County Mayor vetoes new dais to make room for him and new commissioner

"there was some sticker shock with that price tag"

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp is vetoing plans to add an additional seat to the County Commission’s Dais.

At last week’s meeting, it was announced that the expansion would cost 49-thousand dollars.

After speaking with Chairman Chip Baker and members of his staff, Wamp decided not to have a seat among the commissioners.

“The price tag on what it takes to add a seat was — there was some sticker shock with that price tag — and so I spent a couple of days thinking about it and came to the decision that our time in office is going to signal a lot of changes and one of them is going to be now the upending of the tradition that the county mayor sits up there on the dais.”

Wamp will still be in the room for county commission meetings, and will approach the podium when he wants to speak.

The money that would have gone toward the dais is now available for other projects.