Ad hoc effort to restore Brown House stalls as county waits on TDEC; committee votes to move related agenda items to mayor’s report

Michael Clark, a Hendersonville resident, urged Sumner County officials to finish restoring the historic “Brown House” and to remove barriers that have stalled work on the site. "He left $500,000 to maintain the house and to be used to maintain the house, protect it, and build a park," Clark told the General Operations Committee during public comment.

The committee heard updates that the $500,000 bequest for the Brown House had been commingled with another estate fund and only separated last year, and that an ad hoc volunteer committee has been pursuing repairs and an architect’s review. Committee members said an initial contractor inspection produced an estimate in the tens of thousands of dollars — committee discussion named an approximately $80,000 repair estimate — and that an RFP process for architects and contractors was in motion before the latest hold.

Committee members said work is paused while the county…