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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

The Elizabethton City Council awarded an on-site beer permit to allow alcohol sales at the Bonnie Kate Theatre this week.

Jeff Treadway, City Councilman and board member of Friends of the Bonnie Kate, represented the group seeking the license during Thursday’s council meeting. “Every once in a while at the Bonnie Kate, we have events that align itself with having beer on-site, and with the situation at Riverside Taphouse, they are not able to support us,” he said. “With that, The Friends of the Bonnie Kate decided it would be in our best interest to have our own permit.”

The board approved the permit request.

Members also approved an agreement between Contour Trail Design Company and the Department of Parks and Recreation for the oversight of Phase 1 construction at the Hampton Watershed Trails. The expansion will take place in property owned by the City of Elizabethton and will cost a total of $71,280. “We have also already received $75,000 from the Carter County Commission for this project,” said Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander.

The Hampton Watershed Trails consists of 3.75 miles of trail systems, and the phase will add more than 2.7 miles of trails.

Council members also approved a request from Brandon Shell, interim general manager of the Elizabethton Electric Department, regarding a rate change for fast-charge vehicle stations that would be headed to the area in the future.

“This amendment would be for fast charging stations that produce 50 kilowatts and up and can charge electric vehicles in as little as 30 minutes,” he said. “Without this rate change, a car charging at peak hours would cost the Elizabethton Electric Department around $1,600. The rate option does away with the wholesale option and could allow us to make a little over eight cents an hour with a fast charger.”

The actual rate per kilowatt-hours for customers is not able to be determined at this time due to upscaling at the discretion of business owners.

Finally, the council also approved the application by Carter County Bank for the annual Frazier Fir Christmas Tree Lighting, an event that will take place at 6 p.m. on Nov. 20.

The council has not set a date for next month’s regularly scheduled meeting due to Veterans Day.