Due to scheduling conflicts, there will be several changes to some of the City’s upcoming City Council and Budget and Finance Committee meetings.

The Regular March City Council Meeting has been rescheduled to Monday, February 28 at 7 p.m.

The Budget and Finance Meeting set for March 16 and the City Council Work Session set for March 22 will both be held as a consolidated Work Session on Tuesday, March 1 at 6 p.m.

A Special City Council Meeting will be held on March 28 at 7 p.m. in order to handle any March business that requires notice to be given that could not occur prior to the February 28 meeting.

All meetings will take place in City Council Chambers, also known as the courtroom, at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

The City Council meetings, not the Work Session, can be watched live on Comcast Channel 12. Both the City Council Meetings and Work Session will also be streamed live on the city’s website at oakridgetn.gov/streaming. The meetings will also be audio- and video-recorded and posted on the City’s website within 48 hours of the meeting’s end. To view the meeting agendas or rewatch the recording after the meeting, visit oakridgetn.gov/agenda.

If you need an accessible entrance to the Municipal Building (the main public entrance requires the ability to walk up several steps), there is an accessible entrance on the far end of the south side of the building near the City Clerk’s Office. This entrance is a secured entrance, so please call (865) 425-5377 upon arrival for assistance or contact the City Clerk’s Office in advance.

The City Clerk’s Office can be reached at (865) 425-3411 with any further questions

The City of Oak Ridge has named Erin Elizabeth Smith as its first Honorary Poet Laureate. Smith will serve in this role for a two-year period.

In this role, she will inspire and promote literacy and literature to the residents of the City at things like cultural events and City celebrations. With Oak Ridge being a unique community as the first and primary Manhattan Project site, it places a high value on literacy as foundation to our other values of education, science, technology, and environmental stewardship.

In Fall 2021, Oak Ridge City Council was approached about the concept of establishing the honorary position of Poet Laureate for the Oak Ridge Community. City Council was in concurrence, the Oak Ridge Poet Laureate Committee was created, and a nomination and selection process took place.

Smith was selected after a detailed review of three nominees and was formally designated to the role at the Feb. 14, 2022, City Council meeting.

“During my tenure, I’m looking forward to continuing to be a part of this vibrant community and writing work that investigates and celebrates our history, and our now,” Smith said after accepting the role at the meeting.

The selection committee noted that Smith has extensive publication and teaching experience. She has a long history of community engagement and the promotion of poetry workshops with a large network of contacts in the region and beyond, noting her very strong social media presence.

Erin Elizabeth Smith is the Executive Director for Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts, a writers residency in Karns. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, most recently DOWN (SFASU 2020), and her work has appeared in Guernica, Ecotone, Crab Orchard, and Mid-American Review, among others. Smith is a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

She also has a significant understanding and appreciation of the heritage of Oak Ridge. The role is an honorary post, not an official agent of the City of Oak Ridge. 

The Oak Ridge Planning & Development Department will now handle Planning and Code Enforcement. What was formerly known as the Community Development Department is changing its name to better suit what the department provides for the community.

“Renaming the department to ‘Planning & Development’ is a clearer guide for the industry, as well as citizens who are seeking assistance on their homeowner projects,” City Manager Mark Watson said. “Additionally, a well-planned, built and maintained building stock and land base contributes directly to stability and growth of the tax base.”

The department serves the community through three groups: planning, building, and code enforcement.

“Developers or contractors seeking planning and building actions such as rezoning, subdivision, and building permits typically look for departments with names such as ‘planning, building, permitting, or codes enforcement, while ‘’Community Development’ is typically just administration of CDBG funds,” Planning & Development Department Director Wayne Blasius said.

The use of tobacco products and vapor products at parks, playgrounds, greenways, greenbelts, and other city-owned property (which includes ballfields) that are accessible by youth such as – the common areas outside the Oak Ridge Civic Center (Recreation Building) and Oak Ridge Public Library is now prohibited. The prohibition does not apply to parking lots. 

As a reminder, smoking and vaping are already prohibited inside City-owned buildings. This ordinance does not change any rules already in place with respect to inside buildings.

There are exceptions that the City Manager is authorized, but not required, to make. The City Manager can establish designated areas within these properties where smoking and/or the use of tobacco products and/or vapor products are allowed. Those areas would be designated with appropriate signage. At this time, none have been designated. 

Violations can be reported by calling the Oak Ridge Police Department non-emergency line at (865) 425-4399. 

The City of Oak Ridge and the Healthy Waters Program are proud to partner again with the Tennessee Environmental Council for Tennessee Tree Day the weekend of March 19, 2022.

Every year, thousands of volunteers across all 95 counties in Tennessee plant native trees. These trees replace those lost to development, repair degraded streams, improve water quality, increase habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and beautify our communities!

If you reserved your seedlings in time, you can pick them up at the pickup site in Oak Ridge at the Central Services Complex on Friday, March 18 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 19 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

There's still time to register for the 33rd Ijam's Nature Center River Rescue! 

The Healthy Waters Program is proud to host a site this year to keep Melton Hill Lake beautiful. 

This event is a great way to safely get out, get active, and clean up your local waterways. 

For our site, we are requiring volunteers to bring their own boats because we will be cleaning up on the water. We do not recommend small children volunteer at this site. 

You can register at https://tinyurl.com/ychkewvb, by the QR code on the post, or by emailing healthywaters@oakridgetn.gov.