By Michelle Price
Special to the UCBJ
BAXTER – The Baxter Board of Mayor and Aldermen met in special-called meetings on Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12 and voted unanimously to de-annex the Elmore Town Road bridge area.
The city rushed the de-annexation process through so that there would be no questions about the status of the bridge when the Putnam County Commission meets on Monday, April 15 to consider accepting it as a county road. The bridge was recently deemed to be in need of repairs after a Tennessee Department of Transportation inspection.
Baxter Mayor John Martin is pleased with the coordination between the city and Putnam County to solve this problem.
“It’s good for both,” said Martin. “There are 72 homes of county residents and only three of city. There’s 17 children who couldn’t ride a bus to school because the state came in and lowered the weight limit.
“It was a joint effort between the county and the city of Baxter, and I think it’s working out really good.”
