Friday marked the first 100 days in office for new County Mayor Weston Wamp, who is the county’s first executive to be elected from outside of county government. Since September 1st, Mayor Wamp and his team have hit the ground running on big projects and priorities ranging from a historic pay raise for law enforcement to increasing career training opportunities for students.
“The last three months have been humbling and exhilarating as my team and I hit the ground running to serve the citizens of Hamilton County,” said Mayor Wamp. “As Mayor Coppinger warned me would be the case, the days feel too short to accomplish everything we want, but we have already taken bold steps and in the next 100 days we expect to be making announcements that will shape the future of our county.”
Some of Mayor Wamp’s most notable accomplishments in his first 100 days include:
● Worked with Sheriff Austin Garrett to give a 16 percent pay raise to uniformed officers at the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office to honor law enforcement and boost retention and recruitment efforts.
● Launched a working group with Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson to study the financial, educational, and workforce considerations involved in ensuring Hamilton County Schools are serving students, teachers, and parents at the highest possible level.
● Amended the county’s budget to expand the Veterans Service Office, significantly strengthening support services for Hamilton County’s 24,000 veterans.
● Opened the Construction Career Center, a project Mayor Wamp was first involved in on the Board of Regents, taking significant steps toward increasing technical education and career training for minority students in Hamilton County.
● Proposed new transparency in county government including new policies for email retention and cleaning up unethical practices in the courthouse, ensuring no county employee is exempt from policies related to ethics and transparency.
● Partnered with the city of Chattanooga, Hamilton County Schools, Chattanooga State, and BuildWithin to create an Apprenticeship Innovation District (AID) to Hamilton County citizens to construct new career opportunities while simultaneously providing businesses with additional options for finding talent and filling open jobs.
● Added Veterans Day and Juneteenth to the county government holiday calendar to boost employee morale, retention, and recruitment while celebrating American freedom and the veterans who fought to preserve those freedoms.
● Strengthened the partnership between county government and Tennessee state leaders, including Governor Bill Lee, the Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, and Hamilton County’s distinguished legislative delegation.
● Defeated an attempt to create a civil service system for county employees, which would have impeded the day-to-day operations of various departments and run counter to the conservative values of Hamilton County.
● Initiated a new education-first approach to evaluating potential public-private partnerships.
● Increased the county’s economic development efforts with the leadership of Deputy Mayor Cory Gearrin and launched a search for the leader of the county’s Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD), which will be responsible for many of Mayor Wamp’s initiatives aimed at providing economic opportunities to all Hamilton County citizens.
● Created a new tradition to bring the community together on the Courthouse lawn by hosting a Christmas tree lighting to celebrate the start of the holiday season.
● Launched a search for a new leader to reimagine the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department in advance of new opportunities at McDonald Farm.
● Partnered with EPB officials to launch the Quantum Network, Volkswagen leaders to launch the new ID.4, and local leaders to break ground on Hamilton County’s newest industrial park.
