Vogel giving up Council seat in move to Idaho lab

Oak Ridge City Council member Hans Vogel will give up his seat at the end of June because he is moving to Idaho National Laboratory in July.

Vogel made the announcement at the City Council meeting on Monday.

Vogel said he will be director of strategic irradiation capability for the Advanced Test Reactor at INL, which is in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

“It is a career opportunity,” Vogel said Monday night. “This opportunity at Idaho National Laboratory was something I couldn’t turn down.”

Vogel will also resign from his seat on the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission. He was on the Planning Commission before he was elected to City Council in November 2016. He now serves as the City Council representative on Planning Commission.

Vogel has worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since October 2013. He is currently an experiment upgrade engineer at ORNL and its High Flux Isotope Reactor.

Vogel has been involved in community activities. For example, he was co-chair of the United Way of Anderson County campaign this year, and he and City Council member Jim Dodson have been representatives of ADFAC (Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties) at the Nine Lakes Wine Festival for the last two years.

While serving on Council, Vogel has been an advocate for the overall implementation of the salary and compensation plan for City of Oak Ridge employees.

Under the Oak Ridge City Charter, Council will have to fill the seat vacated by Vogel within 30 days in a majority vote of the remaining six members of Council. The person who is appointed will serve until the next regular city, county, or state election. It appears that the appointed person would serve through the state, federal, and municipal general election on November 6 because the City Charter says there shall be no appointment to fill a Council vacancy within 60 days of any election, and the August 2 election—the county general election and state and federal primary election—is already just 60 days away.

The person elected in the November 6 election will then serve the remaining two years of Vogel’s four-year term.