City manager’s contract extended; nearly $183K
Oakridger
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will serve another year as city manager and will get a $1,000 bonus “for his efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Watson is a city employee rather than an elected official, but he is in charge of running the city’s various departments and often advises Oak Ridge City Council on decisions. He began working in Oak Ridge on Aug. 9, 2010. This extension will extend his contract through Aug. 8, 2023. Watson has been in charge of the various city departments as they have navigated how to adjust for the pandemic. He also contracted the virus himself and recovered, although the report from the city manager evaluation committee doesn’t mention it.
Dealing with growing student populations
Oakridger
As builders construct new houses and families move into Oak Ridge, the city s elected officials continue to talk about how the city’s school system should react.
Options discussed have included redistricting, repurposing space inside school buildings, or even constructing a new school.
“We’ve worked and worked and worked in order to get new housing and the community growth,” Board of Education Member Ben Stephens said recently. However, he said, the city now has to look at how to deal with this growth long-term.
“Let’s not start passing out a box of Band-Aids,” he said regarding short-term solutions compared to long-term ones.
Concerns, but rezoning for training center OK’d by Council
Oakridger
The Oak Ridge City Council voted unanimously recently to approve rezoning that could allow for a new training center in Oak Ridge that could help firefighters train, as well as federal and state agencies.
City Council will need to approve the rezoning a second time in order for it to go ahead.
The training center will, if everything goes ahead, be on 20 acres of property along Oak Ridge Turnpike currently owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and described by city Manager Mark Watson as “virgin land.”
W. Barry Brooke, executive vice president of developer LawlerWood, explained to City Council the specifics of the development. He said it will have an area where firefighters can perform drills like hooking hoses up to hydrants. Some of these drills will involve smoke, but he said the smoke used will be non-toxic. He also said drills will focus on what to do during nuclear scenarios. He said the complex