A community meeting for the East Ridge Police to communicate with citizens about new programs that have been started took place on July 21. Police Chief Stan Allen said the meeting had originally been planned before the COVID pandemic put them on hold . He said there was a good turnout with the citizens learning about the Take Me Home Program, the Citizens Police Academy, and the Ride Along Program. Officers were also there giving tips about crime prevention, and police heard feed-back from the community.
Chief Allen said, although he is retiring, he expects that these programs will continue on a quarterly basis.
The City Council is providing tools for the police to help them do their jobs. At the council meeting Thursday night, authorization was given to subscribe to the Motorola Vigilant Database License Plate Reader. The service will be leased for the LPR system to support 16 existing car cameras and will include leasing four fixed cameras and one quick deploy camera which can be moved around and put at places with particular problems. It was stressed that they are not red light cameras, but tag readers with a focus on identifying stolen cars and tags or vehicles that are involved with alerts. Installation of the equipment and an investigative tool is included in the $27,413 price from Motorola Solutions.
A lease-purchase agreement was also approved for 60 Taser 7 conducted electrical weapons. This will replace old ones that are out of warranty. There will be enough to supply each of the East Ridge officers plus all reserve officers. The city will pay $53,529 per year for five years. The equipment has a life expectancy of seven years. After they are paid off the Tasers will belong to East Ridge.
A public hearing was held Thursday night about an application for a short-term vacation rental certificate for property at 795-797 Eileen Lane. There are only two others in East Ridge currently with certificates. The owner said she has remodeled a duplex on the property which she said made improvements to the neighborhood. Three letters in opposition from nearby neighbors were received by the city, with concerns of cars parking on the street, the safety of the neighbors, overcrowding and partying. The owner told the council that she was incentivized to maintaining the property because she is trying to attract vacationers, and if problems occurred, she would simply call the police. The benefit to the city in addition to making the neighborhood more attractive, she said, was the additional hotel/motel taxes that the property would generate. The application to operate a short-term vacation rental as an absentee owner, was approved with only Councilman Jacky Cagle opposed.
City Manager Chris Dorsey reported on the status of the multi-modal project along Ringgold Road. The work will be done in four phases, and the first phase is on track. Work is currently taking place from Kingwood moving toward Walmart. There will be benefits from the project in addition to the 10-foot-wide sidewalks on the south side of the road and the five-foot sidewalks along the north side of the road. Stormwater improvements are being made during the work that will take water in underground pipes from the tunnel to Spring Creek. Eventually the area will also have lights.
Plans for spot paving the worst roads in the city are continuing with bids for the work due on Aug. 9. The costs will be compared to the money that is available to see how far it will go, then will be brought before the council for approval.
The rights-of-way are needed at the end of North Mack Smith Road which is planned as the entrance to “the gateway development.” The city is getting reappraisals for that property and is also trying to get an easement from other property owned by TDOT. These must be done before the council can approve paying for the road.
Access between Ringgold Road and Slater Road will be preserved. An access agreement between all parties involved will insure that it is kept open. City Manager Dorsey told the council that a contract to guarantee the road is kept open will be brought to the next council meeting.
Mr. Dorsey announced that a new position is being proposed in the city. The multi-duty job would have to do with economic development, community involvement, to apply for and monitor grants and to increase communication with the city’s residents using social media. Money is in the budget for this job, he said.
To make the position more attractive and competitive with other municipalities, on Thursday night the council raised the pay for the city judge to $3,000 per month. After an opinion from the state attorney general's office that it is legal for Kevin Wilson to serve as judge for two municipalities, he told the council that his plan is to continue his campaign for East Ridge municipal judge for the August election.
Before IT Technician Josh Love leaves employment with East Ridge, he is in charge of moving the city’s servers out of the attic at the police department to city hall. He received the council’s approval to purchase equipment including racks to hold the servers in their new location, a battery back-up and fiber optic cables to use in the relocation. The cost will be $18,634.
Michael Howell, chief building official of East Ridge, has been appointed to serve as the city’s representative to the management committee of the Hamilton County Water Quality Program. City Manager Dorsey will serve as the alternative representative.
Mayor Brian Williams honored East Ridge resident Mary Lloyd Stone on the occasion of her 100th birthday. She was born on June 21, 1922. During her career, she worked at both Eidson's Restaurant that was on Ringgold Road for many years and in food service for Hamilton County Schools at East Ridge High School. June 21, 2022 was observed as Mary Lloyd Stone Day in recognition of her contributions to the city.