Check presentation to Mayor Brent Lambert
photo by Gail Perry
The East Ridge City Council made a decision Thursday night, to move fire hall #2 from the location where Bass Pro Shop will be built to a temporary location in Camp Jordan. As of now, no suitable property has been found to build a permanent structure and the city must vacate the old location by Feb. 15 to make way for the new shopping center.
The former agreement to purchase four acres known as the Brown Brothers property was formally rescinded because officials said the original agreement was continuously being changed by the seller.
Additionally, Fire Chief Mike Williams said there were many existing problems with the land, including partially being in Georgia.
Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt made a motion to make available any city personnel for helping to move any equipment or items from the old fire hall building that the city may have a use for at a later date. This includes a generator and radio equipment. A Butler building will be put at Camp Jordan with showers and sleeping quarters for temporary use by the fire department. Plans are to repurpose that building once a new fire hall has been built.
Councilman Larry Sewell said he did not want to bulldoze a $500,000 building and made a suggestion to either move the building for use as the fire hall #2 or disassemble and sell it. It just needs to be done soon because underground gas and sewer lines need to be moved in addition to demolition of the building itself.
A new playground has just been built at Camp Jordan, and costs related to the installation were $13,000 over budget. Director of Parks and Recreation Stump Martin said the additional costs were due to concrete work, drains that had to be installed for moving water off the site to a nearby ditch and the cost of rental equipment used for the installation.
Discussion also took place about declaring unused equipment as surplus so it could be sold. The bid that was most beneficial to the city came from Coyote Tractor. This company will allow the city to trade in a large tractor that is no longer used for $38,100. With that, a new Gator and smaller tractor that has a bucket, forks and mower attachments will be bought, leaving $506.20 from the trade in.
There are continuous requests for money from the parks and recreation department, said Vice Mayor Gravatt, before asking for a report showing where that department now stands in spending against its budget. “I want to make sure that someone has a handle on the budget,” he said. Mr. Martin told him that he was only asking to spend the money that the department has brought in. “We have to have an economic impact for what we do,” he said. To determine that, Mr. Gravatt suggested identifying the hotels used by athletes and visitors participating in sporting events held at Camp Jordan.
The city was presented with a check for $32,822 from proceeds of the “Christmas Nights of Lights” that was at Camp Jordan from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Additionally, around $30,000 from the light show was given to the city’s needy child fund. It was decided that money needed by Parks and Recreation for the playground and for a five-foot fence around the Camp Jordan Amphitheater would come from money made by that event.
The parks and recreation department also got approval for funding a part-time senior activities coordinator for the East Ridge Community Center. The position will be for one person at 12 hours per week at the rate of $10 per hour. The person hired will organize not only free exercise classes but also events such as dances and karaoke at no cost, and bake sales and services such as blood pressure and hearing tests. Mr. Martin said he wanted to give the seniors a service, and that someday the program might be self-sustaining. The motion to create this new position passed three to one.
The council voted to apply for a TDOT 2015 Safe Routes to School program. This would be a 100 percent grant up to $250,000 with no cost to the city. Plans for use will be around Spring Creek Elementary.
The council also adopted a new policy to promote use of multiple vehicle types on the city roadways in a way that is safe. East Ridge had been advised by TDEC to take this approach to roadwork known as “complete streets” which is a holistic approach for promoting safe streets for cyclers and joggers, as well as automobiles.