City Council Meeting Jan. 23

The East Ridge City Council met on Thursday and took the following actions.

Council awarded a ASA Engineering and Consulting the project for site design and construction administration services for four new soccer fields at Camp Jordan Park. The work will include design, grading, irrigation and conduit for future lighting.

The council voted to contract with Southeast Tennessee Development District to oversee a Local Parks and Recreation Fund Grant for the renovation of Pioneer Frontier playground and the construction of a new splash pad. The city will match the state’s $500,000 grant to finance the construction of the new park. The city will pay SETDD $25,000 for its work.

The council voted to accept a donation of office furniture from businessman Emerson Russell. The furniture, valued at $10,000, will be used by the police department.

A Strategic Planning Report will soon be online on the city’s website. The reports includes a first-ever mission statement of the City.

The council gave Mayor Brian Williams the authority to cancel the Feb. 13 council meeting, as there is no business currently scheduled. An announcement will be made by Feb. 10 if a meeting will be held.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.

About Dick Cook

About Contributed Article