Putnam Approves Land Transfer For School System Project

The expansion of Putnam Schools’ Student Services Building can move forward after the county commission approved transferring the land deed Monday.

Director of Schools Corby King said the district realized it did not own the property adjacent to Cookeville High School after beginning the expansion process.

“This is part of the TDEC grant for the soccer complex,” King said. “So, there is a contingency here that this would have to be worked through TDEC and have TDEC approval before we can actually take the property and do any kind of expansion.”

According to King, the county gave the Washington Avenue building by Cookeville High School to the school system in the late 90’s after the airport closed. After that the county continued to retain the some one acre it sat on.

“From what we can find, there was a verbal agreement between the county commission and the school board,” King said. “This was 1998-1999. There was an agreement to allow the school system to use this building as our technology center.”

King said the project would include three office areas, a restroom and a storage facility. Student Service Supervisor Trey Upchurch said the seven employees use the building for family and homeless services.

“Of that 2,300 square feet, roughly 1,800 are usable,” Upchurch said. “As you can imagine, it gets very tight. Things that we do there are storage for all family services include clothing, food. We also keep cold food there for families. We supply all the homeless with any type of services that we need.”

Commissioner Ben Rogers made the motion for approval Monday. Rogers said the passed action requires a proper legal description and survey of the land, the completion of a title search, any necessary due diligence and a release of any restrictions as to the property.

“As a part of the motion, I move that Randy Porter as County Mayor have the authority to sign any and all documentation to effectuate the transfer,” Rogers said.

Porter said the building was an old airport terminal before being used by the school system. The Putnam County School Board approved King to negotiate a contract for the designing phase of the expansion during its August meeting.

In other business, the commission has given support to the expansion of the Tennessee Central Rail Trail. The passed resolution Monday follows the same efforts of the city of Cookeville. With widespread support, the Rail Trail Authority believes grant funding will be more likely.