Jail expansion running behind schedule; county approves TDOT pre‑applications for two road projects

At the April 3 Finance Committee update and the April 16 commission meeting, county contractors and staff provided progress reports on the Franklin County jail expansion and the commission approved grant pre‑applications to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Tom Smith, construction manager with Southeast Contractors Inc., told the commission the jail expansion project was approximately 11 percent complete and that his team had experienced setbacks that put the project about six weeks behind schedule; Smith said favorable weather could allow the schedule to recover. The Finance Committee minutes of April 3 record that the project was behind but with a plan to catch up under good weather conditions.

Separately, the commission approved two TDOT State‑Aid program pre‑application notifications. One pre‑application valued at $631,677.28 and a second at $270,107.23 were approved by voice vote, 13–0. Those pre‑applications were presented as part of highway department recommendations to support resurfacing and road work; Highway Superintendent Johnny Woodall and staff had discussed project details with the Finance Committee before sending the pre‑applications to the full board.

The Finance Committee also discussed a request to consider a 2% salary increase recommendation for Highway, Solid Waste and county employees and set dates for departmental budget reviews to begin in mid‑May as part of the FY 2018–19 budget process.

The commission recorded the motions and committee minutes in the public record and directed staff to proceed with grant submissions and continued oversight of the jail construction schedule.