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The Troup County Board of Commissioners has approved the purchase of a new passenger van for the Active Life Senior Center in Hogansville.

Commissioner Jamie Thrailkill introduced the request, saying the Hogansville senior center had not had a travel van for some time.

“We had an opportunity this past week to visit the Active Life Centers in West Point and Hogansville and it was brought to our attention on Thursday that they had been going without a van. They couldn’t go on day trips and things. They were having to borrow the van from the West Point Center,” Thrallkill said.

Thrailkill said the van was one of the biggest requests from the seniors.

County Manager Eric Mosley said funding is available to accommodate the purchase of a van for the senior center from the Hogansville Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) account but finding a passenger van these days is difficult.

Mosley said they checked the dealers under the state contract but none were available. He said they were able to get quotes on a couple of used vans.  The closest was in Union City, Georgia but before they could get a firm quote, it had sold.  Another was found in Montgomery, Alabama with 45,000 miles on it but it had a very limited warranty and was still $42,900.

Ultimately, staff was able to locate a new van locally at Auto Gallery in LaGrange for just under $50,000, which Mosley recommended over the used one.

Marquita Fannin, Site Manager for the Hogansville Active Life Center, said the van had been something her seniors had been wanting for years.

“It was so important for me to seek that and get that for our seniors because we like to travel. That’s one of the things that we pride ourselves on at Hogansville Active Life is getting our seniors out in the community doing fun things,” Fannin said.

Fannin explained that in the past they could take trips by borrowing the van from West Point but it was time-consuming and expensive. She said she would have to drive from Hogansville to West Point to pick up the van and have to turn around at the end of the night to return it. It was two hours or more of driving just to get and return the van for each trip they took, she said.

Thrailkill learned of the issue at a recent Coffee with Commissioners event the Active Life Center held and began advocating for the county to get them a van.

Now the Hogansville seniors will be able to take trips more frequently. Fannin said the seniors particularly like fishing trips. They also have trips planned to go to dinner in Columbus and to visit the Local Grounds coffee shop in LaGrange, she said.

The commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a 2025 Savana 15-passenger van for $49,502 from Auto Gallery in LaGrange.