Bradley County Commission meeting recap

The Bradley County Commission held a work session this week.

Mayor Gary Davis announced salary increases for the Bradley County Fire Department, funded through savings from unfilled vacancies. Four positions are currently vacant, with two more expected to open in January. These six vacancies represent an estimated $76,000 in savings, which the mayor redistributed as salary increases. Effective December 1, firefighters making $38,474 now earn $41,000, and other tiered adjustments were made across the department. Forty employees also received a $1,000 raise. The adjustments were made within the existing budget and do not require commission approval.

Commissioners also discussed changing how fire stations are dispatched. Mayor Davis recommended that the closest station be sent to a fire, regardless of whether the station is in city or county jurisdiction. He believes this would improve response times in overlapping service areas. A fire tax committee is expected to reconvene to review the proposal.

2nd District Commission Louie Alford told commissioners Athletic Field Improvement Ad Hoc committee met today and voted to recommend supporting an initiative to turf the infields at Bradley North, Urbane Road, Elrod and Blue Springs Parks - to look to mayor and parks and rec director for project planing and funding - estimated cost to be around $5.1 million - phased to ad hoc committee recommended a $5.1 million plan to turf the infields at several parks across the county. That item will be added to the next voting session.

The Legal and Legislative Committee members proposed new rules for reviewing tax incentives and discussed a nuisance property cleanup.

The next commission meeting will be held on Monday, December 15, at noon.