Oak Ridge Today

City Council, DOE manager to discuss relations, hiring, housing; water rates also on agenda

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Kenneth R. Tarcza

Kenneth R. Tarcza (Photo courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office)

 

Some members of the Oak Ridge City Council and some residents have had a few concerns related to the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, including whether the DOE sites are doing enough to encourage new employees to live in Oak Ridge and whether DOE is paying enough on its payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Oak Ridge.

A more recent concern is whether DOE is paying enough for water supplied by the city to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, which are both federal sites.

On Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council could discuss these issues as it meets in a non-voting work session with Kenneth R. Tarcza, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Operations. The work session, which is open to the public, starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane (behind the Kmart shopping center).

Among the DOE-related items on the agenda are a discussion and review of city-DOE relations, local hiring for DOE projects, housing, and “other related issues.” [Read more…]

Backyard chickens, Centennial Golf Course among items for Council work session

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Oak Ridge City Council on July 27, 2015

The Oak Ridge City Council is expected to discuss backyard chickens, Centennial Golf Course, and Anderson County General Sessions Court during a non-voting work session on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A change in city ordinances that would allow backyard chickens is on the agenda for an Oak Ridge City Council work session tonight (Tuesday, May 17). Also on the agenda during the non-voting work session are options for the city-owned Centennial Golf Course and an update on the relocation of Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II.

The work session starts at 6 p.m. in the Central Services Complex Multipurpose Room on Woodbury Lane, which is behind the Kmart shopping center.

The City Council approved the backyard chicken ordinance in the first of two readings on Monday, May 9. There could be amendments to the ordinance on second and final reading in June. [Read more…]

Council to get update on airport this evening

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Oak Ridge Airport Development Plan

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)

 

The City Council will get an update on the proposed general aviation airport in west Oak Ridge during a work session this evening.

The update will be given by Billy Stair, public affairs consultant for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

The airport could cost $30-$40 million, and construction could start in 2018, according to a current timeline and construction estimate. The airport would include a 5,000-foot runway and be built at the front side of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site.

The Oak Ridge airport would the third for the MKAA, which would own the site. The other two are McGhee Tyson in Blount County and Downtown Island in Knoxville. The Oak Ridge airport would be a reliever airport and help relieve congestion at the other two airports. [Read more…]

Council to consider budget on Monday, Tuesday

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They postponed a budget vote for one week, and the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday and Tuesday will resume those discussions. So far, the debate has included calls to raise the property tax rate to fund certain programs and other recommendations to keep the rate unchanged—or even lower it.

The budget will be discussed during a non-voting work session at 5 p.m. Monday, June 15, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room. The Council could then vote on it in the first of two readings this month during a 7 p.m. meeting in the Municipal Building Courtroom.

Council will then discuss the budget in a second work session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane. [Read more…]

Council to consider restart on ORPD review during special meeting Tuesday

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Oak Ridge City Council on Feb. 9, 2015

The Oak Ridge City Council will have a special meeting on Tuesday, April 21, to consider three recommendations related to the 30-day review of the Oak Ridge Police Department that was approved in March. (File photo)

 

A 30-day review of the Oak Ridge Police Department had barely gotten started before it came under fire. But the Oak Ridge City Council will try to fix that on Tuesday.

The concern centers on a report that the list of ORPD employees randomly selected for the first 20 interviews was sent to Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi and all Police Department employees, raising questions about the impartiality and anonymity of the review. The reviewer, Rex Barton of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee, apparently sent the list to the police chief for scheduling purposes, seeking to minimize overtime and minimize stress on the officers’ off-duty life.

But those who have pressed for an investigation, including Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn, quickly objected when they learned that the list of interviewees had been sent to the police chief, who has been the subject of much of their scrutiny.

So, in a special meeting Tuesday evening, the City Council will ask Barton, an MTAS police management consultant, to create a new, random list of officers to interview. Council will also consider determining a point of contact in the Oak Ridge Police Department who can help coordinate the schedules of officers participating in the interviews. [Read more…]

Council to discuss ORPD review, DOE landfill, Preschool

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Oak Ridge City Council on Feb. 9, 2015

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday, Feb. 9, agreed to a third-party review of turnover, morale, and administrative policies in the Oak Ridge Police Department. (File photo)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday could discuss a review of the Oak Ridge Police Department, hear a briefing on a proposed U.S. Department of Energy landfill west of the Y-12 National Security Complex, and discuss a new joint city-school committee that could lay the groundwork for a new preschool by the 2016-2017 school year.

The City Council will meet in a non-voting work session at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane. The work session has been rescheduled from last month because of weather. [Read more…]

Council to discuss Friendship Bell repairs, National Park designation

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above during an August 2013 meeting. (File photo)

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss possible repairs to the structure housing the International Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park as well as a potential National Park Service designation during a non-voting work session this evening (Tuesday evening).

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane.

See the agenda here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Council to discuss utility rates, consider pedestrian safety

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss a utility rate review and consider more than $500,000 worth of projects to improve pedestrian safety during a work session and special meeting tonight. (File photo)

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider pedestrian safety projects valued at more than $500,000 and a $175,000 contract with the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce during a special meeting at 8 p.m. today (Monday).

That meeting will follow a non-voting work session that starts at 7 p.m. During the work session, Council will discuss a proposal to a build a storm water holding tank along Emory Valley Road on land that could be donated by Anderson County, hear a presentation on the purchasing and financing of three replacement fire engines, and discuss a utility rate review by Chris Mitchell of Management Consultants LLC. [Read more…]

Following business backlash, city schedules public hearing on signs

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Changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance that were proposed late last year were publicly opposed by several business owners, and they ended up being pulled from a December meeting of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.

Now, the city has scheduled a public hearing on the existing sign regulations, which were adopted in 2003, a city press release said.

The changes proposed last year would have governed message display times and brightness of electronic signs. They would have required that electronic sign messages be static and shown for at least 10 seconds, and they would have set a maximum light intensity for the signs. The city staff said drivers and residents have complained about the electronic reader board signs.

[Read more…]

City Council to discuss electronic signs, economic development

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Rivers Total Car Care Electronic Sign

Business owners with electronic signs, including Toney Stevens of Rivers Total Car Care in Oak Ridge, objected to a letter they received in December asking them to fix sign ordinance code violations. Since then, the violation notices have been canceled, and the Oak Ridge City Council will discuss the electronic sign ordinance in a work session tonight.

The Oak Ridge City Council will review the city’s electronic reader board sign ordinance during a work session at 7 p.m. today.

The meeting will also include a presentation and report on the city’s economic development programs and possible changes in how the city supports new jobs and companies, improves retail opportunities, and enhances housing improvements.

Changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance were proposed late last year, but they were pulled from a December meeting of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission agenda after a backlash from business owners.

[Read more…]