The City Council voted 2-3, failing a motion on paying a recent commission for the City’s Municipal Advisor, Larry Kidwell. According to discussions last week, Kidwell was owed a one percent commission worth roughly $400,000 for bond closings.

Council member James Mayberry initiated the motion to pay Kidwell his commission.

“This was initially discussed in our work session last week,” Mayberry said. “And the discussion boils down to the fact that Mr. Kidwell has worked for the city of Crossville for 36, 37 years as our municipal advisor. Had a contract for all these years, and the discussion at this point is whether or not his contract is valid.”

Mayberry then proceeded to read off the wording of Kidwell’s contract, specifying a section detailing the rate at which Kidwell would receive payment.

The section reads:

“A fee of 1% of the municipal securities which the company provides for municipal advisory services leading to the closing of transactions valued, acquired, or divested by the city.”

And:

” If written termination of this agreement is not tendered by either party 180 days prior to the end of the term of this agreement, This agreement will automatically renew as per the original terms of this agreement.”

Mayberry highlighted Kidwell’s contributions to getting the city’s somewhat controversial Recreation Center project off the ground.

“Mr. Kidwell has worked for years helping the city put together this recreation facility that we have going on, there were several obstacles that had to be overcome,” Mayberry said. “There was a big discussion early on about how the property taxes were going to go up due to paying for this facility. Another discussion was the annual expense of operating This facility. Mr. Kidwell had worked with the YMCA to join and accept operating the facility, which is saving the city millions of dollars over the years. He also created a sports authority entity part of the city that would eliminate the property tax for financing the facility, So it’s totally financed off of sales tax revenue. Plus, there’s a commitment from the YMCA to have a capital campaign on this project. So he’s very instrumental in helping this all come to fruition.”

Mayberry said he spoke with attorneys who did extensive research and found that the signatures on the contract overrule the extended date on it, meaning Kidwell’s contract is still intact. This was when Mayberry made a motion to move forward with paying Kidwell his commission.

However, Art Gernt expressed an unwillingness to pay such a large sum.

“I can’t support this,” Gernt said. “I’ve thought about it and thought about it. Everybody knew what the deal was; he went into a totally separate entity, a different non-profit corporation was acquiring the bonds. He had to go in and get contracted with the sports authority, who is asking for the bonds to be issued. The agreement was offered, accepted, and that was going to be the deal until the last second where, and I mean the absolute last second, when we get a bill for $600,000. It’s not fair to the taxpayers to pay this. If a judge tells me otherwise, so be it.”

The motion to pay Kidwell his commission ultimately failed at a vote of 2-3; James Mayberry and Dr. Mark Fox voting in favor paying Kidwell, and Art Gernt, Mike Turner and Mayor RJ Crawford voting against.

Originally, an item on the agenda concerning discussion in action regarding a request for qualifications for the municipal advisor was set for yesterday’s meeting. However, that item was tabled for next month’s meeting.

That meeting will likely be where the city council will determine whether or not to continue or end Kidwell’s service with the city.