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Commissioners debate library repairs and part‑time pay increases as persistent operating cost
Summary
The Tullahoma library and other county buildings received repeated attention for roof and drainage failures; commissioners also discussed stair‑step increases for part‑time wages rather than one‑time large jumps.
Coffee County commissioners used preliminary budget review time to raise longstanding facility issues at the Tullahoma library and to discuss how to raise part‑time pay across county departments.
Commissioners characterized the Tullahoma library building as repeatedly vulnerable to leaks and flooding and said band‑aid repairs have failed. One commissioner summarized: "It's a terrible building," and said the county had engaged an engineer and begun preliminary work to redesign the roof and drainage system so repairs stop recurring.
On part‑time pay, commissioners asked staff to consider staged increases rather than a single large increase. One commissioner suggested modest, stepwise raises over two budget cycles for steady, year‑round part‑time employees; seasonal summer help (for example, library summer workers) should be treated separately. The board discussed the practical difficulty of identifying the exact count of steady part‑time workers across county departments and asked staff to supply the numbers before firming an amount.
Why it matters: repeated building failures create ongoing replacement and equipment loss costs; a long‑term fix for the library could require significant capital outlay. Part‑time pay policy affects workforce stability for libraries, EMS and other services that rely on part‑time labor.
Next steps: staff said they would continue preliminary design work on the library roof and drainage with the county’s engineer and would return to the board with counts of steady year‑round part‑time positions and cost models for staged raises.
