There is one rental property that the city gets complaints about daily, said multiple commissioners at the Soddy Daisy commission meeting Thursday night. The address is 11209-11221 Dayton Pike where there are five duplexes and 10 tenants. The residents leave garbage cans and bags of trash on the street where animals and cars turn them over leaving garbage scattered all around and on the street, officials said. Past attempts have failed for getting residents who live there to move the garbage bins back up the driveway. Earlier this year, the commissioners created a new ordinance that was aimed at cleaning up this group of duplexes. The property manager, David Hale, at that time, sent emails to all tenants about taking cans back up the driveway on the day garbage is collected, but that message was ignored. Because the new ordinance failed to help, the city decided to required that the owner put a dumpster at the top of the driveway near the dwelling units.
In response to letters from Building Inspector and Public Works Director Steve Grant about installing a dumpster, the Property Manager said that the waste companies which rent dumpsters say they cannot get their trucks up the steep slope of the driveway and there is no room for trucks to turn around. Mr. Grant proposed another plan, which is to mark each can to match the apartment number. That will enable the city to cite individual tenants if cans are left on the street.
Commissioner Gene-o Shipley put the blame on the property owner and manager who do not live in Soddy Daisy and do not care about the city, he said. The owner of these duplexes is James Edrington, a resident of North Chattanooga and the manager lives in Apison. City Attorney Sam Elliott told Mr. Hale that Soddy Daisy has an administrative hearing officer who has the ability to impose a fine of $500 per day until the property complies. He said that the owner needs to know that the city is serious, and that this address is considered to be a trouble spot.
The commissioners and city attorney made it clear to Mr. Hale, that it is his and the owner’s responsibility to get the property to comply. A suggestion was made to hire somebody to move the cans back up the hill, and if necessary, to increase the rent to do that.
The cost of materials and labor for paving Old Dayton Pike this year came in under budget. The commissioners approved the invoice from Hedgecoth Construction which did the work for Soddy Daisy for $80,000 below the amount that had been budgeted. The commissioners also approved the invoice for paving materials from Southeastern Materials that was a little under the bid price.
Mayor Steve Everett commended the volunteers that have had such a big impact on the community. He said that the way Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful is able to activate people for helping with their many projects, is amazing. City residents in the room thanked Cindi Sanden, representing KSDB, and applauded the success of the Fall Festival that the group held on the last weekend in September. She in turn, thanked the city for its support and help. Another event the organization has put together is a cleanup day at the Big Soddy Gulf Park this coming Saturday from 9-11:30 a.m. for the annual River Rescue. Volunteers can register at the Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful website.
And the Soddy Daisy Community Library, headed by community volunteer Curtis Cecil, has planned another free event: “ Halloween EEKstravaganza!” It is scheduled for Oct. 28 from 3-8 p.m. at the Soddy Daisy Ballfields. Mr. Cecil said it will be an old-fashioned, small-town Halloween festival with a chili cook-off and a pie baking contest. Trunk or Treat will be from 4-7 p.m. and at 8:30 p.m. the movie Goosebumps will be shown.
Kelsey Nunley Moore, head softball coach at Soddy Daisy High School is organizing a car show to benefit her team. She received approval from the commissioners to use Veterans Park on Nov. 18 for the event, with all proceeds going to the team.