JOHN COFFELTEditor

A request by MDS Foods to acquire additional acreage at the Joint Industrial Park for a large-scale expansion was temporarily put on hold by the Purchasing Committee July 25.

The plant’s planned expansion will create a production facility and add 80 new jobs to its current warehouse and packaging facility. To accommodate the expansion MDS Foods is seeking an additional 2.43 acres from its neighbor, a parcel of land designated by the county for a Tennessee College of Applied Technology campus on 7.25 acres. Just beyond that area, the Coffee County Health Department joint facility will be built.

The problem as the commissioners saw it at the meeting is the county has designated by referendum the property, and “I don’t feel that it would be prudent at this time to possibly (interfere) with (those two projects),” Commissioner Dennis Hunt said.

Purchasing Agent Stephanie Bush said that “the worse part of it is that we just don’t know what TCAT is doing or how much they truly need.”

The county pledged at the meeting, attended by County Mayor Judd Matheny, to fast tract talks with TCAT and the Tennessee Board of Regents (the body that governs state higher education campuses) to narrow down just what amount of acreage the state needs for the campus.

Matheny was optimistic that the situation could be resolved shortly, and that the sale could be approved by the Purchasing Committee as soon as the August meeting and added to an upcoming special called Commission meeting.

“Take the message back to them that we are going to (work hard) starting (last) Friday,” he said.

Discussing the needs of the health department site, Commissioner Hunt, who chairs the Capital Outlay Committee, said that preliminary estimates from architect Scot St. John show that the health department may need some additional land.

“If we squeeze in that direction – squeeze from (the other) direction, we’re not doing TCAT right. Everybody has to be on the same page, and right now we’re not,” Hunt said.

Coffee County Industrial Board executive Director Stephen Crook said that MDS Foods would like to begin construction immediately. The timetable for the project is about seven months.

Chairman of Purchasing, Jimmy Hollandsworth said that he hopes the sale of the property can be approved at the August meeting. Hollandsworth was the sole desisting vote on the motion to postpone the matter.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.