Last week I read an article about a debate held between East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert and Hamilton County District 8 Commissioner Tim Boyd.  I found it amusing to read of the verbal sparing.  The more I thought about it the more disgusted I became.

What happened to the days where a group of civic-minded individuals came together once a week to decide on issues with the sole purpose of how we can make lives better?  How we can improve our city for the next generation?  What can we do to make people choose this town, this location for business over the next?

Instead, the more I attended East Ridge City Council meetings and talked with people the more I realized just how corrupted the whole situation is.

Look at our mayor, Brent Lambert.  Before the election even happened in 2016 he had met with the front runners and began laying groundwork to replace then City Attorney Hal North.  Mr. North remained a constant thorn in the mayor’s side.  Why?  Well, power.

You see Mayor Lambert wanted to do things that he thought would benefit East Ridge, but City Attorney Hal had the very annoying habit of wanting to follow the law, and thereby keep the citizens and city from being sued over doing something dumb.  When you have ideas and want to do things that aren’t exactly 100 percent legal, well, that can be a real pain, so Mr. North had to go.  So we replaced him with another attorney who is more comfortable taking a broad view of the law and sorting it out in court. Who wouldn’t when you get to bill time in court as an additional hourly expense. 

Of course, we have the Border Region Act.  The mayor convinced the council along with TDOT and Hamilton County to go in on a $3 million road / exit project.  TDOT put up a million bucks toward the project.  Hamilton County puts up a million and East Ridge covers the rest.  When the bids for the road to Camp Jordan alone came in at close to $4 million dollars the mayor stripped out the antique lighting and other “non-essentials” to reduce the cost of the project to an “affordable” $2.6 million.  Then later after it’s voted on and paid for and hopefully enough time had passed for those not paying attention, he brings back the lights, and the fencing and facade in an additional project.

Who does that?  If he wanted all that done why not ask for it in the beginning?  Politics.  He had to use a cost number that people felt more comfortable with, and rather than be straight and upfront he played politics.

The same exact thing happened with the money for the land sold to Exit One LLC.  The mayor knew that we couldn’t sell that land without having the deed restrictions waived.  He knew because he was in attendance at a meeting in Nashville asking for a way around that.  He was mailed a letter from TDOT saying the land must be appraised and paid for prior to selling and he was e-mailed that same information.  Rather than increase the cost of the deal to taxpayers, nothing was mentioned and the land was sold.

Later when it came out, because work had been done to the property and instead of being a muddy tree filled swamp it was now a firm pad ready for commercial buildout it appraised for way more than it would have had things been done correctly in the beginning. The cost to the taxpayers was and additional $416,000.

Now, the mayor will claim, and rightfully so, that we submitted that for reimbursement from the state and that money comes from sales taxes collected in East Ridge.  So because money is being taken from our left hand to reimburse our right hand we should be A-OK with his negligence?

Tim Boyd is no prize either.  The man is arrogant, and thinks he knows everything.  He does do his homework and sometime is the smartest man in the room.  He’s also a man pushing a political agenda.

Why is the District 8 commissioner holding meetings about the WWTA outside of his district?  Why did he roll out a slick new website?  I suspect that it’s because he intends to run for Mayor of Hamilton County once Jim Coppinger retires, and is trying to improve his standing with the people of Hamilton County.

Tim Boyd was as we all know the secret benefactor who promised matching funds to fix Raymond James Stadium.  Yet once the funds were raised by the alumni association did Mr. Boyd come forward with his payment?  Nope.  You see he could never technically give the money.  There is a state law that bans the Hamilton County Commissioner from using county funds to fund the schools outside of grant money.  So, he had to convince East Ridge to go before the Hamilton County Department of Education to get the school athletic properties given to East Ridge so that Boyd could donate the money to the city … which now owns the property.

Best of all whose name was on that Giant Check when it was handed over?  Not the HAMILTON COUNTY TAXPAYERS – the true benefactor of the new stadium.  Nope, Tim Boyd’s name was written across the top as if he had walked into Sun Trust bank and said “give me one of those big checks ya’ll have.”  Why was Tim Boyd’s name on the top of that check … Politics.

Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe its just naive thinking. But why can’t we get rid of these people who want to play professional politics and get back to a simpler time where people served in public office simply because they wanted to make things better?

Let the Boyds and Lamberts of the world head to the swamp in Washington D.C. and join the professional mud wrestling match.  We don’t need them.