Chattanooga Rotary Club members rose to their feet and began applauding Thursday after veteran Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey said unofficially that he plans to seek another term.
"I've been told that the Rotary Club takes a dim view of speakers making political announcements . . . so I'm not going to announce today," Mayor Ramsey told the group, a wide smile creasing his face.
"But if you all can find it in your hearts, I'd like to continue to work for this community for a little while longer."
"Four more years!" Rotary members began chanting, as they rose to their feet and stood applauding.
The county mayor race for a new four-year term is next year.
The "unannouncement" came at the end of a 30-minute talk during which County Mayor Ramsey detailed some of the achievements of his administration - most notably, the development of Enterprise South and the decisions by Volkswagen and other companies to locate here.
"We'll have more significant announcements to make at Enterprise South," he told the crowd.
The county mayor also listed a number of the problems that confront Hamilton County and its residents, including the huge costs borne by local taxpayers as a result of the large number of prisoners in correctional facilities here.
Wednesday night, he said, there were 998 inmates in the Silverdale Workhouse and more than 500 housed in the Hamilton County Jail.
It costs the county $51.43 per person per night to keep an inmate at Silverdale, he said. The outlay is even higher at the jail, where the daily per-prisoner cost is $69.
"The state gives us back $35 per day (for state prisoners) and we're glad to have that $35," he said.
The bottom line, County Mayor Ramsey said, is that it is costing Hamilton County $70,000 to $80,000 per night just to take care of prisoners.
"Think what you could do with that much money if you didn't have to spend it on inmates," he said.