John Coffelt, Editor

Manchester Finance Committee unanimously approved during the Sept. 24 meeting $21,000 in one-time-only contributions to several area non-profits that had their county donations cut.

Centerstone, a nonprofit mental health system, will receive $5,000, as will CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and the Child Advocacy Center. Haven of Hope women’s shelter will receive $6,000.

“These are organizations in our county that are there to serve the most vulnerable members of our county,” Finance Chairman Thomas Crosslin said. “Because of issues in the county government, they weren’t able to give them their normal donation funding.”

“These are organizations that are trying to do the right thing, and they got hit with an unexpected removal of funding,” he said.

Mayor Joey Hobbs said he felt that had the organizations known about the loss of funds they would have likely approached the city for the donations.

Vice Mayor Mark Messick and Alderman Donny Parsley voiced concern about the cuts in funding from the county.

“The county has a $35 million budget, and they can’t come up with this $21,000,” Messick said. “These are organizations that affect everybody, Manchester, Tullahoma the county – everyone. It should have been the county that funded them.”

Parsley said he “was disappointed” with the county’s budgetary priorities.

The motion passed Finance 3-0. The allocation is below the threshold to require Board of Mayor and Aldermen approval.

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.