Mt. Juliet approves new fire department office

Last April, the city commission reached an interlocal agreement with the Wilson County Emergency Agency to improve Mt. Juliet’s ambulance services.

The commission also added ambulance services to its emergency services department, increasing administration by adding an EMS director.

City officials indicated that they were looking to find a larger location to both accommodate additional personnel for the city’s ambulance services and fulfill its requirements to the state of Tennessee on having an ambulance service approved.

Mt. Juliet City Manager Kenny Martin said that giving the fire department new office space is ideal due to its proximity to Mt. Juliet City Hall.

“Our new office is going to be our central supply for all of our medical supplies and our narcotics,” said Mt. Juliet Fire Chief Jamie Luffman.

Luffman said that having the medical supplies and the narcotics in the Mt. Juliet Fire Department’s new building will mean having to pass certain standards by Tennessee’s Department of Emergency Medical Services and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The city commission also approved an agreement to design and develop a north-south collector route between Lebanon Road and Central Pike.

Collector roads serve to move traffic from local streets to major roadways, such as interstates.

The city plans to work on the development with Gresham Smith, a Nashville-based architect company.

City officials said that the collector route would relieve traffic on Mt. Juliet Road.

Mt. Juliet’s current budget for the development is $400,000, and the proposed design fee for the collector route costs $400,000.

“What we need on the western half of town is multiple north-south alignments,” said Mt. Juliet Public Works Director Andy Barlow.

Barlow went over possible areas like John Wright Road, which could provide a north-south alignment with Central Pike.

“We want to have something to maximize a Central Pike interchange,” said Barlow. “The idea of this is to create one or more routes for people coming into this connector.”

Barlow also said that it is a city-based project, but the public works department could leave the development open for potential Tennessee Department of Transportation funding.

The commission also approved a budget amendment to appropriate funds for more than 30 nonprofit organizations.

The amendment increases Mt. Juliet’s giving to those organizations to more than $335,000.

Charis Health Center, the Mt. Juliet Help Center, and Tri-Star Volleyball, a recreational volleyball league, are some of the nonprofit organizations included in the amendment.

Krys Midgett and Ann R. Smith, the executive editor and managing editor of “Life Between the Lakes” (a community print magazine based in Mt. Juliet), presented two plaques full of magazine covers to commemorate Mt. Juliet’s history.

They also presented the magazine’s July issue, which was centered around Mt. Juliet’s 50th anniversary, to the city commission as part of the commemoration.

Midgett said that they are living up to the city’s moniker — the City Between the Lakes — with the magazine.