Officer Joe Sabba walks past targets Thursday, September 3, 2015 at the police firing range on Moccasin Bend Road.A commitment of up to $150,000 for fixing up the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Moccasin Bend firing range has met with opposition from a number of Hamilton County commissioners.
That amount is the county's half of a proposed joint agreement with the city of Chattanooga to make lighting, parking and other maintenance-related improvements to the facility, which is used by local law enforcement departments. The firing range property has been targeted for many years as a site for proposed incorporation within federal park lands, generating discussion about the facility's possible relocation to another locale.
On Wednesday, commissioners discussed the agreement with Chief Deputy Allen Branum of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
"We been putting off needed upgrades for the firing range for quite some time," Branum said. "We're to the point where we have to have some upgrades done."
Improvement planning is being made as flexible as possible, said Branum, citing the possibility of including portable targeting systems with other site-specific necessities such as parking lot excavation and bank stabilization.
Commissioners Gregory Beck, Tim Boyd and Randy Fairbanks all expressed concern with putting more money into a firing range that may not have a future.
"Sooner or later, we've got to stop spending money down there and we've got to move," Fairbanks said.
Beck recommended spending a few million dollars for the county to have its own firing range facility "and be done with it."
Although a committee of Moccasin Bend stakeholders is seeking a solution for moving the firing range, it will be some time before the range could actually move, Branum said. However, the facility has received only routine maintenance and is sorely in need of improvements to function properly and adequately train officers, he said.
Commissioner Joe Graham said he considered the money a good investment, and he questioned the county's ability to cheaply construct or operate a new firing range, citing a $40,000 annual operating cost for the Moccasin Bend range.
"This is really a minimal amount of money to spend considering we have not spent any money on this property in a very long time and we get great use out of it, considering the millions of dollars it's going to take to replace it," Graham said.
While Graham said he was willing to support the agreement in an upcoming voting session, he also said he would be willing to support a conversation about a long-term plan for the firing range's future.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com.