City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. I'll call to order the Tuesday, June 23rd meeting of the Chattanooga City Council, and I will recognize Councilwoman Noll to lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

close your eyes dear heavenly father we come before you today seeking wisdom peace and understanding In a season where there may be confusion, division, and differing perspectives among us, help us remember our shared purpose to serve the people of Chattanooga with integrity, respect, and compassion. We lift up our fellow council members who are traveling, grant them safety, protection, and a safe return home. we also pray for mayor tim kelly his administration and all city employees who work each day to serve our community grant them wisdom and leadership discernment and decision making and a spirit of cooperation as we work together for the good of our city Lord, as we have considered our budget and the stewardship of public resources, guide us to make decisions that are responsible, fair, and beneficial to all residents. Help us invest wisely, meet the needs of our community, and honor the trust that has been placed in us. Calm anxious hearts, soften hardened hearts, position and help us listen to one another with grace where there is disagreement please bring understanding where there is frustration please bring patient where there is division please bring unity may all that we do reflect a commitment to the common good and the well-being of those we serve these words we ask in the name of the father son and the holy spirit amen thank you councilwoman

and welcome everyone again to our city council meeting just a reminder quickly here at the outset to please silence your cell phones if you have those with you so we don't have any disturbances during our meeting and i'll give just an overview of how our meetings will run so you'll know what to expect during the first half of our meeting which is our agenda session the council up here will discuss items that are on our agenda to be voted on this evening normally we would talk then about items on our next week's agenda however we will not be meeting next week so please make a note of that as well there will be no council meeting next tuesday and so our our following meeting will be on july 7th We will then look at our future considerations, items that will be coming before council on July 7th or later, and we will discuss those as a council as well if needed. There are no special presentations or any committee meetings or department reports this evening. So after we're done discussing our agenda items, as outlined, we'll have a brief recess where we will need an attorney client meeting with our city attorney this evening. And we'll recess for a period of time and then come back. And once we come back, we'll be voting on all the items on our agenda for this evening. following all of that there will be a period at the end of our meeting where we're happy to hear from members of the public who are here to address council on on any topic and at that time you'll just be directed to come to the podium up front and our city attorney will read some rules for that portion of our meeting at that time so council if you would um could i please get a motion on our minutes from our last meeting right counts we do have a motion properly seconded and the minutes from our june 16th meeting will stand as published and look with me now if you would at the items on our agenda for this evening it's a fairly short agenda but certainly important as we have our final reading of our budget any questions about that before we move on questions or comments okay WE DO HAVE ONE ORDINANCE ON FIRST READING. AND THEN A HANDFUL OF RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING VARIOUS CITY DEPARTMENTS. ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THOSE ITEMS, COUNCIL? OKAY. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER.

We did provide an alternate version on item F here for you today. Just wanted to make sure y'all were aware of that. The initial resolution through planning said natural infusions, and the name of that entity that is going to be operating a distillery, alcohol distillery, is called DAM, D-A-M, Whiskey Corporation. So we have an alternate version that has that on. We learned that this morning here from Mr. Jones.

We also, just to note, have an alternate version of that very next resolution, item G, that we'll be reading. And the difference there is just the wording towards the end. So if you look there, after after the wording office of justice programs that language to fund one full-time victim service specialist emergency assistance to crime victims and training that's the new language that just tracks the grant that the police department is working on for this and just want to make sure the wording was correct on that so okay oh yes councilwoman hill you're recognized

Just a quick question. When I read the application for the limited partnership for the distillery, I was focused on all of the details of where it is, not as much the name. So am I to understand that right beside Chattanooga Whiskey is going to be a place that names itself Dam Whiskey?

Yes, ma'am. Right next door.

Is the applicant here?

Yes, ma'am.

Where? Does that seem like a good idea?

I believe so. There's CVS and Eggers across the street. Could you come to the podium?

Yeah, if you wouldn't mind coming up to answer just a couple questions.

So you're renting the space right beside Chattanooga Whiskey, and you're going to call your business Dam Whiskey?

Yes, ma'am. We've been in business since 2020.

With that name?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

We're actually located right now, our distillery operation, in a dam is why the name of it is a hydro dam.

Okay. All right. Thank you. That's all. Okay.

Thank you very much. Any other questions on this item, counsel? I like to taste the damn whiskey.

Free samples.

Thank you very much. Okay. Well, let's look then at our purchasing items for this evening.

Chair, I have a question for Mandy.

Okay. Yes, Councilman Clark, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chairman Davis. Mandy, I have a question regarding the comm site. Did I say that right? Yeah. Something's weird with the light today. I don't know if it's on the screen. I'm sorry. The purchasing item, right?

Is that what you're?

Yes. Yeah. Do you have any questions about purchasing? Right. I'm on purchasing. The fourth one down, looks like. The CompSite, sorry. So first of all, I'm in love with our on-site employee clinic, and I'm learning about all the amenities, including we have a physical therapist, and we have three behavioral health counselors on-site for our employees. The CompSite employee assistance... is for crisis support? Are they connected? Or I mean, if you could help me, they are not connected.

So that is our EAP. So our employee assistance program for the city, we have previously used comp psych. So they we went out for an RFP. Again, they were the winners again for the RFP. So they provide more than just mental health therapy, they provide legal assistance, they provide financial assistance, child daycare assistance, all those types of things to get people resources. So they're basically for if you have a crisis happen or substance abuse issue, you can go to ComPsych for that immediately. Gotcha.

And not to be confused with the services that we offer, and this is just by lack of information, for the behavioral health counseling, this is I guess it's somewhat similar, but not the same. Is that correct?

Yes. I would say that the more use of our behavioral health counselors would be for a long-term ongoing continuity of care. EAP is for a situation like if you had a, a death in the family or something, and you just wanted to talk to somebody about that, they can talk to you about wills and probate and things like that, or they can just walk you through the counseling process on it. But most organizations have an employee assistance program that is free to employees to use.

And this is what this is. Yes. I think this is awesome. I just wanted to know if it was like a double dip thing to where we already have it on site at the employee, at Will Advantage Clinic. Okay. Thank you, Mandy.

Anything else?

No, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mandy. We do have one sole source purchase as well. Any other questions or comments, council, about anything on our agenda for this evening? Seeing none, we'll turn our attention to our future considerations list. So as you look through here, please hit your lights if you have any questions or comments. Councilwoman Hill, you're recognized.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, you let me know this morning that we would be having a presentation on the 7th of July about the resolution to adopt a comprehensive safety action plan for the city. That's item 6A. So thank you for that update. Just saying that for the record since we brought it up last week. But I also do have a question on 10B. Three, it's a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Hamilton County Courts to conduct litter pickup on city streets. And my question is, how does this, I mean, this is what we've had as our go-to for litter for many, many years. And so I'm wondering how this fits into the overall litter action plan. because I don't remember it being identified within the list of here's all the different things we're doing.

Thank you, Councilwoman Darren, Deputy Chief of Staff. I had a similar question when I saw this item. I did invite Bill to join me at the podium with the specifics from Public Works. You are right. This is an item that our program that we've been involved in actually went on a hiatus, if I remember correctly, shortly after COVID had passed. So we saw that. How it fits in with the 19 new positions that are in the budget is yet to be seen and how they coordinate it is a contract that we have renewed with Hamilton County Courts and as we move forward, I think we will be looking very Intently at this contract to see how it does interface or how it reacts with the 19 new positions so so we will be asked to consider approving the contract and

We haven't until we do this on July 7th. That's correct. So before, so I guess on July 7th when we're back, I would like to have more clarity on how this fits into the plan overall. What are these folks going to be expected to do? I mean, 60 grand may be a great deal compared to having somebody on our payroll. I just...

want more details please absolutely happy to thank you all right that's all mr chair okay thank you council are there any other questions or comments about any items on our future considerations list i do um

This is, Dan, I think this might be another question for you. It's regarding the regional planning agency about the interlocal agreement. I've got a question and it's just, I cannot believe I missed this, but apologies, I would have emailed you sooner. When we talk about the framework, and this might get a little hairy, so if we need to yield to another conversation about this, that would be great. When it talks about the framework for municipal and regional planning services, why do we have, if they're breaking off from us, and I see you smiling as you know where I'm going with this, why do we care about the responsibilities of the Hamilton County Planning Department?

because we they will still be using some of our resources even though they broke up with us yes that's a very good question i appreciate you asking it councilman so part of this interlocal agreement is defining the new jurisdictional financial responsibilities along with services the second part of it and probably the most important part of this interlocal agreement is still maintaining the hamilton county's responsibility to pay into the mpo because as the regional planning agency is responsible for managing the the local mpo that work will still be done by rpa staff in relation to hamilton county and they will still be required to pay for those services and that's one of the big outcomes if you will are under important parts of this interlocal agreement is defining that financial relationship. That does not go away, essentially.

So will they still have any jurisdiction? First of all, the city of Chattanooga are county residents. I know that that concept is difficult for some of our colleagues on the other side. So my question is, is that once they form this new Hamilton County Planning Department, Does their jurisdiction change for the inside the city? Because we're the only municipality and someone maybe help me with this that we're kind of separating from. Is that correct? Like the other municipalities like East Ridge and others will still use the Hamilton County Planning Department.

no no so lakeside ridge side i might have to call karen up here to give me lakeside and ridge side and lookout mountain will still um because their their levels of use are kind of small smaller we will still maintain it and and provide assistance to that we will not be rendering services to hamilton county unincorporated from this point forward only in relation to the mpo and and and and funneling federal funds obviously through our transportation dollars and working through that process yes and they still will be responsible for paying for those services perfect thank you so much i think this is very important council

as we start to have these slippery slope conversations about county input, dollar input, fiscal responsibility. And I saw that word, and I could not say it for the life of me, jurisdictional responsibilities. I mean, man, that's a slippery slope into some other policy discussions around even metropolitan government. so when i saw that i was like wait what are we what's the depth when we talk about defining i'd be curious to learn just for a lack of information for myself more information about the metropolitan planning organizations and i'll produce your responsibility to that because if they want to break off and do that that's perfectly fine but i i would like to limit our financial support to make sure that it's not being used for unincorporated purposes or

According to this interlocal agreement, and I had a heavy hand, and Karen, obviously, in crafting it, the city will not be participating in any planning services for unincorporated Hamilton County from this point forward. Gotcha. Cool.

All right. Thank you, Darren. I appreciate it. I yield back, Mr. Chair. Okay.

Council, are there any other questions or comments about anything on future considerations?

Okay.

That takes us through our agenda for this evening. We do, as I mentioned, need an attorney-client meeting, and so we'll be in recess until 4.30.

we are back in session madam clerk if you would please read item 7a in order seeing after also known as the fiscal year 2026 2027 operations budget providing revenue for the fiscal year beginning july 1 2026 and ending on june 30 2027 appropriating same to the payment of expenses of the municipal government FIXING THE RATE OF TAXATION ON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY IN THE CITY AND THE TIME TAXES AND PRIVILEGES ARE DUE, HOW THEY SHALL BE PAID, WHEN THEY SHALL BECOME DELINQUENT, PROVIDING FOR INTEREST AND PENALTY ON DELINQUENT TAXES AND PRIVILEGES, AMENDING CHATTANOOGA CITY CODE, PART 2, CHAPTER 2, SECTION 2, 267, RELATIVE TO PAID LEAVE FOR ACTIVE DUTY TRAINING AND TO AMEND CHATTANOOGA CITY CODE, PART 2, CHAPTER 31, SECTIONS 31, 36, 31, 37, 31, 41. and 3143 sections 31322 and 31354.

Council we do have a motion properly seconded on our operations budget ordinance are there any questions or comments before we vote seeing none madam clerk if you would please take a roll call vote councilman henderson councilwoman hill yes councilman clark

Councilwoman Burr?

Yes.

Councilwoman Null?

Yes.

Vice Chair Elliott?

Yes.

Chairman Davis?

Yes. Seven yes. We have seven yeses and no nos, and the budget ordinance passes on final reading. If you would please read item 7B, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance appropriating, authorizing, and allocating funds to the capital improvements budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027.

Second. Council, we have a motion properly seconded on our capital budget ordinance. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you would please take a roll call vote.

Councilwoman Awe.

Yes.

Councilwoman Burns. Yes. Councilman Clark.

Yes.

Councilwoman Hill. Yes. Councilman Henderson. Yes.

vice chair Elliott yes chairman Davis yes seven yes okay we have seven yeses and no no votes and so our capital budget ordinance passes unanimously on final reading madam clerk if you would please read item 8a

An ordinance amending Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 26, Parks and Playgrounds, Section 2617, other acts prohibited.

Second. Council, we have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance passes on first reading. Item 9A, please, Madam Clerk.

THE RESOLUTION AUTHORIZES THE ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO ENTER INTO A SECOND AGREEMENT TO EXERCISE OPTIONS TO RENEW WITH CHATTANOOGA FLYING DISC CLUB INC. IT'S SUBSTANTIALLY THE FORM ATTACHED FOR DISC GOLF COURSES AT SPECIFIC CITY PUBLIC PARKS FOR DAILY USE AND TOURNAMENT PLAY FOR AN ADDITIONAL TERM OF ONE YEAR FOR THE TERM THROUGH JUNE 30, 2027.

Councilor, we do have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments?

All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution passes. Item 9B, please, Madam Clerk.

And resolution amending resolution number 32533 as follows. A resolution accepting and approving the award of unallocated and accrued interest of American Rescue Plan funds as part of the Chattanooga Relief and Recovery Allocation Plan to the Office of Early Learning for James A. Henry operational costs for an amount not to exceed $250,000. Second.

Councilor Dover, motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9C, please.

A resolution confirming Mayor Kelly's appointment of John Law to the Bureau Board for District 1 for a term beginning on June 24, 2026 and ending on June 23, 2029. Second.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Is Mr. Law here by chance? All right. Well, if you're watching online, thank you for your service to the city on this board. Item 9D, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution authorizing the administrator for the Department of Public Works to award the continuing on-call professional surveying services blanket contract number E26010901 with the following nine consultant firms. One, ASA Engineering and Consulting, Inc. Two, Cannon and Cannon, LLC. Three, Cora Engineering, LLC. Four, Earthworks, LLC. Five, Johnson Merriman, LLC. Merriman and Thompson, Inc. Six, LaBella Associates. Seven, LDA Engineering. Eight, LJA Surveying, Inc. Nine, Pape Dawson Consulting Engineers, LLC, based upon their qualifications within the identified service categories for a four-year term for an annual amount of $1 million for use by all departments.

Mr. Cruz.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9E, please.

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZED AN ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS TO APPROVE CHANGE ORDER NUMBER TWO TO CONTRACT NUMBER S20012101 CITY OF CHATTANOOGA HAMILTON COUNTY WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROJECT WITH WOOLPERP INC TO ADD SIX AUTOMATED WATER QUALITY SAMPLERS PROVIDE CONTINUOUS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND TELEMETRY SERVICES FOR AN ADDITIONAL THREE YEARS AND CREATE VISUALIZATION TOOLS FOR REGULATORY REPORTING for an increased amount of $334,849 for a revised contract amount of $919,849. Second.

Council, we have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Madam Clerk, if you would please read item 9F, the alternate version, please.

A resolution authorizing Dam Whiskey Corporation to operate an intoxicating liquors manufacturing plant and improve an essential substance permit for an alcohol distillery small at 1437 Market Street.

It's authorizing Dam Whiskey Corporation to operate.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this item. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? ALL IN FAVOR? ANY OPPOSED? 6 YESES AND 1 NO. SO THE RESOLUTION IS ADOPTED. ITEM 9G, PLEASE, MADAM CLERK, THE ALTERNATE VERSION.

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF OF POLICE TO APPLY FOR AND, IF AWARDED, ACCEPT THE OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME OVC FY26 SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF CRIMES GRANT FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS TO FUND ONE FULL-TIME VICTIM SERVICES SPECIALIST EMERGENCY ASSISTANT TO CRIME VICTIMS AND TRAINING FOR A THREE-YEAR CONTRACT BEGINNING ON OCTOBER 1, 2026 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2029 FOR AN AWARD amount up to $500,000. Second.

Councilor, we do have our motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Resolution is adopted. We are now to purchases. We're happy to welcome Weston to the podium.

Good afternoon, council. We have six purchases recommended for approval today. The first is with Public Works. It is an agreement for composting services at the recycle and refuse centers. This will be a four year agreement with an annual amount limit not to exceed $50,000. The award will go to New Terra Compost as the best bid. item number two is with wastewater this is year four renewal with solution works is requesting a 5.1 increase due to inflationary cost the new estimated annual spend will be 370 000 Item number three is with wastewater. They are requesting an increase of $3,150 for PUR160438. The purchase order was originally awarded to Ecotech and approved by Council on January 6, 2026, in the amount of $79,900. For an odor control fan, this increase is necessary to cover the freight charges for the fan, bringing the new total to $83,050. Item number four is with Human Resources. This is a new agreement for Employee Assistance Program and Work Life Services. This will be a four-year agreement with an annual amount limit of $55,000. The award will go to ComPsych Employee Assistance as the best proposal. Item number five is with Human Resources. This is a year two renewal. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee is requesting a price increase of two point seven percent for the stop loss insurance due to annual insurance premium increases. The new annual amount will be nine hundred ten thousand seven hundred fifty six dollars. And item number six is from the mayor's office. This is a one time purchase to cover current and future invoices for consulting services for the mayor's office. This purchase from PFM Group Consulting will be in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars.

Council would have a motion properly seconded on our purchases for this evening. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

the purchases are approved great and we have one sole source purchase to report this evening is for the police department for leadership and organizational development training training consists of a series of professional development workshops that are uniquely designed to impart strategic thinking and operational problem solving building elite and player-led teams organizational design and leaders planning decision-making process okay thank you very much weston

We'll go around the dais now for committee reports. We'll start with Councilman Henderson. No report. Councilwoman Hill.

No report.

Councilman Clark. No report, sorry. Councilwoman Noll.

I don't have a report, but I do want to

Tell you all, if you have a chance, go by the Avondale Community Center, which is in the great District 8. They have the doors wrapped and the kids and the participants are loving it. And it looks really good. It has the city logo on it. And you can actually still see through the glass. So go through. It's amazing. The first one in the community centers so far. And also to give a shout out to the summer camps. in the great district a they are offering off to a good start and the kids are having a blast um shout out to miss kennedy garrett she is a student and a student body president at mtsu and she is uh alumni of the avondale center and the current senior camp counselor at the center, and she is doing an amazing job. So thank you to the camps in the Great District 8, and please, the door is amazing. Go by and look at it if you have a chance.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for all those positive notes. Councilwoman Burrs.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will have a Planning and Zoning Committee meeting when we return on July 7th, and we'll have our usual cases. We'll also be talking about we're reviewing it's been a year since we discussed since 80 us were approved. And so we thought it was a good time to have a discussion to see how everything's going. So we'll have that discussion on to lesson as well. And also wanted to make the public aware in this. So Carta is doing a connect the corridor town hall meeting on Wednesday, so tomorrow from five to seven at the Chris Ramsey Center, and they're very interested in public public input, they're really trying to expand transportation public transportation and economic development along the brainerd road corridor so if you live in that area or you use the number four route especially they would love for you to attend and provide some input so thank you mr chair okay thank you very much vice chairman elliott okay

And we are now to that portion of the meeting where we're happy to recognize members of the public who are here to address council. And so if you are here for that purpose, if you would please just line up at the podium down front here and listen carefully while our attorney reads the rules.

At the end of each council business meeting, the chair will recognize members of the public who wish to address the council and here's your rules. Each speaker wishing to address the council can only be recognized at the microphone up front for that purpose, can't have more than three minutes to speak, and you can address the council only upon matters within their legislative and quasi-judicial authority and not on matters which are not under their authority or regulated by other governmental bodies or agencies do not engage in any vulgar or obscene language nor use the floor to personally attack or personally denigrate others and address the council as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual council members and lastly do not engage in disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting which is prohibited by tennessee law and someone commits that offense If a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering. Having stated those rules, please state your name and your district, please, sir.

Hello, my name is Jamarcus Williams. Honestly, I'm not familiar with my district, but I am in the city of Chattanooga as a resident. But I'm here as an employee of Hamilton County 911, but not on behalf of Hamilton County 911. I've been a dispatcher for 16 years. With the last 10 years being here in Hamilton County, I'm here tonight in reference to the budget that you guys have already passed. But at this point, since it has passed, I'm just wanting to express something to you and hope that you guys have the ears to hear When someone dials 911, dispatchers are the first responders, not like firemen and police officers. We are the convoys on the other end of the line during someone's worst day. We gather critical information, coordinate police, fire, and EMS responses, and we often provide life-saving instructions before help ever arrives. But despite the critical role we play in public safety, our dispatchers remain among the lowest paid in our region. For years, dispatchers have shown up for this community. Personally, when there was an active shooter at the Air Pollution Control Bureau, I spent 13 minutes on the phone with a woman trapped in her office, trying to keep her calm and help officers get to her location. When the Woodmore bus crash happened, my coworkers and I answered call after call from terrified parents, family members, desperately trying to find out what happened to their children. Even last year during a house fire in Hickson, I was on the phone with a man trapped in his house. I heard his final attempts to speak before the line went silent. Those moments stay with us and we don't get to hang up and we don't get to forget those. But we come back the next day and we do it again because the people of this community needs someone to answer that call. We're the fourth largest community or the fourth largest county in Tennessee and one of the busiest communication centers in the state. We answer almost 580,000 calls each year. More than two thirds of those calls come from the city of Chattanooga. And for years, our leadership has worked to develop a responsible phase plan to improve dispatcher pay. Every agency represented on our board has agreed to participate in funding that plan with the exception of the city of Chattanooga. also read in the news the mayor's spokesperson expressing concern about committing future budget dollars without an identified revenue source and i understand the importance of responsible budgeting as a father of six my wife and i budget all the time but budgets are ultimately statements of priorities the first year contribution being requested from chattanooga is approximately 139 000 At the same time, the city has found funding for other priorities, including a 3% raise for city employees in a new litter initiative. My question is simple. If public safety is truly a priority, why are the professionals who answer the call before anyone else still waiting for their turn? This is not about choosing dispatchers over police officers or firefighters. We supported their raise because they deserved it. And honestly, they probably deserve more than what they got. We waited for our turn, and it seems like the city of Chattanooga did not want to support that.

Hello, I'm Morgan Jaton. I am also a 911 dispatcher. I've been there for 11 years, coming this September. I started this job with no background or knowledge of anything related to the first responder life, aside from my brother, Glenn Scruggs, who just recently retired a couple years ago. I didn't realize how much goes into each call that we as dispatchers handle each day, and I didn't realize that I would have to talk to someone who might not be here a second later. I didn't realize someone would have to hear from me teaching them how to deliver their baby in their living room. This is people coming in at $19.27 an hour doing this job. It's not for everybody. That amount often turns people away as well because of the stress that we go through. We are truly the first and the first responders, and I think that's unfortunately overlooked most of the time. As far as I've been in dispatch, I don't recall anyone from the city coming down to sit and actually listen to what we do day in and day out. I think you would be shocked the amount of work that we do for the city of Chattanooga, as well as our other agencies. The only question that I have here, I actually have two. for you to to think over is we were told that we had that you guys had no funds for us so is it that you have no funds or that you need to reevaluate how you would reallocate the funds that you do have second question is what is it that you deem more important than supporting the first responders who work so tirelessly to assist those who reside in this city thank you

Hello, I'm Cheyenne Bedell. I'm also with Hamilton County 911. I've been a dispatcher at Hamilton County for 14 years in August. I'm also here in support of a proposed pay raise for our telecommunicators. Every day we answer calls from people that are experiencing the worst moments of their lives. We provide life-saving instructions over the phone while we simultaneously dispatch police, fire, and EMS. This is a highly skilled profession that requires extensive training before a telecommunicator can ever work independently. There are years that go into this. You don't just stop once you get trained. You have to constantly do continuing education. You train alongside police and fire. It's constant. It never ends. New employees will do classroom instruction, certifications, and on-job training before they're ever fully released to work as a dispatcher. Hamilton County 911 has answered close to 600,000 calls each year, and it grows. It never ends. And more than two-thirds of those calls come from Chattanooga residents or incidents that occur within the city limits of Chattanooga. Between police and fire operations, we dedicate six dispatchers solely to Chattanooga channels. That's between fire and police, and it's consistently among the busiest channels that we dispatch for. We also handle hundreds of calls each day that do not result in dispatched responses. When an experienced telecommunicator leaves, we do not just lose an employee, we lose years of knowledge, training, and experience that cannot quickly be replaced. Recruitment becomes more difficult, overtime increases, and burnout increases. I have lived through that. I have gone through that several times. I'm asking you to adequately fund a service that Chattanooga residents already depend on every day. I understand that there are concerns about the long-term costs and funding sources, and I respect the responsibility of managing the taxpayer dollars appropriately. However, I would also ask you to consider the cost of not investing in this. What is the cost of losing experienced telecommunicators? What is the cost of the continued vacancies, mandatory overtime, and burnout that we all have faced? Public safety does begin with the person who answers the phone. Competitive pay will help us attract and retain the qualified professionals our community depends on when they call 911. I do respectfully ask for you to support the pay raise for Hamilton County 911. The telecommunicators who serve this community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Brittany Rice. I first want to thank you all for having us here and listening to us speak. Client agency support is essential for struggling dispatchers because of the demands of the profession can be emotionally taxing, mentally taxing and physically taxing. We the dispatchers are often exposed to high stress situations, critical incidents, and heavy workloads that can contribute to burnout, fatigue, and decreased job performance. By providing support, client agencies can help dispatchers build resilience and maintain their well-being. Strong organizational support not only benefits individual employees, but also enhances overall operational effectiveness, employee retention, and the quality of the service provided to the public. I myself, Brittany Rice, who has been a dispatcher at Hamilton County 911 for five years in November, have personally felt the effects of absent client agency support during a time of mental distress and crisis. During that time, I was not able to work needed overtime to compensate for my medicinal and basic needs, leading me to have to take out unnecessary loans. Client agency support is not a want at this point. It is a need for all of us. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Jacqueline Lewis and I live in East Ridge. I am here on behalf of my husband, Harold Gunther, who is a 911 telecommunicator. He has been working there full time for the last three and a half years. He often works up to 60 hours a week. Gonna let that set for a second. 60 hours a week because there is a critical staffing shortage. He recognizes his job is a service. Telecommunicators are literally the first responders when there is a crisis. Over the phone, with a calm and reassuring voice, my husband helps residents and visitors of Hamilton County, often during the most traumatic moments of their lives. These include calls from parents whose children are critically injured, folks hiding during a home invasion, people fleeing domestic abuse and assaults. He has helped women give birth over the phone. He has helped bystanders deliver life-saving care such as CPR and Naloxone. Recently, he received a call from someone who is helping not one person, but two who are overdosing. In addition to taking calls from our neighbors, our friends, our family members, He dispatches and communicates with our police officers. He ensures their safety. He makes sure they have the critical information they need for each call, for each pullover, whether they need backup or whether they are MIA. This is an extremely stressful job, and I can see why there is a long-lasting staffing shortage for this essential service. especially when their request for a nominal pay increase is not supported by the city of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga police. I know my husband plans on continuing his job, but if this was me between the stress, the lack of pay, and what I would feel like a lack of respect from the city, I would turn in a resignation letter. I thank you, honestly, for your time on behalf of my husband and my family. Thank you. Thank you.

Vice Chairman Elliott. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE AND ADVOCATING FOR YOURSELVES. I'M GOING TO BE HONEST ABOUT MY IGNORANCE. I'M NOT AS FAMILIAR WITH OUR 911 EMERGENCY SERVICES. AND THIS MAY BE A QUESTION FOR SOMEONE IN ADMINISTRATION. I ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU ALL LANDED IN THE COUNTY AS COUNTY EMPLOYEES. SO I KNOW WE HAVE CONTRIBUTED funding because it is a joint system but as far as employment i always thought it landed with the with the county can somebody clarify that for me mandy green i didn't introduce myself earlier at chief operating officer yes so it is it is a joint so it's us and the county and sickle mountain and other jurisdictions okay Now, did the county request a rate increase for what we pay or something? I hear that they're saying that we're supposed to be, they requested some type of difference in pay. Is there, what happened with that?

So the 911 board requested a multi-year increase.

Okay. And did we decide not to pursue that?

We decided that. We could not pursue that at this time because it didn't only obligate us, but future council and mayoral people to the agreement.

So it's not necessarily a disagreement on the cost. It's the term. Is that what I'm hearing?

Well, we don't have the way to fund it either right now, but we're more than willing to sit down and talk to the Hamilton County 911 Board or the 911 Board to discuss an increase, but we just couldn't agree to the one they proposed.

Okay. Do we know if we're the only ones that have not locked in an agreement yet?

I believe we are right now.

Okay.

We are also the largest contributors.

Okay. but they're county employees correct i believe so yes okay i'm gonna say this to you all uh i'm not sure the ins and outs um frankly unless my colleagues have heard something different as a representative on this body this is the first time i've heard any things of this sort AND IF YOU'VE SEEN, WE HAVE VOTED ON OUR BUDGET TONIGHT. MOST OF THESE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ALLOCATIONS HAPPEN STARTING IN JANUARY. SO THERE'S NOT A LOT WE CAN DO TONIGHT. WE JUST SAW YOU TONIGHT AND WE JUST DID A SECOND READING FOR THE BUDGET. BUT I WILL ALSO SAY, AS FAR AS THERE'S SOME Some conflicts here as far as us having direct impact on your pay. All right. If you were sitting employees, you would have got a 3% cost of living adjustment, just like our civilian and our sworn employees. We're not necessarily responsible for the HR and pay procedures for the county. But I am looking forward to seeing where these negotiations may land as far as us being able to contribute. But that is also some of the disconnect from some of that. So once again, I do appreciate your advocacy. And what I say is not to ask you to stop. Keep fighting for yourselves because if you don't, no one else will. But there's also some jurisdictional and some legal parameters that we're probably going to have to address. highlight as well throughout this. So that's it. That's all I have. Okay.

Councilman Clark. Thank you, Chairman Davis. Mandy, this might be a question. Chief, were you about to?

I was going to add some knowledge if I could. Mr. Chair, I'd like to yield to the chief. Sure. So I'm part of the board as being the chief of police for the Chattanooga Police Department. It's an automatic board seat. The first time their proposal, which is a multi-year plan, was presented to me was on April the 23rd. Immediately, I recognized that this would transcend mayoral administrations as well as city council administrations. As well as the overall concept of things, the way it was being presented, I realized immediately that this required further discussion with the CFO from the city of Chattanooga as well as Hamlin County. And I made that recommendation, and I have made it multiple times since. That has never happened. um that that's what should happen um the executive director and their staff should meet with the cfos of the two largest agencies that that fund the district to determine how we get there right how we get the raises implemented i don't believe there's a question from any organization at all any municipality municipality whether or not Raises are warranted. Absolutely they are. It's a matter of how we get there to be financially responsible and to ensure that we can guarantee the raises because the way their budget works is just like ours. It's year to year. But the way this was presented, if you agree to year one, you're agreeing to year one through five. So you're not just agreeing to a $279,000 increase right now. You're agreeing to a, I think it's a $1.8 million increase over the next few years. And you don't make those decisions haphazardly. You need to have input and buy-in from especially the two largest municipalities that this has affected. That was my recommendation on April the 23rd. I've recommended it multiple times since. It is my belief that the city has communicated to them multiple times that we are willing to come to the table and have those discussions. It's just a matter of getting that schedule and doing that.

Thank you, Chief. Yes. Do you have any? I do. Okay. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate that. This might be a logistical question for Mandy and for Weston. And this is just brought to my attention by the city attorney. And this is these are some statutory changes because all of this is regulated by Tennessee code annotated. So is it not correct that all of the funding for the Hamilton County 911 district operations are from surcharges assessed to everyone's telephone bills?

the personnel funding funding for the personnel is provided by the agencies so the county the cities within the county and that's divided based on call volume and population size there's a formula that goes into that so they take their total personnel cost allocate it based on those two factors and then give that to that request to so my question is about surcharges It covers the operational costs outside of the personnel.

So not all of the funding as they're reporting on the website. So what are the statutory, what is the statutory process if we were to increase? Is that something that we do at the state level for the surcharge?

The surcharge, I believe there was an increase voted on, I think, and I don't know if there's someone here that can speak to that, by the state legislature that approved it. And then it got vetoed. The governor vetoed it. The governor vetoed it. Wow.

Yeah. But none of that funding currently is being used for personnel.

No, the personnel funding all comes from the municipalities.

Okay, great. Thank you. And I have a question for Mandy regarding pay comparison. We did receive, just so you know, thank you all for coming. This has just come to our attention, which is not uncommon, but we do respect you being here. We want to have more in-depth conversation. Comparisons. We did receive a document from Bruce Gardner that Hamilton County currently, if you are a trainee, you're $40,000. $40,000. Yeah, $40,000. And the highest paid is $54,375 for Shelby County, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Rutherford County, Montgomery County, Williamson County, Sumner County, Knox County. What's THP? Tennessee Highway Patrol, Blount County, Tennessee Valley Authority, Wilson County, Washington County all pay more than what we pay. That's just for trainees. Right now, if you are a telecommunicator, currently you are being paid $42,000 and we are less than Blount County, Washington, Knox, the Highway Patrol, Sumter, Rutherford, Williamson, Tennessee Valley Police, Montgomery, Metro Nashville at $53,000, Shelby County at $54,000, Williamson County at $54,000, $768,000. And the highest pay, which I'm surprised, is Murfreesboro. At $59,000. Can you speak? I know you've been doing some independent study as well as to where we are on the scale as far as are we low-end, high-end? Is this accurate?

So we do not use most of those jurisdictions as comparable organizations for the city. So we use Clarksville, Huntsville, Alabama. I'm going to go through the list here. Columbia, I believe South Carolina, Tallahassee, Florida. Those are our comps that we use right now in Knoxville, Tennessee. So those are the comps that we use. Those are the comps that we use when we talk about our police and fire. We do not compare ourselves to Nashville or Memphis. If we did, our salaries would be significantly higher. And that's a reality, but we are not compared to them. So when we ran our numbers with our comps, they are approximately negative 5.4% as a trainee of the average of our comps. So you take all those that I just rattled off and take the average salary, they are negative 5.4%. And once they complete probation, they are above by just shy of 1% of our comps.

Are you concluding that based off our peer city comps,

that we are not that far off of what we by what percentage yes that's what i said so of our for the training position we are showing that they're approximately negative 5.4 percent okay and for once they complete probation and get to the uh actual dispatcher position they are actually above by one percent of our averages of our average our cities i'm sorry i just said and we've had discussions council about what's comparable

So anyway, I just wanted to, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this. And this is the last question. And I'm sorry, Chief, I kind of checked out a little bit. Who was that we needed to meet with, that needed to meet with the CFO? You said the executive?

The executive director is correct of 911.

Okay. And that has not happened. Do you know why?

I don't. Is the executive director here? He's not. We met in the last couple weeks, actually. We did not meet prior to kind of they came up with this plan and presented it to us. We were not involved in the discussion as far as I know. I was not involved in kind of the building of the plan and the discussion around that. So I think that's kind of where some of the disconnect was is they gave this to us in April and then In April? It was last of March, first of April, I think, when we got the letter from them. And then there was just some back and forth with them trying to get some data behind the numbers, trying to understand how they came up with what they came up with, what comps they were using, things like that. And then we've just been going back and forth a little bit since then on this.

So what's next?

I think we just continue, we're committed to kind of continue the discussion. As was mentioned, we can't can't commit to the full again it's not the 140 000 if it was that it'd be a lot easier it's the the four or five year commitment of almost two million dollars that we're struggling to find so we're just we're committed to to work with them and find a solution to it and so we'll continue to meet with them all right thank you wesleyan i appreciate you thank you mr chair thank you councilwoman noel thank you mr chair i think uh

vice chair and and uh councilman clark pretty hit much my same question um so it's my understanding we pay the county for the service right so are we not paying our fair share

we are somebody somebody coming so so we pay the district the county pays the district college del red they all pay into this this district fund in the percentage that each municipality pays is based on the call volume from a prior year prior period and the population based on the latest census so they take those figure out what percentage each municipality pays and then we pay our share based on those calculations

Okay, is there any reason to whomever the spokesperson would be for you all that did y'all reach out to the county for an increase? And if so, what was the reason that they did or did not provide you with the increase since you are county employees? Yes, you can come here.

The county, so the city, as it was said, the city, county, and all the other client agencies, their call volume, not just responses, call volume that comes into our center, calls that we deal with, are broken up and divided amongst each municipality. So they're all given a percentage of how much they have to pay into Hamilton County based on the call volume that was given to them. or brought into us from those specific areas.

So my question is, did you all go before county commission and tell them you need a raise? Did you all go before them?

So county commission doesn't, like they approved, they agreed to the, step raises or the raise plan that was provided so the only ones that we have not been able to get on board is city of chattanooga and i do understand that it's a five-year payment plan but they did it hoping my agency did it hoping that it would be easier to fund those since it would basically be we're paying 75 of it the first year and then 50 and then 25 and then then last year the client agencies would be 100% paying into it.

So I would suggest going before county commission and tell them to. That's what I would suggest as well. Okay. But thank you for coming. Thank you, Jackie. Jackie and her husband was my neighbor. They moved, what, two years, three years ago? Yeah, right across the street from me. Wonderful neighbors. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am.

And Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you. I think my mind is going in a similar direction as Councilwoman Knowles. Weston, question for you. First, the way that the equation is created for client agencies, is that part of the state statute?

it's there there's an agreement between all the municipalities that participate in this that sets that equation and then it also provides for tying raises for dispatchers to the county so whatever the way the agreement currently works is the dispatchers get raises based on what the county got the previous year so if the county last year got a one percent raise this year dispatchers get a one percent raise and then that cost is passed on to the participating municipalities.

That's interesting. Percentage question for you. Sure. I wanted you here because you're the math guy. Of the 194,000, give or take, residents that live in the city of Chattanooga, what percentage of those people live in Hamilton County, Tennessee?

That would be all of them.

100%. That would be 100% live in the county. Okay, so also, if 194,000 people, give or take, live in the city of Chattanooga and pay property tax, if 100% of the people who pay property tax in the city of Chattanooga... What percentage would you say also pay property tax in Hamilton County, Tennessee? 100%. 100%. Okay. And the funding formula does include the county, what percentage of pay does the county provide?

I'd have to go back and look at it. I'm not sure exactly. We're a little over 50%, I think, and the county is some other. I'd get it for you. I don't know what the county's percentage is. Okay.

That's just 13%.

So 13% of the cost is paid by the county, and we currently pay 50% of the cost. I'm sorry. I'm getting two numbers. I can get you the exact percentages. Okay.

66 is what Chief Chambers is telling me. So the county pays $2.7 million and the city $6.3 million a year.

Okay. And so if I live in Chattanooga, which I do, and I pay tax in Chattanooga, which I do,

I also pay Hamilton County tax, which I do. Okay. Okay. So I'm just thinking through, you know, today we had a brief discussion about the planning commission and identifying jurisdiction and an MOU and who pays for what and that just might be something that needs to be talked about. Every person that drives in Chattanooga drives to the county, and the county folks drive through Chattanooga, and we all move around so much. It's difficult. This is an interesting math problem. Thank you. That's all, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Any other questions or comments, Council? All right. We have concluded the business before us this evening. all in favor all right and we are adjourned