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Cookeville Vice Mayor Larry Epps will step away from politics as his second-consecutive term on City Council comes to a close.
Epps said he is thankful for the time spent working with the city as a councilman.
“I was really blessed to have my previous council and the current sitting council that just had some really good members that didn’t really have agendas,” Epps said. “They didn’t have an ax to grind. All we wanted to do was do the best thing that was for Cookeville.”
Since 2010, Epps has served as Cookeville’s vice mayor and was a Putnam County Commissioner for 13 years. For now, he said the next step in his life will be taking a break from politics and focusing on his personal time.
“I’m going to take a break for a while. I’m going to have a hard time trying to figure out [what to do],” Epps said. “I don’t have any hobbies, because usually if I’m not working, I’m going to meetings, so I’m a little bit nervous because I’m going to have to figure out something to do with my time. But it’s been a good experience with the Putnam County folks. They’re good people and they get under-recognized.”
Epps said the cooperation between councilmen during his tenure was unlike anything else.
“You don’t see that at Washington, you don’t see that in the state assembly, but you saw it here in Cookeville, Tennessee,” Epps said. “You can get a lot of stuff done. The things that are happening right now, and the growth and the vibrancy that’s going on right now in Cookeville I think has a lot to do with these administrators and these councils that don’t want to argue. All we want to do is get stuff done.”
Epps’s spot will be filled by newly-elected Vice Mayor Laurin Wheaton. Epps will appear in his final Cookeville council meeting Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m.
