(upbeat music) - You're watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council meeting, a production of WTCI-PBS.

(upbeat music) (gavel raps) - Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to our Tuesday, June 7th city council agenda session.

We have no ordinances on final reading.

We have three ordinances on first reading.

Madame clerk, will you please read finance A, B and C, and, without objection from the council, we'll take those as a package.

- [Clerk] Item A.

An ordinance, hereinafter also known as "the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Operations Budget", providing revenue for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, and ending June 30, 2023, appropriating same to the payment of expenses of the municipal government, fixing the rate of taxation on all taxable property in the city, and the time taxes and privileges are due, how they shall be paid, when they shall become delinquent, providing for interest and penalty on delinquent taxes and privileges, amending Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 2, Section 2-267, relative to paid leave for active duty training, and to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 31, Sections 31-36, 31-37, 31-41, and 31-43, Sections 31-322 and 31-354.

Item B.

An ordinance appropriating, authorizing, or allocating funds to the capital improvements budget for the fiscal year 2022 through 2023.

Item C. An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 11, Sections 11-186 and 11-199 relative to hotels and rooming houses, and shall include short-term vacation rentals, and privilege tax levied use.

- Dr. Berz - [Berz] Move approval.

- I have a motion to approve.

I do have a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

(councilman interjects) Yes, sir.

- [Councilor] I think on budget vote, we have to have roll call.

- Very good.

On item A, madame clerk, roll call vote, please.

- [Clerk] Councilman Henderson.

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Hill.

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilman Smith.

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilman Hester.

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Berz.

- Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Noel.

- Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod.

- [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Clerk] Vice-chair Dotley.

- [Dotley] Yes.

- Chairman Ledford.

- Yes.

- [Clerk] Nine yeses.

- Thank you.

Motion carries.

Let's do item B as a roll call vote.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod.

- [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Noel.

- [Noel] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Berz.

- [Berz] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilman Hester.

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilman Smith.

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilwoman Hill.

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Clerk] Councilman Henderson.

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Clerk] Vice chair Dotley.

- [Dotley] Yes.

- [Clerk] Chairman Ledford.

- Yes.

- [Clerk] Nine yeses.

- Item carries.

Item C. Questions, comments before we vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Motion carries.

Madame clerk, under finance, item A, please.

- [Clerk] A resolution authorizing the City Finance Officer to amend and extend Purchase Order No.

526211 for Harris Computer Systems, for a 10-month renewal period, from January 1, 2023, through October 31, 2023, for the purposes of billing and collecting of property taxes, for an amount not to exceed $120,853.

- Dr. Berz.

- [Berz] Move approval.

- I have a motion to approve.

I do have a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All those in favors, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Motion carries.

Madame clerk, item B, please.

- [Clerk] A resolution authorizing the Chief Human Resources Officer to renew an agreement with CIGNA to provide active city employees with two PPO dental plan options and one HMO dental plan wherein dental options for city retirees will consist of both a PPO and an HMO plan option, for a contract term of one year beginning July 1, 2022, with no renewal terms remaining at the approximate annual employee paid cost of $1,350,000.

- Dr. Berz.

- [Berz] Move approval.

- I have a motion to approve.

I do have a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Motion carries.

Madame clerk, under mayor's office, will you please read C and D as a package without objection.

- [Clerk] Item C. A resolution to confirm Mayor Kelly's appointment of Eduardo Centurion to a four-year term on the Chattanooga Land Bank Authority, with a term expiration of June 7, 2026.

Item D. A resolution to confirm Mayor Kelly's appointment of Pastor Gary Hathaway to a four-year term on the Chattanooga Land Bank Authority, with a term expiration of June 7, 2026.

- I have a motion to approve.

I do have a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Items carry.

Madame clerk, under parks and outdoors, without objection, E through H we'll take as a package.

- [Clerk] Item E. A resolution authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into a Conservation Services Agreement for 2022 through 2023 with the Trust for Public Land, in substantially the form attached, for a term of one year, from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023, for an amount not to exceed $150,000.

Item F. A resolution authorizing the mayor or his designee to amend the Conservation Services Agreement for 2021 through 2022 with the Trust for Public Land, in substantially the form attached, for an amount not to exceed $27,500.

Item G. A resolution authorizing the waiver of park rental fees for Chattanooga Presents in support of Pops on the River for the dates of June 30, July 1, July 2, and July 3, 2022, to be held in Coolidge Park, for the amount of $2,750.

Item H. A resolution to accept proposals for blanket contracts for Project Development Representative and Management Staff Augmentation for one year with an additional three one-year renewable options with Volkert, Inc., Ragan-Smith Associates, Inc., Cornerstone Program Management Group, LLC, and Oakmae Development Group, LLC in the services categories applied for, for professional services estimated at $1 million, for the amount of $250,000 to each awardee.

- Thank you, madame clerk.

Council, what is your pleasure?

I have a motion to approve.

I do hear a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All in favor, say I aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Items carry.

Madame clerk, will you please read, under public works and transportation, items I through N, and we will take those as a package without objection.

- [Clerk] Item I.

A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to enter into a construction agreement with the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga to improve the electrical service for the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant Warehouse Project, in the amount of $170,000.

Item J.

A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to award Contract No.

Y-20-029-202, Gym Floor Replacement for North Chattanooga Community Center, to Wilder Contracting, LLC, of Harrison, TN, in the amount of $99,730, with a contingency amount of $10,000.00, for a total contract amount of $109,730.00.

Item K. A resolution authorizing the Department of Public Works/Transportation to erect commemorative, secondary street name signs on North Market Street from Sawyer Street to Lawn Street designating this section of North Market as "Commemorative Hattie Darby Street", as Ms. Darby founded the Hill City Neighborhood Association and was instrumental in the Stringer's Ridge Project.

Item L. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to award contract No.

S-20-009-201, Detention Basin 38th Street, to Thomas Brothers Construction Company, Inc., of Hixson, TN, in the amount of $628,842.50, with a contingency amount of $60,000.00, for a total contract amount of $688,842.50.

Item M. A resolution authorizing Mayor Kelly to execute an agreement with Hamilton County for the Courts Community Service Program to schedule workers to conduct litter pickup on city streets over fiscal year 2023, in the amount of $60,000.

Item N. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to renew for year four of four for the professional services for continuing environmental consulting services for asbestos, lead, indoor air quality and other environmental assessments, on-call blanket contract No.

E-19-002-301, with the following eight consultant firms: S&ME, Inc., Alternative Actions, Inc., Spectra Tech, Inc., K.S.

Ware and Associates, LLC, GLE Associates, Inc., Ensafe, Inc., Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions, Inc., and Frost Environmental Services, LLC, based upon the annual amount of $350,000, for use by all departments.

- Phew, thank you, madame clerk.

I do have a light for Councilman Hester followed by Councilman Henderson.

- [Hester] Move to approve.

- I have a motion to approve.

- Councilman Henderson.

Hit your light one more time.

- There we go.

I would like to second the motion, but I'd also like to highlight item K and the resolution to commemorate Hattie Darby's life with a street name.

Mr. Ben Taylor's given us a sign that I'm gonna present in August, actually, to the Hill City Neighborhood Association that we're also gonna put up on North Market.

Miss Hattie was a trailblazer in the Hill City Community.

She was raised and lived there her whole life.

She founded the Hill City Neighborhood Association, as well as instrumental in bringing the Stringer's Ridge Project to fruition.

And her life is certainly worthy of recognizing, so I'm happy to second this motion.

- Absolutely.

Appreciate your hard work on that.

Questions, comments on items before we vote.

All in favor, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Items carry.

We now come into purchases.

Mr. Goldberg, are you presenting?

We have six purchases and one emergency purchase to report.

- Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First item is waste resources division, public works.

New blanket contract for air compressor, annual maintenance and repair services.

Two bids were received and the award goes to Blake and Pendleton, Inc.

This will be a four-year contract with an annual amount not to exceed $65,000.

Next, waste resources division, public works, second and final renewal of contract for lime kiln dust.

Mintek Resources, Inc. submitted a 27.5% price increase at the time of renewal for an annual amount not to exceed $575,000 Third, from waste resources.

Request to increase contract with Tri-State Electrical Contractors Inc., for flow meters, instrumentation, maintenance, support and replacement.

The increase of $200,000 is due to higher than anticipated usage and unexpected replacement of older equipment.

The revised annual amount is not to exceed $300,000.

Next, fleet management division, public works.

The purchase of five Reading U98SL SRW Service Bodies for the Chattanooga Fire Department vehicles.

One bid was received.

The solicitation was re-advertised and yielded no additional bids.

The award goes to Ford of Dalton in the amount is $64,018.75.

Fifth, from the purchasing department, two new blanket contracts for multipurpose printing paper.

Two bids were received, and the award goes to American Paper and Twine with an annual amount not to exceed $40,000 and COS Business Products and Interiors with annual amount not to exceed $35,000.

These will be four-year contracts with a combined annual amount not to exceed $75,000.

And lastly, from technology services, we have a new blanket contract for catalog parts for traffic signal infrastructure.

This is a sole-source procurement with Temple Incorporated.

This will be a four-year contract with an annual amount not to exceed 250,000.

- [Ledford] Thank you.

I have a motion to approve purchases this evening.

I do have a second.

Questions, comments before we vote.

All in favor, say aye.

(councilors agree) Opposed.

Purchases carry.

- All right, Mr. Chairman, we do have an emergency purchase to read into the record.

The primary thickened sludge pump at Thickener Station #1 failed and repairs cannot be performed because the pump is obsolete.

The redundant pump at Station #1 also failed, resulting in all thickened sludge routing through Station #2.

Station #2 is pumping far beyond design capacity and was at risk of a similar malfunction.

Therefore, in order to prevent untreated wastewater discharges directly into the Tennessee River, on May 31, 2022, the department of public works completed an emergency purchase for two progressive cavity pumps and grinders in the amount of $430,000.

- [Ledford] I think that is definitely an emergency.

- [Goldberg] Thank you.

- Thank you, Mr. Goldberg.

We'll now move into committee reports.

Councilwoman Coonrod.

- [Coonrod] No report.

Councilwoman Noel.

- [Noel] No report.

Dr. Berz.

- Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Today, we started deliberations on the budget, which culminated in the first reading tonight.

And the second reading will be next week unless the council needs more information.

We have asked the administration for information and, hopefully, that'll be forthcoming next week.

Right now, the second reading is on the agenda for next week and to be decided next week.

- [Ledford] Thank you, ma'am.

- Thank you, sir.

- [Ledford] Vice-chair Dotley?

- [Dotley] No report.

- [Ledford] Councilman Henderson, wanna hit your light?

- I just did, sir.

Thank you.

We did have a ad-hoc short-term vacation rental committee meeting this afternoon.

Thanks to Mr. Dan Reuter.

I don't know if he's here this afternoon.

He did a great job of compiling all the data and input that was given from our focus groups.

Now we will compile that, create a list of strategies and focus that we need, that we want to send to UTC, to look at the study for us.

- [Ledford] Thank you, sir.

Councilwoman Hill.

- The planning and zoning committee met today.

We went over several cases that had opposition and questions from council.

All planning and zoning applications for this month will be heard on first reading next week.

Thank you.

- [Ledford] Thank you, ma'am.

Councilman Smith.

- No report, Mr.

Chair.

- [Ledford] Councilman Hester.

- No report.

- [Ledford] All right, thank you all.

Before we recognize persons wishing to address the council.

Unfortunately, I'm going to ask Chief Murphy to come and address us once again this week, if you would come, chief.

That doesn't mean I don't like to hear from you.

It's just, obviously, the circumstances.

- Good evening, everybody.

Just wanted to address the council and the citizens that are here today.

First, I wanna make sure that I extend my condolences to the families of the incident that occurred on McCallie Avenue this past weekend.

And just to reassure you that for the coming weeks in the summer, we will be having an identified increase in our presence in the spaces surrounding our entertainment zones, as well as in our downtown space as well.

We wanna make sure that we have a lot of visibility throughout the summer, so that there's confidence in that we're securing Chattanooga and keeping you all safe.

Our presence will be quicker response to things when we have public gatherings that may seem to get larger than they should get, and just making sure that we mitigate any situations in the future as best as we can.

There's not really any update other than that we are looking to identify someone for that particular incident on McCallie.

We do not have enough to identify that person wholeheartedly, but we're looking into all leads.

And I just need everybody to understand that whatever the motivation was for this, we're looking into that and whatever charges are applicable for that incident, we will do that.

We will charge them.

And then we will present that case for prosecution as such.

Another thing is that we also will be making sure that we continue to work with the mayor's office and make sure that we create paths that are safer for children this summer as best as we can.

If there's any information, we still ask the public to help us with any crime to call us at our homicide number, as well as using the Atlas One app.

If there's any information you all need to know, we are very transparent with what we can give to you, as long as it does not compromise the investigation.

We are not in any way, shape, form, or fashion leaving out any information that will put the public in harm's way.

What we're trying to do is make sure that we present a case that will be best for prosecution.

But that's all I have unless you all have any questions from the council.

All right, thank you.

- [Ledford] Chief, I do have a light from Councilwoman Hill.

- Yes.

- [Hill] Chief Murphy, thank you very much for being here and for your leadership.

We're glad to have you in Chattanooga.

You mentioned the Atlas One app.

Would you please elaborate on that?

It's something that I'm not sure that I'm very familiar with.

- So I would assume, and I'm not perfect at, you know, the technology piece as far as downloading it, but I'm sure whatever cell phone service you have, look up Atlas One and you can anonymously submit tips to the police department.

And I need to reiterate that whether you call us or whether you use the app, all tips are completely important to us, no matter how small or insignificant, and you can remain anonymous.

- [Hill] Okay, thank you very much.

- [Ledford] Thank you, councilwoman.

Councilwoman Coonrod, I see your light.

- [Coonrod] Thank you, chair.

Thank you for the update, Chief Murphy, that you could give us.

But my question is, what about the cameras that are in that area?

- Yeah, we did have have a malfunction with the camera in that area.

So we are addressing that immediately for the future.

It did not at all stall the investigation.

We still have very good leads that are leading us towards identification of the suspects in that matter.

But that's a problem that I have to own up to and that we'll fix for the future.

- [Hill] Oh, 'cause I know we pay plenty of money for these cameras to- - Well, the situation with the cameras of that, it's, you know, when the cameras go down, we have to get them fixed, and there's a process to that that's not totally on our timeline.

It depends on other entities, as well, to be able to coordinate that.

And that's not the best answer at this time, but now that it's been made, I've been made aware of it, we're looking at alternative measures to make sure when that happens again, that we have another way to be able to install camera service a little bit quicker than it has been.

We have more cameras that are ordered that we should be getting soon.

So again, let me reiterate that, unfortunate as that is, we still have enough leads that are very, very active at this point that we're following that should get us some resolution.

I'm not giving a timeline because I wanna make sure that we do it right.

But the camera malfunction at that corner did not at all completely stall this investigation.

- [Hill] And then my other question, I appreciate your honesty with answering that, but chief, you know, it seems like these cameras go out when it- - And that's what happens with technology.

What I need to get you to know, that now that it's been brought to my attention, we will make sure that we put measures in place to make sure we can get them up.

We cannot guarantee that technology's not gonna go down on us.

But what we can do is come up with measures to be able to get the technology up and running or find alternative measures in those areas as soon as possible.

- [Hill] Okay, and then I just have two other questions of, chair, if you will allow me.

- [Ledford] Absolutely.

- I got confidence in the Chattanooga Police Department.

However, do you feel like at this time, it's time for us to get other entities involved, like working with our sheriff, get the sheriff's office to get involved.

Maybe, you know, reach out to our governor so he can implement some things, martial law.

'Cause right now I feel like people taking us as a joke.

- [Murphy] Right.

So part of that is the messaging on this has not been what it should coming out of my office.

That will change as well.

All that you have spoken to, those conversations have been had.

We will have a coordinated effort this weekend that involves some of our local agencies as well.

We've always been working with our federal agents as well.

So those things are occurring.

What I need to own up to is that I need to make sure that messaging is coming out better from my office.

And that's gonna be addressed as well.

- [Hill] Okay, thank you.

- [Ledford] Chief, I appreciate your time this evening.

Thank you for bringing us an update - [Murphy] Thank you.

- We're with you.

Now we will recognize persons wishing to address the council.

If you would like to speak to the council, please line up in this aisle way here.

And madame attorney, would you please read the rules for this evening?

- [Attorney] Sure, thank you.

Each speaker wishing to address the council should line up at the podium here and wait to be addressed by the chairman.

We ask that you limit your comments to matters within the legislative and quasi-judicial authority of the council.

And we will limit your time to three minutes unless permission for additional time is granted.

Thank you.

- [Ledford] All right, good evening.

If we can get three minutes on the clock, please.

All right, sir, good evening.

- Good evening, my name is James Brantley, and I'm a resident close by to the entertainment zone, I guess, what you call it now.

I didn't know that we lived in an entertainment zone right outside of Glenwood Highland Park.

So that would be like, I'd like to have that be addressed now that we're an entertainment zone.

However, my question was, and I called my city councilwoman to address this.

I am shocked and dismayed by the videos that I have seen online through multiple resources that showed a large presence of people on McCallie Avenue, right in front of Parkridge Hospital, doing donuts in the road, all kind of chaos.

Over 100 people, all having just a wonderful time, chaos ensuing.

And I cannot believe that there was no police presence before that incident happened.

I am quite concerned 'cause I live very close to that area.

And I'm glad, quite frankly, that they haven't named my neighborhood, that they've named it to be downtown entertainment zone.

'Cause I don't want that to affect any of our property values in the great neighborhood that I live in.

However, I am very concerned that there was no police presence at all until the incident happened.

And then, based on what Chief Murphy just mentioned, again, in regards to the entertainment zone, I'm also concerned about homeland security and where, as you mentioned, you are in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, federal as well as state.

And I like to see that how that's going to unfold.

What I don't want to see is that our neighborhood, obviously, becomes a place where there's a huge police presence over other areas in the city.

And I am really now concerned about that camera being down because there is lots of cameras.

Again, I got lost of footage on my own camera.

I can't believe the city and all the money that we spend in taxpayer dollars that we spend in this area that we don't have cameras in that area.

It's unbelievable.

And again, there's a hospital that sits right there.

And so I'm thinking about public safety.

That's McCallie Avenue.

That's a major thoroughfare and that there was no police present.

No one knew about that was going on prior to that accident happening.

So again, I am also, my condolences go out to the families that were affected and all the citizens that are affected by this.

I do not come out here often.

I don't leave my house often.

So for me to come out here to talk to you people, and I know most of you, very, very well.

(upbeat music) - You've been watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council meeting, a production of WTCI-PBS.

(upbeat music)