When Mona Petro’s husband died a year and a half ago, she asked herself, what now?
It turns out her next step in life is running for a seat on the Hamilton County Commission, she said.
Petro, a 64-year-old Democrat, has picked up a petition to run for the District 1 seat, representing the northernmost part of Hamilton County, including the city of Soddy-Daisy and other communities like Sale Creek and Mowbray Mountain. She’s a Soddy-Daisy resident and sits on the Hamilton County Democratic Party’s committee for her commission district — and she’d like to see a change in who represents it, she said in an interview.
“I don’t come from a wealthy, well-connected political family,” Petro said. “I’m not a career politician. I just came here with my heart.”
Democratic challenger announces run for Shipley’s seat on Hamilton County Commission
Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, R-Soddy-Daisy, currently sits in the seat Petro is running for. He’s already gotten his paperwork approved to be on the Republican primary ballot in May.
Shipley, 70, was first elected in 2022, unseating Randy Fairbanks, who had been on the commission since 2014. Shipley had previously been a Soddy-Daisy city commissioner for 28 years, and his family has been involved in running the city for 46 of the 55 years Soddy-Daisy has been incorporated.
Petro, by contrast, has never held elected office. Born and raised in Memphis, she worked in client relations for American Express and then as a health care appeals consultant, traveling around the country before moving to Soddy-Daisy in 2019. She came back to Tennessee to be close to her family, she said, because her parents, as well as her son and his family, live in the state.
Then her husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. She began dedicating hours of her day to taking him 30 miles to downtown Chattanooga for treatment, and eventually she retired, she said, to allow herself more time with him.
Petro discussed the idea of running for a local office with her husband before he died. He encouraged her to do so, she said. She wanted to apply what she’d learned in the corporate world to public service, she said, and the kindness of her neighbors while her husband was sick cemented her decision.
“This is who I want to represent,” she said.
Though she’s running as a Democrat, she doesn’t consider the election or the position to truly be partisan, Petro said. She’s aiming for candidacy with the party because it aligns with her values on education and environmentalism, but she has no interest in forming coalitions based on party loyalty when it comes to future votes on the dais, she said.
If she were to be elected, she’d prioritize a number of improvements to her area, she said. After her experience with the health care system in Hamilton County, she would like to find a way to bring a major medical facility closer to Soddy-Daisy.
She’d also bring a common sense approach to development in the northern part of the county, she said. She doesn’t want to see more sprawling subdivisions, she said, and would like to preserve the farms and rural character of the district. She would also focus on setting up local businesses for success in her district, she said.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County officials announce timeline for Soddy Daisy Middle renovation)
When asked about a current proposal before the County Commission that would split a board responsible for zoning recommendations into two bodies, one for Chattanooga and one for the rest of unincorporated Hamilton County, she said her main issue with the board was its representation. She’d like to see a board with representatives specifically from each county district, she said.
“Each one needs their own unbiased, nonpartisan planning representative,” Petro said. “Each district should have that. We have a school board member. We have a commissioner. Why not this?”
The board is currently made up of 15 members appointed by either the county mayor or the Chattanooga mayor. It’s chaired by Ethan Collier, a Chattanooga-based developer.
In regards to planning for her area, Petro wants to bring in more communal gathering spaces for children and families.
She brought up McDonald Farm in Sale Creek as an example, a property Hamilton County originally bought in 2021 to build an industrial park and outlined in Plan Hamilton as a place with the potential for medium-to-high residential areas and industrial areas.
The parcel has been recommended for agritourism in the past by economic development consultants and residents near the area. Recently, County Mayor Weston Wamp proposed preserving 1,300 acres of the farm for conservation while opening up hundreds of acres of Enterprise South Nature Park for industrial development.
Petro has met with people who work on the farm, she said, and she thinks there are underutilized parts that could be developed into community amenities — like a skating rink or a splash pad — so that children have options to have fun in the Soddy-Daisy area, she said.
“Some of the residents that I talk to say that there’s just nothing for their kids to do,” Petro said. “There’s nothing without getting in a car and driving forever.”
(READ MORE: Rep. Greg Martin wants to build Ooltewah-Soddy-Daisy bridge)
Improving life for youth in the area also involves consistent long-term improvements for schools, she said. She supports the current progress on school building renovations in the area and would like to see them through, she said.
She knows her opponent, Shipley, she said, and she thinks that he is a kind person. But she’d like to take a turn and offer a fresh approach, she said.
Also, it’s not lost on Petro that currently all eleven commissioners are men.
“They need that feminine energy up there, you know?” Petro said.
If Petro gets 25 signatures on her election petition by Feb. 19, she will qualify for the Democratic primary in May. There are no current challengers for her nomination.
After the primary, she would go on to face Shipley — who also currently has no Republican challengers — in the county’s general election Aug. 6.
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.