News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Sports Complex expansion project can finally move forward.
County Mayor Randy Porter said the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has signed off on environmental studies and other documents related to the project.
“We got notification that the contract with the state is being issued and sent to my office. As soon as that happens, then we can start working on the project and expending the funds,” Porter said. “I apologize for it taking so long, but it’s not been on our end. It’s just a long process when you go through the TDEC grant process.”
The county received the $333,500 Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant in August 2018. That money will be used to construct additional soccer and lacrosse fields, a large parking lot, and a new entrance off North Washington Avenue.
The design phase and bidding process will take place after Porter signs the contract document. He said the Putnam County Parks and Recreation Department will conduct a lot of the manual labor for the project.
“We’re going to do a lot of the work ourselves because the grant allows us to do in-kind work,” Porter said. “Our problem and issue is that we’re going into winter, so how much can we get done in the winter time? We may have to wait to do the dirt work, unless we have a real mild winter until spring.”
The entire project will cost an estimated $650,000. The grant will cover $333,500 of that amount with the county providing a 50-percent match.
