Plans for Christmas in Soddy Daisy are already underway. At the Soddy Daisy Commission meeting Thursday night, the city as well a couple of civic organizations announced holiday events that have been scheduled.
The Daisy Masonic Lodge No. 706 along with the Daisy Chapter No. 328 Order of Eastern Star will be holding their third annual Santa’s Workshop on Nov. 25, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It will be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Daisy Masonic lodge, 125 Oakwood Dr. There will be free photos with Santa for families with small children. Chris Harper, past master of the lodge, added that well-behaved pets are welcome too. Cameras will be available there and people can also bring their own. There will also be arts and crafts for children, treats and other goodies, he said.
The Tennessee Child Identification Program will also be offered to parents at no cost at the event. A packet will be created which will have, among other things, fingerprints and voice recognition. The packages are ready for and include everything that is necessary for the amber alert system.
City Manager Janice Cagle said that upcoming holiday events organized by the city have also been scheduled. Christmas at Poe’s Tavern will be on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 4 to 7 p.m. and the Soddy Daisy Christmas parade will be on Sunday, Dec. 3.
A veterans program will be presented to both the middle and high school. It will be on Nov. 7 at the high school and on Nov. 9 at the middle school.
Soddy Daisy is preparing to repair and pave roads that need it the most, said Ms. Cagle. Public Works Director Steve Grant has designated five roads that will be worked on in the near future. These roads are Scribner, Cox, West Parkway, Card and Karen.
The cost to make these improvements will be $85,000. Materials have been sourced and bids submitted. The city manager said only one bid was received for concrete which came from Talley Construction. Bids to provide asphalt came from both Talley Construction and Dunlap Stone. All bids were submitted on the basis as needed and the council approved bids from both companies. Which company to use will be decided at the discretion of City Manager Cagle and Mr. Grant, depending on the availability at the time it is needed.
All three bids that were received for the labor to do the repaving and repairs, referred to as "in-place," were also approved by the commissioners, at the discretion of Mr. Grant and Ms. Cagle. The companies are Talley Construction, Lofty and Card Paving.
At the consensus of the board, the second commission meeting in December that would have taken place on Dec.7, has been cancelled, along with the first meeting of 2018, scheduled for Jan. 4.