A structural engineer told Hamilton County school board members Thursday that bleachers at Tyner and Howard must be razed due to old and deteriorated steel and aluminum in the structures. The bleachers at East Ridge High were condemned for similar reasons in late August.
At the same meeting, school board members debated whether to accept money from the County Commission's discretionary funds for the improvements at East Hamilton, which was not provided money for football facilities when the school was built.
District 7 Commissioner Sabrena Smedley, who represents the community in which East Hamilton is located, and District 5 Commissioner Greg Beck worked out a deal in which Smedley would give him $34,000 of this year's discretionary funds (which can't be spent on schools) and Beck would give her $34,000 from last year's funds (which can be used on long-term capital projects).
Then, Smedley would used $60,000 from her discretionary funds from last year and the $34,000 from Beck for the East Hamilton improvements.
Now, as for the East Ridge, Tyner and Howard bleachers, commissioners could do a variety of things. With a combined nearly $500,000 remaining in fiscal 2015 discretionary funds, as of Nov. 27 (though now likely reduced by recent expenditures), they could decide together to use the rest of it to fund new bleachers. Or, as District 8 Commissioner Tim Boyd suggested in relation to the condemned East Ridge bleachers, they could offer half or more of the money and ask that the communities raise the rest.
Once they get estimates for new bleachers, they also could get creative and ask Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger to make a deal. In theory, they would return an amount of their discretionary money from fiscal 2016 to the county general fund (since it can't be spent on schools) that would equal the cost of building new bleachers, and the county mayor would agree to add that amount of money to the fiscal 2017 budget to fund the bleachers.
Stranger things have happened.
The Howard situation is complicated by the school's long-sought football and track facility that has been talked about being built on land the school district received in the 2014 settlement with the city of Chattanooga over liquor tax money. The vacant 19.9 acres adjacent to the school are the former site of the Maurice Poss Homes. If a plan were to come together quickly to build the new athletic facility, bleachers at Howard's current stadium wouldn't need to be rebuilt.
We commend Smedley and Beck for the cooperation they showed to fund facilities for East Hamilton and look forward to see if future deals can be put together to make safer sports facilities for even more students and communities.