Oak Ridge Today

Letter: Baughn endorses Garcia Garland

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Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

To the Editor:

This election cycle, some candidates have characterized City Council deliberations as combative or regressive. The truth is, however, that of the hundreds of decisions made every year by City Council, the majority are made by unanimous vote. The same is true of the Board of Education and our boards and commissions.

A well-balanced government should not be stacked with all like-minded people whose primary goal is to achieve harmony. Some might argue that unanimity, which should not be mistaken for progress, is what has gotten us into many of the messes we are in. No, an elected body should allow for all voices to have the opportunity to be heard and considered. [Read more…]

Safety, health, business manager running for OS Town Council

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Nathan Benson

Nathan Benson

OLIVER SPRINGS—Nathan Benson of Oliver Springs is running for Oliver Springs alderman in Ward 4 in the November 4 municipal election.

Benson and his wife Jennifer (Wright) Benson graduated from Oliver Springs High School in 2001. They have two children named Riley and Addison Benson that attend Norwood Middle and Elementary schools.

Benson served in the Tennessee Army National Guard 278th Armored Calvary Regiment as a calvary scout after graduating from high school. During his six years in the service, he was deployed to Iraq as a sergeant assigned to the Regimental Protective Services Detail.

Benson is now employed with Canberra Industries in Oak Ridge as the safety, health, and business improvement manager, a press release said. He has been employed with them for nearly 12 years, including his leave of absence to serve overseas. [Read more…]

Guest column: City needs a return on public spending on Chamber, ORCVB

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By Leslie Agron and Pat Fain

This coming Monday evening, the Oak Ridge City Council and the city manager will hold a work session that has the potential to become the seminal discussion on the future growth and success of Oak Ridge. This discussion will probably begin with the question of the city contracts with the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce ($250,000) and the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau ($400,000) and, unfortunately, it may just end there. If this happens it could be another significant opportunity fumbled.

There are very legitimate reasons to question the continued expenditure of public dollars for the type and quality of results delivered by these two entities. The need for growth of revenue is real. Several years ago, without even a minimal public discussion of what kind of city we want to be in the future, the city and the Chamber entered into a series of open-ended contracts. That produced amorphous and inadequate results. The Chamber can well blame a lack of direction and vision on the city. The city can point to lots of sound and fury and fast food restaurants as being an inadequate answer to long-term financial woes and economic growth needs.

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Letter: Micromanagement or good government?

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To the Editor:

I am very saddened by the loss of Ellen Smith from the Oak Ridge City Council. I have told her that she will have my support for running again in two years. We will be greatly impoverished by her absence until then.

There are those who blame long meetings on Ellen’s dedication to detail and asking many clarifying questions. The devil is always in the details, and it has been Ellen’s interest, talent, incisive mind, and dedication to the details that has made her so vital to the maintenance of good government and to ensuring the people’s right to accountability of how their money is being spent. It has been her dedication to scientific principles of actual verifiable proof of bald assertions that has made her the guardian of the people’s best interests.

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