Hamilton County attorney Rheubin Taylor closed what is expected to be the final county commission meeting of 2019 with the caveat, “Unless something comes up.”
What better catch-phrase for our county leaders less than two weeks from 2020, but more on that in a second.
A few moments before Taylor’s statement, Commissioner Dr. Warren Mackey said he felt like Hamilton County “was open for business” once again after a 7-2 vote allowed the rezoning of 2207 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road for a residential planned unit development.
Yes, that part of the country is growing exponentially, and there was debate about delaying the vote for better traffic analysis. But the rezoning went through, and progress – or as Dr. Mackey called it, “business” – churned onward.
How are the two things connected? Glad you asked.
Commissioner Sabrena Smedley was banging the drum for a delay, in large part because the planned project is in her district and near East Hamilton High School, and she has heard from a large number of her constituents whom she said were against the extended growth.
In the big picture, we all want growth. We all want more taxpayers so we can have more tax dollars without paying higher tax rates.
In our own backyards, we seldom want growth that is going to cause us more traffic or more crowds.
But if those in the chamber Wednesday should think for a second that Smedley’s consternation and Dr. Mackey’s and several others’ joy after the vote are an isolated incident, well, that’s where the connection to 2020 comes, because 2020 may be the most contentious year in county government in recent memory.
We know the pricey plan for our public school facilities, and we know that school district administrators will undoubtedly ask for more money for operations next year. Neither is going anywhere.
We know the county’s jail issues need to be addressed, and those issues are headed somewhere in the prickly neighborhood of nine figures.
And both of those issues are going to be met with the dueling sentiments: “We support the sheriff/school system” but “We do not want to raise taxes.”
“In 2019, we had a lot of important issues but did not have a lot of closure,” County Mayor Jim Coppinger said after Wednesday’s meeting. “We will have a lot of tough decisions [in 2020] for sure and it will be incumbent on our leadership to address those issues.
“And I point at myself when I say that.”
So 2020 is going to be filled with tough decisions, on that we have universal consensus.
Which brings us back to the at-times heated conversation about zoning and growth in the eastern part of the county.
Because the other elephant-sized expenditure on the horizon for the county is a wastewater treatment facility, a by-product of this coveted growth that shares a clear link to the rezoning development approved Wednesday.
Everyone wants the new water treatment facility to happen – sooner rather than later – but here’s betting no commissioner wants it in his or her district.
And that, my friends, will be some tricky business for commissioners in the coming year.
Jay GreesonContact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.