Four City Council members say they’d like to be mayor

Posted at 12:31 pm November 18, 2014
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Note: This story was updated at 3:03 p.m.

Four members of the new Oak Ridge City Council that starts Monday have announced that they would like to be mayor. One would like to also be considered for mayor pro tem.

The seven-member City Council, which has four new members, will appoint a mayor and mayor pro tem during its Monday night meeting. The City Council picks two of its members to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem after each municipal election every two years.

In letters to Council, current member Chuck Hope said he is interested in serving as mayor and so did City Council members-elect Rick Chinn and Warren Gooch.

Former City Council member Ellen Smith, who regained a seat in the November 4 election after an election loss two years ago, said she would like to be considered for mayor or mayor pro tem. Under the City Charter, the mayor pro tem presides at meetings when the mayor is absent or temporarily disabled.

The four new members of City Council are Chinn, Gooch, Smith, and Kelly Callison. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan did not seek re-election in the November 4 municipal election, and neither did mayor pro tem Jane Miller. Two incumbents, Anne Garcia Garland and David Mosby, were not re-elected from among the unusually large field of 10 candidates.

Trina Baughn, a current City Council member who was, like Hope elected in 2012, and Callison, a Council member-elect, said they are not seeking to become either mayor or mayor pro tem.

City Council member Charlie Hensley said he also will not seek to be appointed to either office.

“Since we have four highly qualified candidates for mayor and mayor pro tem, I am not campaigning for either title,” Hensley said. “I am now the longest-serving Council member, enjoy my role, and feel I have earned the respect of the city staff, other members of Council, and the majority of Oak Ridgers. Experience and knowledge of processes now allows me more freedom to reach out to citizens, businesses, and interest groups and to better focus on the critical issues that impact our city. I will certainly support whoever is appointed to our leadership roles and look forward to the new Council’s involvement in our city’s developing renaissance.”

The new City Council members will be sworn in on Monday evening, November 24, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.

Council members serve staggered terms, meaning there were four new members elected this November, and the other three seats will be open in November 2016.

You can read Hope’s letter here.

You can read Chinn’s letter here.

You can read Gooch’s letter here.

You can read Smith’s letter here.

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.