Putnam Sports Complex Needs Meeting with TDEC

Putnam County must meet with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to continue work on the Sports Complex expansion.

Parks and Recreation Director John Ross Albertson said the department must wait for TDEC.

“We were expecting to hear from TDEC by the end of the year. And we actually haven’t since our last meeting with them,” Albertson said. “To kind of go over the initial phases of the contract and everything of that nature.”

Putnam County must wait to begin spending on the Sports Complex expansion. (Photo: Visit Cookeville TN)

Albertson said TDEC may not make contact until January.

“So we are kind of still just in our hoping pattern late in the year to hear from them for the next meeting,” Albertson said. “Which of course should be for our grant writers and our engineers to meet.”

Putnam County received a $333,500 grant in July to pay for part of the project. The county cannot spend the money until the department receives the official contract.

“You know on our end we have already done a lot of the preliminary work that we are allowed to do prior to the grants starting,” Albertson said. “Which, of course, there is some work that we can’t start until we are actually officially awarded the contract.”

Albertson said Tennessee should award the contracts in February or March.

Part of the expansion involves removing a concrete slab and asphalt to build the new soccer field and create a second multi-use field at the complex.