Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge recruits for Secret City Festival board, Oak Ridge Corridor committee

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

By Oak Ridge City Manager Mark S. Watson

The City is Oak Ridge is currently recruiting members for a new committee and the inaugural Board of Directors for a forthcoming 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

At the September 14, 2015, City Council meeting, the City Council approved a series of resolutions based on recommendations of the Special Events Advisory Task Force to provide recommendations on planning, funding review, and execution of all special events managed or supported by the City. Based on previous City Council discussions on special events, the Special Events Advisory Task Force prioritized its focus on the Secret City Festival, an award-winning, two-day summer event that has been hosted in the City of Oak Ridge for nearly 14 years. The purpose of the nonprofit that is to be established is to assume the responsibility of implementing changes to the Secret City Festival/Celebration and other local events. The goal of the organization will be to become self-sustaining within five years (2020). [Read more…]

Oak Ridge personal, property tax payments due Oct. 30

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City of Oak Ridge Seal

Friday is the due date for paying real property taxes in Oak Ridge without penalty. All of this year’s property tax bills have been mailed and should have been delivered to property owners, a press release said.

Taxes go to support the operation of many city services—from street maintenance to the library. The police and fire departments, refuse removal and disposal, recreation and parks and many other city activities are all supported by the property tax, the press release said. A portion of the tax also goes to support the Oak Ridge school system.

The city staff said a relatively small number of property owners may not receive a tax notice. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge to celebrate new Manhattan Project Park on Nov. 12

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Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

Oak Ridge will have two community events on November 12 to celebrate the establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. That proposal has been in the works for years to commemorate the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

The legislation authorizing the park was signed into law in December 2014, and it designated sites in Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington as a new three-site national park.

The Oak Ridge City Council has designated the week of November 9-15 as
“The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Week.”

Events have been scheduled at Oak Ridge High School and in Historic Jackson Square on Thursday, November 12, two days after a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C. The two Oak Ridge events will celebrate the establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. [Read more…]

New preschool could cost $7.5 million; Elm Grove Park a proposed site

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Shirley Raines Presentation to Oak Ridge City Council on Oct. 20, 2015

Shirley C. Raines, citizen representative and chair of a preschool planning committee, presents a report to Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education members during a joint work session on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A new preschool for Oak Ridge Schools could cost $7.5 million, and Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge is among the sites where the new 20-classroom facility could be built, a planning committee said in a report released Tuesday.

A new preschool has been on the city’s wish list for years. The Joint City/Schools Preschool Planning Committee said the existing building on New York Avenue needs significant repairs, and renovations could cost about $7.5 million, or about as much as it would cost to construct a new facility.

The Preschool Planning Committee, which has nine members and three non-voting members, estimated that the new 40,000-square-foot facility could cost $6.3 million to build. There would be an additional $1.2 million in expenses for infrastructure, architects, and other fees, and an in-depth analysis by design and construction firms, pushing the total to $7.5 million, according to a summary presented by citizen representative and committee chair Shirley C. Raines during a joint Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education work session on Tuesday. [Read more…]

City accepting applications for first special events board

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Secret City Festival World War II Re-enactment 2015

A Flak 88 firing during a Battle of Normandy re-enactment at the 2015 Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Rob Welton)

 

Election notice: The City Clerk’s Office is accepting resumes and letters of interests from members of the public who want to serve on the inaugural board of directors for a new nonprofit organization that will be responsible for implementing the expanded Secret City Festival/Celebration.

City Council will select eight remaining members of the 14-member board. Six members of the board of directors have been designated from the former Special Events Advisory Task Force, and those representatives include Ben Arnold, Mike Brown, Judi Gray, Kate Groover, Ray Smith, and Michelle Ward.

The election for this committee is scheduled to occur at the November 16, 2015, City Council meeting. [Read more…]

City accepting applications for Oak Ridge Corridor Initiative Committee

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Pellissippi Parkway

The Pellissippi Parkway is an important link between Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Blount County. (Photo courtesy Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission)

Election notice: The City Clerk’s Office is accepting resumes and letters of interest from members of the public who are interested in serving on a recently established five-member Oak Ridge Corridor Initiative Committee.

The committee was established by City Council on October 12, 2015, to study the economic, regional, and marketable benefits of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander’s proposal to rename the four-lane highway from the Knoxville airport to Oak Ridge the “Oak Ridge Corridor.” It’s now known as Pellissippi Parkway.

Council member Rick Chinn has been selected as one of the five members to chair the committee.

The committee shall report its findings to the City Council by May 31, 2016. [Read more…]

Mall demolition could start end of Nov., eight new stores could open by Christmas 2016

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Sears at Oak Ridge City Center

Demolition work at the former Oak Ridge Mall could start at the end of November at the former Sears store, and eight new stores could open at the redeveloped 60-acre site by Christmas 2016, officials said Monday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6:55 p.m.

Demolition work at the former Oak Ridge Mall could start at the end of November at the former Sears store, and eight new stores could open at the redeveloped 60-acre site by Christmas 2016, officials said Monday.

RealtyLink, the new master developer announced in September, has been looking at the mostly vacant shopping center in the heart of Oak Ridge since 2009. They replace Crosland Southeast, which had been working on the $80 million redevelopment project for more than two years.

RealtyLink, which is based in Greenville, South Carolina, hopes to close on the property, which is now owned by Oak Ridge City Center LLC, at the end of November.

A demolition permit has already been issued, but it’s not in RealtyLink’s name. [Read more…]

One injured after driver allegedly runs stop sign, hits city truck, report says

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Hillside Road and Pennsylvania Avenue Crash on Oct. 16, 2015

A 22-year-old Oak Ridge man was taken by an ambulance to a Knoxville hospital after he allegedly ran a stop sign and hit a city-owned pickup truck at Hillside Road and Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, authorities said. (Photo courtesy Kevin Rice)

 

A 22-year-old Oak Ridge man was taken by ambulance to a Knoxville hospital after he allegedly ran a stop sign and hit a city-owned pickup truck on Friday, authorities said.

Nathan D. Benvenuto was driving east on Hillside Road in a 1991 GMC compact utility vehicle when he ran the stop sign at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue at about 11:26 a.m. Friday, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

Benvenuto’s vehicle collided with a 2012 Ford pickup truck owned by the City of Oak Ridge and driven by Timothy Lynn Ward, 46, also of Oak Ridge. Ward was driving southbound on Pennsylvania Avenue at the time of the crash.

“(Benvenuto’s vehicle) did not stop for the stop sign on Hillside Road at Pennsylvania Avenue and entered the intersection in front of (the pickup truck driven by Ward), which did not have time to stop and collided with (Benvenuto’s vehicle),” said the crash report, written by ORPD Officer Daniel Freytag. [Read more…]

Council to consider amending mall plan, inviting DOE to discuss travel practices

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Oak Ridge Mall

The Oak Ridge City Center, which could be redeveloped as a multi-use town center known as Main Street, is pictured above. Also known as the former Oak Ridge Mall, the L-shaped building is at center. The white building at center left is Walmart, and it is not part of the proposed redevelopment. Neither is the white building at center top, the Tinseltown Theater. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.

During a special meeting Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council will consider amending the economic impact plan for the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. The change is being considered primarily because the master developer has changed.

The amendment to the economic impact plan, which also includes a date change, will be considered a day earlier, on Monday, October 19, by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board and Anderson County Commission.

The Industrial Development Board has a public hearing and special meeting on the $13 million tax increment financing, or TIF, for the redevelopment and an amendment to the economic impact plan at 3:45 p.m. Monday, October 19, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room. The County Commission is expected to consider the amendment in a meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. [Read more…]

City Council to discuss housing, infrastructure at Oct. 24 retreat

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Oak Ridge City Council on July 27, 2015

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss housing and capital infrastructure planning during a retreat on Saturday, October 24. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss housing and capital infrastructure planning during a retreat on Saturday, October 24.

The retreat is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. October 24 at the MCLinc Conference Facility at Heritage Center, 200 Heritage Boulevard. That’s 2010 Highway 58, Building K-1000.

Christina Kloker Younger of C.K. Young Creative Planning Systems will help lead the meeting, a notice said.

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See copy of ORPD review by MTAS here

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The Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee presented its report on the six-month review of the Oak Ridge Police Department in a 20-page report presented to the Oak Ridge City Council in a special work session on Thursday. See a copy of the MTAS report here.

MTAS-Review-ORPD-Oct-15-2015-Page-1 MTAS-Review-ORPD-Oct-15-2015-Page-2 [Read more…]

Pay cited most often as reason for ORPD turnover, low morale, MTAS report says

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Margaret Norris and Rex Barton of MTAS on Oct. 15, 2015

Margaret Norris, left, and Rex Barton of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee deliver the results of a six-month review of the Oak Ridge Police Department to City Council on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. Oct. 16.

It probably wasn’t the explanation that many expected, but pay was cited most often as the reason for turnover and low morale in the Oak Ridge Police Department, according to a report released Thursday.

Some have pinned most of the blame for the department’s woes—or perceived woes, depending upon your perspective—on Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi, and they had called for an investigation of the chief earlier this year on several different fronts.

Among those pressing for an investigation was Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn. She and others had raised questions about the chief’s temperament, including whether he has outbursts and is vindictive, and what Baughn suggested is a high turnover rate.

But the City Council instead approved a review of the ORPD that focused on morale, turnover, and administrative policies. In March, Council hired the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee to conduct the six-month review, which was first proposed by Council member Kelly Callison. MTAS presented its findings in a 20-page report presented to the Oak Ridge City Council in a special work session on Thursday.

The report identified a primary culprit familiar to many workers: pay. But as officers have pointed out, they, unlike most other workers, face danger on a daily basis.

Most of those interviewed by MTAS thought that ORPD salaries are not suitable for retaining good employees, MTAS consultant Rex Barton told Council members Thursday. Whatever raises have been given in the past few years have been outstripped by the rise in the cost of benefits, Barton said.

[Read more…]