Tag Archives: James Mills

Cookeville saw revenues of about $632,000 for its first full year of hotel-motel tax. City Manager James Mills said that the number is solid for a year in the pandemic. He said that the hotel-motel tax serves as a good revenue generator for both the city and county. “Here, we pushed the revenue in the Quality of Life fund with ... Read More »

Cookeville City Council voted to skip committee formation and move forward with a Tech partnership for an upcoming gateway design project at its Thursday night meeting. City Manager James Mills said that committees can sometimes slow down the work. He said that his recommendation was to move forward in these conversations to get the design phase done as quickly as ... Read More »

A potential partnership between the city of Cookeville and Tennessee Tech University for Tucker stadium upgrades, but how would that work? City Manager James Mills said that should the council decide to financially commit, there are several options. He said that could be anything such as bond issues, general fund payments, or some kind of usage agreement. “We’ve not gotten ... Read More »

The city of Cookeville has announced Amber Greenwood will take over as the new Gas Department director. City Manager James Mills said that she will assume the position following the retirement of long-time director Jeff Mills. James Mills said that Jeff Mills recently informed him that it was his intention to serve his last day on March 31st, 2022. In ... Read More »

Cookeville City Council approved the first reading of reopening the connection between Salem Church Road and England Drive. Planning Director Jon Ward said that the connection was closed by ordinance in 2002 by city council against the recommendations of the Planning and the Public Works Departments. “Reopening this street would provide access to a traffic light-controlled intersection at Neal Street,” ... Read More »

Cookeville City Manager James Mills received a raise and positive feedback from his annual performance review report. City Attorney Dan Rader presented the report to the council at their Thursday meeting. He said that in independent reviews from City Council members, Mills received an average 95 percent rating. Mills said that his job would not be possible without the help ... Read More »

Representative Ryan Williams wants to explore solutions for improving traffic flow in downtown Cookeville. Williams said that there has been a desire for some time to better east to west routes through the city. He said that over the years there have been two traffic studies that recommended making Spring Street and Broad Street one-way roads. Williams said that making ... Read More »

The city of Cookeville is pleased with the county’s decision to authorize the sale of the Putnam County Fairgrounds. City Manager James Mills said that this presents an opportunity for commercial development for the city. “Well I mean anytime you have an opportunity to redevelop it’s a positive for the community,” Mills said. “And the other positive is that this ... Read More »

The city of Cookeville voted to accept the retirement repayment plan with Cookeville Regional Medical Center at their special-called meeting on Friday morning. City Manager James Mills said approving this resolution is a significant long-term impact for the city. “The potential to reduce the city’s annuals TCRS contribution by almost half will literally save us millions of dollars,” Mills said. ... Read More »

In the age of cyber attacks, Cookeville Chief Technology Officer Steve Corder said infrastructure security has to be the top priority. Corder said when securing infrastructure is not the top priority every day, that is how a ransomware attack can happen. Corder said with all the city’s technology, his job is like being a single service provider to 14 different ... Read More »