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Library returning to curbside service due to COVID spike

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Oak Ridge Public Library
The Oak Ridge Public Library is pictured above.

The Oak Ridge Public Library will close to the public and return to curbside pickup only after the Thanksgiving holiday due to the dramatic increase in local COVID-19 cases, a press release said.

Curbside hours are Monday through Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Starting Monday, November 30, library users can place holds on books, movies, music, and audiobooks through the library’s catalog at http://orpl.ent.sirsi.net/. Patrons will be notified when their items are ready to be picked up. Look for the reserved parking spaces in the library’s parking lot, call the number on the sign, and library staff will bring your items to your car. If you need help finding items to read, watch, or listen to, you can call (865) 425-3455 for assistance placing holds.

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City: Watson feeling better, reported mild COVID symptoms

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Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson is feeling better, and his COVID-19 symptoms remained mild all week, a spokesperson said Friday.

Watson learned a week ago that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

The city manager worked remotely this past week, Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said. He will continue to work from home at the beginning of next week and will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the week.

The city has urged residents to use caution during the holiday season as the positivity rate remains high; wastewater testing shows the disease is present across the city; and new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths grow to record-setting levels in Anderson County, Tennessee, and the United States.

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City manager tests positive for COVID-19

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Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson learned on Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

The positive result came after a test on Saturday, City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said.

She said Watson has mild symptoms and no fever; he is just tired.

It’s unclear when and where he was exposed to the virus.

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City alarmed by 12.5 percent COVID positivity rate

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A daily snapshot of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, includes, among other information, the daily number of new cases and the daily positivity rate. (Graphic by Tennessee Department of Health)

In a press release Thursday, the City of Oak Ridge said it is alarmed by the 12.5 percent positivity rate for COVID-19 in the Oak Ridge area, and wastewater testing shows the disease is present across the city.

The positivity rate measures the percentage of tests that return positive results out of the new tests each day. A 12.5 percent positivity rate means that 12.5 tests are positive out of each 100 new tests, on average.

A 12.5 percent positivity rate is high. World Health Organization guidelines call for a positivity rate below 5 percent for 14 days before activities re-open.

In its press release, the city said the 12.5 percent positivity rate in the Oak Ridge area was measured earlier this week and was obtained from zip-code specific data from the Tennessee Department of Health.

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Council asked to urge COVID precautions; 14 city employees have tested positive

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Fourteen city employees have had COVID-19 and 32 people have had to quarantine due to potential exposure since the pandemic began in March, and the Oak Ridge City Council will consider a resolution this evening that asks people to wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, avoid crowds, and maintain a distance from people outside their household.

All of the infected municipal employees have recovered, the City of Oak Ridge said in a brief statement in response to questions on Monday. The positive test results have been since March. It wasn’t immediately clear if the infections have been spaced out over time or if they have been clustered in any months.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has recommended the precautions, according to a resolution that City Council will consider during a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, November 9.

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Updated: Dodson, Hammond, Hope re-elected to City Council

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Jim Dodson

Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 8.

Oak Ridge City Council members Jim Dodson, Derrick Hammond, and Chuck Hope were re-elected Tuesday.

They had one challenger, Edward Jackson Jr.

Oak Ridge Board of Education members Angi Agle and Keys Fillauer were also re-elected.

In the City Council election, Dodson received the most votes, 8,253, in Anderson County. He received the second-most votes in Roane County, 1,499. He had a total of 9,752 votes in the two counties, giving him the most total votes of any candidate and 852 more than the second-place finisher.

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Children’s Halloween Party was rescheduled to today (Friday)

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The Children’s Halloween Party that had been scheduled for Thursday was rescheduled to today (Friday, October 30) due to the forecast of heavy rain and high winds earlier this week.

The event, called Halloween Hollow, is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

As a result of the schedule change, the sold-out Día de los Muertos Celebration hosted by the City of Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department has been moved to Monday, November 2, a press release said. For questions about this event, contact Eddie Chavez at (865) 425-3450.

The drive-through Children’s Halloween Party will now begin at the Oak Ridge Civic Center west side parking area and end at the Oak Ridge Public Library east side parking area. Event participants will be able to enjoy Halloween scenes and pick up preordered T-shirts, and children four years old to fourth grade will receive treats, the press release said.

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Council approves $175,000 settlement with Billy Casper Golf Management

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Centennial Golf Course is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge City Council last week approved a $175,000 settlement to resolve a dispute between the city and Billy Casper Golf Management over the termination of the agreement to manage Centennial Golf Course.

The city owns the golf course, which is in east Oak Ridge. The city notified Billy Casper Golf Management in October 2017 that it was going to terminate the management agreement “for cause,” Oak Ridge City Attorney Ken Krushenski said in a memo to Council. But Billy Casper Golf Management contested the termination of the agreement, and the company’s attorney claimed that the city owed more than $520,000 in termination fees, Krushenski said.

The two sides negotiated, and the management company accepted the city’s offer of $175,000 to settle all claims, Krushenski said.

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Library to partially re-open in November

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The Oak Ridge Public Library will have new hours beginning Monday, November 2.

The Main Library will be open Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Main Library will also be open from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Thursday mornings for patrons at high risk of COVID complications only.

The Children’s Room will be open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Smith estimates 600-700 COVID cases in Oak Ridge zip code

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Image courtesy Ellen Smith

Oak Ridge City Council member Ellen Smith has estimated there could have been between 600 to 700 cases of COVID-19 in the city’s main zip code through October 14.

Oak Ridge’s main zip code is 37830.

The Tennessee Department of Health does not publish the number of COVID-19 cases by city or zip code. It does publish the number of COVID-19 cases by county, and it publishes trend maps by zip code, although it doesn’t give the precise number of cases per zip code.

Smith has analyzed the data and the maps to come up what she calls her best-guess estimate: 600 to 700 cases. That’s a bit more than 2 percent of the city’s population.

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Sewer testing finds significant increase in COVID particles in east plant

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A chart by the Oak Ridge Public Works Department shows the results of testing wastewater for COVID-19. The particles per liter have increased significantly in the east plant during the past week, putting it in the red zone for uncontrolled transmission. The east plant is the area generally east of New York Avenue and north of Oak Ridge Turnpike. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The most recent testing for evidence of COVID-19 in the city’s sewer system documented a significant increase in particles per liter in the east plant, putting that area in a red zone for uncontrolled transmission.

The east plant is the area generally east of New York Avenue and north of Oak Ridge Turnpike.

In the last test, the east plant was up to 2.4 million positive genetic particles per liter. That was an increase of almost 35 times from the prior weekly test result of 69,000 positive genetic particles per liter, according to information provided by Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters at a City Council work session on Tuesday evening.

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Construction could start on water plant in spring

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Construction on a roughly $40 million replacement water plant for the City of Oak Ridge could start in the spring, and the facility could begin operating at the water intake on Melton Hill Lake in about two years.

Construction on a roughly $40 million replacement water plant for the City of Oak Ridge could start in the spring, and the facility could begin operating at the water intake on Melton Hill Lake in about two years.

Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters provided an update about the water plant to the City Council during a non-voting work session on Tuesday evening.

Plans could go the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation this week, and then the project could go out to bid, McWaters said.

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