ORN plans major capital improvement projects, changes waste collection service

The City of Oak Ridge North is undertaking a large-scale improvement project for its utility services while also amending its trash service. City Manager Vicky Rudy said the city is considering about $5 million in capital improvement projects including groundwater storage tank renovations and Hanna Road and Blueberry Hill sewer projects she feels need to be completed in the next few years.

"The entire system is 40 years old. The city has come of age all of a sudden and there's really been no previous planning before this time, but we need to have a plan in place for future years," Rudy said.

To complete the renovations, Rudy said the city intends to borrow $3 million and to use $2 million of its own money.

The City Council voted to change the city's sanitation services from the public works department to Waste Management. The change means residents' trash will be picked up one day a week, on Mondays, instead of two days per week.

Rudy said the cost associated with trash pickup and the maintenance of the city's garbage truck had become a burden and unsustainable.

"The city had its own sanitation program for many years because we received a sanitation truck in our grant program," she said. "This move will save us considerable money, as the inflation, cost of personnel and maintenance issues with the truck were just too much."

Waste Management will provide residents with 96-gallon trash receptacles and all solid waste will be picked up after holidays.