East Ridge Council Backs Plan Of Judge Helton To Integrate Court System With County's

  • Thursday, November 6, 2014
  • Gail Perry

East Ridge City Judge Cris Helton asked the East Ridge Council Thursday night to take action to integrate the city court’s computer system with the Hamilton County system. He has been in the position of city judge for two months and said he realized that the “quirks” in the clerk’s office were largely due to the antiquated software that the department currently uses.

 

He told the board that Hamilton County would take data from the East Ridge system and write a program to coordinate the city and county systems.

It would be tailored for the needs of East Ridge, and included in the service is training for the city’s clerks. This would make day to day operations of the clerk’s office more efficient, he said. Judge Helton said to prepare a court docket now requires a clerk two days to pull the needed information on around 300 items and that it must then be hand typed. With the new software this can all be done by hitting one key.

 

The current system also does not provide information that the judge needs when making a ruling. He said that he has no way of knowing if anyone appearing before him has any prior offenses.

 

In addition it would allow him to see information on an individual’s status in other courts in Hamilton County and the county courts would know what is going on in East Ridge. The integrated system would also allow online payments of court costs and fees.

 

 East Ridge now pays $5,000 annually for use of the court system’s software.  There is a one-time charge of $25,000 if the Inter Local agreement is made with Hamilton County. After the initial payment, there would be a $250 annual fee. Hardware changes to use this system are estimated to be around $5,000. Collections by the court are up significantly from prior years and will contribute to paying for the improvements.

 

The council unanimously approved going forward with the software upgrades.

 

Recently, the purchase of a new HVAC system for the Camp Jordan Arena was approved. A recommendation from each company that submitted bids on that system was to install an energy monitoring system for the new HVAC equipment in order to promote energy efficiency. The council voted to use $145,000 from a Clean Energy Grant for the purchase, which will require a 50/50 match.

 

Votes to apply for and accept two TDOT grants were approved. If received, the TDOT Multimodal Access Grant will provide money for a walking and bike path along Ringgold Road. The TDOT Safe Routes to School Grant, if received, will fund safety improvements for items such as cross-walks and traffic signals that lead to schools.

 

On second reading, East Ridge’s zoning ordinance was amended. City Attorney Hal North said this will bring the ordinance “up to speed.” In addition to establishing the East Ridge Planning Commission, it also makes technical corrections to wording in the ordinance.

 

The council unanimously voted to approve a resolution to honor the life of Luther Masingill who died recently. Mayor Brent Lambert said it is appropriate since Luther meant so much to this entire region. Known as “The Voice of Chattanooga,” the resolution concludes that “he will always be appreciated and will never be forgotten. He will be missed.” A copy of the resolution will be given to Luther’s wife.

 

Announcements of interest to East Ridge citizens are the American Legion Bar-B-Q that is being held Friday and Saturday of this week. There will be a Veteran’s Day Service on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.. in front of the City Hall where the new Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial will be dedicated. The Christmas Parade will take place Nov. 22 starting at 6:30 p.m.. and the swearing in ceremony for the newly elected Mayor and councilmen will be Dec.8 at 6:30 p.m.

The second council meeting for the month of November has been cancelled because it falls on Thanksgiving Day. 

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