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Oak Ridge city manager honored with Lifetime Achievement Award from University of Kansas

Posted at 10:32 am November 18, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kansas University City Managers and Trainees Alumni Organization (KUCIMAT) on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017, during a banquet at the International City/County Management Association Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas. (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kansas University City Managers and Trainees Alumni Organization (KUCIMAT) on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017, during a banquet at the International City/County Management Association Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas. (Submitted photo)

 

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kansas University City Managers and Trainees Alumni Organization (KUCIMAT) on Sunday, October 22, during a banquet at the International City/County Management Association Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, a press release said.

The KU Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have, through cumulative career achievements and successes, furthered the purpose of the KUCIMAT organization, the press release said. As stated in his nomination for the award, written by his son Kevin Watson, “Mark’s passion for local government combined with his strong leadership and commitment to mentoring the next generation of managers made him an ideal candidate.”

Speaking about the award, Watson said: “I was deeply surprised and honored that my fellow city managers from across the nation and United Kingdom had recognized me for my work. Members of my family, a number of friends, and many of my past interns, who are now practicing city managers, were there honoring me with their attendance.”

Watson is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration in city management, the press release said. Watson was selected as city manager of Oak Ridge in August 2010 after a 30-year career in local government. He is a second-generation city manager and has served in that capacity since 1981, the press release said. Before arriving in Oak Ridge, Watson served as city manager to six cities in Texas, Montana, and Arizona. [Read more…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: city management, city manager, International City/County Management Association, International City/County Management Association Annual Conference, International Friendship Bell, Kansas University City Managers and Trainees Alumni Organization, Kevin Watson, KU Lifetime Achievement Award, KUCIMAT, Lifetime Achievement Award, Main Street—Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Manager, riverfront development, University of Kansas, Warren Gooch

Guest column: Watson responds to Abbatiello’s column on budgeting, property taxes

Posted at 9:42 pm March 20, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Guest Columns Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

By Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watston responded Thursday to a guest column by former City Council member Leonard Abbatiello on budgeting and property taxes.

I have reviewed the comments from Mr. Abbatiello for the paper. There are a couple of clarifications that need to be made in his comments, but generally “matching” our budget cycles with various Tennessee or federal cycles is good. Oak Ridge is the earliest in the state at present time. Hohenwald and Memphis has a collection period beginning July 1. Morristown, Crossville, and Norris have a period beginning Aug. 1. Alcoa, Maryville, Johnson City, Dyersburg, Newbern, and Sardis have a collection period beginning Sept. 1.

Perhaps most importantly (as Mr. Abbatiello knows), June is the month of tax appeals. At present, we have various changes that occur during that month after our June 1 collection period. This causes a number of administrative changes, which do have a cost, so a shift in the calendar would avoid some of this administration, especially during a reappraisal (next one in 2015). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: budget, budget cycle, budgeting, collection, Leonard Abbatiello, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager, property taxes

Guest column: The sky is not falling on school funding, city manager says

Posted at 12:04 pm September 10, 2013
By Mark S. Watson 1 Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The Sky is NOT Falling!

It is not often that a city manager takes the time to write an editorial, but I think this is one of those times.

These past two weeks, I have been working with new School Superintendent Bruce Borchers in reviewing a notice he received from the State of Tennessee that the financial formulas for required school funding have not been met by Oak Ridge. This principle is known as maintenance of effort.

Oak Ridge is one of the few school systems in Tennessee recognized as a city system. The school system is a “department” of the city for budgetary purposes.

Our school system has maintained itself through the years as one of the premier school systems in the state, and citizens here pay much more than the minimum requirements for school maintenance found elsewhere. However, with ups and downs of sales taxes and reductions in some state funding categories, the school and the city have found themselves calculated as coming up short in the statewide formula. This is the problem that Superintendent Borchers and myself find ourselves working together to resolve. With a solution, we will take that to our respective City Council and School Board. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: Bruce Borchers, maintenance of effort, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge City Manager, Oak Ridge School Board, revenue, sales tax, school funding, Tennessee

Oak Ridge municipal, education officials reach agreement on school resource officer MOU

Posted at 12:16 pm August 8, 2013
By John Huotari 7 Comments

James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

School safety has been a high-priority issue for many people across the country since the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut in December.

It’s been an issue in Oak Ridge as well, with proposals to increase the number of school resource officers, or SROs, and a vigorous debate in July that was sparked by a controversial guest column written by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.

On Thursday, Oak Ridge municipal and education officials announced a cooperative effort to govern the city’s SRO program. They said an agreement has been reached between city officials and school officials on a memorandum of understanding, or MOU.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Government, K-12, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Bruce Borchers, Jim Akagi, Keys Fillauer, Mark Watson, memorandum of understanding, MOU, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge City Manager, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi, Oak Ridge Police Department, Oak Ridge Schools, ORPD, Sandy Hook Elementary School, school resource officer, school safety

Four ORPD sergeants ask court to order salary increase

Posted at 4:13 pm January 10, 2013
By John Huotari 3 Comments

Four veteran Oak Ridge Police Department sergeants, including one who has retired, have asked an Anderson County court to order that their pay be increased to $61,000 per year so they will earn as much as two less-experienced sergeants.

The four sergeants have requested that the pay increase be effective starting Jan. 8, 2012, when they filed a grievance.

They also want the court to overturn or modify a Sept. 7 order from the Oak Ridge Personnel Advisory Board that dismissed their grievance and found no violation of the city’s personnel ordinance.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Chancery Court, Cartel E. Webb, grievance, Jock Coleman, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager, Oak Ridge Personnel Advisory Board, Oak Ridge personnel director, Oak Ridge Police Chief James T. Akagi, Oak Ridge Police Department, ORPD, Paul Nance, pay, Penny Sissom, personnel ordinance, Philip M. Nall, Robert M. Pitts, Ronald Boucher, salary, sergeants, Tammy M. Dunn

City manager offers economic optimism, says mall needs to move quickly

Posted at 4:18 pm October 2, 2012
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Mark Watson State of the City

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, talks to Kay Brookshire and Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan.

Note: This story was updated at 9:50 a.m. Oct. 4.

With a boom in economic activity that includes billions of dollars worth of projects, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark S. Watson offered a dose of optimism about the city’s economic future on Tuesday, and he suggested commercial developments won’t be held up by the owners of the “inactive” Oak Ridge Mall or property owners who set sale prices too high.

Five retailers that might have wanted to locate at the mall are now talking to the developers of a $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center planned at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, Watson said. He said the city and commercial developers are “going right on around” the privately owned, mostly empty mall, where redevelopment plans have languished for years.

“They’re starting to lose customers,” Watson said during an hour-long lunchtime speech to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. “They’re going to be left holding the bag if they don’t start moving—and moving quickly.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Community, Government Tagged With: developments, economic future, Kroger Marketplace, League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Mark S. Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager, Oak Ridge Mall, State of the City

Watson discusses Kroger shopping center, Jackson Square on Tuesday

Posted at 9:33 am October 1, 2012
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

During a Tuesday afternoon speech, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will discuss economic challenges, the proposed Kroger shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, and the redevelopment of Jackson Square.

Watson’s speech is titled “The State of the City: Past Accomplishments; Future Vision.” It’s scheduled to begin at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Government Tagged With: League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, State of the City

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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