Algood Approves Authorization To Purchase $130k Backhoe

Algood City Council approved a purchase for a $130,952 backhoe, some $20,000 under budget.

City Administrator Keith Morrison said the new Thompson Cat backhoe would replace the 20-year-old John Deere Model.

“Instead of going with John Deere this time, Mr. Bradshaw and I talked about going with Thompson Cat just because they’re a local dealer, service and maintenance can be done locally here in Cookeville just off of 111 and South Jefferson,” Morrison said. “So the convenience of it is much easier.”

Morrison said the backhoe was budgeted for the coming fiscal year. He said the bid is a state-contracted price.

Morrison said the backhoe also comes with a 26-month warranty and a plan for maintenance. He said with the council’s authorization, the city will issue the pay order and receive the backhoe right on July 1st.

“It’s used three to four jobs minimum a week, sometimes it’s all five days it’s running for hours and hours and hours so it just depends on what’s happening during the week but it’s a regularly-used items,” Morrison said. “We do a lot more stuff than just digging with it. We do road work, load the salt trucks, loading gravel to go to job sites, there are a lot of different things that it does.”

In other business, the council approved on second and final reading the rezoning of a parcel of land at 299 E. Main Street from general commercial to high-density residential. Morrison said that there were calls from citizens both against and in favor of the rezoning.

Vice Mayor Luke Hill said he heard from local businesses that want the high-density rezoning to hopefully generate more traffic in the downtown area.

“They’re very pro-this concept, they feel it’s going to bring more businesses down to the main street,” Hill said. “And I feel like that meets our goals with what we’re wanting to do with the downtown corridor.”