South Palisades Drive has come under scrutiny during the events surrounding the firing of former Signal Mountain Town Manager Chris Dorsey.
A Chattanoogan.com article posted to the site Jan. 12 enumerated several possible reasons the Town Council was, at that time, considering firing Dorsey. One is what that article referred to as "vandalism of a piece of town property on the brow, near the intersection of South Palisades and Wilder." The other is Dorsey's failure to follow up, as Mayor Bill Lusk is quoted in that article as saying, in regards to "the persistent resistance of the director of the Mountain Arts Community Center - a town employee - to write grant proposals and fundraise in general."
Though town representatives have since declined to go into detail about the reasons surrounding Dorsey's firing, several officials did comment to Signal Mountain Weekly regarding the "vandalism" situation. A heated letter to the editor in regards to the situation was posted to Chattanoogan.com Jan. 13.
"'Vandalism,' I would suggest to you, seldom is committed by a father and his Eagle-Scout-candidate son in broad daylight over several days with manual labor for which permission has been sought. To classify this as vandalism, a crime, is grossly irresponsible," Signal Mountain resident Albert Finch wrote.
In a follow-up phone interview with Signal Mountain Weekly, Lusk said he didn't actually use the term vandalism to label the site and he never would have.
In a separate follow-up interview, Vice Mayor Susan Robertson said a Boy Scout had approached town of Signal Mountain Recreation Director Jarred Thompson about clearing brush at the site, which is property of the town. Thompson checked with Dorsey, who consented to the project, she said.
According to Lusk, clearing that brush revealed several trees that had previously been cut down without the town's permission.
"The project began to go beyond its scope, which was clearing brush," Lusk told Signal Mountain Weekly, explaining that there were ideas to build a retaining wall and to make it more of a park-like area.
Lusk added that he began receiving complaints from Palisades residents about the appearance of the site and, that though he doesn't have proof, he believes other residents of the neighborhood had taken liberties in the past to cut down the trees.
Town officials have since stopped any work being done to the site, and new "No Trespassing" signs have been installed.