http://www.knoxcounty.org/rss/news.xml RSS Feed for Knox County Website en http://www.knoxcounty.org/health/index.php Earth Day and EarthFest both occur this week. In tune with those events, and with the recent National Public Health Week, the Knox County Health Department wants to know what you are doing to conserve energy and save the planet. Go to their website and let us know. You can make a big environment difference: turn off the water when you brush your teeth, turn out the lights when you leave a room and use both sides of a piece of paper before discarding it. As part of their Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance campaign, KCHD wants you to make a commitment. As a little enticement, on May 1st, they will select 29 names to receive a free water bottle and a copy of the book, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/senior_summit_agenda.php Five major areas of concern to seniors will be addressed at the May 15th Regional Senior Summit, which is free to attendees. The Summit is designed to empower seniors to take charge and live better. To achieve that, workshops will address (1) crime prevention and personal safety, (2) financial planning, (3) disaster preparedness, (4) making healthy choices later in life, and (5) empowering an active body and mind. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/action_plan.php The draft 2008 Annual Action Plan for the Knox County Community Development (KCCD) department is now available for public review and comment. The plan identifies activities for the 2008 program year (7/1/08 to 6/30/09) using more than $1M in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). http://knoxcounty.org/ In East Tennessee, a major priority is the education of our children. We understand they are our future doctors, lawyers, and engineers. We also know they are our future electricians, welders, and plumbers. These career paths have equal relevance to our region’s economic prosperity. http://knoxcounty.org/ The Citizen Review Panels have made their recommendations about which community groups will receive funding from Knox County. The five review panels met throughout the month of March to review the 143 applications that requested more than $5M in funding. http://knoxcounty.org/ As a result of comments from a number of parents, the Knox County Schools Board of Education has commissioned the UT Social Science Research Institute to conduct a survey of parents concerning future school calendars. All Knox County School parents are encouraged to participate in the confidential survey. http://knoxcounty.org/ The Knox County Mayor’s Office recently requested information from a County Commissioner regarding correspondence related to the procurement card audit. The Mayor’s Office has been contacting citizens who expressed concern over the issue, providing them with a copy of the audit response and directing them to the Knox County website where additional information can be found. Last week the Mayor’s Office sent letters to 13 citizens who had contacted the Knox County Ethics Committee. http://knoxcounty.org/ Educators, business people, parents, and the general public are meeting on Monday, March 24th to talk about educating our future workforce. Topics of the eight workshop sessions include making learning relevant, business and community engagement, attracting and retaining a quality workforce and workforce training. http://knoxcounty.org/ Knox County’s Get Outdoors Festival is set for Saturday, May 17, from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville. This will be the premiere event in the region for outdoor enthusiasts, competitive and recreational athletes, and families who just want to discover new ways to get fit and have fun! http://knoxcounty.org/ Teens entering the Dr. Seuss short story contest have until March 15th to submit their original work. Seuss won a $50 bet with Green Eggs and Ham that he could write a book using only 50 words. Local teens are challenged to write a story of any length, but using only 50 different words. Official entry forms are available at local library branches or from the library’s website. http://www.knoxcounty.org/oon/neigh_conf_2008.php The 2008 Neighborhood Conference will be held this coming Saturday, March 8, 2008. The conference will get under way at 8:00 a.m. at the Knoxville Convention & Expo Center located at 525 Henley Street. Neighborhood groups, homeowners associations and interested citizens throughout Knox County and the City of Knoxville are encouraged to attend. Conference sessions will address zoning, codes enforcement, neighborhood safety and animal control, neighborhood revitalization, and other issues. For more information and to register, please visit the Knox County Office of Neighborhoods website. http://www.knoxcounty.org Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale met this morning with Knox County Commission's Internal Auditor Richard Walls and Bryan Burklin and Clifford Tucker from the State Comptroller's office to formally take receipt of the purchasing card audit. The meeting was held in the conference room of the Knox County Purchasing Department. Also in attendance were Knox County's Finance Director John Troyer and Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Van de Vate, as well as Shane Weaver of the Internal Auditor's staff. During the meeting, the Mayor's office was granted a 10-day extension to prepare its response to the draft audit. That extension sets the deadline for completion of management's response as March 27th.... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/pdfs/walls_press_release.pdf The Knox County Mayor's Office has received the purchasing card audit, which has been released to the media. According to Knox County Finance Director John Troyer, "We are going through the audit line by line and page by page until we fully understand it. At that point we will be prepared to respond to questions."... http://knoxcounty.org/current/water_coalition.php Five East Tennessee County Mayors today jointly announced the creation of the East Tennessee Regional Water Coalition to address drought-related and public water service issues... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/friends_of_the_library.php With over 14,000 square feet of used books, CDs, and DVDs, the annual Friends of the Library book sale is one of the most anticipated events of a book lover's year, and a great way to find a new book! Most books are $2 and under, and proceeds benefit the Library. Check it out from March 2-8 at the Knoxville Convention and Exposition Center in the Holiday Inn on World's Fair Park... http://knoxcounty.org/current/kccd_annual_plan.php Public meetings have been set for February 20th and April 9th by the Knox County Community Development (KCCD) Department. The hearings are to review the 2008 Annual Action Plan Update to the 2005-2010 Consolidated Plan, which detail how Knox County uses funds to address priority needs... http://www.knoxcounty.org/oon/neigh_conf_2008.php The 2008 Neighborhood Conference Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. at the Knoxville Convention & Expo Center located at 525 Henley Street. The Conference is organized to gather neighborhood groups, homeowners associations and interested citizens throughout Knox County and the City of Knoxville to help citizens more efficiently utilize government/community services and to empower neighborhood leaders to make a difference in our community... http://www.knoxcounty.org/health/index.php The Knox County Health Department and the American Red Cross would like to invite you to attend an interfaith symposium, February 28th 9-10:30 a.m., or March 11th 6:30-8:00 p.m.,on preparing the community for Pandemic Flu at the Knox County Health Department, 140 Dameron Avenue Knoxville, TN. The pandemic flu will require all of us to take responsibility to prepare our community... http://etptv.org/readingrainbow.html The Library is pleased to partner with East Tennessee Public Television to present Reading Rainbow's Young Writers & Illustrators Contest. Children in Kindergarten through 3rd grade can enter. Everyone will receive a Certificate of Achievement, and 12 National Winners will win great prizes--like a new laptop computer, a flat panel TV, or an MP3 player, as well as DVD's of Reading Rainbow and books featured in the show... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/senior_fraud.php Reducing the level of fraud and abuse of seniors and raising awareness of these issues is the focus of a 17-county Regional Senior Summit scheduled for May 15th here in Knox County. County mayors, district attorney generals, and sheriffs from throughout East Tennessee counties gathered at the John T. O’Conner Senior Center in Knoxville this morning to announce the Summit... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/tyson_skatepark.php The Knoxville Skatepark, a 15,000 square-feet, lighted facility with bowls, stairs, rails, ledges and ramps opened Thursday, January 31, at Tyson Park... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/free_computer_classes.php Knox County Public Library is pleased to offer free computer classes at Lawson McGhee Library, East Knoxville/Burlington Branch Library and Farragut Branch Library in February. The classes range from basic keyboard and mouse skills to Excel spreadsheets and an introduction to Publisher. There's even a class designed to show patrons how to get the most out of their online library accounts... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/library_events_teens.php It's a great time to be a teen in Knox County. The Knox County Public Library hosts great programs year round geared towards the growing interests and active lifestyles of our young adults. Teens can put their creativity to use with writing contests and zine workshops, even participate in poetry slams and Teen Read Week (October 12-18). They can show off their skills with improv theatre workshops and “show-us-your-best-moves” dance evenings... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/finch.php Citing a strong desire to remain involved with civic, charitable and non-profit organizations, Cynthia Finch, Senior Director of Community Services, has requested that oversight of Knox County’s federal and local grants program be shifted to other staff. Ms. Finch’s decision follows conversations with Mayor Ragsdale and Chief of Staff Mike Arms on how to prevent conflict of interest concerns similar to those raised during a recent HUD audit requested by the County Mayor... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/satellite_offices_west.php Monday marked the ribbon cutting of the new satellite locations of the Knox County Clerk and Trustee offices in the Knox County Heath Department West Clinic Building, located at 102 Old Cedar Bluff Road... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/homeless.php Homelessness is an issue of national importance an issue with economic, social, philosophical, and spiritual implications. The East Tennessee Coalition for the Homeless in conjunction with Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam identified the need to examine homelessness in the area and to establish a plan to address the needs of the homeless population. The Mayors selected a group of civic and community leaders to serve on a task force to develop a ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness in Knoxville and Knox County... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/hud_review.php On August 8, 2007, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale contacted the Knoxville office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to request a monitoring review of all programs and processes involving federal entitlement funding. The Mayor issued this request in order to ensure continued public confidence in Knox County’s community development grants and housing programs... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/sexually_oriented_business.php On Tuesday December 18th Mayor Mike Ragsdale and Knox County Law Director John Owings announced that the Knox County Ordinance pertaining to adult oriented businesses has been declared constitutional by Federal Court Judge Phillips... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/downtown_recycling_center.php Tuesday marked the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the first downtown recycling center located at 401 State Street. The event also served as the kickoff of the annual Knox County Schools’ Phone Book Recycling Campaign. The phone book contest is an annual contest to see which Knox County School can collect the most phone books for recycling. Cash prizes will be awarded to schools for the most books collected... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/christmas_at_cove07.php The Knox County Parks and Recreation Department and Kroger’s with media sponsors The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Channel 8, B97.5 and Comcast, invite you to experience the magical tradition of the Holiday Festival of Lights at The Cove at Concord Park, located at 11808 Northshore Drive, December 21-29, from 6:30 until 9 p.m... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/spay_shuttle.php The Knox County Young-Williams Animal Center is pleased to announce the arrival of the Spay Shuttle—a 33-foot-long, state of the art, privately funded, mobile veterinary surgery suite that can hold up to 30 animals at a time.. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/deckthehalls.php 'Tis the season and Knox County Senior Centers are celebrating the Christmas holiday with fun activities. Seniors across the county feasted December 11 as John T. O'lsquo;Connor Senior Center held its annual Christmas Dinner and Corryton and Halls Senior Centers held their Christmas Potluck Dinners. Other upcoming Christmas activities at the Senior Centers. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/powerpoint/tindell_investigation.ppt During the County Commission sub-committee meetings of December 10, 2007, Commissioner Paul Pinkston requested that the Finance Committee agenda be amended to include a review of the Knox County Sheriff's Office investigation of former employee, Tyler Harber. The Mayor's Office reviewed the presentation several months ago following the conclusion of this investigation. The attached PowerPoint presentation was provided by the Sheriff's Office. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/workforce_development.php The 21st century marketplace will demand a workforce more skilled and capable than ever before. Communities equipped to provide an educated, technology-savvy workforce will succeed in maintaining a prosperous, high quality of life for their citizens. Cities and counties that cannot meet this challenge will face diminishing prospects for industrial recruitment and economic development. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/mentor_protege.php In a continued effort to provide resources for small and minority-owned businesses, the Knox County Supplier Diversity program of the Knox County Purchasing Division announced on Tuesday, December 4 that it has created a Mentor-Protégé Program, which matches small and minority-owned business owners with large company owners and/or managers. The mentors will provide various forms of assistance to participants, including information and guidance to improve the protégé’s ability to successfully compete for contracting opportunities. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/comm_development_commended.php The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has commended Knox County and the staff of the Knox County Community Development (KCCD) Department after a review of the County’s Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) program year 2006. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/tom_salter.php Tom Salter, Executive Director of Keep Knoxville Beautiful, will now serve the community in a new way when he begins work as Knox County’s Solid Waste Manager. Salter will start in his new role December 10, 2007, Bruce Wuethrich, Senior Director of Engineering and Public Works announced today. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/us_smokeout_07.php Knox County Health Department (KCHD) and the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio morning show teamed up on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 to urge Knox County residents to kick the smoking habit during the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/p_card.php Beginning Sunday, November 11, 2007, the Knoxville News Sentinel will run a series of articles examining spending in county government. A number of these articles will focus on the Executive Branch. The Mayor’s Office knows there is no more important responsibility in protecting the public’s trust than to be careful, responsible and conservative custodians of the people’s money. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/veterans_day_parade.php American Legion Knoxville Post 2 presents the 82nd Veterans Day Parade on Friday, November 9 at 10:45 a.m. on Gay Street in Downtown Knoxville. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/ethics_committee_meet1107.php The Knox County Ethics Committee will meet Thursday, November 8, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Commission Conference Room 640 of the City/County Building, 400 Main Street. The purpose of the meeting is to continue evaluating Knox County’s Ethics Policy for possible recommendations on improvements, changes or clarifications. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/delta_teens.php Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale had a special visit with some young members of the Delta Teen organization November 6th. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/mighty_musical_mondays.php On November 5, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, joined by Dr. Bill Snyder, The Three Sopranos and the staff of the Tennessee Theater in announcing The James A. Dick Mighty Musical Monday Program, a free concert series sponsored by Astrum Hearing Solutions to take place at noon every first Monday of the month. Hall Road between Dutchtown Road and Mabry Hood Road has reopened to traffic. The reconstruction was completed on schedule and has re-aligned the intersection to provide for safer operation. http://knoxcounty.org/decision/decision2.pdf http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/national_youth_football.php Knox County Parks and Recreation’s John Tarleton Park will be the site of the 2007 Battle in Rocky Top national youth football tournament on November 16-18. To date, nearly 140 teams from 19 states have signed up, some from as far away at Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/john_evans.php Solid Waste Manager John Evans died suddenly this weekend at his home. His family has announced the following arrangements to commemorate his life: http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/community_grant.php The Knox County Community Services Department needs volunteers for Citizen Review Panels to evaluate and recommend community grants that are distributed annually by the County. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/legacyparks_gifts.php Outdoor enthusiasts and dog owners will have more places to play with the announcement of donations of significant new parkland and funding for five new dog parks in Knox County. The gifts to the Legacy Parks Foundation were announced at the first Mayors’ Luncheon for the Parks today. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/new_harvest_park.php The community turned out on a beautiful fall evening to see the park that they have anticipated since the closing of the Farmer’s Market. New Harvest Park promises to be a destination site for the community, but it won’t be without its Farmer’s Market http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/powell_park_wireless.php Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Commissioner Greg “Lumpy” Lambert and representatives from Frontier Communications unveiled wireless Internet service for Powell Station Park Monday, October 22, 2007. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/tenmile_creek_opening.php Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Knox County Parks and Recreation Department Advisory Board and staff announced the completion of the first phase of the Ten-Mile Creek Greenway at a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday, October 15, 2007. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/ethics_committee_meeting.php The Knox County Ethics Committee will meet Wednesday, October 17, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the City/County Building. The purpose of the meeting is to evaluate Knox County’s Ethics Policy for possible recommendations on improvements, changes or clarifications. http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/senior_tax_freeze.php The State of Tennessee has passed legislation that permits counties to “freeze” property tax amounts for senior citizen homeowners at the current year amount for as long as the applicant meets eligibility and program requirements. http://www.knoxcounty.org/index.php Knox County Engineering and Public Works has announced the closing of Hall Road at the intersection of Dutchtown Road beginning Thursday, October 11 at 9 a.m. The closure is necessary to make grade changes and will reopen November 1, 2007. A detour will be provided via Mabry Hood Road to Dutchtown Road and all local access will be permitted... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/4thdistrict_assistance_from_Neighborhoods.php Mayor Mike Ragsdale has directed that staff from the Knox County Office of Neighborhoods will be made available to address any citizen concerns from the Fourth Commission District. Currently there is no County Commissioner serving the district, following a Chancellor’s ruling that the appointments of January 31, 2007 were flawed and must be redone... http://www.knoxcounty.org/current/schumpert_park_break_ground.php Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, County Commissioners, Parks Advisory Board and staff broke ground on the new Tommy Schumpert Park Monday, October 8, 2007... http://knoxcounty.org/decision/decision.pdf Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler's findings of fact and conclusions of law in the McElroy, et. al. v. Thomas Strickland, et. al., 168933-2, lawsuit filed and entered on October 5, 2007