Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council is expected to discuss its ongoing search for a new city manager during a regular meeting Tuesday following the May 5 retirement of Mark Watson, 68.
Watson is retiring after holding the Oak Ridge post for more than a dozen years. Watson has served as a city manager in four different municipalities during his career, he told Exchange Monitor earlier this year.
Oak Ridge, which serves as a host city for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site and Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex, voted on March 22 to select GovHR USA as its executive search firm to identify a suitable successor.
GovHR USA was awarded a $23,500 contract and chosen from among seven executive search firms, according to the City Council materials. Included in the packet submitted to the Oak Ridge City Council is promotional information HRGov USA put together in 2021 when another DOE weapons complex city, Paducah, Ky., was seeking a new city manager.
The Oak Ridger newspaper reported May 11 that Watson and his wife intend to continue living in Oak Ridge.
