Candidates for Putnam County Mayor discussed the challenges of rapid population growth and the resulting strain on local infrastructure during Wednesday night’s candidate forum.
Incumbent Mayor Randy Porter said the county experienced an unexpected surge in residents following the 2020 tornado and the COVID-19 pandemic. Porter said while the county was growing at a steady pace before 2020, the subsequent influx of people moving from other parts of the country changed the planning landscape.
“We’re not out begging people to move to Putnam County, they’re coming here because they want to be a part of our community,” Porter said. “It’s something that we can not really control it. We can plan for it and do the best we can, but you’re either living or dying is the old saying. So we want to grow, but we want to make sure that it’s right growth, if that makes any sense.”
Candidate Wayne Nabors said citizens are particularly concerned about the loss of local farmland to large-scale housing developments.
“I’ve had a lot of people to share with me, literally say, ‘Hey Wayne, how can we slow this down just a little bit?’” Nabors said. “It’s kind of like people are saying, ‘Whoa.’ Yeah, they are. Can we put the skids on just a little bit? And people are saying, you know, ‘Hey, are we ready for all this?’”
The candidates also addressed traffic congestion and the maintenance of the county’s 700 miles of roads. Porter said many of the most congested thoroughfares, such as South Jefferson Avenue and Highway 111, are state-controlled roads under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
“Most folks when you talk to them, I’m not sure they really care whose road it is, you just want it fixed,” Porter said. “And but it’s an educational process sometimes. But TDOT has been good to us, but I think we’re behind and we keep trying to lobby them to catch us up.”
Nabors said the county needs to be more persistent in lobbying state representatives and TDOT officials for funding. He proposed that the county should find the funds to create a second paving crew to double the amount of road work currently being completed.
“Let’s find—let’s find some money and let’s fund another paving crew,” Nabors said. “And let’s pave twice as much as we are. That way we get twice as much done and more people are blessed. And so give him more to work with and you can get a whole lot more done.”
Porter said the county has already begun looking at “putting skin in the game” by partnering with the state on major projects. He said the county used a grant to study a $40 million extension of Tennessee Avenue to Gainesboro Grade to help alleviate traffic.
“Once we did that planning grant and got all that return back data, we turned it back to TDOT and told them that we think we’d be willing to pony up some money as Wayne said to put into that project,” Porter said. “It opens up a lot of those traffic issues that we’re having right now.”
Nabors said he would be open to using county fund balances to help move infrastructure projects forward. He said the county is in the “people business” and should use its resources to improve the daily lives of residents facing “unbelievable” traffic.
“I don’t see any reason why with that we can’t talk to the County Commission and say, ‘Hey, ladies and gentlemen, let’s take a little let’s take a little money over here, we’re in the people business, we’re not in the banking business,’” Nabors said. “And let’s take a little bit of this and let’s put a little skin in the game and see if we can’t move the checkerboard a little bit. Absolutely.”