By the end of school, East Ridge should have a new playground. The city received a Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant to replace the playground next to city hall. It has been a long process because the grant came with a lot of requirements that have now been fulfilled. The last step, the plan being stamped by an engineer, has just been done and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has given final approval. Approval to buy the equipment for the playground and splash pad was given to the city manager at the council meeting Thursday night, just in time to be able to maintain the cost in the original bid.
An increase of $50,000 for the equipment would have gone into effect on March 15. The actual construction will still need to be bid out as a requirement of the LPRF grant.
City Manager Chris Dorsey told the council that a grant to build a dog park is being applied for. The Dog Park Dash Park grant from the Boyd Family Foundation, if received, would provide $25,000 to create a park. A site being considered is on Springvale Road. Vice Mayor Mike Chauncey has suggested building a second dog park on available property behind McBrien Elementary School.
Mr. Dorsey said the applications are due on Monday for the two new liquor stores that will be allowed in East Ridge. After information on the applications is verified and approved, the winners will be chosen by a lottery.
The city manager said that the new parking lot at Camp Jordan has been paved and will soon be striped.
Some citizens in East Ridge have requested to reopen the community center for group meetings. That is being considered, said the city manager, but there will need to be agreements between the organization that the city has no legal liability. Additionally, he said, it is not as easy as in the past to open up the room, because staff will need to be on call and to be able to disinfect the entire room after any meeting. He said meetings may need to be scheduled on the days of the week when paid staff is already there, otherwise there would be additional costs.
The council approved waiving the fee for use of Camp Jordan Arena to host a classic car cruise that will be a fundraiser for the East Ridge Needy Child Fund. It is scheduled for Friday, June 25.
Police Chief Stan Allen told the council that he has applied for a Tennessee Highway Safety Office Grant for a total of $5,000. Of that amount, $1,000 would be required to be used for overtime pay. He said that if received, $3,700 would be used to buy two moving radar units and $1,300 would go for traffic enforcement.
The city’s operating budget was amended to reflect additional expenses that were not included when the 2020-2021 budget was created. At the last council meeting the addition of two police officers was approved. The budget amendment includes the salary for the additional police for three months left in the fiscal year, plus the cost of two new police vehicles. The cost of some needed equipment can be taken from the city’s drug fund. There will also be the cost of the new Splash Pad and the multi-modal project, plus the balance left after the amount paid by insurance, for a police car that was totaled in a wreck. In all, $776,741 will be used from the fund balance, which she said is now over $5 million.
The council authorized the issuance of not to exceed $750,000 general obligation bonds. The purpose is to refinance some of the city’s debt and take advantage of lower interest rates. The financial structure of the loans would remain the same and the debt would not be extended. Now, the city has $7.4 million in variable rate loans and $3.7 million in fixed rate loans. The recommendation to lock in all loans at a lower and fixed rate of two percent is estimated to result in savings of $900,000, and it will take risk off the table. The council approved the measure. The bonds will be put out to bid for the best rate. The second part of this process, the issuance of general obligation refunding bonds in the aggregate principal amount not to exceed $9,200,00, was also authorized.