Shayne Bilbrey – Putnam County Democrats

Shayne Bilbrey

County Commission District 3

Shayne Bilbrey is a lifelong Putnam Countian, a first generation college graduate, a son, and a cat dad. Shayne was born in Cookeville and raised in Monterey by both his Mom and his Grandma. Shayne is the oldest child, he has one brother and one sister who are a few years younger than him. He became only the second person ever in his family to graduate from High School when he graduated from Monterey High School in 2009, and he became the first person in his family to graduate from college when graduated from Tennessee Tech in 2019. Shayne has also been a long time community volunteer and advocate having been involved with the Putnam County Democratic Party, a founding Committee Member of Upper Cumberland Pride, a volunteer with the Tennessee Equality Project, the co-founder of the Bully Free Tennessee Conference in 2012, a member of the Tennessee Young Democrats, and a founding member of the Putnam County Young Democrats.

In 2024, Shayne was selected by his peers to be Tennessee’s male representative on the Young Democrats of America National Committee. Shayne served in that role until May of 2025. Since April of 2025, Shayne has been the Treasurer of the Putnam County Young Democrats, elected Vice President of Upper Cumberland Pride, appointed to be a member of the Site Selection Committee for the Young Democrats of America, and elected as the Putnam County Democratic Party’s Executive Committeeman for District 3. In his spare time, Shayne is an avid Cities Skylines player, a storm spotter, a history buff, and most Sunday’s he’s glued to his tv watching NASCAR, as he has been a NASCAR fan since he was a kid growing up in Monterey. His favorite driver growing up was both Dale Earnhardt and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr., and is currently a big Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick fan. Since 2017, Shayne has lived in District 3, along with his two cats, Leia and Selina, and his partner of five years, Dan.

Parks and Infrastructure: I will work to push for the City of Cookeville and Putnam County to work jointly in building new sidewalks and bike lanes along the 12th Street and North Willow Ave Corridors, increase sidewalk and bike access in and around Jere Whitson Elementary, and increase sidewalk and bike access along Mississippi Ave from 12th to Jere Whitson Park. Fund and prioritize renovating the facilities, parking, landscaping, and ball fields at Jere Whitson Park. Promote the use of Public Transit, and to increase UCHRA Public Transit frequencies that promotes alternative forms of transportation

Public Schools: Improve accessibility to Jere Whitson Elementary and to work with the school system on a plan to increase student capacity and to look at potential renovations to the school, to advocate for increased funding that prioritizes our Public School System over Charter Schools, and to increase funding for after school programs.

Public Safety; Government Transparency; and Taxation: Work with the County Sherriff’s department to pilot a trial program where mental health professionals are hired by the department to help respond, alongside deputies, to when people are in crisis and are in need of a mental health specialist. Provide closer oversight over the County’s financial decisions and department spend, and not just be a rubber stamp for saying yes on funding requests. Push to adopt economic tax incentives that support the development of locally owned and operated small businesses, and to push for property tax incentives that reduces the property tax burden for building new single family homes, mixed use development, and multi-family development.