments and to keep them intact. Like Graham, he criticized the present council and Sports Authority for convening meetings during the day.
“Most of the people who pay property tax and sales tax work those hours,” Wyatt said. “That’s why there’s not a lot of people at those meetings. Meetings need to be at a decent hour for everybody.”
He also echoed Graham’s questioning of the amount of money in the city’s surplus.
“You don’t gauge your success on how much money you’ve got in the bank. You gauge it on your safe sidewalks and your streets and your services that you get.”