Oak Ridge Today

IDB to consider financing-related resolution for Main Street Oak Ridge on Monday

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Oak Ridge Mall

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will consider a financing-related resolution for Main Street Oak Ridge during a special meeting on Monday. Main Street Oak Ridge would redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall, the L-shaped structure pictured at center above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will consider a financing-related resolution for Main Street Oak Ridge during a special meeting on Monday.

The resolution would approve documentation related to the tax increment financing, or TIF, for Main Street Oak Ridge. The $13 million, 30-year TIF agreement would use new property tax revenues generated within the economic impact area to assist in the redevelopment.

The special IDB meeting starts at 4 p.m. Monday, August 24, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room. [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…]

City, schools to present budgets to Council today

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Note: This story was updated at 9:23 a.m.

The municipal and school budgets will be presented to the Oak Ridge City Council during a meeting this evening (Monday, June 1).

The municipal budget will be presented by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. The schools budget will be presented by Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. See the agenda here.

City officials have been striving to present a budget that does not include a property tax rate increase. But it wasn’t clear as of last week if that would be possible because of a dramatic drop in sales tax revenues from the Roane County portion of the city. [Read more…]

MTAS: ORPD review to be extensive, but not clear who will be interviewed

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Oak Ridge Police Department Review Protest

Protesters who want all officers to be able to speak to a consultant reviewing the Oak Ridge Police Department are pictured above outside the Oak Ridge Municipal Building before the Monday night City Council meeting.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:35 a.m. April 20.

The review of the Oak Ridge Police Department will be extensive, but it’s not clear yet who will be interviewed, an official said Friday.

The proposal submitted by the Municipal Technical Advisory Service and approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in March called for interviewing a randomly selected group of police department employees. It also called for interviewing other city employees and officers and possibly talking to community leaders not directly employed by the city.

But some have expressed concern that others who want to speak, including former officers and city residents, might not be able to under the limited 30-day review and random selection proposed by MTAS.

“These men deserve to be heard, all of them,” said Christen Thomas, wife of Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas.

The independent MTAS review will use Police Management Consultant Rex Barton, a former administrative captain for the Athens, Tennessee, Police Department. MTAS is part of the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee. [Read more…]

Council considers ORPD review proposal, ORHS stoplight, amendment for Main Street project

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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 and morale in the Oak Ridge Police Department but rejected requests for two other probes. On Monday, March 9, the Council will consider a proposal from the Municipal Technical Advisory Service to conduct the review, which will also include administrative policies. (File photo)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday night will consider a proposal to use the Municipal Technical Advisory Service to review turnover, morale, and administrative policies in the Oak Ridge Police Department.

The Council will also consider a contract to install a stoplight on Oak Ridge Turnpike in front of the Oak Ridge High School.

Also on tonight’s agenda is a resolution to appoint members of a joint city-school committee that will study options for repairing, replacing, or moving the Oak Ridge Preschool.

And Council members will consider a zoning ordinance amendment that could help the Main Street Oak Ridge project, which will redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]

Snow: Oak Ridge Schools closed, city opens late, Discovery Ed Livestream postponed

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Snow Sweeper at Oak Ridge High School

A tractor with sweeping equipment helps remove snow from the Oak Ridge High School parking lot. (Photo by Julio Culiat) 

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:52 p.m. Some of these announcements continue to change. We will update this story as we can.

Oak Ridge Schools are closed today (Tuesday, February 24), and the City of Oak Ridge offices will open at 10 a.m.

Oak Ridge Schools said the Discovery Ed Livestream that had been scheduled for today has been postponed until May.

Anderson County Courthouse is closed due to weather. So is Roane State Community College. [Read more…]

Police chief denies wrongdoing, no reason for investigation, attorney says

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Tasha Blakney

Tasha Blakney

Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m.

Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi denies any wrongdoing related to the concerns publicly raised in the past two weeks about the Police Department and his leadership, attorney Tasha Blakney said.

“The chief denies that he has been engaged in any wrongdoing at all,” said Blakney, who represents the chief. “Based on my review, I don’t see any reason for an investigation.”

But Akagi will respect the decision of the City Council, assuming the proper process is followed, and he will cooperate with the Council’s decision, Blakney said.

“The chief will respond to whatever City Council requires of him,” she said.

The investigation has been requested by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn. It’s on the agenda for tonight’s meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. [Read more…]

Save the Date: Second public meeting on Clark Center Park on Oct. 27

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Clark Center Park Water View

A view of Melton Hill Lake near a boat ramp and between two picnic areas at Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge.

 

The second public meeting on Clark Center Park will be held during the Oak Ridge City Council work session scheduled for Monday, October 27, at 7 p.m. The meeting will be at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building at 200 South Tulane Avenue.

The first meeting was in August. The 80-acre park could be transferred from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city.

The DOE’s Oak Ridge Office is in the process of reviewing the agency’s land holdings across the Oak Ridge Reservation, including Clark Center Park (formerly known as Carbide Park). [Read more…]

Neighborhood Watch open house to include tour of renovated ORPD

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Neighborhood Watch Award Carol Barnette

Carol Barnette, Neighborhood Watch District Leader, accepts an award from ORNWP President Brad Stephenson, left, for the Scarboro community’s outstanding community service in supporting neighborhood crime prevention programs. With them are, from left, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi, Deputy Chief of Police Alan Massengill, and Community Resource Officer Brandan Sharp, at the Neighborhood Watch annual banquet for block captains.

The Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program invites the community to come learn more about the crime prevention program at a Neighborhood Watch Open House from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, at the Municipal Courtroom in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

Neighborhood Watch encourages residents to watch for and report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods, in partnership with the local police department. The program also encourages neighbors to get to know each other better. By working together to prevent crime, Neighborhood Watch participants contribute to improved safety and quality of life in their communities.

The open house will feature a presentation by David Gordon, crime analyst with the Oak Ridge Police Department, and tours of the newly renovated Oak Ridge Police Department.

Gordon will explain how residents can track crime in their neighborhood through RAIDS Online, www.raidsonline.com, a Web-based crime mapping program. RAIDS Online offers information about local crime activity and trends. It empowers the public, according to Gordon, by giving them the same technology used by law enforcement to analyze and interpret crime patterns in their area. Anyone may subscribe to customized e-mail alerts about crime in their neighborhood. [Read more…]

AMSE’s operating contract with for-profit could be replaced by nonprofit

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American Museum of Science and Energy

The American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

The contract with the for-profit company that runs the American Museum of Science and Energy will change from quarterly to monthly starting Jan. 1, and a museum expert could be hired on an interim basis to assess the museum, its place in the community, and a logical new operating structure.

The museum is now funded by the U.S. Department of Energy at a cost of about $1.5 to $1.6 million per year, said David Keim, communications director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Revenues from the gift shop, admissions, and programs add up to about $300,000 per year.

But officials have long said that the department should not be operating the museum.

“It’s always been a government-funded operation,” Keim said. But, “DOE is not in the museum business.”

In June, a group of museum directors brought to Oak Ridge from around the country recommended that the museum be run by a community-based nonprofit organization—not DOE and not a for-profit company, Keim said. [Read more…]

Weekly memorial for veterans moves to Municipal Building on Sunday

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Friendship Bell Repairs

A symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan, the 20-year-old Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park is closed while the city make repairs to the structure holding up the bell.

Since the structure housing the Friendship Bell is under repair for an indeterminate amount of time, the group that has met each week for more than 400 Sundays to ring the Friendship Bell in remembrance of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in recent years, for Anderson County veterans of American wars, will meet Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Veterans Memorial/Flag Pole in front of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

The memorial is at 12:20 p.m. Sunday.

The group, which varies in composition and number, plans to meet each week when the weather forecast is dry, a press release said. When the weather forecast is wet, the names to be read in memorium will be saved for the next gathering. [Read more…]