Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley has promoted Marty Griffith to battalion chief.
A city press release said Griffith has more 14 years of experience in fire, rescue, and emergency medical services. He was one of five Oak Ridge Fire Department employees who sought the job, which was open due to a recent retirement.
Mark Watson
During a Tuesday afternoon speech, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will discuss economic challenges, the proposed Kroger shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, and the redevelopment of Jackson Square.
Watson’s speech is titled “The State of the City: Past Accomplishments; Future Vision.” It’s scheduled to begin at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.
The League of Women Voters is having a Tuesday evening forum for candidates for Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education.
The forum starts at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater.
The congregation of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to sell their building and 3.6 acres to the developers of a new Kroger shopping center.
Note: This story was last updated at 11:01 a.m. Oct. 1.
It was a difficult decision for many, but members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to sell their building and 3.6 acres to make way for a new Kroger development that could open in 2014.
There were 169 votes in favor of selling and 12 opposed. The vote to sell required a two-thirds majority, or 120 votes.
The sale price for the heavily used property—a serene, wooded tract in the heart of Oak Ridge—has not been publicly disclosed.
Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church
Members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church are scheduled to vote at 11:45 a.m. today on whether to sell their property to make way for a commercial development anchored by a Kroger Marketplace at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.
The church, also used for many community functions such as League of Women Voters events and Rotary Club meetings, is located on 3.6 acres just east of that intersection. The land could become part of the $30 million, 22-acre Kroger development’s outparcel space.
Gary Goff
Public receptions will be held Monday, Oct. 8, for Roane State Community College President Gary Goff, who is retiring Oct. 31 after leading the college for seven years.
One reception will be held at the Roane County campus in Harriman, and the other will be at the Oak Ridge campus.
The reception at the Roane County campus will be from 10:30 a.m.-noon in the administrative area of the Dunbar Building. It will be on the building’s second floor, near the president’s office.
(Editor’s note: The following is a speech on the city’s vision and economic development given by Oak Ridge City Council member Anne Garcia Garland to the local branch of the American Association of University Women on Monday.)
I would like to start with a couple questions of my own.
How many of you have lived in Oak Ridge for more than 20 years? How many of you have been members of American Association of University Women here for 20 or more years?
In those two decades, how many of you have noticed changes in the city that you aren’t happy with? How about changes that you are happy with? You are allowed to answer yes to both.
Coincidentally to this talk, yesterday our pastor at United Church preached a sermon on change. Change is neither good nor bad. It’s just change, and it is inevitable. And even change that looks bad can turn out to be for the long-term good when we respond to it in productive ways.
So let’s take an east-to-west look at some of the recent changes in the city’s economic picture. Elza Park is paved and the walk and bike trail now extends from Elza past the Marina basin over the hill, under Edgemoor, around Haw Ridge, and on to connect with Pellissippi at the Solway Bridge. We lost some picnic tables and gained some waterfront access on foot.
There are new automotive services at the first intersection of the Turnpike. Tractor Supply is thriving in the former east-end Food City building. R&R Properties continue their rejuvenation of office and commercial properties, and new reconstruction now at Fairbanks Plaza. Dollar General built a nice stand-alone building at Florida, and Enterprise car rental has snapped up the vacated Sonic location. Eddie Hair has expanded impressively, and there is a new Ace Hardware across the street as well as a new car sales business.
Roane State has broken ground on a multimillion-dollar expansion, and the commercial spaces in front of National Fitness are filling in.
There are new restaurants and a new bank in the Jackson Square area. The state has agreed to help fund the upgrading of the interior parking area for the square. Jackson Plaza, our one and only skyscraper, has enthusiastic new businesses, which continue to expand their employee numbers.
There are some gaps to be filled, but from Florida to the new AT&T building, there are no glaringly empty commercial sites.
Now we move on to Illinois, where things are looking very positive for a Kroger Marketplace. Provided no disasters befall the site, this Kroger installation is a bellwether (in a most intelligent form) of commerce to come. There are many national retailers who gladly follow a Kroger expansion. Kroger will be presenting designs that accommodate whatever decision this church (Unitarian Universalist Church) decides they would prefer to do. Their presence will not only bring new retail within their center, it will very likely encourage new commerce in historic Grove Center. There are even tenants already being considered for the current Kroger location.
Up Illinois, new restaurants are being built along the edge of Woodland. Weigel’s is proposing to build a new location next door to TnBank. I think we will see the Illinois corridor fill up and rejuvenate over the next two or three years in additional significant ways. There are solid citizen stores already in place and interest in more. Holiday Inn Express has joined the hotels in Oak Ridge in anticipation of a coming need.
So, let me get to some of the coming need.
There is already a list of some 400 businesses asking to qualify to be suppliers to the Department of Energy’s Uranium Processing Facility. This will be a multibillion-dollar construction project on the federal reservation. There will be many contractors joining our local ones to serve the construction needs of this Last Great Build. That, by the way, is a phrase which I attribute to John Eschenberg, the fella DOE has put in charge of the build. John took the time to come to council and describe the project. And while he was there, he urged us to jump into this build with both feet.
The Holiday Inn may have decided to build here partly because of the UPF build. I believe they are also here because they see the advent of increased commerce and travel with the opening of the final four-laning of Highway 95 between I-75 and I-40.
Let me go back a minute to the elephant in the room. For a number of years, the increasingly abandoned mall has been just that. With the construction of the Kroger marketplace, the commercial center of town CHANGES. Some of you probably remember when Jackson Square was town center. The mall and the civic center shifted “town center” to the Turnpike and Tulane. After this build, the commercial center once again shifts, this time to the western side of the civic center. Once Kroger Marketplace is open, what was The Mall will become virtually invisible. This makes me sad for JCPenney and Belk, who have been faithful to us. But it means we will no longer be waiting for Mr. Arnsdorff and Mr. Thrash, et al., to do anything. Oak Ridge is moving forward.
So far, I have been talking about commerce. Let me turn to tourism and then industry. With the opening of our four-lane connector between I-75 and I-40, we become an alternate route for folks who have already seen Knoxville. National Park or no, and I certainly hope this park will become a reality, if we partner with Clinton, Andersonville, Norris, Briceville, Oliver Springs, Kingston, and Harriman, we have enough historic places and natural treasures to become an equally attractive complement to Gatlinburg and Townsend. Oak Ridge is halfway between a LOT of places. Our entire area could be a destination as well as a stopover.
We also have within this city, commercial, office, and industrial sites ready for renovation, construction, or repurposing. DOE has been the industrial cornerstone for Oak Ridge for many years. We have some other industry for which we are grateful, and we are looking for more. We also have neighbor towns bringing industry to the area, from which we all benefit. Within probably a decade, we may well also be the center of carbon fiber industry for the nation.
As for housing, we are so fortunate to have a wealth of affordable houses, townhouses, apartments, condos, and more. We do have a few serious challenges in some of the original housing areas, but we have heard too much of the city myth that “the old housing is a problem.” Most of the old housing is no problem at all. It includes amazing renovations and personalizations as well as modest starter homes. There is a tremendous wealth of mid-century modern homes in Oak Ridge as well as quite a few well-built ’70s and ’80s homes in neighborhoods that are now established and beautiful. There are elegant new homes in Wolf Creek and Grove Park, and there are new neighborhoods with additional modern homes in the west end. New housing starts have been near a standstill since the recession hit, but it has more to do with available lending than with any lack of plats or infrastructure. Still, Oak Ridge did not have a bubble so it hasn’t had a bust. Houses have maintained their values. As lending returns to the residential market, I think new home construction will renew with vigor.
So, about all this change. Most of us feel better about change if we believe we can influence its direction and have choices in encountering it. That’s when we get to my campaign speeches of three years ago. We need to re-engage. We need to not wait for city hall to tell us where we are going but get ourselves together and tell city hall where we prefer to go.
Note: This story was updated at 10:48 a.m. Oct. 1.
WSI Oak Ridge, the company that has guarded the Y-12 National Security Complex for about a dozen years, will lose its contract, B&W Y-12 announced Friday evening.
The announcement came two months after an unprecedented security breach. It occurred on the same day that the National Nuclear Security Administration recommended a contract termination.
“B&W Y-12 fully supports NNSA’s recommendation in this matter and will work diligently to further enhance the security at Y-12 and make the transition for former WSI Oak Ridge employees as seamless as possible,” said B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Chuck Spencer. “We recognize that our focus on safety and security at Y-12 cannot be compromised, and we remain committed to continuing to drive improvements in both areas.”
B&W Y-12, which manages and operates the plant for the NNSA, will now be responsible for Y-12 security, a press release said. The transition will start Monday.
Y-12 manufactures parts for every weapon in the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and B&W Y-12 said it wants the transition to be orderly, ensuring that “safe and secure operations remain the highest priority.”
A company press release said active Y-12 security police officers and other active union WSI Oak Ridge employees at Y-12 and the Central Training Facility in Oak Ridge will be offered employment with B&W Y-12 at their current wages and benefits. Collective bargaining agreements with union employees will be honored.
B&W Y-12 will also conduct an evaluation and hiring process for non-union WSI Oak Ridge employees who supervise and support Y-12 guards, the release said.
It said WSI Oak Ridge employees at Y-12 and the Central Training Facility should continue reporting to work as scheduled.
There are about 500 guards at Y-12. WSI, also known as Wackenhut Services and G4S Government Solutions, has provided security services there since 2000.
WSI became a subcontractor to B&W Y-12 after the July 28 security breach. Before that highly publicized intrusion, which has brought the plant much unwanted attention and punctured its aura of invincibility, WSI had operated under a separate contract with the NNSA.
Officials said the subcontractor status would result in a “single-point accountability for security.”
During the security breach, three anti-nuclear weapons activists sneaked into the plant, cut through fences with bolt cutters, and spray-painted slogans and splashed human blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.
A variety of concerns have been raised since then, including by members of Congress, who focused on the actions of the guards and contractors, and security cameras that didn’t work.
On Friday, NNSA Public Affairs Director Josh McConaha did not say what evidence was used to recommend a WSI contract termination.
The B&W Y-12 press release said the company began making changes quickly after the July 28 intrusion to prevent any future occurrences.
“These actions included the removal and replacement of key leadership personnel, restoration of critical security system elements to service, and refining and recalibrating of alarm system components to enhance reliability,” it said. “Through multiple corrective measures, daily site-wide alarms have been significantly reduced, and protective force alarm responses have improved.”
Federal officials have recommended ending a contract with a security company two months after three protesters reached the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)
Note: This story was last updated at 10:41 a.m. Oct. 1.
Two months after an unprecedented security breach, federal officials have recommended ending a contract with guard company WSI Oak Ridge at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
In a brief letter Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it has had “grave concerns” about the ability of WSI Oak Ridge and managing contractor B&W Y-12 to “effectively perform physical security functions at Y-12” after the July 28 intrusion by three anti-nuclear weapons activists.
Federal officials said B&W Y-12 should assume direct responsibility for protective force operations as early as it can. B&W Y-12 manages and operates Y-12 for the NNSA, a separate U.S. Department of Energy agency, and the company will decide whether to end the WSI contract.
“They will have to figure out what that transition looks like,” NNSA Public Affairs Director Josh McConaha said.
B&W Y-12 officials were not able to immediately respond to the NNSA recommendation on Friday afternoon.
WSI Oak Ridge, also known as Wackenhut Services and G4S Government Solutions, now provides about 500 security guards at Y-12. The company has been the security contractor at the plant, which makes parts for every weapon in the nation’s nuclear arsenal, since 2000.
While recommending a contract termination for WSI, the NNSA has given B&W Y-12 a one-month contract extension. The B&W contract had been set to expire Sunday.
On Aug. 10, B&W Y-12 was notified that it could lose its contract. That “show cause” notice gave the contractor 30 days to explain why its contract should not be terminated.
“While we recognize that both B&W Y-12 and WSI-OR have undertaken corrective actions, neither these actions nor the response to the show cause notice are enough, at this point, to fully resolve the issues,” Jill Y. Albaugh, NNSA Production Office contracting officer, said in the Friday letter.
Although B&W Y-12’s response to the show cause was not deemed sufficient, McConaha said discussions continue between federal officials and that contractor.
“It was clear that we did not need to wait for that process to wrap up regarding WSI,” he said, although he didn’t give more information.
Contractor WSI Oak Ridge, which could lose its contract, has provided security personnel at the Y-12 National Security Complex since 2000, and there are now about 500 guards at the 811-acre plant.
Albaugh made the recommendation to end the WSI contract in the Friday letter, which was written to B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Charles G. Spencer. She said it would assure the best performance of physical security operations and help transition to a new consolidated management contract at Y-12 and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.
“This decision comes after the top leadership of WSI at Y-12 were removed and are no longer welcome at DOE sites,” an NNSA statement said. “The officers associated with the incident were fired, demoted, or suspended without pay. Additionally, three federal officials with security oversight responsibilities were reassigned.”
On Aug. 31, B&W Y-12 notified WSI that its contract could be terminated “for default” if the company didn’t take action to address security concerns, including the July security breach and an incident on Aug. 29, when a federal inspector allegedly found papers in a patrol vehicle that weren’t supposed to be shared. The papers included answers to a test scheduled to be given to guards as part of an investigation after the security breach and a copy of a test designed to quiz a random sample of a few dozen guards on policies and procedures.
WSI later announced that it had investigated the incident and found that its employees hadn’t intended to do anything wrong.
On Friday, WSI Oak Ridge Public Affairs Manager Courtney Henry said the company hadn’t received official notification of the NNSA and DOE recommendation to terminate its contract.
Federal officials have repeated an August statement by Energy Secretary Steven Chu that the Y-12 security breach was completely unacceptable.
“The security of our nation’s nuclear material is the department’s most important responsibility, and we have no tolerance for federal or contractor personnel who cannot or will not do their jobs,” the NNSA statement said.
It said NNSA and DOE have taken strong and decisive action to fix the problems that led to the security breach and are reviewing security operations at all levels from contractors to federal management to the security model itself.
“The final review in that series will begin shortly when the secretary asks observers outside the department to analyze the current model for protection of nuclear materials and explore additional options for protecting these sites,” the statement said.
One review by the DOE Office of Health, Safety, and Security has been completed. The classified report was delivered to Chu this week. It reinforced the seriousness of the incident, and it will help improve security at Y-12 and across the department, the NNSA statement said.
McConaha said there is no timeline for determining whether to end the B&W Y-12 contract. However, there is an early November goal to announce an award that would combine the management and operations contracts at Y-12 and Pantex.
McConaha said he couldn’t confirm details on the bidders.
During the July 28 security breach, three activists allegedly sneaked into Y-12 before dawn, cut through fences with bolt cutters, evaded guards, and spray-painted slogans and splashed human blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored. It’s the nation’s primary storehouse for enriched uranium.
The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael R. Walli—face a Feb. 26, 2013, trial in U.S. District in Knoxville on federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and trespassing.
The intrusion has led to a string of staff changes in federal and contractor work forces, a series of investigations, a reassignment of the protective forces contract from NNSA to B&W Y-12, a temporary halt in nuclear operations, and congressional hearings.
A Loudon company has proposed converting the historic but run-down Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into a $6 million, 60-unit assisted living senior center.
Family Pride Corp. has requested a 90 percent, 10-year tax property tax break on the three-acre site. Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board members will be briefed on the proposal Monday and consider recommending it to City Council during a special Oct. 11 meeting.
Family Pride would work with InSite Development Corp. of Knoxville to redevelop the two-story hotel, which was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.
Annual inspections of 127 public housing apartments this month led to four evictions for criminal and drug-related activities, the Oak Ridge Housing Authority announced Thursday.
Three of the evictions resulted in charges against a family member, a ORHA press release said. No one was charged in the fourth case due to the nature of the offense.
“However, in accordance with our policies, the offense will result in the family losing their housing assistance with ORHA,” the press release said. It did not give more information.
At right, John Shewairy of the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge gives Second Harvest’s John Bell, center, a food donation as part of the Feds Feed Families campaign. Aaron White, left, coordinated this year’s campaign. (Photo by Lynn Freeny/DOE)
U.S. Department of Energy employees donated 11,437 pounds of food on Thursday to the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee.
The donation was part of the national Feds Feed Families campaign, a press release said.
“This is the third year the DOE’s Oak Ridge site has participated in the annual summer campaign, which helps replenish local food banks and raises awareness about the prevalence of hunger nationally,” the release said.
Under the direction of DOE’s local federal employee mentor program, more than 11,000 pounds of food has been donated for three consecutive years, the release said.
