The Oak Ridge Town Council on Sept. 4 approved an addendum to the town’s Field Uses Policy addressing insurance and rebate procedures for the Oak Ridge Youth Association (ORYA), reducing the insurance requirement to $1 million and allowing use of an approved rebate as a credit against monthly field charges.

The proposal originally included raising the required liability coverage to $2 million. Parks and Recreation members and the town’s insurance advisor noted that higher limits are increasingly standard given inflation and rising liability costs. Sam (finance/legal advisor) told council that moving from $1 million to $2 million typically creates only a small premium increase for many organizations, but council members expressed concern about immediate cost impacts on ORYA.

Council debated whether to delay the change to allow ORYA time to respond; at one point a motion to approve the addendum with both the $1 million rollback and a credit‑rebate mechanism was made but failed on a close vote. Council then passed a revised motion to approve the addendum with the single change to reduce the insurance requirement from $2 million back to $1 million. Separately, council approved allowing ORYA to use its annual rebate/stipend as a credit against monthly field charges (staff will process rebate payments approximately weekly) and authorized an immediate rebate for ORYA‑sponsored camps to ensure timely payment for August invoices.

Council members said the monthly‑rebate/credit approach provides transparency so ORYA always sees both the charges for field use and the town’s support as a separate transaction. Staff will implement the revised policy and the addendum; council directed staff to monitor the insurance cost impact and revisit if necessary.