Jablonski to Columbia

East Ridge City Treasurer Thad Jablonski is leaving the city to take a job as Assistant City Manager in Columbia, Tenn., a city official said Thursday afternoon.

Jablonski, a native of upper East Tennessee, came to East Ridge from Lakeland, Tenn. where he was Executive Coordinator for the City Manager.

Jablonski could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Acting City Manager Mike Williams did not return a phone call seeking comment on Jablonski’s departure.

The City of East Ridge’s Website had a job description for the City Treasurer’s position posted as of Thursday.

Jablonski was hired by former City Manager Andrew Hyatt as Treasurer. Hyatt named Jablonski Assistant City Manager, a post he continued to hold until Hyatt’s departure last June to become the City Manager of Neptune Beach, Fla.

Jablonski’s departure may be more sorely felt by the city as he has become one of the state’s authorities on the Border Region Act, the state law which has ignited economic development in East Ridge.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.