Brent Lambert
A new Bass Pro Shop is set for development off I-75 Exit 1 in East Ridge, Hamilton County’s second most populous city. East Ridge is using border tax to aid the exit’s revival.East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert was re-elected to a second term Tuesday night, but he said before the victory that his contest wasn’t the most talked-about item on the city’s ballot this month. Lambert defeated Vice Mayor Jim Bethune and challenger Frances Pope, a local political activist.
Voters in Hamilton County’s second-most-populous city also had four amendments to the city charter to decide on Thursday. The talker, said Lambert, was Amendment Four, which if passed would allow the city to form its own school system, independent of the county, if the city’s residents decided to do so.
“It’s good to at least have that as an opportunity,” said Lambert on Thursday.
State law formerly forbade municipalities that have never had an independent school system from forming one. But that law was overturned in 2013 .
East Ridge took advantage of the change Tuesday, passing Amendment Four and three other charter changes.