News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said construction of the Patton Doll House museum replacement will be done in-house.
Construction could begin as soon as next month on the 6,300 square-foot building which will also house the Veterans Affairs Department and the archives.
“We’re going to move forward with it,” Porter said. “We think we will come in good to do it ourselves and save us a couple 100,000 dollars by doing that.”
Porter said the county is also approaching a deadline to use the FEMA money for the project. Porter said about $300,000 has been allocated, but the overall cost will be in the neighborhood of $500,000.
“We had it designed back several months ago, and the quotes and bids came back so much more expensive then what we’ve thought they would,” Porter said. “So, we’ve had that sitting and waiting to be able to do it. We think we can do it ourselves and contract out some of the stuff to the subs and save a lot of money.”
The museum, located along Highway 70, suffered irreparable damage during the March tornado. Porter said the new building will house the county’s Veteran’s Service Officers and archives.
Porter said the two-story building will offer more space, which has became an issue for the Veteran’s Office and archives. Porter said he sees the building as its final home for a long time.
“I’d say it’s about three times the size, and then that lot is so large that we could actually add an addition to the building at anytime in the future,” Porter said.
The building will also house a Veterans museum and have about 2,000 square foot of storage. Porter said parking will be available on the front of the building along Highway 70 as well as the rear.
