As northern Hamilton County has grown, the traffic on Lee Highway has been increasing and Police Chief Brian Hickman of Collegedale is expecting that to continue. Because there are more cars, more businesses and residences and more traffic from Bradley County along with a high number of crashes, the Collegedale Police Department asked permission from the city commissioners to reduce the speed limit on the portion of the road that runs through Collegedale from the current 55 to 45 mph.
Hamilton County has told the chief that the portion of the road under the sheriff’s jurisdiction will be lowered if Collegedale approves the reduction.
Chief Hickman said the city had a third party conduct a traffic study that recommended the reduced speed limit. At 55 mph a head-on crash would be catastrophic, he said. It is also difficult for the police to monitor speeding cars often going 70 mph. Because it is a two lane road with very little shoulder it is dangerous for police to turn around and to catch up going 80 mph to the speeding cars.
Previously, the speed limit has been changed on dangerous parts of Little Debbie Parkway and Chief Hickman told the commissioners that resulted in improvements. Commissioner Phil Garver asked that signage be put on the road and at two dangerous intersections on it, warning of the danger and of the speed change. This will be done if approved by TDOT since it is a state road.
The lower speed limit will run from the Hamilton County and Collegedale line to the Bradley County line on the north end. Signage will be posted at the intersections of Lee Highway with Edgmon Road and at the three-way intersection of Lee Highway with White Oak Valley Circle and Pine Hill Road. Both ordinances passed unanimously on first reading.
The commissioners agreed to make a change to the times that public hearings are held. They agreed to change the practice so public hearings will be held at the second reading of an ordinance instead of at the first reading. This is a general policy and can be altered if it is determined that for a particular ordinance it would be in the city’s best interest to have it at the first reading.
Chief Hickman also requested $25,000, which is above his spending limit, to purchase a “Live Scan” fingerprinting system. This will allow the police to take finger prints digitally, which can be sent to the state immediately and which should prevent mistakes when determining identifications, as opposed to using ink. He said the cost would be off-set some by fees collected by the court system. Individuals needing fingerprints can also have them done at the Collegedale Police Department for a cost, which will also help pay for the equipment.
The Collegedale Commission also approved spending $64,670 for a contract with the company ADS for monitoring sewer flow. The monitors placed in the system will measure the flow during dry periods and during storms to see if areas that have been worked on show improvements. The test will be done during a 60-day period. If no storms occur during that time, the contract can be extended another 30 days for an additional $10,000.
In the past salary discussions took place at budget time. This year, upon the recommendation of the human resources and financial departments, that conversation is in process now. By making the decisions while the 2016-2017 budget is being put together, it will prevent the need of making changes later. At this time, City Manager Ted Rogers said a two percent increase is planned for all 60 employees. This increase will cost Collegedale approximately $50,000 including the benefits packages. The commissioners unanimously chose to increase the city manager’s salary by three percent.
Mr. Rogers is now paid about $109,000.