News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Department of Transportation revoked a $3 million grant Friday from the UCHRA to be used for a new transit hub.
TDOT’s decision comes one week after an auditor’s report revealed over $130,000 in questionable grant spending by the agency.
UCHRA Interim Director Mark Farley said the agency is not surprised by the decision.
“From the very beginning, they froze everything and basically said everything was on hold,” Farley said, referring to the agency’s spending and finances. “I’ll be quite honest, our fear has been that we would probably lose [the grant] all along. When it was hard to hear that actually come from [TDOT] this week, I’m going to be honest, in some of our minds I think we already prepared ourselves for the worst.”
All is not lost in terms of grant money for the UCHRA. According to Farley, TDOT told the agency they could re-apply for the grant next year. He said this gives the agency an opportunity to reevaluate the organization’s original plan for the transit hub.
“It may not be as dire as you may think, just initially hearing the news that you’re losing that grant opportunity,” Farley said. “When you think about it, we applied for that well over a year ago. Things have changed. The situations on the ground here are changing constantly, especially in the Cookeville area.”
The grant money would’ve went towards a $4 million facility, used to house the UCHRA’s transit hub currently located on South Jefferson Avenue. The new facility was proposed to be located near Highway 111. The agency currently leases their South Jefferson location.
Last week’s auditor’s report showed portions of TDOT funding were being billed by non-transportation services within the UCHRA, including employee salaries within the agency’s nutrition program.
Farley understands the reasoning behind TDOT’s decision, adding turmoil within the agency likely led to their decision as well. He said fixing some of the issues within the organization will help bring them out of their current situation.
“[TDOT] wants to see those issues resolved. They want to see a stable environment,” Farley said. “Obviously with all the turmoil that’s going on, you really can’t blame them for wanting to have a large-scale construction project that they’re funding while they’re also being very critical of the agency and how they’ve handled the funds.”
Farley said the agency is currently discussing a plan to reduce the $130,000 reportedly owed to TDOT for questionable grant spending. He added the agency will likely reapply to the $3 million grant after reevaluating the transit hub proposal.
