The East Ridge Planning Commission met Monday evening at City Hall to take up a simple rezoning request.
The request to rezone a house on Sewanee Drive from commercial to residential was approved by a vote of 3-0. The three members present and voting did not include newly appointed member Casey Tuggle or Ann Pruett. And, newly elected Planning Commission Chairman Ron Renegar did not run the meeting. That duty was given to Vice Chairman Larry Sewell.
City Attorney Mark Litchford was on the dais to explain to the members what was happening.
In last month’s planning commission meeting, Mayor Brent Lambert, who has served as the Chairman for all six years in which it has existed, abruptly stepped down. He appointed Casey Tuggle as his replacement. The newly-constituted planning commission then voted long-time member and commercial real estate broker Ron Renegar as the new chairman. The planning commission then took action by approving plats from developers to expand Perry Village on McBrien Road.
At Monday’s meeting, Litchford said that the city’s ordinance which created the planning commission and outlines terms of members, has no provision in which the mayor himself would not serve as chairman of the panel. The ordinance would have to be amended allowing the mayor to designate a person to serve on his behalf. Tuggle’s appointment may not be valid and Renegar’s election as chairman may not be in affect.
Sewell said last week that Renegar announced that he would not be chairman of the planning commission.
On Tuesday, Litchford said the city is in the process of amending its ordinance that would allow the mayor to designate a person to serve as chairman of the planning commission.
During last Thursday’s Workshop Agenda session prior to the regular City Council meeting, amending the ordinance pertaining to the planning commission was discussed. Councilman Jacky Cagle voiced his opposition to such an amendment.
On Tuesday morning Cagle said that it was his opinion that when Lambert resigned from the planning commission, the chairmanship should have gone to Vice Mayor Larry Sewell, who was the Vice Chairman of the East Ridge Planning Commission. At that point, the selection of a new position on the planning commission should be made by the entire City Council.
“My stink is let’s don’t correct a wrong by changing the ordinance,” Cagle said. “Let’s correct what was done wrong and go back and change it where the (city) council had the right to appoint another member off the city council.”
