To celebrate Halloween, the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host a Not-So-Scary Spooktacular Event from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, October 30.
Young visitors are invited to create their own trick-or-treat bags before visiting the exhibits. Activities are free with admission.
Among events at the museum will be: [Read more…]
To celebrate Halloween, the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host a Not-So-Scary Spooktacular Event from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, October 31. Young visitors are invited to create their own trick-or-treat bags before visiting the exhibits. Activities are free with admission.
Among events at the museum will be:
Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Josh Collins, right, who is retiring October 1, is pictured above at Solway Park East during a May 2012 ribbon-cutting for a 2.4-mile extension of the Melton Lake Greenway.
Josh Collins, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department director, will retire October 1, City Manager Mark Watson said Friday.
Collins has worked for the city for nearly 30 years. He started in 1985 and now manages a department with more than 80 full-time and seasonal personnel, a press release said. Collins oversees the city’s park system, greenways, recreational programs, the Senior Center, and activities ranging from summer camps, aquatics, and the Secret City Festival.
Collins also serves as the staff liaison to the city’s Recreation and Parks Advisory Board, which has been instrumental in completing projects such as the Pavilion on Melton Lake, the release said. [Read more…]
A city board on Thursday declared this home at 117 Wade Lane to be unfit for human habitation and ordered it demolished within 90 days.
Note: This story was updated at 11:40 p.m.
From the outside, the homes look they’re in decent shape and not the worst in the neighborhood.
But inside and underneath, problems range from collapsing floors and settling foundations to leaking roofs and tens of thousands worth of mold damage.
On Thursday, a city board declared the five vacant homes to be unfit for human habitation, and members ordered them demolished within 90 days. The city could use federal money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy and demolish the homes. [Read more…]
Pictured above, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider removing housing board member Joe Lee, not pictured, because of a critical e-mail he wrote after a 4-3 vote on the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.
An Oak Ridge official wants the City Council to consider removing Joseph Lee from a city housing board because of his criticism—she called it contempt—for the council members who voted against renewing the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
The City Council will consider removing Lee, who serves on the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, during a Monday, April 14, meeting.
“I was not at all surprised by the 4-3 vote,” Lee wrote in a March 28 e-mail to Council member Anne Garcia Garland, who made the request to consider removing him on Monday. “After all, it was not about safety or the money, it is about the votes. Take the fact that your entire campaign to be elected to city council and combine that with the nut jobs that you are aligned with and cater to, it has been obvious for a very long time that we were never going to hear the end of your whining until you got another shot at this issue. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider extending or ending the traffic camera contract.
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider extending a controversial traffic camera contract for two years, or ending it.
The Council postponed a vote earlier this month. It will now be considered during a special 7 p.m. meeting on Monday.
The current five-year contract with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Arizona expires April 21. If it’s not extended, the city staff has asked Council to consider installing a traffic signal in front of the Oak Ridge High School on Oak Ridge Turnpike.
The high school stoplight would have to be approved by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. It could cost $150,000 to $200,000 and take nine months to install. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson is pictured at center above. Also pictured are Mayor Tom Beehan, left, and City Attorney Ken Krushenski.
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will not be moving to Texas for a job in Pearland, near Houston.
In December, Pearland officials said Watson was one of four finalists who could replace the city’s former manager, Bill Eisen, who retired at the end of December after 12 years.
But Watson—who was in Pearland for interviews, tours, and staff briefings this past weekend—told Oak Ridge City Council members at the beginning of a Monday night work session that he is staying in the Secret City.
He said the Pearland City Council could select a new city manager during a Monday night meeting, and members could pick Clay Pearson of Novi, Mich. Watson said the competition was tough. [Read more…]
