An agreement that was originally proposed between the city of East Ridge and the Chattanooga Red Wolves organization for managing the soccer fields in Camp Jordan Park was not approved by TDEC as required. Since July 2021 a new agreement has been worked on, yet one is still not in place. City Manager Chris Dorsey told the council members Thursday night that negotiations are still taking place, however plans are needed now so the fields will not be left vacant.
East Ridge has been getting requests from many different organizations that want to use the fields for events, including a Senior Soccer Tournament and Soccer Shots.
The parks and recreation department cannot keep holding the fields and a complete schedule is needed so they can be scheduled and booked.
Councilmember Jacky Cagle commented that the original proposal for the contract was for the Red Wolves to pay East Ridge $60,000 for the management rights. Mr. Cagle suggested the city could bring in more revenue by managing the fields itself. He said that equipment that was supposed to be supplied to Camp Jordan as part of the agreement has not been honored, and that the contract has now expired. The council voted to move forward with scheduling, while making sure that dates will not conflict with dates that the Red Wolves will be using the fields.
On the second and final reading, an ordinance was approved to rezone 10.3 acres adjacent to the Red Wolves stadium property on Hurst Street, Floyd Drive, McCall Road and Mack Smith Road to C-1 Commercial and C-4 Planned Commerce District to allow developers to extend the area for building new townhomes and parking. And the city will also abandon its right-of-way at the end of Hurst Road so the new neighborhood of townhomes can be enlarged.
Property at 495 Camp Jordan Parkway was rezoned on the final reading from C-1 Commercial to O-1 Hospital that will allow an emergency services hospital to be built on the 1.7 acres. The emergency room will be operated by HCA Hospital for Parkridge. A certificate of need has been approved for the facility, which is right outside Camp Jordan, to accommodate the many athletes who participate in sporting events there. The lease to the business is for 15-20 years and, if the clinic ever does stop operating, the zoning will revert back to commercial.
Personnel Director Michelle Sinigaglio has been working with a consultant from MTAS to create a separate personnel manual and removing the personnel content from the city codes. She told the council that changes have been made to update terminology and inaccuracies that were in the city codes. And there are benefits of having the information in a handbook, she said, that make it a good source of clear expectations of the city, rights and accountabilities for employees, current policies and legal obligations, among many other items. And employees will be able to find the information quickly and easily. Another benefit is that updates or changes can be made with a resolution versus an ordinance that would require advertising and two readings. The city council will have the final approval of any changes that are made to the manual.
City Manager Dorsey was given approval to purchase both a new garbage truck for $266,000 and a new leaf machine for $250,000. The new leaf truck can be driven and operated by a single person. One of the two old leaf vacuums will be salvaged for parts that can be used to repair another truck that the city already owns to use as a back-up. The leaf truck will be bought partially with reimbursement money from FEMA that East Ridge received for cleaning up after tornadoes in 2020 and the remainder will be paid from the fund balance. Insurance money received for a wrecked truck will partially pay for the garbage truck and the rest will come from the fund balance