GoBG Transit’s fleet is due for an expansion as commissioners on Tuesday approved the purchase of three wheelchair-accessible vans, joining two others already in the fleet.

The vans are on Ram ProMaster chassis and are coming to the city for just over $635,000 for all three. Neighborhood and Community Services head Brent Childers told officials that a combination of several grants has covered 98% of the cost, lowering the city’s obligation to around $14,000.

He said the vans can be used for transport needs for people with disabilities, or can be put on GoBG routes. In the past the city has used minivans, which can only carry one or two people at a time.

” … With these, you can run three or four people at the same time,” he said. “Also, if (we) need to put them out in service on a fixed route we can.”

Each van costs $211,817. Childers said the cost of the vehicles themselves is included in the price along with all outfitting needs.

Several bigger buses for GoBG are also on order, but the city expects these vans to come in more quickly. The buses are on hold due to a recall notice from the manufacturer. No timeline has been provided for when the buses will be delivered.

A multi-million dollar expansion of Country Oven Bakery also received renewed attention from local government on Tuesday as commissioners approved a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) for the project.

Country Oven’s Bowling Green facility sits along Interstate 165 between the Nashville Road and Russellville Road exits. The brand is part of the Kroger company and makes cakes, breads, rolls and other baked goods that are sold in Kroger grocery stores. An expansion totaling $204 million is on the way to the facility that will create 550 jobs once completed.

County government last year issued $224 million in industrial revenue bonds for the project to be paid by the company.

The PILOT will take effect after the expansion is finished. Katie Schaller-Ward, assistant Bowling Green city manager, told the Daily News that the PILOT will allow Country Oven Bakery to pay its current property taxes based on the facility’s pre-expansion value for the first three years after the expansion is finished.

“They would not have to pay the city and county any property tax for those first three years on that additional investment,” she said.

After three years, Country Oven will pay 25% of the taxes for the addition. After six years, it will pay 50%. Ten years after completion, the rate goes up to 100%.

“It’s a phased-in opportunity for them to make this large capital investment without having to be hit with the property valuation spike while they do this implementation,” Schaller-Ward said.

Commissioners will meet again Feb. 3.