Oak Ridge Today

City considers $500K for Woodland Elementary repairs

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Woodland Elementary Library Cracks

A vertical crack has formed between two walls in the Woodland Elementary School library, where the soil has settled and part of the building has dropped.

Brick walls are bulging and cracking, and concrete slabs are shifting and sinking.

During one weekend in August, a vertical crack as wide as about two inches opened between two walls in the library. Entire walls had shifted and the building had dropped after soil underneath it settled, said Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools supervisor of maintenance and operations.

A structural engineer was called immediately, and already-planned repairs at Woodland Elementary School have now become a high priority.

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Congressmen Hastings, Fleischmann to visit Oak Ridge Friday

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U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings will visit Oak Ridge on Friday, and he and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann will tour the East Tennessee Technology Park, Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Emergency road closure at Robertsville Road today

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Robertsville Road Closure

The city has temporarily closed Robertsville Road at Jefferson Avenue to replace a water line.

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department has issued an emergency road closure notice for Robertsville Road at Jefferson Avenue beginning today and lasting through Monday. A short detour will be visible to traffic.

Workers are replacing an eight-inch water line that runs underneath the road, said Scott Jackson, Oak Ridge Public Works operations manager.

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Police could issue new parking tickets next month

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Starting next month, Oak Ridge police officers will begin ticketing motorists who violate new parking ordinances that prohibit parking on curbs and sidewalks.

Police officers will begin issuing the citations on Monday, June 18, and ticketed motorists could face fines and court costs as high as about $159.

The new ordinances, approved by Oak Ridge City Council in March and April, also prohibit vehicles and objects placed inside of them from protruding outside marked parking spaces and clarify that vehicles must be parked in the same direction as the traffic flow.

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Oak Ridge proposes no-tax-increase budget

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Mark Watson Budget Preview

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, center, presents budget highlights to City Council during a Monday night meeting. Also pictured, from left, are Oak Ridge City Clerk Diana Stanley, City Attorney Ken Krushenski (partially obscured), and Finance Director Janice McGinnis.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has proposed a budget for the next fiscal year that does not include a property tax rate increase.

However, the budget, which is similar to last year’s, does include a 1.5 percent “pay adjustment” for municipal employees.

“This is not a rocket science budget,” Watson said. “This is just a matter of what we can afford.”

The property tax rate would stay at $2.39 per $100 of assessed value in the fiscal year that begins July 1 if City Council approves the budget on first and second reading later this month.

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Council to consider waterfront pavilion tonight

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Waterfront Pavilion

The proposed picnic pavilion at Melton Lake Park is similar to the one pictured above, although some amenities have been added.

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider awarding a $159,000 contract tonight for the construction of a pavilion that could be used for rowing and community events at Melton Lake Park.

The pavilion would be the second major step in a waterfront development plan approved by Oak Ridge City Council in December 2009. The first was the paving of the parking lot at Elza Gate Park.

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Emergency Preparedness Fair in Clinton on Saturday

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There is a free Anderson County Emergency Preparedness Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Clinton Community Center.

The fair brings together government and civic organizations, emergency management staff, and volunteers from Anderson County to give people, businesses, and communities an opportunity to better prepare for disaster.

There will be booths and classes that discuss disaster management, emergency communication plans, and food and water storage.

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Oliver Springs city manager pick delayed

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Oliver Springs Town Council

The Oliver Springs Town Council agrees to interview a third candidate for city manager. Pictured above from left are Council members James Brummett and Terry Holland, Mayor Chris Hepler, and Council members Omer Cox and Maurice Walker.

OLIVER SPRINGS — The self-imposed deadline to hire a new city manager has already passed, and the Oliver Springs Town Council agreed Thursday to wait another two weeks so they can interview a third candidate who didn’t respond to an earlier interview offer.

The candidate, John Hannah of Waynesville, N.C., now says he is very interested in the job, Oliver Springs Mayor Chris Hepler told Council members. But Hannah hasn’t explained why he didn’t respond to an earlier interview offer, Hepler said.

Hannah, a civil engineer who has been an adjunct professor and project manager, had been one of eight finalists for the position, which has been open since former City Manager David Bolling resigned in February to take a job in Newcastle, Maine.

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Oak Ridge enters second week of brush pickup

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Oak Ridge continues its second week of brush pickup Monday.  The schedule for the coming week is as follows.

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School board OKs change in ORHS debt payments

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The school board has approved it, and the city council has rejected it. It’s not clear what will happen next.

At issue is a resolution unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday and informally rejected by City Council a week earlier.

The resolution would allow the city’s school system to keep a portion of more than $700,000 in Anderson County sales tax revenues generated each year under a sales tax increase approved by voters in rural areas and Norris in 2006.

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Sheriff’s $2 million request rejected

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Anderson County Budget Committee

Anderson County Sheriff Paul White, left, presents his budget request to Budget Committee and county staff members Tuesday. Also pictured from center are Anderson County commissioners Tim Isbel, Dusty Irwin, Buzz Patrick, Mayor Myron Iwanski, and county budget staff members Connie Aytes and Chris Phillips.

CLINTON — The sheriff wants an extra $2 million in his budget, but the county mayor opposes his request.

For now, it seems the mayor has prevailed.

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School board considers debt proposal rejected by Council

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It’s already been informally rejected by municipal officials, but the Oak Ridge school board will still consider a proposal that would allow them to keep more money collected from county sales taxes—and require the city to come up with extra cash to pay for the renovation of the high school.

The proposal, which the Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider tonight, would allow the schools to keep a portion of more than $700,000 in revenues generated by a 2006 increase in the Anderson County sales tax rate. Until recently, all the money had been used to help pay down the debt on the $66 million renovation of the Oak Ridge High School.

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