City accepts donation for repairing potholes
Chattanooga will have fewer potholes, thanks to Domino’s Pizza.
In a unanimous vote, city council members accepted a $5,000 donation from the pizza restaurant chain during Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Who wouldn’t be in favor of filling up a pothole, especially if pizza is paying for it?” Councilman Chip Henderson said
before moving to approve.
That money would pay for about 750-900 potholes at about $5.50-$6.60 per pothole, according to the Chattanooga Department of Public Works.
That calculation is based on
the average number of potholes filled per day for every one truck, which is 25-30, depending on the size of the pothole, Public Works Spokeswoman Colline Miller said.
“Keeping in mind the cost of materials, we would likely be able to utilize the $5,000 grant for about 30 days,” she said.
But the money doesn’t come without conditions.
A nine-section agreement spells out Domino’s expectations for itself and the city with which it’s partnering — also known as the legal stuff.
As part of the contract, Chattanooga agrees to film or photograph at least two potholes before and after they are filled and provide those images to Domino’s for company use. In return, Domino’s agrees that any images “will not portray the City in a negative light,” nor will it use the photos to suggest that the city has a pothole problem.
The restaurant launched its pothole-filling campaign last year, all in the name of “saving pizza, one pothole at a time.”
Through December of last year, Domino’s asked customers to nominate their town for pothole repairs on its campaign website by entering their ZIP codes.
The company received a massive response, with customers submitting more than 137,000 nominations from 15,275 different ZIP codes in all 50 states, according to an August 2018 news release. That prompted the company to expand its program to pave one community in each state.
So far, Domino’s has filled potholes in at least 16 states.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
› Former Vice Chairman Erskine Oglesby was elected to be the new council chairman, replacing Ken Smith. In the vice chairman’s seat is Chip Henderson.
› Also approved Tuesday was an ordinance amending the city code for health nuisances by adding a section that addresses “noxious odors,” something that could negatively affect the city’s chicken plants. It will have to be approved again during next week’s council meeting before it becomes official, Oglesby said.
The ordinance was originally introduced last month by Smith, but a vote was postponed to “get a few other things in order and make sure that we were doing the right thing and we had a good ordinance on the books,” he said.
The ordinance allows the city to enforce a $50 fine for any property owners found to be in violation.
Odors become a nuisance when at least eight out of 25 people who are exposed to one believe it to be objectionable, or when there are fewer than 25 people exposed, at least one-half have to believe it to be objectionable, according to the ordinance.