Soddy Daisy Vice Mayor Jim Coleman has initiated the process for starting the city’s new municipal building. Soddy Daisy Commissioners on Thursday voted in favor of the motion for City Manager Burt Johnson to put out bids for the new structure that will be built behind the current building and will be joined by an enclosed walkway.
Plans are for the police department to move into the new building, and there will be a new courtroom that is double the size of the current room. There will also be space for an additional 12-14 offices. Mayor Steve Everett said before plans are finalized, he would like to make certain that the building will accommodate growth of the city down the road.
Several years ago Soddy Daisy invested in a building that previously held a dentist office. That provided an option of accommodating the growing number of city employees. But plans changed and city officials now believe it will be better to keep all city departments on the same campus. The vice mayor followed the motion with another for City Manager Johnson to have a commercial realtor do an appraisal for the dentist office, as is, so it can be sold. Money from the sale would be put toward the new municipal building. The city manager said that $2.2 million from the American Rescue Plan COVID relief funds received by Soddy Daisy has also been earmarked for the new building.
The city is being cleaned up with actions of the commission and with volunteers. Thursday night an ordinance passed that amended the municipal code relative to requirements for dumpsters. A related amendment was approved to the city’s zoning ordinance for access control, parking and site plan regarding dumpsters. City Attorney Sam Elliott said that the problems with garbage strewn around most often is from “concentrated housing” when residents put garbage bags on the city streets and the bags break. Now the owner of the concentrated multiple housing units will be required to provide a dumpster for the occupants.
The volunteer group Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful has been the leader in getting trash and litter off the city’s roads and out of parks. Nate Sanden, founder of the group, updated the commission on their recent projects. One day the group worked on Hotwater Road and removed 40 bags of trash and 150 tires, and other days collected equal amounts of trash at other locations around the city.
A first for Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful was that a person on probation worked off his 40 hours of community service picking up trash for Keep Soddy Daisy Beautiful. During that time, he was assigned to the Sequoyah Road area, and alone, he removed 91 bags of trash.
Saturday is Earth Day and the group will be holding its second “clean-up challenge.” This year there are 22 teams, double the number of teams and people participating as last year. The good thing, said Mr. Sanden, is that he is finding it harder to find new locations for the volunteers to work.
The moratorium was extended on acceptance of short-term rental applications for nonowner-occupied rental properties that are not the primary resident of the applicant. A home is usually a person’s biggest investment, said Commissioner Gene Shipley. He said the surrounding neighborhood should be notified when there is an application for a short-term rental. And the homeowners should have the right to come to the planning commission meetings and city commission meetings where the applications are heard. City Attorney Elliott said that will have to be added to the city’s ordinance relating to STVRs. He will work with Public Works Director and Building Inspector Steve Grant to develop a permitting process and what is required with guidance from the new ordinance just passed by the Hamilton County Commission.
City Manager Johnson recommended that the city use Cyber74 to do both an internal and external assessment of security to determine Soddy Daisy’s cyber risk. The in-depth assessment will cost $12,600 plus more when a recommended plan is implemented. He said the current IT provider will also help. Mr. Johnson said there will probably be changes to email policies for employees.
A contract for audit services was also given approval with Johnson Murphey and Wright. The cost this year will be $31,025, up about $3,000 from last year. He expects there will also be a single audit needed due to the city receiving over $750,000 from a federal grant. That will cost an additional amount. In all the new audit will cost $41,175, said Mr. Johnson, and that amount is included in the upcoming budget.
Commissioner Mark Penney made the other commissioners aware of problems that are taking place in Mountain City Trailer Park with conditions in the park, and with the tenants. He said the owner lives in New Jersey and has recently fired the property manager. The city is trying to work with the owner and Attorney Elliott said the city will do what ever it can to make the business be in compliance with the city’s requirements.
Commissioner Shipley thanked the public works director and his staff for their work that allowed the biggest opening day ever at the Kids Club. He also announced that the Wall Ceremony will take place at Veterans Park on Saturday, May 6 at 10 a.m. He praised the city’s staff and Mr. Johnson for managing he city so well that taxes will not need to be raised this year, and still leaving the city with money to spend.