CROSSVILLE — The Crossville City Council unanimously approved returning the short block of East Fourth Street between Thurman Avenue and Main Street back to two-way traffic after being one-way for half a dozen years.

The suggested change was brought to council by member Danny Wyatt who said he'd heard the suggestion from several in the community. The change of the road to one way was originally approved by the council in April 2006 after being suggested by Ronnie Webb who owns the building on the corner of Fourth Street and Thurman Avenue that currently houses Forte's Restaurant. The idea then was offered as a way to increase parking on the street.

Originally the section of Fourth Street had two lanes and center turn lane and the changes to one way added several additional parking places to the north side of street by converting from parallel to angle parking. The current plans are for the north side of the street angle parking to be reversed so no parking spaces will be lost in the proposed changes. A center turn lane will not be put back in place with the changes.

It was also pointed out during the discussion that the amount of traffic around the courthouse has reduced substantially since the court and clerks' offices have moved into the new Justice Center.

City manager Bruce Wyatt said that based on not losing any parking spaces, "I can't see the logic in not doing it."

Both manager Bruce Wyatt and councilman Danny Wyatt said they had observed traffic in the area for short periods of time and on several occasions they saw drivers going the wrong way on the one way portion of the street.

The city street department will be working on the changes as soon as possible.

City council members had very high praise for city manager Bruce Wyatt as they discussed his evaluation after 6 months in the position.

Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III described the city manager as a "hands-on number cruncher who has spent many hours learning about the city."

Earl Dean, who initially supported another candidate, said, "I had other ideas but I am certainly glad we have him now."

Both councilmen Danny Wyatt and George Marlow praised Bruce Wyatt's hard work and said they were grateful to have him in the position.

Councilman Boyd Wyatt gave the city manager a grade of A+ and said, "He works harder than the recent city managers."

Mayor Graham asked and received the support of all the council members to give city manger Bruce Wyatt an A+ rating.

Bruce Wyatt called the council's praise a "great honor." He added, "I will always look on my time here as a great event in my life. I have great esteem for the council and city staff. He concluded by adding, "I pledge to you my hard work and to look out for the good of Crossville."

After almost losing millions of dollars in road construction funding from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) by failing to pass a budget amendment last month, the council passed the third and final reading of the budget amendment. The $350,000 budget amendment funds engineering cost overruns and right-of-way acquisition in order to meet the requirements of TDOT constructing the Northwest connector road between Highway 70 W and Northside Drive.

The motion was approved with three votes in favor by councilmen Earl Dean, Danny Wyatt and Boyd Wyatt. Councilman Marlow voted no pointing out he is a property owner affected by the action and Mayor Graham abstained because his cousin owns affected property.

Martin Elementary seventh-grade student Aden Mathis was recognized as the student of the month for his representation of the character trait of citizenship. Aden was described by his teacher as "active in and out of school in various activities, volunteering in his school and community." Aden was also described as a model citizen.