February 2021 Constituent Update
News & Noteworthy Events in Knox County / Commission
This constituent update contains information on the work of Knox County Commission, news about recent experiences, community information and upcoming events. This newsletter is issued at the beginning of each month and generally covers activities of the previous month.
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While the month of January is often cold and dreary, don't let that get in the way of exploring all that Knox County has to offer. This month's family adventure was to Baker Creek Preserve in South Knoxville for a ride around the extensive bike trail network and 100-acre wilderness area. If you're up for a ride, here's a link to more information, a trail map link, or a link to the larger Knoxville Urban Wilderness. Keep an eye out for next month's outdoor adventure! |
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When will you be able to get a vaccine?
There's been no bigger topic of discussion across Knox County right now than COVID-19 vaccinations - most importantly, when they will be available in larger quantities. The Knox County Health Dept. has held several vaccination clinics this month, but the limited supply continues to be the bottleneck. I've inquired many times, in many ways, on how we can accelerate the vaccination rate, but the short answer is the supply comes from the State of Tennessee, and there is little to no control of that locally. While work continues to improve the situation, people can always check the vaccination page at this link: https://covid.knoxcountytn.gov/vaccine-info.html
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Every 10 years, immediately following the US Census, each county must go through a process of redistricting, or in simpler terms...the redrawing of the Knox County Commission district boundary lines. This is a very important process driven by the most recent population data and must be completed by the end of 2021. Commission formed its Redistricting Committee this month in anticipation of beginning work in May, however we were informed by the TN Comptroller's Office that the census data (which was due to be provided to us in February and April), is now delayed until August. This will make the process infinitely harder given the short timeline. Click here to learn more about the redistricting process. |
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After more than 18 months of data collection and evaluation by our epidemiology and health planning team members, the Knox County Health Dept. released its 2019 Community Health Assessment. To create this extensive document, the Health Dept. team collected data from the community, pulled additional information from dozens of sources, and brought it all together with context and analysis to provide a full picture of health in our county. It is important to note that the data in this report were compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. As such, this report represents the pre-COVID-19 baseline for the Knox County community. There's a tremendous amount of interesting data in this report and I encourage everyone to look it over at this link. |
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KUB has joined with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC) on a new program to assist KUB business and residential electric customers with outstanding utility bills. The COVID Utility Relief Effort (CURE) is designed to provide assistance to groups who may not have previously qualified, including businesses who have been impacted by COVID-19. There is no income limit to qualify for funds, and the application process is simple. Applicants must be KUB electric customers and provide proof of their outstanding KUB balance along with photo identification. Business applications will also need to provide business identification along with proof the applicant is authorized to act on behalf of the business. CURE can provide a one-time payment of up to $1,000 for residential customers and $3,000 for business customers, or the current outstanding balance due on the account if less than the maximum payment allowed. CURE will last through September 2021 or until the $6M funding total of the program is depleted. To apply, visit CAC’s website for the residential application and the business application, or call 865-244-3085 and leave a message if you have additional questions. For more information on CURE, visit www.kub.org/help.
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What does density look like? That's one of the most common questions we receive on Commission when making decisions on land use and zonings. If you've ever wondered what 3.5 units/acre or PR zonings look like, the Knoxville Knox County Planning team has developed a new resource - the Density Explorer. This new tool provides real examples of different levels of density throughout Knox County including different housing types, including detached and attached single-family as well as multi-family units, and made those available on an interactive map. Users can adjust filters to narrow their search and then click on the highlighted developments to see photos and subdivision boundaries, view additional information, and explore the area with Google street view. Happy exploring! |
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At this month's Commission meeting, we once again took up the topic of the Board of Health and the structure of our public health infrastructure. Instead of dissolving the board, the vote was delayed for 90 days and will be taken up again at the April meeting. If you haven't had enough of the discussion and want to learn a bit more about how the rest of the State's health boards are structured, I recommend you listen to this radio segment on WUOT's Health Connections. It is an excellent, condensed overview of the topic at hand. |
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Budget season for Knox County is now underway for fiscal year 2022 (FY'22: July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022). This graphical timeline outlines the various steps and schedule. More information on the budget can be found at this link. After a formal presentation and public hearings, Commission will vote on the budget in June. |
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Our Planning teams have been telling us this for years...growth is coming! U-Haul tracks migration trends based on its expansive network that blankets all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The geographical coverage from more than 22,000 U-Haul locations provides a comprehensive overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry. They recently released a report showing Knoxville is #7 on list of top places people are moving. See the entire report here.
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If you've ever wondered about the state of our local entrepreneurial community, researchers working with Techstars interviewed and surveyed more than 60 local entrepreneurs and had several dozen conversations with leaders of local entrepreneurship support organizations, investment groups, educational institutions, political and civic entities, and economic development organizations. All that work went into a comprehensive "Assessment of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem of the Greater Knoxville Metropolitan Area." You can learn more about the effort in this Teknovation.biz article or read the entire assessment report here. |
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