Cookeville Takes Over Ownership Of West End Park From County

The city of Cookeville set to takeover ownership of West End Park, opening up more possibilities for the city to expand the park.

Putnam County Commission passed the ownership of the park to the city at its meeting Monday night. City Manager James Mills said that this action will help the city with their future plans for the park.

“There are two main reasons,” Mills said. “One was to remove any questions about liability on the part of the county, and the second was to clear up any potential conflicts or issues that would prevent us from being eligible for grant monies.”

Mills said that many times grant funds have stipulations requiring the owner of the property to be the one to apply for the grant. He said had the park remained under county ownership, this would prevent them from applying for funds for their park improvement plans.

Currently, they are in the process of replacing playground equipment, and are also looking into the potential for more parking.

Previously, the city maintained the park though it remained under county ownership. Algood had a similar circumstance with their ball fields, and it was also granted ownership of the fields Monday night.

Mills said the transferring of ownership was more so situation correction.

“Earlier this year, the city purchased a half-acre track with the intent of expanding West End Park,” Mills said. “And in that process we determined that the main park, about four acres was still in the county’s name. The location was originally a school site, and at some the point the school board transferred the property over to the county. Back in the 70s West End Park was developed, and I think a lease was developed at the time.”

Mills said that for at least the last 50 years, the city has maintained the park. He said that this was an opportunity to clean up the situation since they acquired more property.

Algood also regained ownership of the city ball fields Monday night. Algood asked the county to take over maintenance of the City Ball Fields in the 1980s. Algood pays the county a fee to maintain the parks. That contract expires June 30.