A number of compassionate citizens of East Ridge came to the city council meeting Thursday night questioning the "bad timing" of the condemnation of Superior Creek Lodge Wednesday night. The spokeswoman for the group said the residents were displaced with no plan for shelter, food or transportation to help them. She said there should have been more planning that would have shown concern for the people. She asked Interim City Manager and Fire Chief Mike Williams for any explanation.
He replied that he agreed “110 percent that it was bad timing,” and that it was “a sad day for all of us.” Once the dangerous conditions were discovered he said that life safety issues were his concern.
Once the decision was made for condemnation, it needed to be done right away.
Over 300 families and almost 1,500 individuals were displaced.
Salvation Army officials said, thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation, 41 family units were housed at four local motels. Residents are housed through Monday and will then come to the
Joint Information Center in Monday for further assistance.
A total of $15,612.14 was issued for housing on Thursday night. That included paying for staff to stay a week. There were 10 staff families. They lost their jobs and their homes.
At East Ridge United Methodist there are 31 people staying, and at Spring Creek Baptist there were four families.
The progression of events led to evacuating two buildings at night right before a rain storm, but said City Attorney Hal North, life safety always takes place over convenience. It would have been unconscionable for them to stay there one more night to assure no tragedy would occur. The right thing was done, and it was handled by the book, he said.
Chief Williams said that a complaint unrelated to the building’s condition had been received Tuesday night which led to the fire marshal going to the extended stay facility. While there, he noticed an exposed column which led him to remove facing from the building. First thing Wednesday morning, Chief Williams arrived with codes enforcement officer Brad Hayen and, with further examination by removing more facing materials, they discovered major deterioration to two buildings. Two additional buildings were condemned Thursday due to the same conditions.
Chief Williams said his first move was to contact the city attorney in an effort to act in good faith and by the letter of the law. Before returning to the scene, he said he reached out to multiple charitable agencies to get assistance for the families, but only the Salvation Army arrived. None of the agencies were able to really help because the situation was not considered to be a disaster.
Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt said that once deficiencies were found, and the city was aware of them, if a tenant had been hurt, East Ridge would have been held responsible for not acting sooner.
Mayor Brent Lambert said it was a “Catch 22” for the city. He said they would have been criticized no matter which response had been made.
A second citizen told the council that he understood the urgency that had been needed for that situation, but he said the city needs to have a plan going forward in regard to rental properties all across East Ridge, which he said have a history of being maintained poorly. He added that just a week earlier, the high school football stadium had been condemned. It is not good PR, he said, for the city. Maintenance should be addressed before things get to this point.
Vice Mayor Gravitt said the city’s new codes enforcement officer, Mr. Hayen, who has been in that position for just two months, is starting to address issues of deteriorating buildings.
He went on to commend the chief and city staff for the work they did Wednesday night. “It couldn’t have been easy to watch those families be thrown out,” he said.