News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Van Buren County Commissioners voted Tuesday night to pursue the return of county money spent on a stalled landfill project.
Van Buren County Mayor David Sullivan said the county had paid a company to plant grass at the old county landfill. But state officials notified Van Buren County the grass was not growing.
“The purpose was, where the Vandiver grass was planted, all of it died,” Sullivan said. “And plus, when you do the research on it, it was not, it should have been planted in South Florida, not Tennessee.”
The Commission tabled the pursuit of money from a second company working on a plan to turn the American Legion building into a daycare. Commissioner Cale Crain said the full amount of the project cost was paid some two years ago, and little progress has been made.
Money had been paid to Watson Construction. Crain some the company said “some materials” had been purchased. Some $19,000 in materials costs and $16,000 in labor costs had already been paid.
“All of that already was paid for in full upfront,” Crain said. “We have not had anything really done in a good while on that and we just thought it would be good to go ahead and receive that money back.”
Crain said the county will have to sit down with Watson Construction and figure out how the county can get the money back, and how much was actually spent on materials over the past two years if the commission decides to pursue it.
Commissioner Tabitha Denney said the action to get the money back should wait until committees have had the chance to meet over the next month. She said a decision has to be made about whether they will move forward with the daycare at any point in the future.
“Obviously, a daycare would have been good,” Denney said. “However, the fact that the requirements to make it state-certified are so much, I don’t think we’re ever going to get anyone to meet those standards that the state was setting.”
In other business, the Commission approved a motion to pay a part-time garbage truck driver $15 per hour and place an advertisement in the paper for a new full-time driver. The position opened when Michael Cope was promoted to Solid Waste Manager last month.
“After a long, long haul, we’ve finally got our other truck running, and able to put a driver in it,” Crain said. “So now we need to figure out what we’re going to pay him. From what we have in the line item, $15 an hour will work out great.”
The Commission also approved a $1,000 donation to the Chattanooga Food Bank. Crain said the county donates every year. Sullivan said the food bank drops off several tons of food to Van Buren County on the third Thursday of each month.
