Roane County Executive Ron Woody announced Wednesday that Brian Dunn has been hired as veteran service officer, a new position in the county.
“The veteran service officer will serve all veterans, dependents, and survivors in Roane County,” Woody said. “The officer will have an office on the third floor of the courthouse in Kingston and will be available for home visits.”
Woody said highly qualified candidates applied for the job. [Read more…]
Roane County Property Assessor David Morgan, left, receives the Outstanding New Member Award from the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers. (Submitted photo)
Roane County Property Assessor David Morgan recently received an outstanding new member award from the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers.
Morgan received the award during the TNAAO Regional Educational Seminars on Jan. 23. It was presented on behalf of the TNAAO by Executive Director Will Denami.
“The Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers proudly recognizes David Morgan for joining in the leadership of this organization in the service of Roane County and the assessment profession in Tennessee and names him Outstanding New Member 2013,” said 2013 Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers President Betty Burchett. [Read more…]
It’s shaping up to be a big election year, and Oak Ridge Today has added a special 2014 Election section to help you keep up with the candidates and issues. You can access that section by clicking on the 2014 Election button in the navigation bar near the top of the website.
As of Friday, there were already more than three dozen candidates for various state and county offices in Anderson County. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
(BBB-TV) On Monday night, the Roane County Commission passed a resolution authorizing the School Board to use approximately half a million dollars from its reserve accounts to help keep the Alternative Education Facility open and keep extracurricular positions from being eliminated as well. It didn’t come without a grueling 45-minute discussion that included several questions from commissioners, who drilled School Superintendent Gary Aytes and school budget director Eric Harbin as to how they plan on to improve the system’s financial situation.
This year’s budget was balanced by making several deep cuts to make up a $1.5 million shortfall. Aytes said changes to the state Basic Education Program funding were the main reasons the school system had trouble balancing the budget, but also told the commission the board is looking at other systems in the area for innovative ideas to deal with future budget problems.
Information from WYSH Radio
The Roane County Commission approved its budget Monday night with no tax increase. School officials had been seeking a 14-cent property tax increase to help make up a $1.5 million shortfall in the system’s budget for this year. Without the tax hike, school leaders say that deep cuts will be necessary to balance the budget.
The school board is scheduled to meet next Monday to begin making those cuts.
Volkswagen, Roane County, and Tennessee officials celebrate the opening of a $40 million parts distribution center in eastern Roane County on Tuesday.
ROANE COUNTY—A new $40 million Volkswagen distribution center in eastern Roane County will distribute domestic auto parts to a global market for the Passat, which is made in Chattanooga, the company said Tuesday.
The Southeast Regional Distribution Center started operating on a limited basis as a redistribution center in April. It serves five other depots in the United States, as well as warehouses in Canada, Mexico, and Germany.
Later, it will include a parts distribution center for 110 Volkswagen and Audi dealers in the Southeast. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The Roane County school system is facing a $1.5 million budget shortfall and some are calling for a property tax increase to make up the deficit, while others are saying no tax increase is needed and that the schools need to live within their means. Among the options that have been floated include possibly closing Midway High School.
The Roane County Budget Committee has recommended a budget that includes no tax increase, but school leaders have asked for a 14-cent property tax rate increase. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
On Thursday, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee Valley Authority updated Roane County residents on the ongoing cleanup efforts from the 2008 coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant.
The December 2008 spill dumped more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge into the Clinch and Emory Rivers and into the surrounding community. What had been 5.4 million cubic yards of sludge is now down to about 70,000 cubic yards—or 14 million gallons—and officials expect to have the rest cleared by the end of June. [Read more…]
Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)
There are some “world-class engineering problems” to work through, but site preparation work has started on the giant new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a project official said Thursday.
“We’re finally starting to make some traction,” UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg told several hundred people at the two-day Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center.
Eschenberg said the site prep work could last 18 months, and it will include work on power distribution and underground water lines as well as moving a section of Bear Creek Road to the north. Three contracts have already been awarded to East Tennessee small businesses. [Read more…]
Eric Cantor
Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.
In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.
A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.
The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.
The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]
Randy McNally
John Ragan
This year’s monthly “Breakfast with the Legislators” starts Monday, Jan. 28.
The series is held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on the last Monday of each month while the Tennessee General Assembly is in session each year. It’s sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, and it gives residents a chance to meet local representatives and ask questions about legislative issues.
