News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The first step toward improved Putnam County fire protection took place in the form of reviewing a potential grant application.
The 2021 Community Development Block Grant was discussed Monday by UCDD members and Mayor Randy Porter. Community Development Planner Allison Fox said the Cookeville Boat Dock Utility District will benefit from better fire protection.
“That fire project would basically add I think approximately 50 fire hydrants in that utility district area,” Fox said. “So that would increase the fire protection capacity in that area.”
The utility district covers a large area comprised of rural communities. Fox said she hopes to have the grant request submitted by December. The Community Livability category of the development grant has $420,000 available.
“Our next steps for this grant we will have to do what are called ‘target area surveys’ of that community, the Cookeville Boat Dock Area,” Fox said. “Actually before we do that we’ll have to procure an engineer formally for that project, so we’ll get started with that process soon.”
Porter said after these two steps are complete, Fire Chief Tom Brown will be brought in to assess the best places for the fire hydrants.
“[The Boat Dock area] has done a lot of expansions to their area, so they’ve been great to work with,” Porter said. “I think…they’d like to see this stuff happen to their area. We’ll see what they think, along with the Fire Department.”
The deadline to submit the Community Development Block Grant application is February 2021. The grant is funded through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
