Rutherford County will not be moving forward with the purchase of the old State Farm building on Memorial Boulevard at Dejarnette Lane in Murfreesboro.

County Mayor Bill Ketron withdrew a letter of intent to purchase the property for $50-million. Ketron said that Mel Shultz, a partner with JDM, which is an Arizona based real estate firm that owns the the property, was more interested in leasing the building to Rutherford County than selling it...



Ketron told WGNS that the county intended to use the building to house the administrative offices for the Sheriff's office, Emergency Management Services and the Rutherford County Fire & Rescue department. The building would have also been used for an emergency dispatch center, a new Rutherford County Forensics department and a county morgue.

With the expense of developing a call center and morgue, the mayor said that renting a building didn't make good financial sense...



Now, the county plans to build new structures that will serve a similar purpose, but allow for a broader coverage of services. Ketron said that $32-million has already been set aside for the county to use, which will be met with additional funding through a grant that adds up to $64-million...



All buildings will be constructed on property already owned by the Rutherford County Schools and construction on the first building will likely get underway this week or next in the Rockvale area.

Ketron said he also plans to work with MTSU to incorporate a forensics center into a future building, along with a new dispatch center.

Scroll down to learn about BONUS pay for Rutherford County employees...

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Giving County Employees a One Time Bonus

A portion of the $64-million will be used to pay a one-time bonus to Rutherford County employees...



Every full-time employee will get a bonus of $2,000 NET and part-time employees will receive $1,000 NET bonus.