South Central Tennessee Development District 101 Sam Watkins Blvd., Mt. Pleasant, TN 38474    
Announcing the New “Mule Town Trolley” Bus Service     The South Central Area Transit Service (SCATS) is pleased to announce a new demonstration public transportation service for Maury County residents, known as the Mule Town Trolley service. The Mule Town Trolley will be providing services to and from the cities of Mt. Pleasant, Columbia, and Spring Hill on regular route stops. These stops include major shopping centers, downtown business areas, senior citizen centers, regional hospitals and health care facilities, recreational areas, local historical sites, and many more. Trolley services will be provided Wednesday through Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. SCATS plans on using two high floor trolley buses to provide the services on these fixed routes. The Trolley Buses meet the ADA standards (American with Disabilities Act), and provide wheelchair accessibility for non-ambulatory persons, and are equipped with hydraulic kneeler units that lower the buses to make it easier for passengers to board and disembark. Total capacity for each bus is approximately 28 passengers. At SCATS, we understand that access to public transportation is a barrier facing many of our senior citizens and disadvantaged residents throughout Maury County. Therefore, SCATS will be providing feeder services with existing smaller conversion vans into designated trolley route stopping points for those without available transportation. Residents wishing to use the feeder services will need to call a minimum of 48 hours in advance to schedule a pickup or drop-off service. Trolley Bus fares are expected to be minimum fares based upon distances covered between designated route stops. Special Trolley Bus amenities and features include a fully enclosed oak interior, chrome handrails for easier boarding and disembarking, etched glass and arched windows, solid oak bench seats with decorate cast-iron frames, public address system for announcing destinations and route stop points, a fully automatic ADA compliant wheelchair lift, hydraulic kneeler to lower the Bus, priority seating areas for passengers with disabilities, senior citizens, and multiple wheelchair areas including tie-downs and lap belts for safety. For more information on the Mule Town Trolley service, please look for upcoming schedules, and routes in your local newspaper. Be sure to see the Mule Town Trolley in the 2013 Mule Day Parade!      

TDOT Gets $10 Million "State Of Good Repair" Grant
Posted on December 28, 2012

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has been awarded a $10 million "State of Good Repair Grant" by the Federal Transit Administration. The Tennessee Department of Transportation collaborated with 15 transit agencies to submit a joint application to Federal Transit Administration for the replacement of transit vehicles that have exceeded their useful life based on years in service or mileage. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is one of only five Department of Transportation’s to receive a statewide State of Good Repair Grant.

Three large urban agencies, three small urban agencies, and nine rural agencies participated in the statewide application submitted to the Federal Transit Administration by The Tennessee Department of Transportation . Locally the South Central Tennessee Development District was one of the nine rural agencies.

Since the $10 million award is 16.5% of the amount needed to replace all the vehicles that have exceeded their useful life at participating agencies, The Tennessee Department of Transportation is providing each agency with 16.5% of their original request. The large urban and small urban agencies will work directly with Federal Transit Administration to obtain the funding. The Tennessee Department of Transportation will assist the rural transit providers in procuring replacement vehicles.   From: WKSR Pulaski

People Helping People Nonprofit rehabilitates seniors' neighborhood homes by: Anita Wadhwani | from: AARP Bulletin | November 1, 2012 Annie Hardison,  and Jan Kirk Wright visit outside Hardison's Columbia home, which was one of the nearly three dozen houses renovated by Wright's organization, People Helping People Together. whose husband has Alzheimer’s disease, to continue providing care at home. — Hollis Bennet Jan Kirk Wright spent 20 years sizing up strangers' homes as a busy real estate agent in rural Tennessee. How you can help Drive to End Hunger in America. Then, in 2009, her pastor asked her to visit a widow in her 50s whose house needed some repairs. Wright was stunned by what she saw. "There was a huge hole in her roof," said Wright. "I'd never seen anything like that. I've been in a lot of houses, but I never knew that people lived like that." That visit was a turning point, not only in Wright's life, but also in the East Side neighborhood of Columbia. After that first visit, she discovered many longtime homeowners in that area lived on fixed incomes and often could not afford to make repairs. Instead of continuing to buy and sell homes, Wright retired her real estate license and turned her attention to repairing and rehabilitating dilapidated homes around East Side. Using her real estate contacts — bankers, contractors, agents — Wright formed People Helping People Together. She selected 13 board members, wrote bylaws, raised funds, created house adoption rules, launched a website and recruited and organized volunteers. The program grew through word of mouth at her church, then to other churches, businesses in the community and government agencies. First Farmers & Merchants Bank in Columbia provided $5,500 in seed money to rehabilitate the first house and has since donated $90,000, said its president, Tim Pettus. Other banks have followed, and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency has provided about $200,000 in matching grants. People Helping People Together has replaced roofs, repaired broken windows and doors, repainted exteriors, and added siding and landscaping to 35 homes owned by residents who are physically or financially unable to do it themselves. "When you change a person's living conditions, you change her whole world," said Wright. "I have seen residents walk taller, and the happiness I see in people's eyes is indescribable."    

Wednesday, October 03, 2012 | 02:05 pm Expansion to Create 64 Jobs to Support Additional Production Lines NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development today joined with company officials to announce that AGRANA Fruit US, Inc. will expand its Centerville facility. This announcement represents an investment of approximately $10 million and will create 64 new positions at the Hickman County plant. “Congratulations to AGRANA and the town of Centerville on this announcement,” Allen Borden, ECD assistant commissioner, statewide operations, said. “Under Gov. Haslam’s leadership, our state has earned a business friendly reputation that encourages companies like AGRANA to grow and invest. We are thankful for the continued opportunities AGRANA is providing for Tennesseans.” AGRANA Fruit US, Inc. is a member of AGRANA Fruit, the world leader in fruit preparations for the dairy industry. The Centerville expansion will include the addition of new production lines and the 64 new positions will be in all areas of the facility to support the anticipated growth. “The North American Yogurt industry has seen explosive growth in the past five years. This trend is expected to continue and is driving the need for significant expansion in our business,” Bob Prendes, president and CEO of AGRANA Fruit US, Inc., said. “Our plant in Centerville, Tenn. has played a key role in the success of AGRANA Fruit US Operations. We are grateful for the continued support shown by both state and local officials and are pleased to be able to continue and expand our partnership with this great community.” "As a small rural community, we are blessed to have an international company like Agrana in our community,” Centerville Mayor Bob Bohn said. “They produce a world class product and this announcement is welcome news for our town. We appreciate the company's continued growth in Centerville." “By enabling the Town of Centerville to expand and upgrade their waste water treatment operation, Agrana, one of our community’s major employers, will now have a chance to expand their production lines thus yielding 60-plus new jobs for our growing economic base,” Hickman County Mayor Steve Gregory said. “Hickman County is pleased to have been a part of this joint effort with the Town of Centerville, the State of Tennessee and other partners to promote industrial growth and development and to assist in securing a brighter future for our hard working citizens. We will continue to be on the lookout for additional opportunities to work together again on mutually beneficial projects that produce job growth.” The company also worked with the Hickman County Economic Development Association and the South Central Tennessee Development District on the expansion. AGRANA Fruit US, Inc. will work with the Tennessee Career Center to staff job openings at the Centerville facility. Interested applicants should visit or contact their local career center. Additionally, a job fair will be held at the Hickman County Career Center on Thursday, Oct. 11 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and on Friday, Oct. 12 from 3 -7 p.m. About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop strategies which help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. The department seeks to attract new corporate investment in Tennessee and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. Find us on the web: tn.gov/ecd. Follow us on Twitter: @tnecd. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/tnecd. About AGRANA
AGRANA is the leading sugar manufacturer in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, major manufacturer of custom starch products in Europe and largest producer of bioethanol in Austria and Hungary. In its fruit segment, AGRANA is the world market leader in the production of fruit preparations as well as one of the largest manufacturers of fruit juice concentrates in Europe. In its 2011|2012 business year, AGRANA recorded revenues of approximately EUR 2.5 billion. AGRANA employs around 8,000 personnel at 56 facilities in 26 countries around the world. Corporate headquarters for the AGRANA Fruit US Division is located in Brecksville, Ohio with additional manufacturing plants in Botkins, Ohio and Fort Worth, Texas.

  City gets $500K grant for repair of sewers   By TIM HODGE This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The city of Mt. Pleasant has been awarded a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant from the state that will go toward rehabilitating the town’s wastewater system. Gov. Bill Haslam made the announcement Wednesday that a total of 11 CDBGs will be awarded across the state to assist with infrastructure improvements. Mt. Pleasant Public Works Director Bobby Nutt said the city has just completed a $450,000 sewer rehabilitation project and is working on finishing another $500,000 improvement effort. Including the additional $500,000 grant, Mt. Pleasant has received about $2 million in grant money that has gone toward sewer projects, Nutt said. Mt. Pleasant will be responsible for $55,556 in local matching funds. “We applied earlier this year for that back in February,” Nutt said of the grant. “This project will be in different areas, depending on what our flow monitoring says, it will depend on our work that we got going on now and how much progress that makes.” The three rehabilitation projects will attempt to correct many of the major sewer problems within the city’s wastewater system, the public works director said. The new grant money will fund inflow and infiltration monitoring to detect what areas of the system need additional repairs after the first round of repairs is completed, Nutt said. The initial $500,000 project should be completed within the next couple months which will give the green light to complete the inflow and infiltration monitoring. Additional projects will be scheduled depending on what the analysis reveals, the public works director said. In addition to Mt. Pleasant, Hohenwald, Centerville and Hickman county also have been awarded grant money for sewer rehabilitation. Hickman County received a $400,500 grant and will be responsible for $49,500 in matching funds. Centerville was awarded a $387,000 grant and must match $63,000 in local funds. Hohenwald will be the recipient of a $500,000 grant and will provide $62,000 in matching funds. Funding for the grants was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly and the CDBG program is administered through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.