The town of Soddy Daisy has outgrown its municipal building and is beginning to plan for a new one. City Manager Burt Johnson said that actually, every space was filled when the city hall first opened in 1995. Plans are to have a new building next door to the old one. City hall personnel will be moved there when it is built and the current building will continue to be used by the Soddy Daisy Police Department and the city court.
Mr.
Johnson received 21 responses to the Request for Proposals for an architect for the new building. He and Public Works Director Steve Grant reviewed the RFPs and narrowed them down to two, which they feel would be a good fit. They are Allen & Hoshell and MBI Companies, both local Chattanooga architectural firms and both with experience in designing government projects. The council members approved the selection and gave the city manager the okay to move forward.
Soddy Daisy’s growth has also led to the need for traffic improvements. The commissioners approved entering into an agreement with Wiser Consultants for signalization projects on Dayton Pike at the intersections of Thrasher Pike and Montlake Road. The company will be paid $79,675 for engineering, design and project management.
In a recent meeting about transportation, the city manager told the commissioners that he learned of a new technology that can help lessen traffic backups caused by trains, a problem that the city has had to deal with. The technology can sense there will be blockage up to 30 minutes before it happens. A suggestion was made to look for a grant that could help the city pay for it.
Over the last several months, the city manager said there have been discussions about the need for additional personnel in the public works department. At the Thursday night meeting, a resolution passed to hire two new employees for the department and to adopt a classification and pay plan for them.
Commissioner Gene-O Shipley continued a discussion that started earlier this year about the concern with short term rentals such as VRBOs in the city and how many should be allowed. At this time Soddy Daisy officially has two to four, but there are also some that have not gone through the proper channels, he said. When an application comes to the city, residents should be notified of what is happening in their neighborhoods. He said if a business such as a Dollar General applied to move into a residential area, everyone surrounding it would be notified. He said allowing a short term rental to operate is the same as allowing a business. He said that might not be changing the zoning, but it is changing the neighborhood.
Before the number of short term rentals in Soddy Daisy gets out of control, he suggested for City Attorney Sam Elliott to advise what can be done to better regulate it. He is also concerned with the large number of out of towners and big corporations which are able to buy houses out from under local residents. Attorney Elliott said he plans to look at the moratorium imposed by Chattanooga for short term rentals. Soddy Daisy could piggy-back on the result of their study, he said. Using that information, he plans to bring a moratorium ordinance for the commissioners to consider.
Another concern of the commissioners is about the proliferation of trash almost everywhere. Commissioner Steve Everett said he has been contacted by citizens about the on-going litter problems. Much of the litter along the roads has blown out of trucks that are transporting it. There is a law that a commercial hauler must have the trash covered and contained with a tarp, but Mayor Rick Nunley said recently a garbage truck was scattering trash because the tarp had a hole. Commissioner Everett said much of what he sees is coming from locals hauling litter to a dump. He would like to have a requirement for private vehicles to tarp their truck bed. Attorney Elliott said that, unfortunately, the city judge must follow the state law which sets a maximum fine of $50.
The volunteer organization Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful is continuing their mission of cleaning up the city on Saturday morning with an event to clean up the Big Soddy Creek Park where more litter has been left. And Commissioner Jim Coleman said he sees trash left on the ground and tucked into fences at the Kids Club Park. The park is well used with 650 kids participating in sports there, which brings a large number of people each day and they just leave their garbage there, he said. They should pick up their own trash, he said, since the city’s employees have more things to do. The city manager said he would talk to the coaches and put out more garbage cans.
Mayor Nunley announced that on Tuesday there will be a celebration at Veterans Park for the recent improvements that have been made to the recreational area and to the dog park there.