Chuck Fritts
Note: This story was updated at 8:12 p.m.
CLINTON—Anderson County Commission Chair Chuck Fritts was easily re-appointed to a third one-year term as chairman by his fellow commissioners on Monday.
There were two other nominees: Robert McKamey and Mark Alderson. Fritts, whose district includes Claxton and Bull Run, won in a 12-1-3 vote. Alderson received three votes, and McKamey collected one.
The Oak Ridge City Council will meet in a special session Tuesday evening to consider a one-time $250,000 transfer to the city schools, which could avert a potential loss of millions of dollars in state funding and avoid an Oct. 1 school shutdown.
The Oak Ridge City Council will meet in a special session Tuesday evening to consider a one-time $250,000 transfer to the city schools, which could avert a potential loss of millions of dollars in state funding and avoid an Oct. 1 school shutdown.
The special meeting starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told Superintendent Bruce Borchers last week that Council had agreed to the special session to resolve the $250,000 shortfall but wanted documentation. Watson asked Borchers to respond by noon Monday. [Read more…]
Three Oak Ridge businesses have avoided short suspensions of their beer permits, but five more have hearings in the next two months.
The Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board had imposed the suspensions against the three businesses in three separate meetings during the past three months. Two were punished for selling beer to a minor and one over concerns that included questions about whether it was serving its customers too much alcohol.
But all three businesses have complied with the Beer Board’s orders, so they were able to avoid the suspensions, Oak Ridge Senior Staff Attorney Tammy Dunn said last week. [Read more…]
Chuck Fritts
Robert McKamey
The Anderson County Commission is scheduled to elect a chair and vice chair during a Monday evening meeting.
Commissioner Chuck Fritts, one of two commissioners representing Claxton and Bull Run, is the current chair, and he is seeking appointment to a third one-year term.
But Commissioner Robert McKamey—one of two commissioners representing Clinton High, Marlow, Norwood, and Dutch Valley—is also seeking the chairmanship. [Read more…]
After what the coach called a sloppy start, the Oak Ridge Wildcats became more focused in the second half and opened up a wide lead over the Halls Red Devils on Friday, finishing with a 37-6 victory.
The Wildcats (2-1, 2-0 District 3-AAA) scored first on a 51-yard pass play from quarterback Jaylin Henderson to junior wide receiver Jiminquas Johnson halfway through the first quarter at Dink Adams Field in Halls. [Read more…]
James Allen Hodges
James Allen Hodges, “Partner,” age 82, of Oak Ridge, passed away Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 at the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
He worked at the Oak Ridge Hospital in the ’60s and 70s in the housekeeping department and also worked for ORAU as a janitor until his retirement. He was born to the late Sam and Fannie Pitchford Hodges in Lexington, Miss., on Jan. 1, 1931.
He was preceded in death by his sisters, Jeanette Redmond, Sally Berry, Nancy Hodges, Eula Mae Horton, and Pearl Pitchford; and brothers, Lemon Hodges, Aker Hodges, Floyd Hodges, William Hodges, and Jimmy Hodges. [Read more…]
The race course for the Neon Vibe 5K on Sept. 21 is pictured above. (Submitted image)
Intersections and roads in central Oak Ridge will be closed for a few hours next weekend for the first Neon Vibe 5K race in Tennessee.
The race starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, near the pavilion inside Alvin K. Bissell Park. The course includes ORAU Way, Robertsville and Providence roads, North and South Tulane avenues, and Badger Avenue.
The Oak Ridge Police Department will start closing major intersections and side roads at 7 p.m., a press release said. The entire race course will be closed to all traffic by 7:30 p.m. [Read more…]
The maintenance of effort spreadsheet pictured above is used to determine whether local revenues for Oak Ridge Schools are the same from year to year. This spreadsheet, which includes some budget adjustments, shows a $250,000 shortfall. (Image courtesy Oak Ridge Schools/Karen Gagliano)
Note: This story was updated at 11:35 a.m.
It might be difficult to understand the concerns about Oak Ridge Schools’ funding and the state maintenance of effort test without seeing the local revenue numbers.
So, Oak Ridge Today has posted a copy of a maintenance of effort spreadsheet provided by Karen Gagliano, Oak Ridge Schools business and support services director. This spreadsheet includes budget adjustments that helped reduce the local revenue shortfall from the original $393,000 to a smaller $250,000.
Oak Ridge education officials have asked the city to cover that smaller shortfall to avoid a loss in state funding of $1.87 million per month and avert a school shutdown on Oct. 1. It’s the equivalent of a 2.5-cent property tax rate increase, although it’s too late for a tax increase this year. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to meet in a special session next week to try to resolve a $250,000 school funding shortfall that education officials claim could lead to a loss of millions of dollars in state funding and a temporary school shutdown if it’s not resolved by Oct. 1.
But Council members want documentation to accompany the request, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told Superintendent Bruce Borchers in a Sept. 11 letter. It should include an explanation of why the money is needed, information on decisions made by the Oak Ridge Board of Education to close schools on Oct. 1 if the funding is not obtained, and copies of any formal notice from the Tennessee education commissioner that he has agreed to withhold all of the state funding for Oak Ridge Schools starting in October, the city manager said. [Read more…]
Stuart Daw
C. Stuart Daw of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
He was selected by AIChE for his numerous outstanding contributions to the chemical engineering profession.
Daw, a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow, works in the U.S. Department of Energy lab’s Energy and Transportation Science Division. He lives in Knoxville.
A city board on Thursday ordered the owner of Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike to demolish the building within 60 days.
A city board on Thursday ordered the owner of the former Price Florist building on Oak Ridge Turnpike to demolish it within 60 days.
The Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals had considered whether to issue a demolition or repair order for the once-thriving store at three other meetings this year, but members had given property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville several extensions to allow her time to come back with a sales contract, repair plan, or demolition permit. On Thursday, they said she had run out of time.
“I think we’ve bent over backwards to accommodate you and your property,” board member Philip Nipper said before the 6-0 vote in favor of demolition. [Read more…]
Tennessee officials had little to say on Wednesday about the potential loss of state education funding that Oak Ridge school officials have said could cost the school system $1.87 million per month—and lead to a temporary school shutdown on Oct. 1.
“We are starting to have meetings with various people regarding this situation, but at this point, we don’t have anything to report,” said Kelli Gauthier, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Education. [Read more…]
