OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESSIn other business the City Council voted to:• Approve rezoning an 18-acre swath of land where developers plan to build a new multifamily residential complex with 387 units on Riverside Drive.• Increase a construction contract at the St. Elmo and John A. Patten parks to build bathrooms by $7,500 – a total project of $154,242.• Accept $15,000 from Hamilton County Commissioner Warren Mackey to construct better lighting at Millikin Park off West 45th Street.
Nearly 300 people have applied to work in the Chattanooga City Council’s office — jobs that will be vacated by Dec. 1.
By a thin margin, the City Council voted two weeks ago to restructure its four-person staff, a decision that was made after weeks of bickering and stonewalling.
Some on the council argued that the new pay plan was a plot to get rid of the current employees calling it “cowardly” and “evil.” Councilman Yusuf Hakeem even threatened to advise the staff to sue the city.
Other officials who voted in favor of the restructuring said the council needed new positions, such as a full-time employee to write legislation.