The capacity of people allowed to join the Soddy Daisy Commission meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic was capped at 20 and most of those citizens were there on Thursday night to complain about multiple issues in the city. A continuation of homeowners asking for help with flooding issues dominated the discussions. This spring storms created problems with people who live in houses located in a flood plain surrounding Little Soddy and North Chickamauga Creeks. The deck is increasingly pulling away from one house, and the homeowner fears the house will follow and eventually fall into the creek behind the home.
The septic tank repeatedly is flooded at a house on Ducktown Street.
Getting a sewer line there is not totally out of the question, said Mayor Gene Shipley, but it will take time.
A resident living on Old Dayton Pike asked to have money put in the budget to buy her house that has been flooded twice in the last five years. And she complained that she is not getting notified in time to leave when there is a problem. The commissioners wondered why they did receive the notifications and she did not.
Attorney Sam Elliott responded that the city is not responsible for rising water, God is.
A man asked if the city could remove rocks, silt, debris and trees that have accumulated in the creek and are impeding the flow behind his mother-in-law’s house on Willow Creek Drive. He said the house is not in immediate danger at this time but would be if there is another incident of rising water. Public Works Director Steve Grant said it will be difficult to get big equipment behind the house and, when it is there, only the trees that can be reached from the bank can be removed and no rock or silt is allowed to be disturbed. No equipment can be put in the creek unless the city gets three permits - one from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and another from TVA, said City Manager Janice Cagle.
One of the speakers told the commissioners that 100 feet of property has eroded caused by the floods. Mayor Shipley told her he is working with the tax assessor to remove that land from her assessment.
City Manager Cagle told the homeowners that the Southeast Tennessee Development District (SETD), which assists cities, is applying for a mitigation grant to help Soddy Daisy. She said there was not enough damage from the flooding that occurred two years ago, but because of the tornadoes this year the city had enough damage to get federal help.
Consideration of an ordinance that would prevent people from living in recreational vehicles was moved until September. The practice has been allowed to house extra employees that come to work during power outages at TVA, said Attorney Elliott. He told the citizen who currently lives in a RV parked at a trailer park that he could apply for a variance to the board of appeals due to a hardship. That type of vehicle is meant for temporary use, he said, and it is not good policy to live in one. This family has lived in Soddy Daisy 19 years but had to sell their home due to disabilities and cannot keep moving it because of the need to be in close proximity to doctors. The speaker was assured he would not be asked to move before September when there could be a determination about issuing a variance.
In regular business, the city accepted the extension of Tobacco Road as a publicly dedicated street. An ordinance was passed to rezone a tract of land at 11141 Dayton Pike from R-2A, Rural Residential District to C-3 General Business.
The pay plan and an amendment to the personnel rules and regulations regarding benefits and annual leave and paid time off were adopted for the new fiscal year.
The $14 million budget for 2020-2021 was passed unanimously on final reading. The tax rate will remain the same at $1.3524. Some items have been carried over from the present year including $3.5 million to resurface all of Dayton Pike that lies within the city limits. A grant will pay 80 percent and Soddy Daisy will be responsible for the 20 percent match of $700,000 for that project. Because of the coronavirus, four SUVs that were in this year’s budget will not be delivered until September or October so will move into the new budget. Also moved to the new year is playground equipment in the amount of $365,000. The budget also includes the purchase of three new police cars and a truck for the public works department, depending on what happens with the economy, said Finance Director Burt Johnson.
The next commission meeting on July 2 has been cancelled. The next meeting will be July 16.