Temporary Oak Ridge City Manager: Jack Suggs
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson plans to retire May 5 after 12 years in the position.
The Oak Ridge City Council unanimously appointed current Deputy City Manager Jack Suggs to serve as interim manager during a meeting April 10.
Oak Ridge’s city manager supervises the city staff and often makes recommendations to Oak Ridge City Council.
Suggs will hold the position from May 5 until City Council hires a new manager. He will earn an annual salary rate of $170,539.20 or $81.99 per hour, documents included in the City Council agenda stated.
“It’s been a pleasure working as the deputy for Dr. Watson,” Suggs said. “My intention is to try to keep the good work that he started moving forward.”
Playground, sidewalk improvements
Thanks to another decision at the same meeting, Oak Ridge can look forward to an “inclusive” playground at Highland View Park near the Oak Ridge Children’s Museum.
The cost is not to exceed $300,000, paid for with federal Community Development Block Grant funding, not city or county taxes.
A city memo stated the current play structure at Highland View Park is 17 years old.
It will be up to Cookville-based contractor Recreational Concepts LLC to design and build the new playground, but the memo gives a general picture.
“All city-owned playgrounds meet current accessibility standards, but an inclusive playground will exceed those standards,” the memo said.
“This is something that would go a step further,” Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick told the City Council at the meeting.
The future playground will be easier for children with physical disabilities to use. Ramps will take the place of transfer platforms and unitary surfacing the place of engineered wood fiber surfacing. The city plans also plans address the needs of children whose disabilities aren’t fully addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, such as autism.
“That’s going to provide a lot of value to that area,” Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dodson said regarding the playground.
Also, the Oak Ridge City Council approved a project that will make some of Oak Ridge’s sidewalks easier for people with disabilities to use. The sidewalks are along portions of Highland Avenue and Tuskegee Drive. A memo stated it will replace 4,750 linear feet of four-foot-wide sidewalks with ADA compliant five-foot-sidewalks. Also, it will add 20 handicap ramps. As with the playground, federal CDBG funds rather than city taxpayer money will pay for the project. The contract approved allows for it to cost up to $460,660.