Tag Archives: Randy Porter

Putnam County Commissioners voted Monday night to carve out roughly seven to ten acres from the old Fairgrounds property for a possible new VA Clinic. The new clinic would sit in the fairgrounds parking lot at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Veterans Drive. Multiple developers are interested in building the facility if the Veterans Administration decides to locate the ... Read More »

Putnam County Commissioners re-elected Ben Rodgers as chair for the new commission year Monday night. Commissioner Chris Cassetty will serve as chair pro-tem. The Commission’s Fiscal Review committee elected Kathy Dunn as chair with Cathy Reel elected as vice chair. Terry Randolph selected as chair of Planning Committee, with Darren Wilson elected as vice chair. Commissioners voted on multiple appointments ... Read More »

Higher than expected construction prices causing some changes in how Putnam County will bid the new school bus garage. Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said many of the price increases seen in construction since COVID remain an issue. He said the county will divide up the Tennessee Avenue project in an effort to get the costs where they need to ... Read More »

Some Putnam County Commissioners are interested in giving Mayor Randy Porter the chance to apply for grants without first getting commission approval. The idea came up during the August commission meeting when Commissioner Sam Sandlin questioned why Porter needed approval to simply apply. Commissioners were voting on a request from Porter to allow him to apply for any grant that ... Read More »

Putnam County Commissioners approved the county applying for a State Industrial Access project Monday night which could be part of a Baxter-area development. The county, the Cookeville Putnam County Chamber of Commerce and the city of Baxter are working together on Project Global. County Mayor Randy Porter said the project could bring 100+ jobs to the region. “Possibly four new ... Read More »

After about an hour of discussion Monday night, Putnam County Commissioners approved a new fiscal year budget with an 18.8 cent property tax increase. The county will use some $6.5 million in fund balance to make up the budget deficit, reducing the reserves to about $18 million. That’s still above the Comptroller’s request that a county maintains 20 percent of ... Read More »

The Putnam County Budget Committee voted Monday to reduce the property tax increase to 18.8 cents, sending the budget to Mayor Randy Porter to be finalized. The budget includes 91 new employees, the majority of which will serve the expanded County Justice Center. It also includes a marketplace adjustment to bring county salaries more in line with similar government and ... Read More »

Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter moved quickly Monday night to replace two county department leaders. The County Commission approved the promotion of Brandon Smith to County EMA Director and Cody Maynard as Parks and Recreation Director. “When I came into office, one thing I made sure of is that we had a succession plan for all our departments,” Porter said. ... Read More »

Putnam County’s new fiscal year budget could require a 50-cent property tax increase if budget committee members funded every request. Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter told the committee Monday night the pre-discussion budget draft shows general fund expenditures of some $58.4 million. That is some $10.2 million over projected revenues. Committee Chair Ben Rodgers told the committee they need to ... Read More »

Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said a $31 million bond capacity for the school system could be feasible in the future. Porter said the school system is potentially looking at coming up around 2025 or 2026 to ask for an additional bond. He said that is about when the county should have paid off some of its older bonds, freeing ... Read More »