Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd will host a community meeting in East Ridge on Thursday, July 20.

The meeting will be held in the East Ridge Community Center on Tombras Avenue and is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Topics will include Camp Jordan, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Hamilton County budget and the proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) region on Camp Jordan Parkway at the Jordan Crossing development.

In an e-mail to East Ridge News Online, Boyd said there will be a question and answer session with those in attendance focusing on what the citizens of East Ridge would like him to focus on in the last year of his current term.

On July 7, the Chattanoogan.com posted a story with the headline “Boyd Not Sold on New $15 million Sports Complex in East Ridge.” The story detailed a meeting that Boyd had with John Healy of Wolftever Development. Boyd said he was not in favor of the project because East Ridge does not have money in its budget to cover the costs and the project could result in a tax increase. Boyd also stated that Camp Jordan Park was prone to flooding.

Men wade through chest-deep water at Camp Jordan Park where the Christmas Nights of Lights display was set up in 2015.

The following week, in a letter to the Hamilton County Commission, Boyd announced that he was now in favor of the project. 

Below is the letter: 

Fellow Hamilton County Elected Officials,

The proposed East Ridge-Camp Jordan Sports Complex, long envisioned and much discussed, is a wonderful idea. It would in fact provide a sustained economic boon to the entirety of Hamilton County not just East Ridge. The devil in the details is how to fund such a project which has been the public debate.

I have been made aware Mayor Lambert of East Ridge is presenting an idea which could move this project out of the discussion stage and into reality. It is a third option and a mechanism which has been used before to improve Camp Jordan.

The idea is to use “General Obligation Bonds” for what some estimates suggests could be around a $15 million (plus or minus) development.

It is also my understanding Mayor Lambert will be putting the final touches on such a proposal and discussing the concept with county officials in the next few days.

I am indeed supportive of any and all improvements to Camp Jordan as well as the City of East Ridge. The use of “General Obligation Bond” monies to bring this project to fruition strikes me as an ideal approach which should be seriously considered.

As Mayor Lambert contacts you, I am asking each of you to give him the courtesy of listening intently to what could be a dynamic facility benefiting all of Hamilton County.

I am excited by this idea, and hope you and all of our citizens will be as well.

Thank you!
Best regards,
Tim Boyd
Commissioner, District 8
CC: Brent Lambert, Mayor of East Ridge