The city of East Ridge has a lot of work being done on its roads currently and plans for additional work in the future. City Manager Scott Miller told the council that he has needed traffic engineering services many times in the past and has used Steve Meyer with TWM, Inc. At the city council meeting Thursday night, Mayor Brian Williams was authorized to enter into an agreement with TWM for professional traffic engineering services. The cost of the work will be negotiated on a project-by-project basis, not at an hourly rate.
The multi-modal roadway project along Ringgold Road is ongoing. Authorization was given for the city manager to approve a change order for that work from Talley Construction. When originally planning for the work and the contract that was done in April 2022, Chattanooga Gas never indicated that they were planning to relocate gas lines along the street. But at a meeting in February this year, for the first time, Talley was informed that gas lines on the north side of the road would need to be moved. That caused delays and a change order from Talley for $80,973 to compensate for the additional time and labor. East Ridge hopes to be reimbursed for that amount from the Gas Company.
Another big street project will begin on March 1. McBrien Road will be resurfaced from South Terrace to Ringgold Road. The major thoroughfare will need to be milled before resurfacing.
The city manager also gave an update on the new animal shelter. He said delays have occurred due to weather and rain. Work will resume when the weather improves. The next step will be pouring the footings, which will be followed by putting in plumbing. Then the concrete floor will be constructed. It should go quickly once the sun shines again, he said.
On the final vote, property at 12 Sheridan Road was rezoned from R-1 Residential to R-3 Apartment District. The old stone house located there had been divided into a quad-plex in the past but has been unoccupied for a long time. After not being used as a multi-family structure for 180 days, it lost the non-conforming R-3 status. The owner now wishes to renovate the property and again use it for a quad-plex. An additional building on the property, originally built as a garage, had also been rented in the past. The council was assured that there is sufficient parking to accommodate the four units, including two spaces in the old garage. Upgrades will involve both the inside and outside of the building.
A coalition of small cities in Hamilton County was formed in 2015. The cities of Collegedale, East Ridge, Lakesite, Red Bank, Soddy Daisy and the town of Lookout Mountain, Tn. joined forces and hired a government relations and communications strategist and divided the cost. The purpose was to join together to have a bigger impact regarding legislative matters that are common to all the small cities. The interlocal agreement is being updated after nine years and East Ridge voted to continue participating in the partnership. The total cost for the professional strategist is $150,000 a year. East Ridge’s portion is 20 percent, or $30,000.
The council also agreed for the city to enter into a sponsorship agreement with Academy Sports and Outdoors. The city will be given $2,600 and a $250 gift card, 20 dozen baseballs, 15 six packs of softballs and 10 soccer balls. In return East Ridge will place Academy Sports banners on fields at Camp Jordan, and distribute marketing materials there as well as promotions for Academy Sports events on the city’s website.
A program that provides guidance and procedures for the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Program, TOSHA, for government employees was last updated in 2016. Updates should be made every seven years. To reflect recent changes in the law, the council voted to establish and implement an updated plan.