The Knoxville City Council approved a new contact for City Manager Heather Ussery at their meeting Monday night.

Ussery has worked for the City of 17 years and has been in the City Manager role for the last three. Ussery has overseen the progress Knoxville has made especially in the last 12-18 months in regards to the Veterans District development, downtown facade improvements, planning for a new public safety/city hall facility, street improvements, Knoxville being designated as a thriving community, more housing, and helping make Knoxville continue to thrive. Ussery says she is excited to see new projects continue to move forward.

“Three years have flown by. A lot has happened in those three years. There has been a lot of planning for Knoxville over the last several years. The last 12-18 months we’ve seen a lot of that come to fruition and we’ve seen the developments happen. It’s been very exciting to be a part of that. I think we still have a ways to go. We have a lot of things in the works that I’m excited to see move forward.”

Council member Megan Day had motioned for a three year end date to Ussery’s contract, but that motion did not pass due to a lack of a second. A motion did pass for a five year end date.