THE ISSUES
INTENTIONAL PLANNING
Experience has taught me that a successful commission works together to find solutions for everyone, a rising tide lifts all boats.
As a community, we've made significant progress over the past four years in navigating intentional development the right way, and this remains an important role of the Hamilton County Commission. We've learned to consider not only the structures on properties but the infrastructure around them. We've been updating our plans constantly to effectively address wastewater needs, roads, facilities, new neighborhoods, and government services, including police and fire protection.
When planning neighborhoods and their surrounding infrastructure, I've proven that I can make decisions that are right for the community. Intentional development means that some projects aren't right at that moment in time, and over the past four years, I've shown that I can be decisive about it. The Hamilton County budget has grown toward a billion dollars during my tenure, and as your commissioner, I've risen to that challenge.
I've worked successfully with my fellow commissioners to address issues and collaborated with our state and national elected officials and agencies to secure additional state and federal funding. With over four years of experience, I've proven that to achieve a successful commission, we must work together to find solutions that benefit everyone. A rising tide lifts all boats.
SCHOOLS
As your commissioner, I've brought people together, including residents throughout the district, to be strategic about gaining resources and ensuring responsible development of Hamilton County Schools.
In my role at Walmart, I'm responsible for thousands of associates. In the hiring process, one of the first questions that comes up is always on education. Over my four years as commissioner, I've seen firsthand how our schools face overcrowding challenges, and I've worked to address the needs of our teachers and students as our community continues to develop. Instead of short-term fixes, I've focused on building structures that work in the long run. I've fought to increase teacher pay and applied intentional planning with our facilities, especially when it comes to technology. It's changing rapidly, and I've worked to ensure our aging buildings and infrastructure keep pace.
As your commissioner over the past four years, I've brought people together, including residents throughout the district, to be strategic about gaining resources and ensuring responsible development of Hamilton County Schools.
Education funding has been one of the most important aspects of my service on the commission over these four years. With your continued support, we can keep building on this progress together. Our kids are our future.
JOB CREATION
I’ve helped create opportunities for graduating students and underpaid workers.
Many of our young adults are not suited for the conventional four-year college experience and consequently there is a significant dropout rate.
While vocational training has been removed from most high schools, over the past four years, I've worked to increase opportunities for students, starting in middle school. I've built strong partnerships with Chattanooga State and the training programs already offered by area manufacturers and other companies.
The state of Tennessee offers a significant amount of tech and vocational training at no cost, and there are currently available jobs. This includes not only manufacturing but also IT, carpentry, engineering, healthcare, criminal justice, culinary arts, logistics and robotics among many others. A student can earn a degree or a certificate in two years for free, graduate with no debt and go right into the workforce earning a substantial wage and great benefits.
For those that choose the more conventional four-year experience, I've worked with city, county, state and federal elected officials and organizations in the region to recruit new companies and help existing companies expand. Over my four years as commissioner, I've helped create opportunities for graduating students and for underpaid workers.
PUBLIC SAFETY
As your commissioner, I am committed to strengthening the resources to do everything possible with our other commissioners to provide first responders with the tools necessary to make our district and neighborhoods safe and secure.
Over the last 20 years, I have been an auxiliary officer for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. We're citizens who volunteer our time performing public safety duties for the community such as traffic control, security at large events and many other activities. I've given over 6,000 hours to Hamilton County as a reserve deputy to help support the department. I have ridden many miles throughout the county with other officers. I have seen first-hand the tremendous stress and challenges the law enforcement, firefighters and all the first responders have to face day in and day out. These men and women are true heroes in our community.
As your commissioner over the past four years, I've been committed to strengthening the resources and working with our fellow commissioners to give first responders the tools to make our district and neighborhoods safe and secure.
I've also worked to evaluate how we can improve fire protection, which is almost entirely volunteer-based in the county. We've addressed the challenge of sending people to paid training classes and then losing them to neighboring agencies that can pay them. It impacts the safety of our community when there are medical and fire calls that first responders are struggling to get to. They're volunteering to put their life on the line and taking on life threatening risks to serve our district and Hamilton County.
Over my four years on the commission, we've worked to find ways to pay our officers more so we can be competitive with other counties and other states. We've provided incentives for more effective recruiting. I've brought people together, including all of you in my district, to create solutions that work for everyone.