On Friday Mayor Brent Lambert and City Attorney Mark Litchford led an organizational meeting of the newly-formed East Ridge Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

The housing authority was created by a City Council resolution in April and is governed by state statutes, officials said.

Mayor Lambert appointed five people to serve as housing authority commissioners. The five are; Curtis Adams, Ruth Braly, Darwin Branam, Eddie Phillips and Earl Wilson. They will serve staggered terms from one to five years.

Mayor Lambert said the purpose of the housing authority is to create safe and sanitary housing for all the people of East Ridge. He said it can also be used to foster economic development by taking “blighted” properties and turning them into businesses or housing. Mayor Lambert said that he often hears a popular refrain that businesses and properties along Ringgold Road are unattractive. He specifically mentioned acreage adjacent to Spring Creek on Ringgold Road that is overgrown and also has a number of neglected metal buildings.

Attorney Litchford referred to the state statute that governs housing authorities. The authority has broad powers to buy and sell property. It will operate independently from East Ridge City government. It will hire its own attorney and potentially hire staff.

Officials said that initially the housing authority will be funded by the city. In the future it could fund itself through buying and selling land, houses and businesses.

Litchford administered an oath to the housing authority commissioners. He is in the process of filing an application for the housing authority with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office. That application will be reviewed and presumably accepted.

Litchford  said that by the next housing authority meeting he would have a by-laws template prepared for the commissioners to review and presumably adopt. He also suggested that during the next meeting – which has yet to be set – that the housing authority commissioners would elect officers.

Adams, who served on the Hamilton County Commission for many years, said the housing authority was going to be “a tough business.” He said that he wanted to make sure that the board had “some teeth” in order to affect change. He suggested that each commissioner be assigned a defined area of the city in which to concentrate their efforts individually.

In the end, Adams said that the housing authority could “get something accomplished and make us all feel good.”

There was some discussion about the condition of various properties across the city. References were made to high grass and dilapidated houses and buildings. Mayor Lambert pointed out that generally these issues come under the purview of the city’s codes enforcement department. In many instances sanctions by codes enforcement has been ignored, forcing city workers to cut grass and the like.

Phillips said that as he saw it, the primary mission of the housing authority is to “improve properties for the betterment of East Ridge.”

Phillips then inquired about the personal liability that each commissioner may encounter in pursuing the duties of the housing authority. Attorney Litchford said that state law grants housing authority members immunity from personal lawsuits. 

“I foresee this body working hand in hand with city and staff,” Mayor Lambert said. “We work together and pull in the same direction and get some things done.”