County receives solid waste grant extension

Cannon County has been granted an extension by the state to begin seeking bids for planned upgrades to the Cannon County Convenience Center.

County Executive Mike Gannon requested the extension because he will be leaving office in a few months and does not want to encumber the next executive with any decisions he might make, as the project is expected to take several months to complete.

In granting the extension on the three Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation grants, Grants Program Manager Loretta Harrington wrote to Gannon:

"We received your letter of request dated June 21, 2018 for a timeline extension for your Convenience Center grant contract in accordance with section A.4. Scope of Services Permissible Exceptions.

"We accept your request to postpone any bidding and decisions until after September 1, 2018.

"All equipment listed must be bid and purchased. If the grantee wishes to delete any equipment listed in the budget they must contact our office immediately. Bid and purchase of partial equipment may result in non-payment to the grantee."

Harringston's letter also said, "Prior to any equipment being purchased, the Grantee shall make every effort to obtain three bids on each item listed on the Grant Budget list. All bids, along with a letter of your selection for each of the items must be emailed to the State for review and approval. If for any reason you do not wish to accept the lowest bid on any of the items, justification for accepting the higher bid must be provided to the State. When bids are received, they will be reviewed and a letter of acknowledgement sent to you."

The three TDEC grants total $144,500. The county must provide around $55,000 in matching funds.