The Chattanooga City Council may put a final seal on revamped transportation rules to regulate app-based rideshare networks such as Uber and vote to approve up to $21 million in upgrades to the Moccasin Bend Waste Water Treatment Plant during its first meeting in 2015.
Council members passed the first reading of a merged transportation bill to loosen some rules on six taxi companies and create some for Internet-based rideshare programs such as Uber, Lyft or Sidecar with a 6-2 vote on Dec. 16.
While the council received some suggested amendments to the ordinance Monday from Millennium Taxi Service owner Tim Duckett, Councilman Chris Anderson, who co-wrote the ordinance, said he didn't expect the vote to change.
"I have no reason to believe anyone has changed their minds one way or the other," he said Monday.
In a letter to council members Monday, Duckett asked that the council remove a section of the proposed ordinance that would require taxis to pass annual Hamilton County emissions tests. And he asked the council to consider allowing taxi drivers to register their cabs in another county to avoid emissions testing.
In addition, Duckett said app-based rideshare operators put the public at risk by using cellphones to navigate and communicate with transportation networks behind the wheel.
"A mobile taxi company without a central place of business to receive calls and dispatch cabs represents a public safety hazard. A mobile taxi receiving calls and attempting to dispatch cabs by dialing numbers or texting directions or pickup addresses is a recipe for a crash or fatal accident," Duckett wrote.
Anderson deflected the proposed amendments.
"He waits until the day before second reading to propose these changes, when he went to two public meetings and was silent," Anderson said.
Duckett has not spoken directly to the council, but he has voiced opposition to the combined ordinances.
Council Chairman Chip Henderson, who voted for the ordinance in December, also said he expects the vote to remain the same.
"I haven't heard of any push-back or any other concerns, so I don't expect the vote to be any different than the first vote," he said.
The council also will consider two resolutions to perform federally mandated upgrades to the Moccasin Bend Waste Water Treatment Plant.
One resolution asks the council to approve an up-to-$8.3 million contract with Smith Contractors to upgrade the screening and straining system that handles incoming sewage.
The second resolution is a larger, $13.3 million project that will upgrade and replace much of the pump system within the plant. That contract would go to Haren Construction Co.
City Public Works Director Lee Norris said the upgrades would be massive undertakings, but the public likely would not notice the work happening. Both are required due to a $250 million federal consent decree from 2013 that requires the city to clean up its combined stormwater and wastewater system.
"It's going to be invisible to everybody. We are adding some additional capacity and revamping some of the stuff we already have to make us more efficient," Norris said.
Anderson said the repairs are costly, but they were already budgeted.
The council meets today at 1:30 p.m. for strategic planning and at 6 p.m. for a voting meeting.
Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrog don@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.