Not one to mince words, Catoosa Chairman Bill Clark shared his sometimes controversial stances on Thursday during the State of the County Address.

Approximately 160 Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce members gathered at the Colonnade to share a lunch of chicken, cheese-stuffed potatoes, green beans and salad, and hear about the future of the county from its chief elected official.

“My primary goal is to identify the problems of the county, put them in priority and in some kind of a logical rationale, business-like manner, and try to get them solved, knowing full well, that those who are profiting from the status quo, are all going to get bent out of shape.

“If I were going to rate the county based on where it should be, I would give it a grade of about a 60,” he said.

Clark highlighted a list of accomplishments that have occurred since his taking office while stressing being re-elected is not his primary goal in life.

“The general opinion is that we should slow down growth until our infrastructure can catch up,” he said. “The economy is certainly helping, but so are new building ordinances. We have not approved a new subdivision in over a year.”

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Hot topics…

The Colonnade

Clark touched briefly on three areas of community discussion:

“Most of the people outside this room are disappointed in how the Colonnade is being utilized,” he said. “They were looking forward to a community center for meetings, weddings and family reunions. They would be happy to see it utilized by (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), Dalton College or Northwestern Technical.

“But they resent having to subsidize a fine arts program to the tune of $100,000 a year,” he said.

Clark agreed that the Catoosa County Foundation for the Performing Arts also has a claim.

“They have spent many hours and close to a million dollars on the Colonnade,” he said. “Trying to reach a compro-mise, the commission put the Colonnade on a two-year program of decreasing subsidy and that subsidy will com-pletely phase out at the end of 2008.”

The Chamber

“Free office space for the Chamber is another controversy,” he said. “It is interesting to me that the Chamber, made up of the wealthiest people in the county, would want to tax the poorest people in the county for free office space.”
“The Chamber and Colonnade can make whatever arrangements are mutually beneficial for the office space cur-rently occupied by the Chamber,” he said.


Fire consolidation
“We are in the process of consolidating our fire resources into one countywide fire department,” he said. “It has become very difficult to keep money, manpower and equipment evenly distributed among three fire entities as their areas of responsibility change size and shape.

“The volunteers are the bedrock of any fire service but as the calls increase and the volunteers become fewer,” he said, “we have had to add additional full-time firemen, especially during the day when most of the volunteers are at work.”

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After highlighting accomplishments, he plowed into where he thinks the county should be headed.

He said in order to get there, he appointed the Catoosa Vision 2020 Committee to help define where the county should be in 20 years. Its members are a cross section of the county, he said.

“As it turns out they are not developing a future plan as much as we are developing an ongoing program, because we are implementing their recommendations as rapidly as we can,” he said.

He shared that land use ordinances are already being changed at the committee’s recommendation to make subdivisions among the very best, including sidewalks, buried utilities, capped sewers where sewer service is expected, trees and greenspace.

“We are looking at conservative subdivisions,” he said. “ Rather than putting 100 houses on 100 acres, would it not be better to put 100 houses on 50 acres and leave 50 acres as green space for the benefit of the residents?”

Clark said these types of steps help to improve quality of life, and save on water, sewer and other infrastructure costs

Other measures coming are ordinances to protect ridgelines and better control of signage.

He said the committee developed a historic preservation and tourism game plan that includes the need for a museum, improving historical sites under county control and partnering with private owners for presentation of sites in private hands.

He suggests the county add another celebration to inspire tourism, whether that is Cherokee Days or Gen. Patrick Cleburne Days, in honor of the Confederate hero of The Battle of Ringgold Gap.

Still ahead for committee review are a closer look at parks, recreation, tourism, transportation, fire and police protection and intergovernmental affairs.

Clark stressed the importance of economic development, stating plainly the county should consider an industrial park and a 100,000 square feet industrial building with 40-foot ceilings to attract potential industry to look at the county.

He said the day will soon come when the Environmental Protection Agency will ask the county to address water pollution problems.

“South Chickamauga Creek is the second most polluted creek in the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) system,” he said. “We can cut our costs tremendously by participating in a North Georgia regional program.”

Clark cites the biggest problem in the community to be political.

“It is very difficult to get responsible people to run for public office,” he said. “They will criticize and complain, but talk is cheap. The only way one can significantly make a difference is to put their name on the ballot.”

Clark closed by saying that the Catoosa County Board of Commissioners is doing its best to bring the county into the 21st Century and at the same time keep Catoosa a great place to live.