The subject of dams was addressed at Monday’s Cumberland County Commission meeting. Commissioners only recently discovered that the county attorney had been contesting an assessment fee of $500 by the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) for a dam inspection in Breckenridge. Residents of the community had been paying the fee but had stopped doing so. That’s when TDEC decided that the county should take up the payment. To most, the dam would appear to be a culvert, but according to TDEC, it is a dam and must be inspected. The county tried to contest the fee and the responsibility to pay but lost the appeal therefore TDEC has assessed the fee, penalties and interest in the amount of $3,536.29. Commissioner Tom Isham contested a resolution to pay the amount, requesting that the matter be tabled and sent to the Environmental Committee for more study. Isham told 1057 News that the issue surrounds the definition of what a “dam” is. He stated that such a determination could set a precedent. The commission voted to send the resolution back for the time being.