News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Leslie Town Centre is requesting the city of Cookeville to fund half of some $68,000 in lighting improvements.
Leslie Town Centre Director Kathryn Molina said the lighting system in the Estes Williams Room has experienced a number of issues since 2013. She said the problem grew worse last year.
“We have twenty ballasts out currently right now in our can lights and we do not have any company that we can find anywhere that can purchase the ballasts for us,” Molina said. “The company did not make a retrofit for the ballasts so we were told by every single electrician that came out and bid that we have to get a brand new system, that they cannot fix the current one.”
Molina said the new lights would be LED lights. City Manager James Mills said the city is not obligated to help with the project but recommended the council consider contributing $15,000 for the improvements.
Mills said the city did not budget for this and needs to be a good steward of its funding. City Council will consider the item at its Thursday meeting.
“I do think it’s appropriate for us to try to assist them, don’t get me wrong on that either,” Mills said.
Molina said the project is not an aesthetic renovation, but a replacement for a necessary system that is current broken. Molina said the facility has managed some $137,000 in renovations since she started in 2021 without any requesting any help from the city.
“You guys came to the annual meeting, I don’t know if you noticed but obviously there were twenty lights that were out,” Molina said. “And we do have clients that ask why they’re out and (say) ‘Hey, can you put a light bulb in those?’ Unfortunately, we cannot, so it’s just going to get worse from here on out.”
City Council Member Eric Walker said he supports helping the facility as the item is still a functional improvement. Walker said it is important to make sure the city has a top-notch facility for the community to use.
“There’s several discussions here,” Walker said. “Ensuring that a fair amount is charged and at a certain point I guess you could be subsidizing different events in the community and providing a space to do that. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, but at the end of the day I think it is important for us to have a great facility.”
