The Oak Ridge North City Council dismissed City Manager Richard Derr without explanation following a closed executive session at its July 22 regular meeting. City officials did not provide further comment on Derr’s release Monday night. His dismissal went into effect immediately with the council’s unanimous approval. “Council concluded Richard was not a good fit going forward, so we are both moving in different directions,” Mayor Paul Bond said in an email Tuesday. “I wish Richard the very best and appreciate his service to the city over the past several months.” Bond said an interim city manager has not been appointed, and that Assistant City Manager Heather Neeley will take on additional tasks as needed. Derr served as city manager for less than a year following his appointment last August, and he had previously held the now-defunct role of city administrator from 1989 to 1994. He did not respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, the council approved a group of right-of-way acquisitions on Robinson Road, advancing the first portion of long-awaited work on the city’s central roadway. The purchases included three parcels of land on Westwood Drive and Robinson Road immediately east of the Robinson Road-Woodlands Parkway overpass at I-45. The land will be used for the first phase of the city’s planned Robinson Road improvements, which includes a redesign of the highway overpass and Robinson-Westwood intersection. With the land purchases approved, Montgomery County Precinct 3 is cleared to begin its bidding process for the overpass redesign work. The county will oversee the majority of the overpass and intersection project through an interlocal agreement with Oak Ridge North. The three acquisitions totaled $88,827.10, well below the $161,000 initially budgeted by the city for an expected five right-of-way acquisitions. Because only three of the five parcels were eventually needed, an estimated $22,035 was also spent on planning revisions. The council also signed off on a bid for the second phase of its I-45 waterline project during its regular meeting. The waterline will be extended north from its current endpoint southwest of the Bowlero The Woodlands property at 27000 I-45 N. to Paula Lane, between the city’s interstate frontage road businesses and residential area. A second waterline replacement running east from the interstate along Paula Lane will also be included in the project. MMG Contractors won the bid from a pool of 13 submissions, and council unanimously approved its $221,293 base bid and $36,500 allowance for contingency and alternate items. The council then agreed to a grant contract for $840,000 from the Community Development Block Grant program, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city applied for the grant contract following the 2016 Tax Day Flood and Memorial Day Flood, and officials said it will use the funding for a future flood relief drainage project. In its final order of business during its regular session, the council approved an ordinance opposing CenterPoint Energy’s April application to raise its electric rates. The city this spring had joined the Houston Coalition of Cities opposing CenterPoint’s application before passing the ordinance Monday night.