After doing some further research into the history of this, we have found out that, indeed, Loudon County/Loudon County EMA has set up warming/cooling centers, as you can tell by the subject lines and attached document in Loudon County from former EMA Director, Daryl Smith, with Kelli Branam copied on the correspondence from 2019. It was stated in those correspondence that a grant was received by Loudon County EMA, and in fact, cots, bedding, blankets, pillows, etc. had been in storage for over a year at the Loudon County EMA office between 2019 and 2020 per Pastor David Choate. In talking with Pastor David Choate, we learned that he actually went around to the designated warming/cooling sites (see attached list of locations). In talking with Mayor Jeff Harris on Tuesday (January 7, 2025), he told Mayor Aikens that Ms. Branam called him to verify if Blairland Baptist Church was still participating as a warming/cooling center, as was decided by former Paster Jon Henson in 2019. Mayor Harris told Mayor Aikens that he instructed Ms. Branam that if that is what had been agreed upon, then the church would honor it. Pastor Choate seems to think that there was a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the County Mayor and the warming/cooling center sites (list in attachment) at the time, on or around 2019.
To bring to your attention to one more point, if you will refer to the attachment “Warming-Cooling Centers 2019”, you will see where Ms. Branam sent out an email with a letter attached May 29, 2019, saying that Mayor Bradshaw planned to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on June 3, 2019
Pastor Choate seems to remember that EMA possibly asked County Commission for funding in order to meet the county’s percentage on the grant for the warming/cooling centers and/or equipment needed operate them, and the May 29, 2019 email verifies that.
Upon talking to Ms. Branam today, she told me that no grant money was received and no warming/cooling centers have been set up. I, in turn, relayed that to a City Council Member who had inquired about it. My apologies to anyone that was misinformed, but I was only going by the information given to me today from the EMA Director.
Once again, PLEASE see below email history, as well as the attachments as supporting documentation.
We hope that this information being brought to light may ease the thoughts of some people in Loudon County that may question why we do not have warming/cooling centers in Loudon County. We would hope this gets posted on social media for all concerned.
Thank you,
Amber Scott Kelso, City Administrator
City of Lenoir City
EMA_Warming_Stations Warming - Cooling Centers 2019