February 7, 2001

By Frank Munger News-Sentinel senior writer

Festering disagreements became more obvious recently during the controversy over land use on the government's Oak Ridge reservation. Some insiders have portrayed it as a showdown between Leah Dever, the Oak Ridge manager, and Dan Wilken, chief of administration.

Dever reportedly sent two of her deputies to meet with Wilken last week and propose a special assignment that would have removed Wilken from his current position. Wilken, a member of the Senior Executive Service, reportedly declined the offer and apparently intends to fight any other attempts to reassign him.

Dever came to Oak Ridge a year and a half ago, replacing Jim Hall in the top management post. She, of course, inherited a management team already in place, although she has brought in a few managers since then and created a new line of deputies.

It's not clear whether management dissension within DOE's Oak Ridge office is fueled by differences in philosophy or personality, but land use has become the battleground.

Hall and some of his top managers, including Wilken, had strong ties to the business community in Oak Ridge, and they promoted private use of surplus federal properties and set the stage for private development of DOE land.

While Dever favors "reindustrialization" and other efforts to diversify the local economy, she has strong environmental interests and recently shelved a proposal to turn more of DOE's Oak Ridge acreage into an industrial park.

The feud within the Federal Building could have significant ramifications outside it.

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