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Hamilton County mayor outlines new investments in education, roads and opioid response
Summary
County Mayor Weston Wong told a packed State of the County at UTC that the county will propose selling a Riverport parcel to fund $1,000,000 in capital for two Future Ready Centers, highlighted a decline in overdose deaths after opioid-abatement spending, and called for expanded road investments.
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wong laid out a package of education, infrastructure and public-safety priorities in his State of the County address at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Wong said the county will bring a proposal to the County Commission to sell a parcel at the Riverport (Centre South off Amnicola) and use the proceeds to invest $1,000,000 in capital improvements shared between the North River Future Ready Center and the Franklin Roberts (Harrison Bay) Future Ready Center. "We're going to bring to the county commission a proposal to sell a parcel at the Riverport'...and with the proceeds, we want to make a $1,000,000 capital investment into North River Future Ready Center," Wong said. He named Amanda Baron and Keonta Graham as principals at the respective centers.
The mayor framed the investments as part of a broader push to expand career and technical education and workforce pipelines. He said the county is adding three career advisors in partnership with the school system to connect students to employers across Hamilton County.
Wong also reviewed public-safety and health initiatives paid for from opioid-abatement funds, including a medically assisted treatment program in the jail, an overdose-prevention EMS team and the hiring of a drug-focused prosecutor. He said overdose deaths in the county fell from 209 in 2022 to 119 in the most recent full year, and described that decline as tied to targeted county investments: "From 2022, when there were 209 overdose deaths in our county, in the most recent full year, 2025, that's dropped to 119," he said.
On infrastructure, Wong noted completion of a regional forensics facility this summer and said the county has approved nearly $20,000,000 in capital road projects through a county roads fund. He said he will ask the commission to "double down" on that direction in the coming weeks.
Wong closed by stressing collaboration with state leaders and local partners, and he thanked the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for hosting the address.
Next steps: Wong said the Riverport parcel-sale proposal will be brought before the County Commission; no formal vote was recorded at the event.
