As a citizen of East Ridge, I would like to thank Attorney John Anderson for a job well done. John has served the citizens of East Ridge for five years and it has not been easy. He and his wife have had to endure a lot of negative press and accusations that have not been true. John is an honest man and has only wanted what was best for East Ridge.
I attended the meeting last night and I was embarrassed. There was no time for any discussion, as a matter of fact, no discussion was allowed, no words of thanks, nothing.
I have heard rumors that some of the council members want to bring back Cris Helton. I truly hope the citizens will demand better.
Maybe not, you had one of the best attorneys in Chattanooga and treated him like a criminal. Again, thanks, John Anderson. You are a class act.
Ruth Braly
Citizen of East Ridge
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Ruth Braly, your article caused me to pause and wonder just what planet have you been living on? You could not have been in East Ridge during the last four years, or attended a City Council meeting.
My belief is John Anderson's firing was more than justified, and was way past due. In fact, Thursday night and Friday was the best day East Ridge has had in a long time. I was so happy over this I could almost see the sun shining all over East Ridge and it was about 10:30 p.m. when this happened.
I am still singing.....Oh happy day.........
Emilia Genter
East Ridge
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My, my, my, Mrs. Braly. Your comments do not surprise me at all. Let's review a few things you did not mention. Mr. Anderson, you, Tim Gobble, his new assistant, which by the way, is his daughter's boyfriend, all belong to the same church. Nothing against the church, but I am sure there is a definite allegiance there.
Next, let's not forget that Mr. Anderson has been terminated from previous jobs due to his excessive fees. Our illustrious ex-mayor Steele wanted Anderson in, planned for it, and made it happen, and he has been a leech ever since and he knows it.
And to make it worse, the big case Mr. Larry Sewell referred to is the Superior Creek Lodge case. This will cost us thousands of dollars and Anderson is going to lose and he knows it.
He had his wife and other family members, as well as yourself, in the audience. He knew he was going to be terminated before he sat down with the council; that was going to be his last hurrah, and he was going to take advantage of it to the point he had his own court reporter there. He had it all planned out, but for the first time in his too long tenure, it backfired. His draining of our city ended Thursday night and is finally over, and I, for one, am extremely happy.
Oh, and to speak poorly of whomever becomes the next city attorney may not be a wise thing for you to do. You better have your facts straight as I have been to many council meetings, including the ones with our illustrious ex-mayor Steele, and I never noticed you there or involved with any discussions from council, much less any opinions about attorney actions.
Jackie Fulks
East Ridge
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It is about time East Ridge dumped John Anderson.
I have a big dose of schadenfreude for him.
Ike Conn
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Well, well, we have had some sad days in East Ridge, but Thursday night was not one of them.
This is not about John Anderson or Cris Helton, this issue is about the best for the city. I do not like or dislike either of these because I really don’t know either of them personally.
As far as John Anderson’s performance as the city attorney, I do have an opinion. I have voiced my opinion before about legal fees exceeding the budgeted amount and council hasn’t seemed to care. In 2010, both Lambert and Sewell wanted to cut legal fees to the point that the line item for legal in the budget was below the contracted $90,000 retainer fee. They voted the amount for legal cost below the contracted fee. Mr. Anderson did not advise them in the public meeting that they could not do that. Of course, the legal fees were well over the budgeted amount.
After the council had been given copies of the proposed budget for 2012/2013, I requested a copy of the budget. City Manager Gobble told me it was working papers and the city attorney told him he didn’t have to give me a copy. I did get my copy of the budget as afforded by Tennessee’s Open Records Act after getting the Office of Open Records involved. If Mr. Anderson told Mr. Gobble he didn’t have to release the budget, that was poor legal advice.
A city attorney is to keep the city legal and it appears that Mr. Anderson has been more involved in policy decisions than his position requires. I am not blaming Mr. Anderson for that since I have witnessed staff and officials ask him, “What do you think, John?” Unless it is a legal issue, Mr. Anderson’s opinion is not relevant. He is not a citizen of East Ridge; however he does own an undeveloped piece of property in East Ridge. I know this because, at an East Ridge meeting a few years back, he said with a big smile on his face, “Frances, I can vote in East Ridge now. I own a piece of property in East Ridge.” I didn’t understand why this was of any great importance and I was a bit snarky with Mr. Anderson saying, “Okay, does that mean, you are going to tell council if they fire you, you won’t vote for them?” Our charter still has an old provision that property owners can register and vote in East Ridge municipal elections even if they reside elsewhere.
I recently asked some legal questions about our city charter at council meeting. There were a couple of actions that council had taken that appeared to conflict with the charter. I never got any real answer with facts as to if there was a violation or not. Attorney Anderson’s answer was simply no there was no violation. Of course, I don’t blame John for that. He works for council and if they don’t instruct him to issue a reason for his opinion, I certainly can’t. I am only a citizen.
I never understood how our contract with John was proper to begin with. The contract was between the city of East Ridge and John Anderson. However, the checks were written to the law firm that John is with. The contract called for a 1099 to be issued to John and that was never done. I was given some off the cuff explanation when I questioned it and I suggested that the contract be rewritten to comply with what we were doing. That never happened. I will say that my conversations were with staff and officials, not John. But I have to assume they were John’s answers since they began with “John said…”
It is apparent that some officials and staff have more than a working relationship with John Anderson. They have become good friends and sometimes that clouds the judgment of who is whose boss.
I could go on and on with examples and even conversations with past and present elected officials about this, but I won’t at this time. I will say that due to cost and decision making ability of our elected officials, I support the termination of the contract.
As far as Mr. Helton’s relationship with the city, I do not support him being hired as the permanent city attorney. Nothing against Cris, but our city needs to heal and his name being mentioned is already causing conflict. I have previously and still support us researching the cost effectiveness of having a full time attorney. The decision to appoint Mr. Helton on a temporary basis, I do support. It has been stated that we are facing immediate court dates and must have representation. Mr. Helton, being a former East Ridge attorney, can step in more quickly that other attorneys. He is familiar with municipal law, he lives in East Ridge and knows what is going on, he knows his way around the local court system and he understands our form of government. I will be at the called meeting today to hear the particulars on this subject.
Citizens of East Ridge, everything is going to be okay. Life goes on and no one is irreplaceable. Individuals who do the job are secondary to getting the job done. It is time to heal, work together and go beyond personalities and make the decisions that are best for our city and our citizens.
Frances Pope