Oak Ridge Today

City manager Watson to discuss ‘state of city’ on Tuesday

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Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present his annual “State of the City” during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

The meeting will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Watson has served as Oak Ridge city manager since August 2010. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration and city management from the University of Kansas. In 2019, he received his doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

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Family Justice Center to be discussed Tuesday

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Melissa-Miller-Dave-Clark
Pictured above are Melissa Miller and District Attorney General David Clark when Clark signed the grant acceptance form enabling Anderson County to establish the Family Justice Center. (Submitted photo)

The Lunch with the League program on Tuesday, February 18, will feature Melissa Miller, site coordinator of the new Anderson County Family Justice Center, and Detective Wendy Zolkowski of the Oak Ridge Police Department.

The Anderson County Family Justice Center will open in July 2020, a press release said.

“Miller and Zolkowski are working together to set up a world-class center that will provide a combination of services and interventions available in one location to help victims of child abuse, elder abuse, and domestic violence,” the press release said. “The Center will help victims break the cycle of violence and become thriving survivors by providing access to onsite professionals who will assist them in making this transition. The Center will be a free and confidential resource for clients.”

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Breakfast with Legislators this morning

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The Oak Ridge League of Women Voters will hold its first Breakfast with the Legislators event of the year on Monday, January 27. The meeting will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center, 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike. A free continental breakfast will be served.

Tennessee senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to speak about the legislative outlook for this session of the Tennessee General Assembly, and respond to questions and hear opinions from the audience, a press release said. The public is invited to attend.

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Proposed power lines at Horizon Center to be discussed Tuesday

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Virginia Dale
Virginia Dale

The power lines proposed at Horizon Center will be discussed during a Tuesday lunch in Oak Ridge.

The project, advocated by Oak Ridge officials for industrial development, has raised concerns among environmentalists and people who use the city’s greenways.

The guest speaker at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, January 7, will be Virginia Dale. Dale is a corporate fellow emeritus with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she worked in the Environmental Sciences Division. She is currently a researcher in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Tennessee, a press release said. Dale has been the author of 11 books and more than 250 published articles.

Her presentation on Tuesday will focus on the city’s recent action to seek authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy to build an electric transmission line along the DOE patrol road on the boundary between the Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement and the Horizon Center industrial park, or by cutting through other “natural areas,” the press release said. These “natural areas” are identified in mitigation conditions required for a federal finding of no significant impact, which allowed the subsequent development of the Horizon Center, the press release said.

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Coal ash spill at Kingston Fossil Plant to be discussed Tuesday

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Kingston Fossil Plant Ash Spill Cleanup
Ash that spilled into the brown embayment pictured above had been removed by June 2013, and workers placed a black plastic liner over an ash containment cell in the background, preparing to close it late in 2014. The ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant, back left. (File photo)

The 2008 coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant will be discussed during Lunch with the League in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.

The lunch will feature Jamie Satterfield, award-wining investigative journalist and podcast producer for the Knoxville News Sentinel and other newspapers, a press release said.

Satterfield won a Scripps Howard award for her investigative work into the effects on hundreds of blue-collar workers who cleaned up the massive spill, the press release said. This year, she was inducted into the East Tennessee Writers’ Hall of Fame.

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Felon disfranchisement to be discussed at Lunch with the League

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Pippa Holloway

Felon disfranchisement will be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, October 1.

The speaker will be Pippa Holloway, Middle Tennessee State University history professor and 2019-2020 president of the Tennessee University Faculty Senates.

Disfranchisement is not part of the sentencing of a person for a felony conviction, a press release said. However, it is imposed by certain states on all convicted felons regardless of their offense or the length of their jail time. In other states, felons never lose their right to vote, even while incarcerated. This presentation will help to educate attendees on the enormity of disfranchisement, the press release said.

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Rec & Parks director to talk to League on Tuesday

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The next Lunch with the League program will be held on Tuesday, April 16.  The speaker will be Jon Hetrick, director of the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department.

Hetrick will provide an update on the department, which is responsible for planning, organizing, supervising, and coordinating a comprehensive plan of leisure activities for the citizens of Oak Ridge, a press release said. It is also charged with providing safe and well-maintained facilities for its patrons.  The department maintains more than 30 city-owned properties, including athletic fields, horticultural displays, playground areas, tennis courts, community center buildings, and swimming pools.

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Next Breakfast with Legislators is Monday

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McNally-Ragan-Calfee-at-Breakfast-with-Legislators-April-25-2016

Pictured above at a Breakfast with the Legislators on April 25, 2016, are, from left, Tennessee Sen. Randy McNally, Rep. John Ragan, and Rep. Kent Calfee. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge League of Women Voters will host Breakfast with the Legislators on Monday, March 25. The meeting will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike. A free continental breakfast will be served, a press release said.

Tennessee senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to speak about this session of the Tennessee General Assembly, and respond to questions and hear opinions from the audience, the press release said. The public is invited to attend.

“The popular community event offers firsthand information on upcoming legislation and House and Senate committee activities, while prompting dialogue among legislators and citizens, and providing a great networking opportunity for members of the community,” the release said. [Read more…]

City manager cites top six project list

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson cited a top six project list during his “State of the City” presentation to the League of Women Voters on Tuesday.

The items on the list were installing the synthetic turf on Blankenship Field, to be completed in May, in time for graduation; improving a few intersections, including at Tulane Avenue; making progress on Rails to Trails; finishing the new Friendship Bell pavilion at Alvin K. Bissell Park; adding exhaust systems at Oak Ridge fire stations for the diesel-burning fire trucks; and replacing the Oak Ridge Water Plant.

The new water plant could cost $44 million and be built at the city’s water intake on Melton Hill Lake in south Oak Ridge. It’s probably the largest public works project for the city, Watson said. About half of the city’s water is used by the City of Oak Ridge and the other half is used by U.S. Department of Energy facilities, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]

City manager to discuss ‘State of the City’ on Tuesday

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will discuss the “State of the City” during a lunchtime meeting Tuesday, a press release said.

The annual event will be during “Lunch with the League” on Tuesday, March 5.

Watson has served as Oak Ridge city manager since August 2010. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration in city management from the University of Kansas, the press release said. A second-generation city manager, he served six cities in Texas, Montana, and Arizona before coming to Oak Ridge.

Watson has received numerous awards and honors, and in 2017, was recognized by the International City/County Management Association for a 40-year career in public service, the press release said. [Read more…]

Reminder: Breakfast with Legislators is Monday

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The Oak Ridge League of Women Voters will host “Breakfast with the Legislators” on Monday, February 25. The meeting will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike. A free continental breakfast will be served, a press release said.

State senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to speak about the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly and respond to questions and hear opinions from the audience. The public is invited to attend, the press release said.

The popular community event offers firsthand information on upcoming legislation and House and Senate committee activities, while prompting dialogue among legislators and citizens, and providing a great networking opportunity for members of the community. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge police chief to discuss crime, traffic safety

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Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

 

The next Lunch with the League program will be held on Tuesday, February 19.  The speaker will be Oak Ridge Police Department Chief Robin Smith.  His topic will be titled “Data Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety.”

The meeting will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Smith has served with the Oak Ridge Police Department since 2012. He served as a lieutenant for two years before being promoted to captain and then deputy chief. He was appointed ORPD Chief in October 2018. [Read more…]