Oak Ridge City Council asks Anderson County mayor for limited mask mandate

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) — A mask mandate is on the minds of leaders in Oak Ridge.

On Monday, the city council passed a resolution asking Anderson County’s mayor for a limited mandate focused just on the city limits.

Right now, Oak Ridge is a city under two sets of rules, because it straddles county lines. Partly in Roane County, which has a mask mandate, the other in Anderson County, which does not.

Roane County Mayor Ron Woody announced a mask mandate last month.

Anderson Count Mayor Terry Frank did not, saying she didn’t think, “we can police our way out of a pandemic.”

City Manager Mark Watson says that a decision should be made at the earliest possible moment.