Maury County to forward purchasing budget that adds a new purchasing position

The Maury County Commission on an unspecified date voted to forward the purchasing budget, which includes funding for an additional purchasing position and lists Brooke Brady as the county's new purchasing agent. The proposed county purchasing budget is presented as roughly $400,000, and commissioners were told the percentage increase looks large because the department's overall budget is small.

The change comes after recent audit findings on the school side and a multi-year gap in staffing. Brooke Brady, introduced during the meeting as the new purchasing agent, said the extra hire is intended to reduce gaps when the Board of Education purchasing staff is out and to cross-train employees on fixed assets and capital projects. "The more she's out, the more I'm gonna have to answer those calls, and then I'm not gonna be able to help all the way around," Brady said, explaining why an additional staffer is needed.

Doug (finance staff) framed the request in a longer financial context. He said the staffing structure aligns purchasing and school-side fixed-capital accounting and that the current increase in the purchasing budget largely reflects the added position. He told commissioners the budget would grow by about 22% with the new hire but "would be less than 5%" without the additional position due to turnover savings elsewhere.

Commissioner Sumners and other commissioners asked about cross-training and whether existing positions could be repurposed; Doug said internal applicants often have institutional knowledge and could transition into purchasing roles. Commissioner Grooms moved to forward the purchasing budget and Commissioner Green seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote; commissioners recorded no roll-call tally during the discussion.

The forwarded budget now proceeds to the next step in the county budget process for further consideration alongside other departmental and capital requests.