Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 14th at 7:00p.m. at the Municipal Building. Significant items include:
- A special report on the Land Bank
- Adoption of the state and federal legislative agenda
- Transfer of $325,000 from the general fund to the golf course fund for supplemental operational funding
- Modification of the water services contract with DOE
- Annual election of city board and commission members
See the agenda packet here and here for complete details. All citizens are afforded a minimum of 3 minutes to speak to council at the beginning of the meeting to any subject not on the agenda. All citizens are also afforded a minimum of 3 minutes to speak to each and every item on the agenda.
Results from the October and November meetings are found here and here.
Though I am not always able to respond to every communication, I welcome your questions and feedback. Feel free to share these updates with anyone who may be interested in staying abreast of city issues.
Regards,
Trina Baughn
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Trina Baughn 
What does this mean ?
“A special report on the Land Bank Adoption of the state and federal legislative agenda”
I think it means another step toward more WWII-style homes being built in Oak Ridge. Council can’t have it both ways. They can’t complain that DOE won’t encourage new professional employees to buy housing in Oak Ridge but continue to support the building of sub-standard housing. Face it: many buyers see Oak Ridge as a town of mainly slum-dwellings. Oak Ridge WWII housing was fine in WWII, but not today. I grew up in a flat-top and a cemesto with no off-street parking, but I think the record is showing us that buyers don’t want that today – and we should not be building more of it.
Why can’t Council face the facts, get some foresight and courage, and insist on better housing. Raze the slums ! Free free-enterprise ! Stop whining to DOE ! Encourage that a product be built that people actually want ! PLEASE !
Jack Campbell
Possibly the land bank is realigning its policies and practices in order to realign itself with recent changes to TCA which make the land bank an “instrumentality” of the city. An instrumentality is a categorical definition in IRC for federal income tax purposes. There are peripheral ramifications even if the land bank is exempt. There may be other issues too. I’m sure the land bank’s legal dept. will look into the issue, as soon as it is “stood up”. We’re still operating with a board alone; no permeant dedicated facilities, no management, no employees, and a shoe-string budget.