City of Oak Ridge offices will be closed for Christmas and New Year’s Day.
City administrative offices and Oak Ridge City Court will be closed from Friday, December 23, to Monday, December 26, for Christmas.
They will also be closed on Monday, January 2, for New Year’s Day.
Offices and the court will re-open on Tuesday, January 3, a press release said.
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Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m. July 26.
A $2.8 million animal shelter is planned in Anderson County, possibly inside the city of Clinton.
The current animal shelter is on Blockhouse Valley Road in the Claxton community. It has 12 dog runs and 12 cat cages. It’s a 720-square-foot animal holding facility, the first in the county, and it cost about $25,000 to build. It was built by the county on county property with help from local contractors and inmate labor. It opened in the fall of 2015, about six months after Anderson County Commission approved an animal task force, said former Anderson County Commissioner and Oak Ridge resident Robin Biloski, who has helped lead the animal shelter project, including through fundraising.
“It was little, but it spoke volumes,” Biloski said during an unveiling ceremony for the plans for the new shelter at Calhoun’s restaurant in Oak Ridge on Thursday evening.
The new shelter would be much larger than the current facility. It would be more than 10,800 square feet, including about 2,900 square feet for kennels. It could have 20 dog kennels—30 total including kennels for animals that need to be quarantined and for miscellaneous animals such as pigs—and space for 20 to 30 cats, said Brian Porter, Anderson County Animal Control and Shelter Director.
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Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge
The Oak Ridge city staff has tallied the top five comments received during the City Blueprint initiative, which kicked off with a public meeting in Grove Center in January. Here are the top comments:
There is an effort under way to build a new senior center.
The city estimated that about 500 people attended the January 26 kickoff meeting for the City Blueprint at High Places Community Church in Grove Center. There were 670 suggestion cards turned in, with 775 comments on the cards and another 100 comments shared on Facebook. [Read more…]
Ed Steinebach, right, general manager for Magna International’s Eagle Bend Manufacturing plant located in Clinton, announces a $10,000 donation to start an animal shelter in Anderson County. Also pictured are Anderson County Commissioner Robin Biloski, left, and Mayor Terry Frank, center. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
CLINTON—A total of $25,000 in donations was announced on Monday to help start an animal shelter in Anderson County.
The first donation of $10,000 was announced by Ed Steinebach, general manager for Magna International’s Eagle Bend Manufacturing plant in Clinton. Steinebach said his company is number two in the world for automotive manufacturing, and it is very important to give back to the community.
A matching donation of $10,000 was announced by Eileen Slater from her and NOAH Companion Animal Center in Marlow. Slater said it is very urgent to set up a holding facility at Blockhouse Valley Road.
The third donation of $5,000 was announced by members of S.A.R.G. (Shelter Animals Rescue Group), a nonprofit organization. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The Anderson County Commission met for the first time since January on Monday night and voted unanimously to release the $20,000 in funding that had been held back from the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department and place them back in the rotation (beginning next year) for county purchase of a new fire truck after the department abandoned its controversial and wildly unpopular subscription program and returned to all-volunteer status.
Commissioner Phil Warfield said that the department “went above and beyond what Commission asked of them†as far as making things right with county leaders and more importantly the citizens they serve.
Commissioners were also introduced to the new fire chief, Del Kennedy. [Read more…]
The new task force set up to consider the possibility of an animal shelter in Anderson County will meet on Tuesday.
The meeting has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, February 17, in Room 118A at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
See previous story about the task force and its work here.
The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.
The Anderson County Operations Committee has endorsed setting up a task force to examine the possibility of an animal shelter in the county, a press release said.
That should be good news for Oak Ridge, where there has been at least some concern about the housing of animals from outside Oak Ridge at the city’s animal shelter and the costs of doing so.
“Anderson County has had a strong, long-standing relationship with the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter over the years and continues that solid, working partnership,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said in a press release. “However, as their shelter has moved more towards the housing and adoption of animals, the available contracted space for county animals has diminished. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.
The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter is temporarily closed after canine distemper tests came back positive.
All dogs in the Animal Shelter that tested positive have been euthanized to prevent the disease from spreading, and the shelter staff is taking measures to prevent widespread infection within the canine community, a City of Oak Ridge press release said. Those preventive measures include cleaning and disinfecting.
The canine distemper tests were conducted by the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine. The Animal Shelter could reopen at 11 a.m. Tuesday, October 28.
The Animal Shelter had a distemper outbreak in March of this year, and the staff started taking precautions by vaccinating all animals on intake, the press release said. However, this time the animal was turned into the Animal Shelter already infected with distemper. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.
Two dogs recently taken in by the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter have been diagnosed with canine distemper. The Animal Shelter was closed Friday and Saturday to allow for thorough cleaning of the facility. Dogs in the shelter are being tested to see if others have contracted the disease.
Test results are expected to be received by today (Tuesday, October 21). If none of the dogs test positive for canine distemper, the Animal Shelter will reopen at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
As a precaution, all animals brought into the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will be vaccinated on arrival, the Oak Ridge Police Department said in a press release. Dogs with any kind of cough or nasal discharge will be kept separate from dogs available for adoption. [Read more…]
