The Oak Ridge City Council is expected to appoint a new member on July 9 to fill the seat being vacated by Hans Vogel, who is resigning and moving to take a new job at Idaho National Laboratory.
Vogel, who was elected to a four-year term in November 2016, is serving through June 30. Currently employed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vogel will become director of strategic irradiation capability for the Advanced Test Reactor at INL, which is in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The new City Council member appointed Monday, July 9, will serve until a special municipal election on November 6. The person elected in the special election will then serve the final two years of Vogel’s four-year term.
The City of Oak Ridge is currently accepting applications to fill the pending City Council vacancy. Those who are interested must submit application materials to the City Clerk’s Office by 5 p.m. Thursday, July 5.
“Any qualified voter is eligible to serve on City Council if he or she has been a resident of the city for one year preceding the day of appointment and provided that, before taking office, he or she resign any state, county, or other municipal office which is filled by public election or position of employment with the City of Oak Ridge,” a press release said.
There is no formal application document, the city said. People interested in applying should submit standard resume materials. Resumes should include the applicant’s full name and address, date of birth, affirmation that he or she is a qualified voter, length of residency in Oak Ridge, and a brief biography.
“City Council also encourages applicants to provide a statement of interest explaining why they wish to serve on the Council and what they envision for the future of Oak Ridge,” the press release said.
Materials may be mailed or hand-delivered to the City Clerk’s Office, Suite 109, in the Municipal Building at 200 South Tulane Avenue. They may also be emailed to CityClerk@oakridgetn.gov. If they are sent by mail, resumes should be addressed to: The Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council, City of Oak Ridge, P.O. Box 1, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0001, Attention: Mary Beth Hickman, City Clerk.
“Any resumes received after the deadline of 5 p.m. on July 5 will not be considered for purposes of this appointment,” the press release said.
For more information, contact the City Clerk’s Office at (865) 425-3411.
Besides the special election to fill Vogel’s seat, there will also be a regular election on November 6 for the four City Council seats currently held by Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn, and City Council members Kelly Callison and Ellen Smith.
The seven-member City Council has staggered terms, meaning four seats are up for election one even-numbered year and three others are up for election the next even-numbered year. The next regular election for the seat now held by Vogel will be in November 2020, at the same time as the next regular elections for the seats now held by City Council members Jim Dodson and Chuck Hope.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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