The East Ridge City Council passed an ordinance Thursday evening that will require all door-to-door solicitors to acquire a permit. However, political candidates and campaign volunteers were excluded from this by an amendment.
Council member Marc Gravitt noted that religious organizations are also excluded from this because of their 501 (c) 3 status.
A discussion was also held about a political sign ordinance. The ordinance states that political signs cannot be put up sooner than 60 days before voting.
The council wanted to clarify that this meant the day of the election, not early voting.
A developer petitioned the council to rezone an area of land off of Frawley Road and across from Frawley Baptist Church. Currently, the property is zoned as an R1 district. The developer requested it be rezoned to an RZ1 so that he could build more condominium-style homes.
Citizen Mimi Lowrey expressed concern that this would decrease the property value in the area. However, the developer said the units would be single-family homes rather than rental units.
The rezoning passed.
Vice Mayor Jim Bethune also announced after a budget discussion, "This is the first time since 2003 that we've had three strong surplus years."
Several other resolutions were also passed. One allowed the city to install extra lighting in an area near Camp Jordan. Another allowed the director of the Needy Child Fund to start taking bids on a tent. The tent is needed for a Christmas display called the Santa Village.
Another resolution passed accepting a TDEC Clean Energy Grant. The grant money will go toward replacing five HVAC units in the Camp Jordan Arena.
Three new baseball fields were named in honor of East Ridge employees Freida Wheeler, Bill Owens, and Wayne Thompson.
Ms. Lowrey also announced there would be a Friends of the Playground meeting at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the community center.