Police Chief Stan Allen will serve the city of East Ridge for one more month before stepping down. He joined the East Ridge Police Department as assistant chief in 2015, and for over a year was the interim police chief before being named chief in 2019. Prior to working in East Ridge, he was a 28-year veteran of the Chattanooga Police Department. To fill the job, City Manager Chris Dorsey told the city council members on Thursday night that he, with the help of experienced law enforcement professionals, interviewed four candidates. Two were internal applicants and one rose to the top, he said.
Assistant Police Chief Clint Uselton was named chief of the department on Thursday. He has worked in the city’s police department since 1999 while he moved up in rank. He started as a patrol officer then a sergeant and lieutenant before his current rank of assistant chief.
Chief Allen announced a “Booze It and Lose It” campaign that started Aug. 17 that will continue through Sept. 5. During that time enforcement of impaired driving will be stepped up to encourage people to drive sober and to get intoxicated drivers off the roads. He said, if caught, the individual could lose their driver’s license or lose their freedom by going to jail.
In previous meetings, the East Ridge Council approved building a new road into what is referred to as the Gateway project near the Red Wolves soccer stadium.
At the Thursday night meeting they voted to buy additional right of way property located at 1403 Mack Smith Road to widen the planned road to four lanes versus the previously planned two lanes. To accommodate the first two-lane road, the city owned all the property that was needed without buying additional right-of-way. An engineering evaluation was done in the past two weeks that recommended four lanes to handle the expected traffic once the project is built-out.
Councilman Jacky Cagle reminded the rest of the council that this road has been voted on three times previously, with the agreement not to purchase more right of way. Commissioner Mike Chauncy and Mayor Brian Williams both said the traffic study’s recommendation changed their minds and it would cost more to widen it later.
The original vote approved $4 million for the road and, with the approval of building four lanes, it still is expected to come in at the same price, despite the need to purchase the additional property to use for rights-of-way. The vote authorized changing the road to four lanes.
A contract for software for the East Ridge city court was also approved. This software is the same that is being used by the police department so the two systems will be compatible. The up-front cost is $51,349 and there will be an annual payment of $22,154 for licensing fees for three years.
Also approved was the transfer of $2,533,124 from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to the Hamilton County WWTA. The city manager said that the money for COVID relief had restricted uses, and was allowed to be spent on utilities. Since the city does not own any utilities, the ARP money, along with a grant from Hamilton County, will be allocated to WWTA with the agreement that it will be used for work in the city limits of East Ridge.
The commission voted to accept a $25,000 grant from CSX Railroad to be used for the city’s fire and rescue department. No match from the city is needed for this money that will buy a computer-aided dispatch software program to update and enhance communications for the fire and rescue department.
Another donation was accepted from Tractor Supply Company, which will be providing a new dog house and kennel roof valued at $340 for the city’s new canine officer.
The city of East Ridge will jointly apply with other municipalities in the area for a Transportation Planning Organization grant that is intended to increase safety on streets and roads to get funding to create a safety plan for now and for the future.
A public hearing and second and final vote took place regarding rezoning of property at 6205 Ringgold Road that will change the zoning from C-2, General Commercial to M-2 Light Industrial District. This will allow TPC Printing and Packaging to build a new 60,000 square foot building with a parking lot for 80 cars.
On Aug. 8 the planning commission condemned a building at 1500 Keeble St. That came after a complaint of a person living in the crawl space was verified by the codes enforcement. Additionally, someone else was living in a garage. When the building was inspected there were many violations to the city codes, including that the building which was constructed for commercial use had been divided into multiple living units but the electrical system had not been split to match.
A list of problems to fix needed to bring the property up to code was delivered to the owner, Chetan Patel, in April. At the hearing Thursday, his attorney, Buddy Presley, told the council that the owner had been waiting for a settlement with his insuror to do the work. He received $40,000 partially to cover a small fire. But Mr. Patel said work could not be done since it had been condemned and he was unable to get a permit for doing anything. The owner also claimed he did not know what was needed or how to proceed.
Councilman Chauncy told the council he had seen a for sale sign in the yard this week. Mayor Williams said he was hearing a mixed message: that you’re ready to work on it, and then a second story that it was for sale.
Saying the owner had had many opportunities to bring the building up to code, Councilman Chauncy made a motion to deny the appeal from the owner. It was approved unanimously by the council. The housing commission’s order to condemn and demolish the building stands.
A special presentation by Christy Chapman informed the council about an after-school enrichment program that she is heading. After donating the space and opening the doors for a program known as The Rec Project, she said 30 kids appeared. She is providing meals every day for the children who have experienced trauma, been sexually assaulted or that see stabbings and violence on a daily basis and may be homeless. She said she had helped enroll them in school and helped get medical care for them but many also need psychiatric help and it is over her head. She asked the city for any help they can provide. Mayor Williams and some council members have made visits to the daycare and he said that the city will try to get the word out and will try to get volunteers to help her.