Teams from the Chattanooga Football Club will be playing Soccer at Camp Jordan next year and for years to come.

Thursday night during its regular meeting, the East Ridge City Council voted 4-1 to extend the city’s contract with the soccer organization through 2021. Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt and Councilman Jacky Cagle, who cast the lone vote against the contract, grilled Parks & Recreation Director Stump Martin and Matt Yelton, a representative of CFC, for about 30 minutes. 

Neither councilman liked the exclusivity clause _ no other select soccer organizations will be allowed to use the facility per the contract _ and Gravitt took exception to the agreement being “one-sided.” He also objected to a $500 a day “rent offset” clause. Yelton compromised on the rent offset to $50 per day, which satisfied Gravitt. CFC will pay the city $40,000 the first year with an additional $15,000 kicked in to help maintain fields with the purchase of materials and equipment.

Mayor Brent Lambert pointed out that East Ridge has recreational soccer but no select soccer league. So, Chattanooga Football Club is in essence “our league.”

“It’s a good thing for the City of East Ridge,” Lambert said.

The council passed a resolution that will give employees a bump in salary if they go back to college and obtain a degree. Lambert said this program would “help improve our workforce.”

A budget amendment ordinance was tabled after Gravitt said that he wanted a line-item explanation of where the money is being spent. In the past the council has passed numerous budget amendments with little or no discussion.

The council passed on first reading an ordinance which would rezone an 11-acre parcel in the Jordan Crossing development from residential to commercial. Most of the 11-acres will be used as a detention pond, developers said. A fraction of the land will be used for parking and possibly for construction of retail space.

The council moved forward in allowing the city to bid out the job of collections for delinquent municipal court fines. Finance Director Dianne Qualls said that several years ago the amount was almost $2 million. 

The council officially amended the minutes of the October 15, 2015 work session. Fire Marshal Kenny Custer asked that the video of that work session be transcribed and would become the official record.

Alex McVeigh, sitting in for City Attorney Hal North, advised the council that the city’s Administrative Hearing Officer recently heard briefs from attorneys concerning city ordinances pertaining to open air markets and signs. The AHO (essentially a judge who hears cases involving code violations) opined that he has the authority to hear such cases related to flea markets and billboards. McVeigh said the judge’s ruling could be appealed to Hamilton County Chancery Court.

In the communication from citizens portion of the meeting, James Citty told the council that it needed to “get tough” with landlords who don’t keep up their properties. Citty said he has a duplex on Bennett Road near several properties that have been neglected for years. He said it is hurting the value of his property and that he has trouble renting because of the eyesore.

Frances Pope said that she will “stay after” the council to make sure they do  not violate the City Charter.

Pope pointed out that the resolution before the council dealing with giving employees a raise if they go back to school and get a degree had a “flaw.” Pope pointed out a provision in the resolution referring to an employee having three years of positive performance reviews to qualify for the raise. She said the city does not do performance reviews on its employees.

Later in the meeting when the council took up the resolution, Mayor Lambert amended the measure. 

The council formally endorsed Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd’s efforts to have revenues from a cell tower that will be built at East Ridge High School earmarked for the construction of a new football stadium. Lambert said that the county can move forward with its plans unilaterally, but that the City of East Ridge has the final say so on the cell tower to permit construction under “use on review.”

The council will meet Friday and Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to interview six candidates for the open City Manager’s job.