Cookeville To Consider Increasing Grant Match For Cane Creek Park Work

Cookeville City Council will consider increasing its matching portion for a Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Leisure Services Director Rick Woods said this opportunity comes after TDEC awarded a $450,000 dollar-for-dollar matching grant for work at Cane Creek Park.

“TDEC is offering to increase that grant award by 25 percent due to inflation,” Woods said. “Because they recognize that since we’ve first developed those costs and applied for that grant, the cost for materials, supplies, all of that has gone up.”

Woods said that match also requires an increase on the city’s portion up to some $112,500. He said if the city does not accept the increase in the grant award, the city would have to bear the entire amount of any additional costs. However, if the city does not spend that amount, Woods said it does not have to commit that.

Woods said with the increase in grant awarding, the city cannot expand the scope of the project. The work would include over a mile of trail extension, fencing, and a new picnic shelter. City Manager James Mills:

“The LPRF is a great grant program and it’s funding a lot projects in Cookeville and statewide,” Mills said. “And I would encourage you to do this.”