At the East Ridge City Council meeting on March 26, a vote approved contracting with Retail Strategies, a consulting firm based in Birmingham, to help promote the city to potential business. In the opinion of City Attorney Hal North, the wording in the resolution is ambiguous and gives the city manager the right to determine the terms and sign a contract without additional oversight by the city council.
Additionally, terms in the contract are cause for concern in the opinion of the attorney.
He did add a condition to the original three-year contract allowing for the city to terminate or renew the agreement after the first and second years. A problem that still exists is that the requirements of the contract are back-loaded. “I have a problem paying in advance,” said Mr. North.
A likely scenario, he said, is if the East Ridge terminated the contract after the first year and asked for the analysis and studies that had been done on behalf of the city. At that time the consultants may say that those things are not done until the second or third year. Then East Ridge will be out the $48,000 paid for the first year, with nothing to show for it. One suggestion was to require that Retail Strategies attach a time-line to the contract for the services they will provide.
Councilmen Jacky Cagle, Larry Sewell and Denny Manning favored reviewing and voting on the final contract before entering into it. Mayor Brent Lambert said if it is ambiguous, the council should try for more clarity in the future, and that it is his opinion that the responsibility is now with the city manager. Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt agreed with the mayor because he said the city would not lose money since the cost of the consultants would be reimbursed by the Border-Region legislation. The matter was left for the city manager to decide and accept.
A public hearing took place on a zoning change for 5l03 Frawley Road from Residential and Agricultural District to RZ-1, Zero Lot Line Residential District. Mike Price from MAP Engineers told the council that 88 single family homes are planned for the 45 acres. The lots will be 62 feet wide and 48 percent of the land will be designated as community property with a lake. Homes in the development will be sold for $220,000 and up. Upon recommendation of the planning commission, approval was also given by the council for what Mr. Price referred to as quality growth.
An ordinance that will regulate pay day lenders was put into effect with approval of the second reading. It is intended to prevent clusters of these businesses. The new law specifies among other things, that these types of stores can be no closer than 1,320 feet apart, and must be at least 500 feet from the property line to an adjacent residence.
The city voted to approve refinancing the Bond Anticipation Note (BAN) for an amount not to exceed $1,600,000. This money is used to fund capital improvements, parks and recreation, streets and other improvements. It was written to provide the city with flexibility, said the mayor.
Police Chief J.R. Reed asked the council to require a special gathering permit based on the one adopted by Chattanooga. The request was spurred by two incidents that have recently caused trouble in East Ridge. The first was a large gathering at a motel that did not have the capacity to accommodate the number of people that showed up. During that event, there were fights and disorders and gang activity.
The second took place at an unoccupied building at the corner of Germantown Road and Ringgold Roads. The owner rented it out for a birthday party but it was later sub-leased. When the party took place, 250 people showed up. The occupancy for the space is a maximum of 99. A car fire that happened outside the gathering was determined to be caused by retaliation. The car turned out to be stolen, and inside it two firearms were found. That same night two other retaliation car fires happened in Chattanooga that police have linked to the incident in East Ridge. The people involved were not residents of the city, said Fire Chief Mike Williams.
Chief Williams said the city already has ordinances in place that would have stopped the gang activity had the department known the gathering was scheduled. If a business owner plans on having a large gathering, it should be registered with the city. The need to publicize that needs to get out to the citizens said Mr. Gravitt. The responsibility should fall on the owner of the property, said Mayor Lambert. The city manager along with the fire and police chiefs will confer about the problem gatherings and how to stop them from occurring.