Groundbreaking Held for New Macon County Health Department

Pictured l-r: Regional Director Angel Troxell, Deputy Commissioner Allen Goodwin, Representative Kelly Keisling, Macon County Health Department Director Matt Tuck, Commissioner of Health Ralph Alvarado, Macon County Mayor Steve Jones, Lafayette Mayor Tony Day and Director of Regional and Local Health Sanjana Stamm. (Photo by D. Gregory)

The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Macon County Health Department was held on February the 28th at 11:00 AM.

Macon County Health Department Director Matt Tuck welcomed everybody to the groundbreaking and featured speakers at the ceremony included Commissioner of Health Ralph  Alvarado, Representative Kelly Keisling, Regional Director Angel Troxell, Macon County Mayor Steve Jones and Lafayette Mayor Tony Day.

Macon County Mayor Steve Jones worked with State officials and asked Macon County   Commissioners to accept a grant to build a new Macon County Health Department. Macon County commissioners agreed and voted to approve of accepting the grant from the State of Tennessee.  Mayor Jones told the commissioners the State was funding approximately seventeen new health departments across the State and Macon County has been chosen to be one of the counties to receive funding for a new facility.

The new health department will be built below the new administrative building on Nature Trail Way.  The State of Tennessee will be fully funding the facility.  Macon County commissioners approved the construction of the new health department and voted to sell the present health department with funds being deposited back into debit service.

Upland Design was chosen to design the new facility and after the bidding process King Construction, out of Cookeville, was awarded the low bid of $5,107,500.00  All contracts have been signed and construction should begin within the next few weeks. The estimated budget for the administrative building was approximately $6,979,000.00. The bids were under budget. The contract allows 400 days to complete construction depending on the weather.

All offices and personnel in the current health department building will be moved to the new facility when it is completed.

“We are really excited about this new building, and this is a huge opportunity for the citizens of our county and our patients,” said Tuck. “This wouldn’t have been  possible without a lot of help from not only the health department staff, but Regional Director Angel Troxell, Commissioner of Health Ralph Alvarado, and the city and county governments. Once we found out we had a grant from the state to pay for this new health department, we immediately got to work and we were able to get this location on Nature Trail Way. I am very, very proud, and this is going to be a beautiful campus.”