Oak Ridge Today

Democratic women host discussion on climate change on Monday

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

Climate change will be the focus of a panel discussion presented by the Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club at 6 p.m. Monday, October 26. The discussion will be at the Clinton Community Center, which is at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton. Panel members will be Ellen Faby, Jo Ann Garrett, Jan Newsome, and Ellen Smith.

Mary Headrick, a retired physician who was a Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional District, will facilitate the discussion, which will focus on protecting the environment and the effects of climate change on health.  A question-and-answer session will follow presentations by the panelists.

Those attending are invited to bring a pot luck item to share. Beverages will be provided. [Read more…]

Environmental scientist to discuss radioactive waste management Oct. 26

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith, environmental scientist and Oak Ridge mayor pro tem, will discuss radioactive waste management on Monday, October 26.

Smith will be the featured speaker at the luncheon meeting of AAUW (American Association of University Women). The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church in Room 102 of the Activities Building.

Smith’s talk is scheduled to start at noon. [Read more…]

Council ends review of spending at Oak Ridge Marina bathrooms

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Oak Ridge Marina Bathrooms

City workers build a block wall, patch the ceiling, and hang drywall for new bathrooms and changing rooms in part of the former New China Palace restaurant at Melton Lake Park in April 2014. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After hearing from an auditor who said he found no irregularities, the Oak Ridge City Council voted 6-1 on Monday to end a financial review of the $281,000 project to build bathrooms and changing rooms in the structure that once housed the New China Palace Restaurant at the Oak Ridge Marina.

The audit had been requested by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, who said there was an allegation at the last Council meeting that there was some problem.

“When you get in front of a camera and you allege that something bad is going on…” Watson said, then you need to hear from a third party.

Questions have been raised about the building renovation by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn, who pointed out that she wasn’t the first to raise concerns, and former City Council member Anne Garcia Garland, among others. Most of the questions and criticisms have focused on the cost. A few different numbers have been reported about what the project was initially expected to cost and what it ended up costing. The 2014 budget showed it had a projected cost of $75,000, Baughn said.

But auditor Adam Allen, a principal of Coulter and Justus, told Council members during a special report on Monday that the renovation cost about $281,000. About half of that was labor, and another 50 percent was materials, Allen said. The audit found no irregularities. [Read more…]

Council doesn’t change Secret City Festival date, leaves it up to new nonprofit board

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City Council Chuck Hope, Warren Gooch, and Ellen Smith on Sept. 14, 2015

Pictured above at the Oak Ridge City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, when changes to the annual Secret City Festival were made, are Council members Chuck Hope, left, Mayor Warren Gooch, and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Smith. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:36 a.m.

They’ve heard concerns about moving it to the fall, and the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday did not change the date of the annual Secret City Festival. Instead, Council left any potential date change up to a new nonprofit board that could be appointed in October.

It was one of a series of steps meant to make the Secret City Festival less costly for the city and less labor-intensive for the municipal staff, to rethink how it’s organized, and to make it self-sustaining. The festival could be incorporated into a new, expanded Secret City Celebration that could include other events.

A Special Events Advisory Task Force appointed by City Council in February had recommended moving the festival to the fall as part of a celebration that would last at least a week, start in October, and continue through Veterans Day, November 11.

But Council members and a few residents laid out some objections to the proposed date change, including “dicey weather” in the fall; the potentially cold temperatures, especially for nighttime concerts; conflicts with football and other fall events; and concerns over the possibility that the festival could again become saturated with political candidates in election years, now that municipal elections have been moved to November. There were also concerns about whether some organizations that now participate in the June festival, including artists and World War II re-enactors, could take part in the fall. [Read more…]

DOE, TDEC, scientist to discuss environmental management at Sept. 22 seminar

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Sue Cange

Sue Cange

A scientist and speakers from the U.S. Department of Energy and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will discuss environmental management during a September 22 seminar. It’s the second of three new Community School seminars.

The September 22 seminar will feature Susan Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management; Ellen Smith, environmental scientist and Oak Ridge City Council member; and Chris Thompson, deputy director of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Cange will introduce the DOE Environmental Management program, a press release said. Smith will present on the contaminants released and left behind from the federal government activities in Oak Ridge. Thompson will provide an overview of the monitoring of DOE’s activities in the Oak Ridge Reservation relative to public safety and the environment. [Read more…]

Five years and $17 million later, city satisfies EPA Clean Water order

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Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tanks

Workers assemble a sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road on Wednesday afternoon, April 1, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Five years and $17 million later, Oak Ridge has satisfied a federal administrative order that required the city to repair all sewer system overflows by the end of this month, officials announced Wednesday.

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said he has received a “closure letter” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stating the City’s Administrative Order pursuant to the Clean Water Act has been fulfilled, a press release said. The letter, signed by James Giattina, director the Water Protection Division at EPA’s regional office in Atlanta, states that the EPA Region 4 “has determined that the city has satisfied the requirements of the referenced order and hereby closes the order.”

In 2010, the EPA filed an administrative order against the city for excess “Inflow and Infiltration” affecting the wastewater collection lines within the city’s primary service areas. The EPA considered the reported system overflows and piped overflows to be a violation of the Clean Water Act, the press release said. The administrative order contained various program requirements to eliminate the overflows, ensure adequate capacity system wide, and to develop a formal management, operation, and maintenance program, or MOM.

“I am pleased to report that the challenge of the EPA administrative order charged against our city is over!” Watson said. “We have received written confirmation that we have done a substantial job in addressing the findings of the Environmental Protection Agency against Oak Ridge. The order is now closed and we can begin to maintain a consistent and ongoing maintenance effort of this important sewage infrastructure for the community.” [Read more…]

First Community School seminar focuses on early Oak Ridge history

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D. Ray Smith

D. Ray Smith

The first of the three Community School evening seminars focusing on management of legacy wastes from Oak Ridge will feature local historian D. Ray Smith. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 15, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

In his presentation, “Stories from the Secret City,” Smith will give an overview of early Oak Ridge history including how the East Tennessee location was selected and the predictions the “Prophet of Oak Ridge.” In material provided about the presentation, Smith said that many Ed Westcott historical images will form the backdrop for the stories of the history of Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. A primary focus will be the Y-12 National Security Complex, which produced the uranium for the first atomic bomb, with some Oak Ridge National Laboratory history included as well.

He said he will touch on the Cold War Era and today’s Oak Ridge missions, and time permitting, give an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. A concluding activity of the first seminar will be an Oak Ridge mapping exercise, led by Community School staff. [Read more…]

Free community school focuses on waste disposal management

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Natalie Landry

Natalie Landry

Three Community School evening seminars on the topic of waste disposal management will be held at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church beginning Tuesday, September 15.

The second and third seminars are scheduled for the following Tuesdays, September 22 and September 29. All seminars will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and free child care will be provided. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning have partnered to offer these seminars, a press release said. The Community School is made possible by a $20,000 Community Involvement Fund grant awarded to the Oak Ridge League by the New Mexico Community Foundation, and funded through the U.S. Department of Energy. A portion of the grant helped to fund an environmental program focusing on children at the ORUUC Rainbow Camp in June. [Read more…]

City budget raises trash fee, provides more for city infrastructure

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Oak Ridge City Council on July 28, 2015

The Oak Ridge City Council raised the trash pickup fee by $3.50 during a special budget meeting on Monday, July 27, 2015, and the Council set aside an extra $260,000 for capital projects such as buildings and schools. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today) 

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:05 a.m. July 28.

There will be a $3.50 increase in the monthly trash fee, and more money—$260,000—will be reserved for capital projects such as buildings and schools, while city officials are not expected to change the new property tax rate provided by the state after five-year reappraisals completed this year.

The trash fee will increase from $7 to $10.50 per month. That change is expected to provide another $335,000 per year in revenue.

The new tax rate—state officials call it a tax-neutral rate—is $2.52 per $100 of assessed value. It was approved in the first of two readings by the Oak Ridge City Council during a three-hour special meeting on Monday. The second reading hasn’t been scheduled yet, but the meeting is expected soon. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge may not increase tax rate above reappraisal change

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Oak Ridge City Council 2014

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in 2014. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

Property tax rates are already expected to go up in local cities and counties because of an unprecedented drop in property assessments.

And additional increases have been approved or are anticipated in budgets that have already passed in Anderson County, Clinton, Oliver Springs, Roane County, and Rocky Top.

Oak Ridge could be the exception. The city could see an increase in the certified tax rate (state officials call it a tax-neutral rate) from $2.39 per $100 of assessed value to $2.52.

So far, no Oak Ridge City Council members have publicly endorsed raising taxes beyond the change in the tax-neutral rate required by the five-year reappraisals completed this year.

Four City Council members, a majority of the seven-member body, said during a budget work session on Tuesday that they will support the $2.52 tax-neutral rate or that it’s important to stay at that rate for now, until they have more information. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Chamber members hear about retail convention at networking meeting

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Leigha Edwards

Leigha Edwards, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s economic growth efforts, gives an update on retail activity during a Tuesday morning networking meeting. (Photo by Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce)

Leigha Edwards, one of the Oak Ridge representatives who attended a recent shopping center convention, gave an update on retail activity during a Tuesday morning networking meeting.

Edwards works for UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and she is vice chair of the Chamber’s economic growth efforts, a press release said.

She recently attended RECon, held by the International Council of Shopping Centers, along with other representatives of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce and the City of Oak Ridge. In addition to Edwards, other representatives who attended were Melinda Hillman of Roane State Community College and chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors; Stephen Whitson of H-S Whitson; Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Smith; and Parker Hardy, president and chief executive officer of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

“The conversation at RECon about retail development in Oak Ridge has changed dramatically since the first year I attended in 2013,” Edwards said. “The fact that Crosland Southeast is purchasing the mall property changed things in a very positive way. Their reputation is such that it brought a great deal of credibility to the project and the city as a whole. [Read more…]

Merchants frustrated with progress at Jackson Square; protest sign posted

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Jackson Square Parking Lot Renovations Sign

There has been some frustration among merchants at Jackson Square about not being able to use the partially paved parking lot while they wait for renovations to be completed. This protest sign saying “Free Our Parking Lot!!” was posted on Wednesday.

 

Merchants have grown frustrated with the pace of renovations at Jackson Square, and on Wednesday a protest sign was posted. “Free Our Parking Lot!” said the sign, which has since been removed.

For now, the parking lot inside Jackson Square remains closed off behind construction fencing as work continues on a $1 million renovation mostly funded by a state grant awarded in 2012.

But merchants wonder why they can’t use the parking lot since it was used for the Lavender Festival on June 20.

Compounding their frustration is the closure of the lower parking lot at Blankenship Field. It’s one of two lots on the north side of Broadway Avenue and Jackson Square. Employees at nearby businesses who used to park in the Blankenship Field lot are now using the second lot, the one used by the Farmers Market, reducing the parking spaces available there, one merchant said.

The Blankenship Field work, which was approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in June, is also causing concern for the Farmers Market. The Farmer Market’s vendors set up in the second parking lot on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, and they now don’t have parking available at either the Blankenship Field lot or inside the Jackson Square lot. [Read more…]