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AC Senior Center a step closer to reality

Posted at 2:06 pm June 9, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

On Monday night, the Anderson County Operations Committee unanimously voted to approve a five-year lease with B&B Properties on a building in Clinton that will serve as the home of a new Anderson County Senior Center.

The next step in the process will be consideration by the full Anderson County Commission on Monday of the $1,896-a-month lease for the building at 439 South Charles Seivers Boulevard. If approved by the Commission, the Anderson County Office on Aging hopes to be in the new facility by the end of July.

Supporters of a senior center have long decried the lack of adequate space to conduct activities and programs for seniors in the current home of the Office on Aging on Leinart Street. This is the same property officials thought they had an agreement to lease earlier this year that fell through due to a higher-than-expected monthly rent.

The Office on Aging will be providing WYSH with a list of needed items for the new facility in the next few days, and they will pass that information along when it becomes available.

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, Anderson County Office on Aging, Anderson County Operations Committee, Anderson County Senior Center, B&B Properties, Senior Center, WYSH

Guest column: Good things continue to happen in Andersonville

Posted at 1:26 pm June 2, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Guest Columns Leave a Comment

Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department Fire Truck

Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department Fire Truck

 

By Theresa Scott

The Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department recently had a task to complete. Assistant Fire Chief Brian Casto took a crew to Oak Ridge. Upon arrival at the City of Oak Ridge’s main building, Assistant Chief Casto was directed to the Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson’s office. It was time for the papers to be signed. The title needed to be transferred and keys handed over. Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley was there to give further verbal instructions.

While the department heads were inside signing documents and discussing the final technicalities, the crew waited outside. However, without patience, they were found opening doors to compartments, checking out gauges, wiping off the windshield, checking out the view from the driver’s seat of the big yellow fire truck. This big, yellow Quality fire truck is going into full service but in a different zip code. It will still get the same hands-on care that it always had, but now it will be with a new crew out in the country. Perhaps out in the country, but still in the same county. The Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department was getting one of the surplus trucks. Most of the crew were laughing and chatting like a bunch of children on Christmas morning.  The excitement was obvious.

Thank you to the City of Oak Ridge for keeping this (as well as the one that was recently transferred to our Medford Volunteer Fire Department) in our county. It is important that we continue to pay it forward amongst ourselves as we may very well need to depend on it sometime in the future. The residents of Andersonville are very fortunate to have such caring volunteers. These men and women put their lives on the line when called to the scene of an automobile accident, a working residential or commercial property fire, or even to the water if there’s been a boating accident. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Andersonville, Guest Columns, Oak Ridge, Opinion, Police and Fire Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, Andersonville, Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department, Belmont Station Number 3, Brian Casto, City of Oak Ridge, Darryl Kerley, landing zones, Mark Watson, Medford Volunteer Fire Department, surplus truck, Theresa Scott, University of Tennessee Lifestar, volunteer firefighters

City, schools to present budgets to Council today

Posted at 9:16 am June 1, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Note: This story was updated at 9:23 a.m.

The municipal and school budgets will be presented to the Oak Ridge City Council during a meeting this evening (Monday, June 1).

The municipal budget will be presented by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. The schools budget will be presented by Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. See the agenda here.

City officials have been striving to present a budget that does not include a property tax rate increase. But it wasn’t clear as of last week if that would be possible because of a dramatic drop in sales tax revenues from the Roane County portion of the city. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, Government, K-12, Meetings and Events, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Commission, Bruce Borchers, budget, certified tax rate, Clinton, John K. Alley Jr., Mark Watson, municipal budget, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Municipal Building, pay raises, property assessments, property tax rate, reappraisals, Roane County, Roane County Commission, school budget, tax rate increase

Public hearing on Anderson County budget today

Posted at 12:16 pm May 28, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Budget Committee has a public hearing on the budget proposed for the next year at 6 p.m. today (Thursday, May 28). The public hearing starts at 6 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The budget will be presented to the Anderson County Commission for its consideration on Monday, June 15.

The next fiscal year starts July 1.

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County Budget Committee, Anderson County Commission, budget, public hearing

Anderson County school board to discuss compromise on raises

Posted at 12:37 pm May 26, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Board of Education will meet in a special-called session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night (May 26) in the boardroom on the fifth floor of the Jolley Building in downtown Clinton.

The board is expected to discuss a compromise put forward by its Budget Committee to seek 2 percent raises for county teachers instead of the 4 percent raises they initially called for in budget negotiations. Funding just those raises at 4 percent would require the equivalent of a 23.5-cent property tax increase, which is highly unlikely to be approved by the Anderson County Commission.

Budget deliberations are continuing, and adjustments are still being made to the system’s proposal for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, including a reported $800,000 in cuts made last week by school officials.

Following this evening’s special-called meeting, BOE members are expected to meet with county commissioners to continue working on the fiscal blueprint for 2015-2016.

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Board of Education, Anderson County Commission, BOE, budget, Budget Committee, raises, school board, teachers

Anderson mayor: Budget proposal holds spending steady, no tax increase

Posted at 8:07 pm May 18, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

The budget proposed by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank for the next fiscal year would keep most county departments at current-year spending levels and it includes no tax increase, a press release said.

The proposed general fund budget was presented to the Anderson County Budget Committee on Tuesday afternoon, and it was unanimously approved at Thursday evening’s budget meeting, the Mayor’s Office said in the release.

The next fiscal year begins July 1.

The balanced $25,088,157 budget for the county’s general operating fund proposes maintaining a focus on stabilizing spending levels until “we have full economic recovery,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Budget Committee, Anderson County Commission, budget, budget process, budget proposal, Christopher K. Phillips, Connie Aytes, Dusty Irwin, funding, general fund budget, general operating fund, health insurance, Leonard Abbatiello, on-site medical clinic, Phil Warfield, public hearing, Robert McKamey, Russell Bearden, salary increases, schools, spending, tax increase, Terry Frank

Anderson County reappraisal shows overall 4 percent drop in total assessments

Posted at 12:35 pm April 28, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 14 Comments

John K. Alley Jr.

John K. Alley Jr.

By Anderson County Property Assessor’s Office

The 2015 reappraisal in Anderson County shows an overall drop in total assessments.

“In the past, values have always increased,” Anderson County Property Assessor John K. Alley Jr. said. “I promised a fair and accurate assessment for Anderson County, and I feel that is what I have delivered to the property owners.”

The primary purpose of this article is to explain the reappraisal process and set the guidelines for making an appeal, if desired.

2015 is a reappraisal year for Anderson County. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Board of Equalization, Anderson County Commission, Anderson County properties, Anderson County Property Assessor's Office, assessment change notices, certified tax rate, John K. Alley Jr., market value, property assessments, property assessor, Property Assessor's Office, reappraisal, State Board of Equalization, total assessment, total assessments

Anderson County budget workshops, meeting dates

Posted at 7:48 pm April 27, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Anderson County has scheduled budget workshops and meetings for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

There will be no motions made during the budget workshops. Instead, they will include only discussion and formulation.

The workshops will be held in Room 312 in the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton at these times: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Commission, Anderson County Courthouse, budget, Budget Committee, budget workshops

AC committee to discuss review of law director’s office on May 4

Posted at 2:23 pm April 25, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Legal Services Advisory Committee will discuss the review of the law director’s office during a May 4 meeting.

The committee approved the third-party review in February. It was proposed by Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski and modeled after the proposal to review turnover, morale, and administrative policies in the Oak Ridge Police Department.

The review of the Anderson County law director’s office could use County Technical Assistance Service, or CTAS, at the University of Tennessee. The ORPD review could use Municipal Technical Advisory Service, or MTAS. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, Anderson County Courthouse, Anderson County Legal Services Advisory Committee, County Technical Assistance Service, CTAS, law director, Law Director's Office, MTAS, Municipal Technical Advisory Service, Myron Iwanski, Oak Ridge Police Department, ORPD, review, University of Tennessee

Workers building sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road

Posted at 9:03 pm April 1, 2015
By John Huotari 19 Comments

Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tanks

Workers assemble a sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road and Fairbanks Road on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Workers have been assembling a sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road and Fairbanks Road. It’s one of three tanks that will help Oak Ridge comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires the city to end all sewer system overflows by September 2015.

The Emory Valley Road tank is on a roughly one-acre tract on the east side of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center. The other two tanks will be built near the intersection of South Illinois Avenue and Scarboro Road, just down the street from the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in an isolated, industrial area off Cairo Road in east Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved the locations for the three tanks, officially known as equalization basins, in September 2013. The Anderson County Commission agreed to donate a small parcel of land for the Emory Valley Road tank. And the City Council agreed in December 2013 to buy a car wash owned by businessman Terry Mulllins for $125,000 and replace it with the tank at Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue as part of a plan to move that equalization basin farther back from the road. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, Cairo Road, Emory Valley Road, EPA, EPA order, equalization basin, Fairbanks Road, Gary Cinder, holding tanks, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Public Works, Scarboro Road, sewer, sewer system, sewer system holding tank, sewer system overflows, South Illinois Avenue, storm water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

AC Commission meeting wrap-up

Posted at 7:40 pm March 17, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Commission met for the first time since January on Monday night and voted unanimously to release the $20,000 in funding that had been held back from the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department and place them back in the rotation (beginning next year) for county purchase of a new fire truck after the department abandoned its controversial and wildly unpopular subscription program and returned to all-volunteer status.

Commissioner Phil Warfield said that the department “went above and beyond what Commission asked of them” as far as making things right with county leaders and more importantly the citizens they serve.

Commissioners were also introduced to the new fire chief, Del Kennedy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, Andersonville Volunteer Fire, Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department, animal shelter, chickens, Del Kennedy, delinquent tax attorney, delinquent tax lawsuit, fire truck, Foust Carney Lane, Jay Yeager, Oak Ridge Animal Shelter, Phil Warfield, public nuisance lawsuit, Rodney Archer, Steve Mead, Terry Frank

Repair work done, Johnson Gap Road bridge open again

Posted at 7:28 pm March 17, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Johnson Gap Road Bridge

The repair work is down, and the Johnson Gap Road bridge re-opened last week. (Photo by Robert McKamey)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

The bridge on Johnson Gap Road in Anderson County’s Dutch Valley community re-opened last week, a year and a half after it was shut down due to safety concerns.

State inspectors ordered the 100-year-old wooden bridge closed in July 2013 after finding that the wooden support structures were compromised and posed a safety hazard.

The bridge is owned by CSX Railroad, and it is the primary shortcut that Dutch Valley residents use to get to and from Clinton and Oak Ridge, and the shutdown frustrated many.

Work to repair the bridge finally got under way last month.

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Government, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Commission, bridge, Clinton, CSX, CSX Railroad, Dutch Valley, Johnson Gap Road, Oak Ridge, safety, wooden bridge

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