Merchants and eateries are preparing for an influx of tourists as autumn approaches. After a recent downtown fire, Nashville's consultant says the town needs to determine if it's time for a paid fire department.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Nashville's Norton addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: As the pandemic continues, we see schools adjusting, sporting events adjusting, cities adjusting and so on. Nashville, Brown County will have to adjust as perhaps millions head into the area for the fall season. Are officials, merchants, restaurants meeting now to talk about how to safely host tourists?
Norton: Yeah, I think that's happened long ago, Joe, everybody has great leadership. I think the leadership has been prepared since March, when you know, March, April, you have to be ready for October if you're Nashville and Brown County. All those things have been put into place and they're ready. If you have an opportunity to visit, just do so safely.
Now, I think other than the fact that, naturally, you have small spaces, very, very small shops, which is what makes it unique. And so if we're really going to social distance correctly, it's difficult at times to have more than, say, two couples or two families in the shop, because you just can't, there's just not enough room. So that's probably the biggest adjustment especially when there's a whole bunch more people in town for the colors and for the fall. We haven't seen that yet.
And so I'm sure it'll be a work in progress as the shop owners and all the other officials that are helping to keep them safe. And even the flow of money through tourism into the county and the town. But it seems that we're prepared to do what we need to do to make it safe.
Hren: We talk a lot about tourism, of course, but housing is short, and we talked about the need for more infrastructure. Is this also a time for Nashville to showcase itself and for people to say, this is a place you can live too?
Norton: Yeah, that's one reason, one element of tourism is to show yourself off and to announce yourself and your amenities to other residents. You are right, though, you're kind of selling very minimal amount of product. There's not a lot of housing product for people to choose from. And so a big part of what officials have been talking about, especially on the council, the town council side, is that comprehensive plan. It's 21 years old. And as we move into times where people are talking about building very nice multifamily complexes, such as the one up on Orchard Hill, we're going to probably need to update that comprehensive plan.
What do you want this to look like now as we move into the next 30 years? What does the new consumer who's going to take over and keep Nashville, Brown County economically viable in the 2050? And how do we give them what they want, while at the same time maintaining the storable social environmental integrity of why people live there now? Bicycle, pedestrian master plans, thoroughfare plans, park master plans, those are all going to be in the works for 2021.
Hren: Something that's been in the news is the wildfires in the west. And we know here it's been really dry. Is this a concern for Brown County, Nashville too?
Norton: I'm glad you brought fire up. There was a business fire on Main Street on Van Buren, well known business caught fire last week. And as the Nashville volunteer fire department chief stated, probably dodged a bullet that whole block not catching on fire because there's not enough resources at this point.
Luckily, there were some people present from out of town. A firefighter from out of town stepped in to help, but then our firefighters came and our police department they did a marvelous job. But this came up actually last September/October during strategic direction meetings, was it is time to have a paid Fire Department. There isn't one in the county, it's all fire district. They're all volunteer fire departments.
That funding can't just come from the current levy. There would have to be a tax increase for that to happen. How much money you would need to fund a fire department that provides the taxpayers with the services they expect, safely.
From a fire department perspective is can become the most expensive service that a municipality provides. You know, a truck is a million bucks, you got to put four people on that truck to keep the OSHA standards, that's four times whatever salary you have. It's just an expensive endeavor. And for a small county, like Brown County with limited population, you just don't have a big enough base of population tax base to be able to afford it.
Hren: We did have one question, from John who emailed us: Is the visitors and convention bureau willing to ban displays of the Confederate flag at events that it sponsors, including the upcoming Bean Blossom Blues Festival?
Norton: I would have to be on their board of directors and does even a town council get involved in that? I don't know. It's a very good question. I will tell you the town council has had on their agenda, the creation of the Human Relations Commission for about three months now. I wrote a draft ordinance for them to create that commission. And that's very near and dear to my heart. That probably needs to be up on the list of priority as we end this year, and go into 2021 as well.
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