Baileyton Mayor Tommy Casteel said Wednesday that he hopes to be able to convince Family Dollar Corporation to build a Family Dollar Market on property the company has leased in Baileyton.

Casteel's comments came after a short meeting of the Baileyton Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The only action taken by the board was to pass a "vicious dog ordinance" on the second of two required readings.

Casteel said the ordinance was approved in 1988, and has been in effect and used ever since. However, for some reason it was inadvertently left out when the town's ordinances were last collected into a booklet.

The town was advised to pass the same ordinance again, and now has done so, the mayor said.

Mayor Casteel said he has been trying to get in touch with Family Dollar officials since last week, when the Baileyton Planning Commission approved a Family Dollar sign for property on Van Hill Road owned by Jason Brandon.

The Greeneville Sun, in reporting the story, was able to confirm that Family Dollar Corp. has signed a lease on the property.

Mayor Casteel said Family Dollar Markets offer considerably more food than regular Family Dollar stores, and a grocery store has been consistently identified in community surveys as something Baileyton citizens want and need.

Casteel noted that Baileyton has been trying for years to convince a grocery chain to locate in Baileyton, so far without success.

He said grocery companies typically look at Baileyton's small size and decide a store would not be viable.

The mayor added that he and others involved in the effort so far have not been able to convince food retailers that a grocery store in Baileyton would draw from all of northern Greene County and a considerable population in southern Hawkins County.

Another thing that grocers perhaps do not realize is that people in northern Greene County and southern Hawkins County are already accustomed to long drives to the grocery store, he said.

Baileyton is located at exit 36 on Interstate 81, and Casteel has pointed out in the past that people in the northern end of the county could use exit 44 at Jearoldstown or exit 30 at Romeo to reach Baileyton quicker than they could get to any other grocery store.

Casteel said the closest grocery store to Baileyton is the Food City store about 13 miles away in Greeneville, or the Dollar General Market in Greeneville, about the same distance.

Baileyton Alderman J.D. Sensabaugh said it is about 18 miles from his home to the Walmart in Greeneville, or 19 miles to the Walmart in Rogersville.