Pictured from left are Anderson County Chamber of Commerce’s Norm Nelson, Anderson County Purchasing Department employees Karen Whaley, Toni Romero and Sheila Davis, Purchasing Agent Pamela Cotham, Mayor Terry Frank, and Vendor Registry’s Brian Strong. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County government)
CLINTON—On Tuesday, Anderson County Purchasing Agent Pamela Cotham and the Anderson County Purchasing Department hosted the inaugural Vendor Breakfast event.
Inspired by the City of Knoxville’s vendor events, the program was designed to educate local people and businesses on how to do business with Anderson County government, a press release said. Anderson County Purchasing partnered with both the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce and Vendor Registry to help spread the word, and also to answer questions.
For fiscal year 2014/2015, Anderson County is managing more than $65 million in goods and services. The fiscal year 2014/2105 budget is approximately $108 million, and of that amount, $65 million is flowing through the Purchasing Department, the press release said.
“We hope to expand on this event each year to assist Anderson County vendors in becoming familiar with the county’s purchasing process,” Purchasing Agent Pamela Cotham said. “Ultimately, we want to have local businesses procurement dollars reinvested back into the local economy. I would like to thank Brian Strong with Vendor Registry for partnering with us to sponsor this event.”
“The vendor event was about spreading the word about the opportunities that are available to do business with Anderson County,” County Mayor Terry Frank said. “We want more business people in our community and in our region to know about the business they can do right here at home. And we also recognize that healthy competition is good for the taxpayers and enables Anderson County to serve more people with the dollars we are entrusted to manage.
“Pamela Cotham and her team—Toni, Karen, and Shelia—have enormous responsibility and I am extremely proud of how efficiently they manage the volume of purchasing work that comes through their office,” Frank said.
The release said the Anderson County Purchasing Department has the responsibility to make the most economical acquisition of quality materials and services that will assure efficient operation of county departments.
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