Chattanooga City Council hopeful Darrin Ledford is the featured speaker for the Jan. 19 meeting of the Friends of East Brainerd. (Contributed photo)With its first meeting of the year scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 19, the Friends of East Brainerd group is again gearing up to tackle some of the area's most pressing issues, from growth to education.
The community watchdog group, which meets the second Thursday of each month, will bring meeting attendees updates on the ongoing expansion in the district, which was confirmed as the fastest-growing in the area.
"This will be an opportunity for the community to weigh in on what they want [the growth] to look like and participate in Friends of East Brainerd," said Sabrena Smedley, Hamilton County commissioner for District 7 and newly elected president of FOEB.
The group will also discuss how residents can get more involved in helping local schools, and Smedley hopes to get more businesses involved in FOEB's conversations by having them sponsor luncheons for the group and discussing their own organizations. She also plans to reach out to the community to see what residents want to discuss going forward.
The Jan. 19 meeting is being held at Heritage House at noon. The featured speaker is Darrin Ledford, who is hoping to take the Chattanooga City Council District 4 seat in place of Larry Grohn, who is running for mayor. Lunch will be provided for a small fee.
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.