Council members voted Tuesday to deannex a property on Lee Highway so the city could continue annexing property around it.
Councilwoman Deborah Scott said she had some concerns. She said she thought taking one parcel out would mean the person living on the property would still get services.
“If we can put a sign in front saying ‘This is not the city of Chattanooga,’ then we can talk,” she said.
Scott argued that city workers collecting garbage or doing brush pickup would not know that one house was not in the city. She said it would be too confusing.
City officials said the property’s owner has sued the city over the annexation. Taking that one person out of the annexation would mean every other parcel would come into the city, officials said.
The council voted 6-2 on the deannexation. Scott and Councilman Russell Gilbert voted no.
Wamp readies for new future
Former U.S. House Speaker “Tip” O’Neill famously said that members of Congress usually only leave Washington by defeat, disgrace or death.
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., who is leaving his seat in Congress in January after 16 years, insists he is ready to give up the job voluntarily.
“While I lost my campaign for governor, I can assure everyone I am not defeated, I’m not disgraced and I’m not dead,” he said.
Although the Chattanooga Republican was in line to become a powerful chairman of one of the appropriations subcommittees in the U.S. House if he had sought and won re-election, Wamp said he isn’t looking back.
“Everything has its season,” Wamp said last week. “I didn’t want to stay so long that I felt like I was just hanging on to the job.”
The 53-year-old retiring congressman said he still is talking with others about his options after his term ends. He said his goal is “to get my income up and my [golf] handicap down.”