Mayor Explains Plan For Annexing Parts of Hamilton County, Some Residents Opposed

 
  Mention annexation and some people in Hamilton County get fired up.
   County resident Dama McGuire, "If that's what they want to do they'll do it, I hope not."
   County resident Pam Hamilton, "I know they annexed Ooltewah pretty quickly, I almost felt it was under the table, I suspect they would do the same thing here."
   Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield insists there's no mystery to annexing parts of Hamilton County. The growth plan was developed in 2001.
   Mayor Littlefield, "This was a state mandated process. Both the city and the county and all the cities in Hamilton County and every other county in Tennessee approved these growth boundary plans."
   He says with the U.S. Census coming up in 2010, now is the time to act, but that's not the only reason.
   Mayor Ron Littlefield says subdivisions like this one are a prime example of why annexation is necessary. Part of it receives city services, the other does not.
   Mayor Littlefield, "There are subdivisions sitting out there, parts of subdivisions that have essentially no fire protection right now, they might think that they do but they don't. There's some other pockets around, some even in the city of Chattanooga that we have to deal with."
   But not everyone who lives in the county is convinced.
   County resident Pam Hamilton, "I do not want to have to pay for services you don't get for ten years. Sewer, water, we're already paying that out here, we'd be paying double."
   Hamilton County Commissioner Larry Henry has the same concerns. 
   Commissioner Larry Henry, "We don't have service plan in place and we don't have a projected cost of what's it's going to cost the city of Chattanooga to do that."
   Commissioner Henry believes the county provides adequate law enforcement and fire protection.
   Henry, "The only thing that the city could provide would be garbage service and that's a lot to pay for garbage service. One of the big issues in East Brainerd area particularly, is the topography of the subdivisions, it would be costly to put sewers in those areas."
   While Mayor Ron Littlefield says annexation is not a done deal, some county residents say they wont put up a fight.
   County resident Shelia Watson, They're going to get your money either way."