News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Commission voted Monday to purchase 187-acres of land surrounding Tennessee Avenue.
County Mayor Randy Porter said the property will eventually be home to a number of facilities, including a new fairgrounds.
“I started this three and a half years ago with some other property and the commission wanting to look at relocating the fairgrounds,” Porter said. “Now it has turned into a possible expo center, a new location for a school bus garage and county highway department, and quite a bit of property that will probably be left for adding other facilities.”
The commission voted 21-2 to allow Porter to move forward with purchasing the property for $5.049 million. Environmental studies and other due diligence will be done before the county issues a bond note to purchase the property.
The Putnam County Fiscal Review Committee previously recommended purchasing 130 acres known as the Nash-Medley property for $27,000 an acre. During Monday night’s meeting, Porter informed the commission that owners of the adjacent Sherridan property had agreed to sell 57-acres for the same $27,000 per acre asking price.
“The options are endless right now with this amount of property for us to have,” Porter said. “It’s not very often that you can buy 187 acres of property for that price. Plus, the selling of the other properties will pay for this property, so it’s a win-win situation.”
District 5 Commissioner Terry Randolph voted against the measure and said the county may have rushed the decision.
“I think the timing is not good. I like the idea of selling the fair property and buying other properties,” Randolph said. “We need to do that, but I think we have some other things on the table, like building a jail and a new school. Those are more important to me than selling the fairgrounds and buying property.”
4th District Commissioner Theresa Tayes also voted against the measure without giving any reason behind her decision. Porter said the county should not have a problem with handling multiple projects at once.
“We have a lot of needs in the county. We’re a growing county and I don’t think we can fixate on just one issue,” Porter said. “I think we have to be addressing multiple issues at a time. We’re going to sell the other properties, so the proceeds from that are going to pay for this property.”
Porter said the appraised value of the current fairgrounds is $10.1 million. He estimated a $3 million value for the school bus garage and highway department property.
