Cookeville City Manager James Mills received a 4.89 out of 5 on his annual performance evaluation. Attorney Dan Rader shared the results of the evaluation Thursday night. City Council members graded Mills confidentially on 50 different categories. Rader said Mills received a perfect score on leadership and a nearly perfect score on staff and personnel relations. “I’m sort of blown ... Read More »

UCHRA will partner with the Tennessee Board of Regents to provide more jobs for those studying homecare at two separate TCAT locations. The training will equip students to become specialized home care workers, ready to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. UCHRA Deputy & Community Services Director LaNelle Godsey said the partnership will benefit student’s education even if they leave. ... Read More »

The Highlands Residential Services Board passed a new policy Thursday designed to keep residents making too much money from living in public housing. Tenants thought to be receiving income above the limit for public housing will be given a monitoring notice, according to Executive Director Dow Harris. “They’ll have 24 months to be monitored, they can continue to pay the ... Read More »

A Livingston firefighter addressed the Board of Aldermen Monday night over concerns about the city’s new pay scale. At the heart of the concerns expressed by Engineer Gavin Rodriquez, the city had not done enough to take care of its firefighters. Rodriquez said a new hire could make more than existing employees. “I feel the city has the best fire ... Read More »

Livingston Enterprise, Jackson County Sentinel, the Fentress County Courier and the Citizen Statesman of Celina have apparently ceased publication. The former editor of the newspapers posted to Facebook that Holler Media would no longer publish the papers. The paper’s Google listing shows permanently closed. A call to the company’s Lewisburg and Shelbyville papers said the company wold be closed through ... Read More »

Putnam County School Board approved a $1.65 million bid to replace the roof at Park View Elementary Thursday night. Director of Schools Corby King said the bid came in right at expectations. ESSER-3 funding will be used to be pay for the roof, which will extend the life of the facility. “If we’re going to keep the building, (the roof) ... Read More »

Sparta Mayor Jerry Lowery said it is time for the city to develop a long-term approach to food trucks and mobile food vendors that addresses all concerns. Lowery told the City Council Thursday night the group will hold a meeting in the next 90 days to examine city ordinances and codes. He said they have worked on things in a ... Read More »

The Upper Cumberland needs more than 7,000 day care slots to fill the needs of parents across the region. The UCDD Policy Council heard the first draft Wednesday of a new report set to be presented to state leaders on the problem. UCDD’s Rosa Smith said every licensed daycare facility in the region has a waiting list of at least ... Read More »

The CIRCLES Program, part of the Empower effort to get families out of poverty, will expand to Cumberland County later this month, the second chapter in the state. Putnam County, the state’s first chapter, started last July and is now working with its second group of families. Those sessions began with eight families. Four are now homeowners and three have ... Read More »

After about an hour of discussion Monday night, Putnam County Commissioners approved a new fiscal year budget with an 18.8 cent property tax increase. The county will use some $6.5 million in fund balance to make up the budget deficit, reducing the reserves to about $18 million. That’s still above the Comptroller’s request that a county maintains 20 percent of ... Read More »