The Ringgold City Council spent 38 seconds approving a request by City Manager Dan Wright to put the estimated $335,000 courthouse streetscape project out for bid April 22.
There was no need for discussion. The project is part of the “master plan,” a document Councilman Randall Franks and his colleagues know well.
“It’s an important part of the visioning plan, and it’s great to see it move forward,” said Franks, now in his 19th year on the council.
The plan has many names: master plan; visioning plan; “the” plan; the Carl Vinson study; but officially it’s called the Renaissance Strategic Vision & Plan, RSVP for short. The 103-page report offers a “30-year look into the future of the community.” The comprehensive strategic document, fitting for cities far larger than Ringgold, includes a detailed history of the city.
“We had talked about the need for a plan for a long time before it finally came together,” said Franks, a musician and actor who spent five seasons in the early 1990s as one of Carroll O’Connor’s deputies in the popular “In the Heat of the Night” TV show.