All Hamilton County Schools are set to get camera security systems "with full coverage," members of the County Commission were told Wednesday.
Dr. Lee McDade said only nine schools currently have video security that is "fairly good." He said additional cameras will be added where needed at those schools.
Some outdated camera systems will be totally removed, he said, and replaced with a camera system "that is much better," he stated.
The county schools will use Vigilon cameras, he said.
Officials said earlier that the cameras would be purchased from $2.2 million in proceeds from the sale of the old Ooltewah Elementary School property.
The commission was told that, instead, the county will move the $2.2 million into the county general fund and use that "to offset some of our Volkswagen expenses." The security cameras will be bought from the county's line of credit.
Officials said the county is pledged to provide $26,250,000 toward the latest VW expansion at the Enterprise South Industrial Park, including $20 million this year.
Albert Kiser, finance director, said $3 million will be taken from the capital budget to go with the $2.2 million from the school property sale. He said that would reduce the amount that has to be withdrawn from the fund balance (savings) to around $15 million.
Commissioner Tim Boyd said he was weary of hearing of money being shifted for the Volkswagen project. He said he supports it, but he said that money should have been set aside earlier. He said the money from the Ooltewah Elementary sale was needed to fix a myriad of school maintenance problems.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said the fund shift using the school funds "makes a lot of sense," and he said Hamilton County "is the most fiscally sound county in the state."
He said the Volkswagen expansion will create at least another 1,600 jobs, and he said there is a multiplier effect of three or four more jobs for each of those through suppliers, etc. He said VW earlier spent $1 billion at the Tyner facility and is poised to spend another $600 million.
He said, "We're going to be talking about Volkswagen for a long, long time, and that's not a bad thing."
Commissioner Joe Graham proposed that the proceeds from the sale of another school, East Brainerd Elementary, be divvied up among the nine commission districts and used for pressing school needs. He said the decision on how to spend the money would be made by the County Commission member and School Board member for each district.
Several commissioners said they liked that idea.
County Commission members have been meeting recently with their School Board members and principals on a list of school needs. Supt. Rick Smith said those meetings were at the request of the principals.