Headquarters for the University of Tennessee agency that provides training and technical support to Tennessee’s 348 cities are moving to Oak Ridge.
UT President John Petersen told the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Thursday that the 33-member headquarters’ staff of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) will move this spring.
MTAS headquarters, which have been in Knoxville for 55 years, currently are in the UT Conference Center on Henley Street.
“I am pleased that MTAS will occupy a large area in our building on the (Oak
Ridge) Turnpike that was vacated by Pro2Serve,” Petersen said.
“We want to make a statement of UT’s presence in Oak Ridge and moving MTAS here will do just that.”
MTAS, a unit of UT’s Institute for Public Service, was created by the state legislature as a prepaid consulting service. In addition to Knoxville, it has offices in Johnson City, Nashville, Martin and Jackson.
More than 4,300 officials participated in training courses offered by the agency last year, Dr. Mary Taylor, UT assistant vice president and director of IPS, said. The Oak Ridge building will provide additional space for training programs in East Tennessee, she said.
“One of the exciting possibilities is the chance for our staff to work with some of the many experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 on technical solutions to city problems,” Taylor said.
Other IPS courses, including those for industry leaders and county governmental officials, will be offered at the new Oak Ridge site.
The MTAS library, the most comprehensive holdings about city government in Tennessee, also will move to Oak Ridge.
MTAS has a total of 45 staff members across the state.