Collegedale will be getting a new municipal parking lot to accommodate all the activity around the new Little Debbie Park and the Collegedale Commons. On Monday night the commissioners approved spending $28,500 for engineering costs associated with the start of building the lot. It is along Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and adjacent to The Commons and the new park behind it. It will add close to 300 new parking spaces, but City Manager Wayon Hines said the landscaping and islands included with the parking lot project will affect that number. The motion passed to approve the expense with the condition that City Attorney Sam Elliott approves the contract.
City Planner Jason Allen received approval to accept a TAEP Tree Grant contract. It will be used to replace trees in Collegedale that have been lost from natural disasters in key areas of parks. The grant is from the Forestry Division of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The city has applied to receive 50 trees, all suitable for the local area in Tennessee, coming from a farm in Cleveland. The $2,569 grant will need to be matched with the same amount coming from the city, so a total of $5,140 will be available to use for buying the trees and the watering devices around the base of the trees to keep them alive.
The commissioners also approved the low bid of $15,820 to purchase 221 garbage carts. And four police vehicles were declared as surplus so they can be sold at auction. They include one 2008 Dodge Charger and three 2009 Chargers. The commissioners were told that the police equipment on the cars will be left on them. The surplus cars are often bought by small towns and sometimes are bought solely for the equipment that they remove to use.
The Collegedale Police Department will be getting new Interview Room equipment from Axon. It is a cloud-based system that can secure and store evidence. The new equipment will replace outdated audio/visual technology that the department now uses for criminal investigations. The total cost for the system is $34,6666 but payments will be spread equally over five years. The budget this year included $6,933 for the purchase and the same will be budgeted each of the next four years.
A request to buy ballistic vests in the amount of $13,000 for the police department was also authorized. The money for the vests will be reimbursed from a grant to buy them throughout the year, as they are needed, for new hires and for reserve officers. The first bullet proof vests purchased will be for Collegedale’s K-9 officers.