Chattanooga City Hall
Chattanooga Mayor-elect Andy BerkeINAUGURATION DAYMayor-elect Andy Berke, along with council members, will be sworn in at 10 a.m. Monday at the Tivoli Theatre. The doors open at 9:15 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.ANDY BERKE* Age: 45* Career: Attorney, former state senator and legislative aid to U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.* Education: Graduate of Baylor School, Stanford University and the University of Chicago Law School* Mayor number: Chattanooga’s 65th mayor* Mayor pay: $146,607 annuallyChattanooga on the move* Technology: Techie.com last week listed Chattanooga as one of the 10 most unexpected cities for high tech innovation. Chattanooga was cited for having the fastest Internet speeds in the United States, for its financial support of high-tech startups and for its proximity to the Titan supercomputer in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — the fastest computer in the world.* Jobs: From the depths of the recession in 2009, metropolitan Chattanooga has added 2,500 net new jobs. Unemployment in Hamilton County was 0.5 percent below the Tennessee rate and 0.4 percent below the U.S. rate in February, the most recent month available.* Home prices: The median price of homes sold in Chattanooga rose last year by the biggest amount in seven years as the housing market rebounded from the Great Recession. But the typical Chattanooga home still sold last year for 26 percent less than the U.S. average.* New business: In the past five years, the Chattanooga area has landed $2 billion-plus investments from Volkswagen’s car assembly plant and Wacker’s polysilicon plant in nearby Charleston and the state’s single biggest job addition from Amazon’s distribution centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties.Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Association of Realtors, Techie.com, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
With a new mayor, a mostly new City Council and with city department heads being replaced, the leadership of Chattanooga’s City Hall changes Monday as much as in any time in modern history.
Andy Berke, an attorney and former state senator, takes the city’s top job without having outlined detailed plans in his campaign but with many in the community in a more hopeful mood.
“I think there is a real sense of optimism with the economy improving, a growing entrepreneurial spirit in town and new leadership at City Hall,” said Rick Hitchcock, an attorney who has worked in various capacities for a half-dozen Chattanooga mayors.
Berke won the mayor’s seat by capturing more than 72 percent of the vote in March — the biggest margin of any mayor since the current City Council form of government was created in 1990. He has pledged to reorganize the leadership of City Hall, keeping just three of the top 21 officers in the administration of outgoing Mayor Ron Littlefield. Seven of the nine City Council members who will join Berke at Monday’s swearing-in ceremony also are replacing retiring or defeated incumbents.