La Vergne Administrator Bringing Council Candidates Up to Speed on $42 Million Building Plans

LA VERGNE, TN — La Vergne's new city administrator wants to make sure city council candidates are aware of the challenges the rapidly growing city faces, particularly when it comes to needed building upgrades.

In an interview with the Daily News Journal, city administrator Bruce Richardson said he has been meeting with candidates for the part-time La Vergne Board of Mayor and Aldermen to bring them up to speed with the recommendations made by a consultant that identifies nearly $42 million in building projects needed to properly serve the city.

The four projects with the highest priority are:

• A new, $5 million Public Works building in 12 to 18 months
• A new, $7.5 City Hall opened by 2019
• Conversion of the current city hall into a police headquarters, connecting to the existing police headquarters for $9.3 million, with construction beginning after completion of the aforementioned new city hall.
• A new and larger fire station co-located with the Fire Department headquarters at the Civic Auditorium. The $4.9 million project to be completed between 2019 and 2021 will also include space for community events, rentable by the public.

Richardson told the DNJ that it will be possible for the city to take on the necessary debt for those projects — which total about $27 million ― without further burdening La Vergne's citizens, which actually saw a reduction in the property tax rate this year.