Hamilton County’s parks and recreation department is making a donation of playground equipment to the city of Red Bank. There will be more diverse recreation at White Oak Park with the gift of the new Rockett Climber. The Red Bank board of commissioners unanimously voted to accept the equipment, its installation, and the code-compliant playground surfacing that will help the park become more inclusive.
City Manager Martin Granum also told the commissioners that Red Bank is getting a Violent Crime Intervention Fund grant (VCIF) to assist the police department with violent crime management. Much of the violent crime that is seen by the police department stems from domestic violence, said the city manager.
The police department will also benefit from an agreement between the city and the financial commission for Appalachia High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program. The Red Bank Police Department will get money to pay overtime for detectives with the Drug Enforcement Administration, a federal agency that enforces drug laws.
The commissioners agreed to renew the contract for supporting the city’s agenda management platform software for one year. Red Bank will pay Software House International $16,807 for the continued service which stores and archives Red Bank’s agendas on SHI’s servers.
A resolution of the commissioners on Tuesday adopted a revised and updated social media participation policy as well as a policy for Internet posting for employees. The new guidelines adhere to free speech rights, it was stated.
A city ordinance regarding mobile food trucks and pushcart vendors was repealed and then replaced with different regulations. The new ordinance will control public streets for the purpose of maintaining the health, safety and welfare of the public. Some regulations that are included are the requirement that to operate a mobile food truck or pushcart in the city, the owner must get a Red Bank business license. If the business is legally located within Red Bank, that license must be obtained in Red Bank and it will cost $50. If it is not a Red Bank business, the license will cost $150. Other conditions include where they are allowed to park so that established restaurants are not negatively affected, and that they meet the levels of cleanliness, quality and safety required by the city.
Red Bank’s commission meetings may be shorter now by five to 10 minutes after the municipal code was amended to add a consent agenda to the meetings, said City Manager Martin Granum. This is where a group of routine non-controversial items are bundled together and voted on with a single motion without individual discussion. It is assumed that everyone agrees with the passage.
On Tuesday night Vice Mayor Holly Berry was appointed to be the city’s representative to the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO).
And Walgreen’s at 4039 Dayton Blvd. was approved to receive a new license to sell beer. That was required due to a recent change in management of the store.
Red Bank’s 2024 audit report was presented at the commission meeting by CPA Brian Wright, a partner with Johnson, Murphey and Wright. He said that the city’s general fund is very healthy, and Red Bank received a clean, unmodified opinion with no findings in internal compliances.
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