Urban League still in conflict with Mayor Wamp

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The President of the Urban League says they are still reeling from funds taken away from them by Hamilton County.

Candy Johnson, president of the Chattanooga Urban League, says the ongoing criticism from Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp is misguided after ARPA funding was taken away from their organization in November. 

She says the ongoing battle is taking away from the students that they serve.

Johnson said, “We are making a difference, but the mayor’s attitude towards our organization and his demeanor, even when he speaks about this publicly, is very dismissive of our work, and you see that pattern in every encounter that he’s having publicly whether it is with the County Commission, or a multitude of issues.

Johnson says the notion that the Chattanooga Urban League is frivolously spending funds is untrue.

She said, “The former auditor who was there at that time had hand delivered several of the checks. We didn’t get a blank check to go out and write what the mayor is calling questionable purchases.:

Johnson took us around their office building as Mayor Wamp has argued the county found unnecessary spending on quote, “fancy blinds and glass panels”.

The Urban League President says the spending has been necessary as their operations have expanded and says they have tried to be as responsible as possible in their spending.

Johnson described, “The size of our windows, when you think about energy efficiency and the cost, we were constantly putting in work orders to get the HVAC fixed and they were like, “It’s the design, it’s your large windows, you probably want to cover them up.” “

Johnson says Mayor Wamp has an open invitation to visit their office but added, “When you think about a partnership, that starts from a level of respect and a level of trust, those two things we’ve had neither.”

Mayor Wamp’s office did send the following response saying, 

“The CEO of the Urban League (Johnson) has refused offers to meet with Mayor Wamp and members of his staff on numerous occasions. That should tell the public all they need to know.”

Johnson responded to this quote by saying,

“We’ve not had any direct communication from the mayor’s office to us. The non agenda item was voted on, implemented, and again the mayor is misleading the public to circumvent the focus of the unjust actions taken against our organization.”

Johnson says all options are still on the table moving forward for a response.