The City of Knoxville approved the purchase of a new Ventrac machine for the parks and recreation department at their meeting Monday night.

Knoxville Parks and Recreation Director Brandon Nemmers spoke about the need for a Ventrac due to current equipment not being able to effectively remove snow in the winter time. He stated that city staff is responsible for the removal of snow on city facility sidewalks and the Competine Trail. The current snow removal equipment is too wide for the sidewalk and tears up the grass so Nemmers requested the Ventrac because the machine and all of its attachments would allow proper snow removal, trailing cleaning, ball field maintenance, and mowing of larger areas such as the cemetery and VA District.

The council accepted the quote from TNT Landscaping LLC for just over $81,000.