The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council could select a new manager next week for the municipality, population 31,000, which hosts the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site.
The selection is expected during a special city council meeting on Aug.28, according to an update posted on the city’s website. The ultimate hiring could come after Oak Ridge’s mayor and attorney negotiate a contract with the candidate, which would require council approval.
After the council conducted Zoom interviews with a half-dozen candidates in July, the field was pared to three finalists. Two visited the city Aug. 15-17, and “one withdrew for a possible opportunity elsewhere,” according to the latest post.
The new manager, hired to succeed Mark Watson who retired in May, is expected to make between $200,000 and $215,000, according to the post. The city retained an executive search firm, HRGov USA, to coordinate the search.
According to its website, the city’s goals for the new manager include exploring development of new housing for, and business opportunities resulting from, the DOE complex, including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. The federal reservation spreads across roughly 37,000 acres in Tennessee’s Anderson and Roane Counties.
