Fentress Waiting For Price Drop Before Building Boat Storage Building

The Fentress County Commission put a pause on a grant-funded project intended to boost tourism in the county.

County Executive Jimmy Johnson said the plan was to build a river storage building for the parks service for boats and kayaks along the Wolf River. Johnson said the the $32,000 grant was supposed to cover all the costs.

“It actually, just for the building would actually use it all up and some more of our county money,” Johnson said. “So the commission decided and voted to just postpone it and rebid it in the fall, late-fall.”

Johnson said the hope is that construction and material costs will drop when the project is rebid in October or November. Johnson said there is an April 2022 deadline on using the tourism enhancement grant.

“It’s a place that we thought might help with the involvement of a lot of your local businesses down there,” Johnson said. “Because you have the Sergeant York Park, you have the picnic area, you have the gristmill and you have a couple restaurants in that area there that people come and spend some time with.”

Johnson said the intention is to provide a space on the Wolf River to facilitate instructional courses through the parks system.