The year holds less than a month before it turns 2022. And between what local leaders say, there’s a lot to expect in the upcoming year.  

State Representative and Speaker Pro Tempore Pat Marsh has remained positive in local City and County projects.  

Recently, the Petersburg native said he didn’t have plans to go into local politics.  

Marsh comes from a farming family, who raised milk cows and corn and tobacco. Farming still carries on today as he co-owns with his son, John, 400 acres where they raise cows, bulls, and calves.  

“I’m a farm boy, I guess you could say. I like it,” he said.  

Increasing prices  

Having lived in this area for the entirety of his life, Marsh said both Bedford and Lincoln Counties are still agricultural.  

It’s part of the identity of the area. But there’s a strain on the industry.  

Having talked with many of the farmers, supply prices, like for fertilizer, have increased as much as 300 percent — from $300 per ton of fertilizer to $1,000, Marsh said.  

“That just cannot work. At 1,000 dollars a ton...something’s got to give.”  

In addition to the changing agricultural business, Bedford County is experiencing exponential growth. “I just can’t believe how many people are moving here, and how the price of our homes have really, really gone up,” he said.  

Money from the federal government too is skewing the way things are operating, Marsh said. The state was $1 billion up in revenues in just four months, over budget. The federal government asked when they could have back, which the state plans too but will need to keep some to prepare for the future.  

On the state-level, Marsh said they are working on whittling taxes down. (The state has gotten rid of 18 or so different taxes, such as the Hall tax and estate tax as well as cutting the grocery tax. There are also plans in the upcoming year to get rid of the professional privilege tax, Marsh said).  

“We have to keep the state strong in the future,” Marsh said.  

That being said, Marsh added that one of the driving forces of his political career was a desire to help people.  

“It’s really rewarding because you get to help a lot of people. I’ve been trying to help people all my life, and this is one of the ultimate ways to help people in a whole lot of different ways,” he said.  

Big G Express  

But before there was the floor of the Capitol, there was trucking.  

Marsh’s family was firmly planted in local business. They owned Marsh’s Department Store on the Petersburg Square while his father managed three different banks.  

Marsh started higher education studying dentistry at the University of Tennessee. Making only fair grades, even though he attended every class, Marsh decided to follow in the footsteps of his roommate — who was not attending every class — and major in transportation.  

After graduating, Marsh worked for Ford Motor Co. in Nashville. It was a good job, but he didn’t enjoy it. So, he followed some of his other transportation classmates who were working at Goggin Trucking — which began in 1917 and was the oldest trucking business in Tennessee, Marsh said. Goggin was eventually built up to include 1,000 people, 47 terminals, and 500 trucks from the original six tractors and 12 trailers it had when Marsh entered the business.  

Wanting to start a truck load division of his own, Marsh and his brother started Big G Express (the G being representative of Goggin) in 1995. There were no terminals, just trucks and drivers, and it’s grown to include 600 trucks today, Marsh said.  

It’s also an employee stock ownership plan — where every employee owns a part of the company, which has kept the “team together,” Marsh said.  

“Trucking has been really good to me. It’s a really tough industry — very hard, long hours, a lot of people problems...” But it helped him meet a lot of people.  

New chapter  

Again, Marsh said, “I had no desire to go into politics,” he said. At 60, he was actually interested in retiring.  

But there were two main factors that made Marsh a good candidate: for one, he was from Lincoln County and owned a successful business; and two, he jokes he was kin to half the people in Lincoln County. So, in 2009, Marsh ran and won.  

“I really didn’t know but one person in Nashville,” Marh said. That one person was State Sen. Jim Tracy, who encouraged Marsh to go into politics. “It was totally new — I didn’t know how the state operated; I didn’t know many state representatives; I didn’t know how many people were represented; I didn’t know much at all. It was a very eye-opening experience.”  

But once you’re in, it’s hard to get out. What was supposed to be a part-time job turned into an almost full-time position.  

Now in his 12th year of office, Marsh has been serving as House Speaker Pro Tempore, which he was elected to last December by the whole body of representatives.  

“I really was never interested in being in the leadership part so much,” Marsh admitted. “Well, after being there 10 years, I felt like I needed to try to do something like that, and I had several friends ask.” Facing no opposition, Marsh won.  

Accomplishments and new legislation  

Right now, Marsh is on the state’s redistricting committee. The committee is finishing up working on the House of Representatives’ lines, and their next move will be reworking the Congressional districts with the Senate. It’ll be a “big deal,” Marsh said.  

There’s also the Basic Education Program (BEP) Committee. In the upcoming year, they plan to rework the BEP funding formula to accommodate the rising population of the state.  

“It’s going to be a lot more money,” Marsh said, but he agreed it will serve as an investment for public schools.  

“I think people have got to understand how important education is.”  

So far, Marsh said one of his proudest moments has been getting the $42 million budget for Shelbyville’s new Tennessee College of Applied Technology facility. Work will hopefully begin this spring at its location at the 231 North Business Complex, he said. 

“It’ll make a difference, long after I’m gone.”  

Locally, Marsh said he is proud of several projects, such as the new justice center; Vanderbilt acquiring the hospital; Nearest Green setting up their distillery; and Duck River Electric Membership Corporation and United Communication’s recent partnership to bring broadband to rural Bedford County.  

“I’m just really excited about the City and County working together,” Marsh said. “Just everywhere you turn, there’s positive things going on.