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The City of Kingsport plans to celebrate the 150th birthday of Arbor Day on March 4.
An event will take place at noon that day at Andrew Johnson Elementary School with city officials issuing a proclamation declaring Kingsport’s 36th Arbor Day celebration. The ceremony will be held in front of the school near the main entrance off Ormond Drive.
“Our trees and forests are part of what makes Kingsport such a great place to live,” said Landscaping and Ground Maintenance Manager Tamra Rossi. “We strive to be a leader in proper management of our trees and I think it shows every year.”
In honor of the city’s commitment to effective urban forestry management, the National Arbor Day Foundation will recognize Kingsport as a Tree City USA for the thirty-sixth year in a row.
A community must meet four standards to receive this national designation and the Tree City USA flag. It must have a tree advisory board or department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an annual Arbor Day celebration. The National Association of State Foresters, USDA Forest Service and the Tennessee Division of Forestry also sponsor the Tree City USA program.
Kingsport’s Streets and Sanitation Department maintains over 12,000 trees and over 15 acres of landscaping in the city. The department also removes damaged or deceased trees on public lands, while providing annual upkeep of 21 park facilities and 827 acres of green space.
This department also maintains a Level II Arboretum Certification at Borden Park, sponsored by Domtar and Keep Kingsport Beautiful. The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture coordinate the arboretum certification program, which encourages public education of the importance of the different species of trees. Level II requirements include labeling over 60 tree species, keeping a map available to the public that shows the locations of the tree species and exemplifying proper tree management practices.
Kingsport’s Arbor Day celebration is a partnership of Domtar, City of Kingsport, Kingsport Tree Advisory Board and Keep Kingsport Beautiful.
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Kingsport Police Department
Dale Phipps, Chief of Police 200 Shelby Street • Kingsport, TN 37660 http://KingsportTN.gov/City-Services/Police-Department• www.KingsportPDBlog.com |
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| NEWS RELEASE | ||||
| SUBJECT: | K.P.D. Attempting to Identify Suspect in Church Mail Theft and Mailbox Vandalism | |||
| DATE: | February 23, 2022 | |||
| CASE #: | 22-002713 | |||
| GENERAL NARRATIVE | ||||
| On February 11, 2022, Preaching Christ Church, located at 707 East Sullivan Street in Kingsport, discovered that their daily mail had been stolen and their mailbox had been vandalized.
A review of surveillance video revealed footage of a male suspect caught in the act. After the commission of the crime, the suspect left in what appears to be a silver van driven by a female. A photo of the suspect, as well as the van and driver, have been included in this release. A clip of the actual footage has also been made available for viewing on the K.P.D. YouTube channel via the link below: Anyone who recognizes the male or female, or the van in which they were traveling, is asked to contact Detectives in the K.P.D. Criminal Investigations Division at 423-229-9429 or call Kingsport Central Dispatch at 423-246-9111. |
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| Alternatively, if an individual who is able to supply information related to this or any other case wishes not to be identified, tips can be submitted anonymously via online “Citizen Feedback” forms available at the following link: | ||||
| RELEASING OFFICER | ||
| Thomas M. Patton, Public Information Officer
Kingsport Police Department Professional Standards Unit 423-229-9433 (Desk) • 423-343-9749 (FAX) ThomasMPatton |
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New equipment will soon be coming to the Kingsport Fire Department’s training facility, which will enhance the training opportunities for local and regional firefighters while saving them time in getting back on the job.
The department’s fire training facility is located on Horsecreek Lane off Wilcox Drive and includes a burn building, a maze trailer and a scraped vehicle – all of which are used to replicate real-life situations firefighters face, such as a house fire, a roof ventilation or a vehicle extrication.
Kingsport cut the ribbon on the facility in December 2015 and work is currently underway on its latest addition – an 80 by 80 building with classroom space, a couple of offices, a kitchenette and restrooms.
KFD Captain Shea Payne, who also serves as the department’s fire facilities coordinator, said the new classroom should be up and running in March.
“This will give us lot of versatility,” Payne said. “We can do outside drills, have multiple classes going at once and there’s a 20 by 80 porch, so we could actually have three different things happening down there at once.”
But that’s not all that’s new at the facility.
Kingsport has earmarked $150,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the purchase of a cascade system and fire props for the fire training facility.
A cascade system allows firefighters to replenish their air packs right after training, rather than having to do so back at the station. This will save time and allow the firefighters to go right back into service after leaving the training grounds.
The fire props – a metal replica car and a dumpster – are ignited at the facility with either a propane or natural gas system, which allows firefighters to attack them just like they would any other vehicle fire.
Payne said he hopes to have the new equipment on hand by late spring to early summer.
“The facility will be all encompassing. You’ve got technical rescue, a smoke building with live fire training, controlled burn props, and a classroom facility,” Payne said. “The options and opportunities this whole thing provides is going to be one of the best in the state.”
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Kingsport plans to spend $3 million this year to replace 14,500 water meters throughout the city, some of which have suffered from failing batteries in recent months.
The failing batteries have resulted in inconsistencies in some customers’ water bills. City employees are working to address the issue and are assuring people the amount of water being billed is correct.
Kingsport installed new water meters in 2009 that allowed a vehicle to drive by and get a reading on each meter, rather than sending an employee out to manually read the meter. This was a more efficient and safer way to read water meters.
However, over the past 18 months the batteries in many water meters started to fail, which meant the vehicle was not picking up the reading.
“The battery powers a radio, which sends a signal to the passing vehicle. It allows us to drive by and get a meter reading,” said Chad Austin, assistant utility director for the city. “Those meters are still registering the correct water usage. We just can no longer receive the signal.”
As a result of not being able to receive a signal, the city has been sending employees out to visually read the meters with failing batteries.
In an attempt to get water bills out in a timely manner, Kingsport initially estimated water usage for some customers who had meters with failing batteries. That is no longer the case, Austin explains.
“One month, your bill will be the minimum amount and the next month it will be from a visual reading,” Austin said. “Our goal is to put eyes on every meter, every other month, until the meters are replaced.”
For example – your January bill would be for the minimum amount. Then in February, your meter would be read and you would be charged for the water you used in January and February, minus the minimum amount you paid in January.
Kingsport is spending $2.5 million this year on 14,500 new water meters. To date, city crews have replaced 4,500 and a third-party contractor has been hired to replace another 10,000 at a cost of $500,000. The contractor has already replaced 3,500 since January 3, 2021.
All of these water meters should be replaced by the end of June, Austin said.
These new water meters will be read by radio off an antenna on Bays Mountain. Kingsport will be able to get readings from these meters daily, instead of manually reading the meters or driving by in a vehicle. Kingsport also plans to implement a meter replacement plan in the future to avoid these same type of issues.
The City of Kingsport would like to apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any further questions about your water bill, please call customer service at 423-343-9860 or visit www.kingsporttn.gov.
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