The Overton County Commission awarded a $750,000 contract Monday for new bathrooms and a pavilion at the county fairgrounds.
Chairman Pro-Tempore Darwin Clark said the project has been in development for nearly two years while the county finalized the bidding process and grant requirements. Clark said the commission is ready to proceed with construction after the budget committee approved the bid in late April. Clark said the bid includes starting to build a pavilion on the fairgrounds.
“We’ve been trying to get this grant going for the last year and a half, two years and we finally got it bid out and got all the, we’ve done crossed all the ‘t’s’ and dotted all the ‘i’’s so we’re ready to move forward,” Clark said.
The board of commissioners also approved a resolution to amend the local match for the Community Development Block Grant associated with the fairgrounds project. Clark said this action ensures all necessary funding is secured before the grant is officially released to begin the project.
“And so all that’s doing is we’re making sure that we have all our money in there when we when they do release the grant to to start the project at the fairgrounds is what that’s referring to,” Clark said.
In other business, the commission approved the appointment of Bruce Godfrey and Lori Morris to the Millard Oakley Public Library Board of Trustees to replace resigning members Cindy Robbins and Rita Reagan. Commissioner Greg Nivens said the board selected the two most qualified candidates from a pool of highly qualified applicants to fill the vacancies.
“We picked the two most qualified in our opinion,” Nivens said. “And anybody else can look at their resumes and you you could also tell we picked the the two most qualified. I’d like to thank everybody that did put in for that and anybody else that wants to put in on future please do because we we need good people on this library board to do the best for Overton County.”
The commission also approved writing off some $610,000 in uncollected ambulance service debt and authorized the purchase of fire extinguishers for the Hardy Chapel Community Center, as well as handicap parking signs.
The board also unanimously approved a $100 per month raise for Chairman Pro-Term beginning in the 2026-27 Fiscal year.