Oak Ridge Today has uploaded a copy of the city manager’s budget presentation to Oak Ridge City Council. You can see a PDF version of the budget presentation here: City of Oak Ridge (Fiscal Year 2017 Budget).
Council received the PowerPoint presentation during a special meeting on Tuesday.
Here are a few highlights from the Tuesday meeting: [Read more…]
Mark LeNoir, right, a junior at Oak Ridge High School, is running for Oak Ridge City Council in November. (Submitted photo)
A 17-year-old junior at Oak Ridge High School is running for Oak Ridge City Council, and he said he wants to represent the city’s youth on the seven-member body.
Mark LeNoir, the first candidate to publicly announce a City Council campaign this year, at least to Oak Ridge Today, will turn 18 on October 5, about one month before the November 8 election.
On Wednesday, LeNoir said he kicked off his campaign a few weeks ago at a banquet for Youth Leadership of Oak Ridge at the DoubleTree Hotel.
“My biggest thing is that there is a lot of unrepresented youth in this town,” LeNoir said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “It’s kind of stayed on the same path for the last 20 years. I want to get change happening.”
LeNoir said he wants more cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, including possibly having the city take over the American Museum of Science and Energy, or AMSE, and Clark Center Park. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m.
The proposed city budget presented to Oak Ridge City Council members on Tuesday would leave the property tax rate unchanged, but it could include rate increases for water, sewer, and trash collection.
If approved by Council, the budget would not increase the property tax rate for the ninth year in a row. After five-year reappraisals last year, the rate is now set at $2.52 per $100 of assessed value.
The proposed budget includes a 3 percent pay adjustment that would move employees along their pay scales, helping to separate those who have worked for the city for a while from those who have just started.
The trash fee would increase by $3.50 per month, raising it from $10.50 to $14 per month starting in October. The fee was raised to $10.50 last year. At $14 per month, the city would no longer subsidize part of the trash fee, as it has previously done. The city used to pay half of the $14 fee, meaning residents paid $7 per month and the city paid $7. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present the proposed budget for the next fiscal year during a special meeting this evening (Tuesday, May 31).
Watson will present the budget to the Oak Ridge City Council in a meeting that starts at 7 p.m. today in the Municipal Building Courtroom.
Council is expected to consider approving the budget in two meetings in June. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Board of Education passed the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 on second and final reading on Monday.
The budget includes 3 percent salary increases and a request for an additional $538,048 from the city, a 3.6 percent increase in municipal funding.
The schools budget was approved unanimously in the first of two readings on Wednesday. It passed unanimously again on Monday. The school board made no significant changes to the budget proposed by the school system.
The budget will now be considered as part of the annual budget deliberations by the Oak Ridge City Council. The city typically provides a little less than 30 percent of the school system’s funding. The schools also receive state and federal funding. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council is expected to discuss backyard chickens, Centennial Golf Course, and Anderson County General Sessions Court during a non-voting work session on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A change in city ordinances that would allow backyard chickens is on the agenda for an Oak Ridge City Council work session tonight (Tuesday, May 17). Also on the agenda during the non-voting work session are options for the city-owned Centennial Golf Course and an update on the relocation of Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II.
The work session starts at 6 p.m. in the Central Services Complex Multipurpose Room on Woodbury Lane, which is behind the Kmart shopping center.
The City Council approved the backyard chicken ordinance in the first of two readings on Monday, May 9. There could be amendments to the ordinance on second and final reading in June. [Read more…]
A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road.
Related to that proposal are plans to move the Oak Ridge Senior Center, which is now at the Emory Valley Road building, to the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Also up for a possible move is the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department. That department now occupies part of the Civic Center, where the Senior Center could move, but the department’s administrative offices could move to a vacant building on Badger Road that once housed Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
The idea is that moving the administrative wing of Recreation and Parks to the Badger Road building could free up space for seniors at the Civic Center, which in turn would help create space at the county-owned building for the General Sessions Court. [Read more…]
Pictured above during an Oak Ridge City Council work session on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, are Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, and Kayla Wyatt, an advocate for allowing a small number of hens at Oak Ridge homes. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
In the first of two monthly readings, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that would allow residents to keep up to six female chickens, or hens, at homes in the city, possibly starting this year. No roosters would be allowed, and henhouses would not be allowed in front yards.
Council approved an ordinance that was adopted by Knoxville in 2010 and amended for potential use in Oak Ridge.
The Monday vote was 5-2 in favor of the “backyard chicken” ordinance. Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch and City Council member Rick Chinn cast the two “no” votes.
Chinn had concerns about lot size, among other things, and Gooch had concerns about the city’s image and potential disputes during implementation and enforcement.
Supporters of the current citizen-led initiative, first started with the help of Jennifer Alexander several years ago and picked up by Kayla Wyatt more recently, argued in favor of the hens for reasons of sustainability, teaching children about where food comes from, and being able to produce fresh eggs, among other reasons. [Read more…]
Pictured above during an Oak Ridge City Council work session on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, are Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, and Kayla Wyatt, an advocate for allowing a small number of hens at Oak Ridge homes. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider an ordinance that would allow residents to keep up to six female chickens, or hens, at homes in the city, possibly starting this year. No roosters would be allowed, and henhouses would not be allowed in front yards.
Council will consider an ordinance that was adopted by Knoxville in 2010 and amended for potential use in Oak Ridge.
Under the proposed ordinance, which has been requested by City Council members, the Oak Ridge Police Department Division of Animal Control would have authority to permit residents to keep hens. The Oak Ridge Community Development Department would be responsible for permitting and inspecting residential henhouses and fencing for the hens, often referred to as “backyard chickens.”
Fenced enclosures and henhouses for the chickens would have to be properly ventilated, clean, dry, and odor-free. The enclosures and henhouses would have to kept in a neat and sanitary condition and not disturb neighbors due to noise, odor, or other adverse impact. They would have to provide adequate ventilation, sun, and shade, and be built to resist access by rodents, wild birds, and predators, including dogs and cats. The access doors to henhouses would have to be capable of being shut and locked at night.
If adopted, the ordinance would require $25 annual permits for domestic hens, plus a one-time $50 building permit fee for the required henhouse, according to a memo from Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson to City Council members. Permits would expire on December 31 each year, although permits issued in 2016 would extend through December 31, 2017. Only one permit would be allowed per property.
Permits could be suspended or revoked by Animal Control when there is a risk to public health or safety or failure to comply with applicable ordinances or law. [Read more…]
Warren Gooch (Photo by Savanna Schubert)
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch will give his “State of the City” address at the next Lunch with the League on Tuesday, May 3. The talk is scheduled to start at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Gooch was elected to the Oak Ridge City Council in November 2014 and later selected by Council members to serve as mayor.
Gooch received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee with high honors, and he has practiced law with the Knoxville firm Kramer Rayson since completing his legal education at the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1977. [Read more…]
Pictured above during an Oak Ridge City Council work session on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, are Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, and Kayla Wyatt, an advocate for allowing a small number of hens at Oak Ridge homes. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 3:30 p.m.
The Oak Ridge City Council could consider a backyard chicken ordinance in May. If adopted, the ordinance could allow residents to have a small number of chickens, maybe up to a half-dozen hens, in places where they’re not allowed now.
Council is expected to use a Knoxville ordinance as a model. Knoxville allows domesticated chickens under an ordinance approved in 2010. An annual $25 permit is required to keep the birds, up to six chickens (hens only) are allowed, and they must be kept in a fenced enclosure at all times. They are for personal use only, and the slaughtering of chickens is prohibited.
Knoxville also requires a $50 fee for a building permit for the fenced enclosure and for a required henhouse, which must be covered and predator-resistant.
The Oak Ridge City Council could conceivably have several options in May: adopt the Knoxville ordinance without any changes, adopt a modified version of it, reject it, or defer it or send it to the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission for further review. Planning Commission can’t accept it or reject it but can recommend that Council do so.
Oak Ridge officials have considered allowing backyard chickens before. In April 2010, the Oak Ridge City Council voted 4-3 against a resolution that would have kept alive a previous proposal. Two current Council members, Charlie Hensley and Ellen Smith, voted in favor of referring the proposal to the Planning Commission, which could have then consulted with interested residents and other city boards. The rejected resolution also would have directed former Interim City Manager Gary Cinder to draft an ordinance to amend the city code. [Read more…]
A representative of Redflex Traffic Systems gives a brief presentation on a new laser-technology traffic detection system that includes video and can measure the speed of vehicles and the distance between vehicles. Charlie Buckels, southeast U.S. sales manager for Redflex, gave the presentation during an Oak Ridge City Council work session on Tuesday evening, April 19, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Redflex Traffic Systems, the company that once had unmanned, pole-mounted red-light and speed enforcement cameras in Oak Ridge, has a new handheld system that it says could be used to help make roads safer as the city tries to slow down speeding drivers. But the use of the devices hasn’t been approved yet, and one Oak Ridge City Council member expressed her strong opposition on Tuesday.
The new handheld LIDAR devices include a camera, and they can capture traffic violations on video. They use a laser technology to measure vehicle speeds and distances between vehicles, said Charlie Buckels, southeast U.S. sales manager for Redflex. LIDAR stands for light detection and ranging.
Buckels said the handheld devices could be used for both civil and criminal violations. In some cases, such as for speeding, police officers could use the devices and the evidence they collect to issue civil citations that could be mailed to the registered owners of violating vehicles. In those cases, officers wouldn’t have to stop the violators, Buckels said.
But in other cases—when a car is driving excessively fast or swerving, for example—police officers could pull vehicles over, Buckels said.
City officials said they have been discussing drivers traveling too fast on roadways in the city, including those coming into town on South Illinois Avenue in the morning and trying to get to work on time. Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said three City Council members have asked him to take action to combat speeding, and he’s had concerns himself about traffic on Illinois Avenue. Other roads cited by city officials Tuesday included Oak Ridge Turnpike, Robertsville Road, Melton Lake Drive, and Tennessee Avenue. [Read more…]
