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City officials clash over Secret City Festival spending costs

Posted at 11:33 pm December 12, 2013
By John Huotari 14 Comments

Rick Springfield at Secret City Festival

The Rick Springfield concert at the Secret City Festival in June was the largest ever for the annual festival, an organizer said.

Debate over the costs of the Secret City Festival—and whether the city can afford a $160,000 “party” every year—was briefly renewed again on Monday.

The sometimes-rancorous debate came up as the Oak Ridge City Council considered whether to approve two resolutions laying the financial foundation for the June 2014 festival.

Early in the debate, Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn moved to reallocate the Secret City Festival money and use it instead for a school resource officer in each middle school, or two SROs total.

But Council member Charlie Hensley said Baughn was essentially asking the city to take money it would collect from festival sponsors and use it instead for SROs.

“I think that’s fraudulent,” Hensley said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Government, Oak Ridge, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: Anne Garcia Garland, Arts Council of Oak Ridge, Charlie Hensley, Chuck Hope, David Mosby, employee hours, fees, festival sponsors, Jane Miller, Josh Collins, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, sales, school resource officer, Secret City Festival, sponsorships, SRO, Tom Beehan, Trina Baughn

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