Recovery Act Puts More People to Work in Lauderdale County
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | 03:11am
TDOT Hires 24 Additional People through Recovery Act Funded Initiative to Reduce Unemployment
NASHVILLE – Twenty-four Lauderdale County citizens put on their hard hats and safety vests and hit the roads today as new employees of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The new TDOT hires are part of Governor Phil Bredesen’s initiative to reduce unemployment in Lauderdale County by using Recovery Act funds to create job opportunities. The plan calls for the creation of 175 jobs, including 50 new Highway Maintenance workers at TDOT.
“The Recovery Act was created to ease the economic strain of the current recession and I can think of no better way to use these funds than to help put people back to work in some of Tennessee’s hardest hit counties,” said Bredesen. “These new highway maintenance workers will join other new TDOT employees already on the job collecting pay checks made possible by this Recovery Act initiative.”
TDOT received applications from unemployed Lauderdale County residents on Thursday, February 18 then conducted interviews and hired the 24 new highway maintenance workers on Friday, February 19. The new TDOT employees began work on Monday, February 22 and received two days of new employee and safety training. The new employees will join 26 workers already hired by TDOT on January 22.
“We welcome the opportunity to provide quick relief to some of Lauderdale County’s unemployed,” said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely. “Our highway maintenance workers perform duties that are essential to TDOT’s core mission and we are pleased to have these new employees working in District 45.”
The newly-hired highway maintenance workers will work throughout TDOT’s District 45, which includes Lauderdale, Tipton and Shelby Counties. Employees will meet in Ripley each day where they will be separated into working groups and given their assignments for the day. The groups will then board vans that will transport them to their work sites. Some of the activities that will be performed by the new employees include litter pickup, tree and vegetation removal, mowing, graffiti removal, culvert cleaning, painting and fence repairs.
For more information contact Nichole Lawrence, TDOT Region 4 Human Resources/Community Relations, at 731-225-6041 (cell), 731-935-0318 (office) or Nichole.Lawrence@tn.gov.
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