The City of East Ridge will hire six new employees next year, including two police officers to combat drug crimes and gang violence.

In Thursday night’s regular City Council Meeting, City Manager Scott Miller presented his proposed budget for next fiscal year. The budget will include the addition of two traffic police officers and two officers assigned to a newly created Crime Suppression Unit (CSU).

“Two members is a start,” Miller told the council. “

“When you’re looking at a drug house, when you’re looking at a meth house, when looking at a bar you’re having a problem with –  whether prostitution or serving alcohol to minors , whatever – that criminal activity is occurring, when a marked police officer pulls up everyone becomes good boys and girls and carries on,” he said. “What I’m talking about are units driving around in junk vehicles, vehicles that we pick up through seizures raids, confiscated vehicles.  (The officers will be) wearing plain clothes, jeans ripped, jeans however they want to look, long hair beard whatever they will key in on these type of activities give us intel to go on.”

Miller told the council that he reads police reports provided by the chief of police on a daily basis.

“Uh,  and I’d be kidding you to say we didn’t have criminal activity that to me raises a red flag and gang activity in our city,” Miller said. “We can get it under control but we need the tools to gather the intel to do it.”

Miller said the budget for fiscal year 2017-18 will see a slight growth in the General Fund to $13.7 million without an increase in the tax rate. There will be an across-the-board pay increase of three percent for all employees. Miller said that health care costs to city employees will increase by as much as 15 percent next year.

The entire budget will be presented to the council in the near future.

The council discussed what action the city might be able to take on behalf of citizens complaining about an “ATV track” being used in a residential area. Bob Parks, who owns a two-acre lot on John Ross Road, spoke to the council about he and his grandsons riding all terrain vehicles on the property. A number of neighbors complained to the city in a council meeting earlier in the month that Parks and his family ride at all hours of the day and night, creating a dust issue and making life very unpleasant for them.

Parks said he wanted to give his side of the story. He said that he and his family ride on the property – which he got a permit to build several houses on – a couple times a week and sometimes on weekends. He said that during last year’s dry conditions, dust was stirred up. He said that he and his grandsons and girlfriend may have ridden ATVs on the property five times since January 1.

Mayor Brent Lambert said that when  as many as a dozen residents come forward to complain about activity around their houses, he feels obligated to give the issue attention.

“If it’s a concern to a group of citizens it’s a concern to us as well,” Lambert said.

City Attorney Mark Litchford gave the council myriad ways in which the city could act. His research indicated that the city could regulate riding ATVs based on the size of the lot, the number of hours or days in which they could be ridden and how much noise they produce.

Lambert asked that the council could consider acting to regulate ATV activities in residential areas in its next meeting.

The council passed on second reading several ordinances allowing for new billboards to be installed on Ringgold Road. 

It approved a resolution authorizing spending $725,000 for streetscaping along Camp Jordan Parkway. Yearbey Concrete Construction will build sidewalks along both sides of the parkway. The streetscape will also include new street lights.

The council approved a change order on the construction of the new fire hall on St. Thomas Street. An additional $6,000 will be allocated to, among other things, powder coat the doors of the fire hall.

The council approved a measure that will give $500 each to all four schools in East Ridge. That money could be used by the schools any way it wants. In the case of Spring Creek Elementary, the mayor said it would be used to purchase musical instruments for a newly-formed orchestra at the school.

Mayor Lambert deferred naming five members to the newly-created East Ridge Housing and Redevelopment Authority. The mayor said he had four of five people committed to the board, but said he would wait until all five members could be announced at the same time.

This prompted Councilman Jacky Cagle to question the entire concept of a housing authority. He asked if it was really necessary to institute a housing authority to combat “unsafe and unsanitary” living conditions in the city. He also asked how it would be funded and who would pay for it?

Mayor Lambert, who appeared to be agitated by Councilman Cagle’s questions, pointed to the need of such a board citing homeless folks, several murders at the Cascades Motel over the last few years and the condemnation of Superior Creek Lodge in 2015.

Lambert said he would have the names of the board members presented at the May 25 meeting, even though he would be absent.