News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville officials hope to save some money down the road by purchasing a grinder for the city’s brush collection site.
Public Works Director Greg Brown said the city currently hires private companies to grind up debris that piles up at the site on West Jackson Street.
“Over the long run it would be more beneficial to us if we had a grinder where we could grind it ourselves,” Brown said. “We could keep it ground up over the year, instead of doing it once a year and letting it get built up so big.”
The city pays more than $100,000 a year for companies to perform the brush grinding service. Brown said the brush collection site will also lose space once the county builds a new facility on the property.
“We won’t have that much room with the new hazardous waste facility the county is building there,” Brown said. “We would either have to contract more than once a year to keep it ground up or do it ourselves. It would be more economically feasible to do it ourselves.”
The Cookeville City Council meets Thursday to consider a grant contract for purchasing the TG5000 tub grinder .
The grant totals $484,273 and the city will be required to pay $207,545 to match the grant amount.
If approved, Brown said the grinder would be operational by next summer.
