RFP Staff
♦ A few hours after Tuesday’s 4 p.m. Joint Planning Committee meeting held at the County Administration in Salisbury, Commission Vice-Chairman informed the Rowan Free Press the county will not submit the LGC application for the Central Office in the 500 block of N. Main, citing incomplete drawings and documents from the Rowan-Salisbury Schools.
The Joint Planning Committee meeting between representatives from the Rowan County Commissioners and the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education was created with the intention of fostering better communications between the two bodies about the school system’s capital projects.
Among the topics discussed yesterday between the representatives of the Rowan-Salisbury Schools and the County Commissioners were:
• Vice-Chairman Pierce expressed concerns about the School District’s land swap deal with the Wallace Family who provided property on the 500 block of N. Main for the School System’s Central Office. Pierce was concerned about how the deal played out with the possibility of a new steel bridge going in where the Shober Bridge currently stands. Pierce believed the school system would’ve received better compensation than it did for the current administrative property on Ellis Street if they held off and sold it directly to the Norfolk Southern Railway. Superintendent Moody claimed the school system was not told that.
• Vice-Chairman Pierce would not oppose approving more funds for the school system’s capital projects, if it mean building a new facility for Knox Middle School. Pierce also championed the idea building the new building near Isenberg Elementary School rather than by Overton.
• Anthony Vann, the school systems Assistant Superintendent of Operations, discussed architectural changes planned for Knox and the consolidated elementary school in the western part of the county. Mr. Vann will meet later this week with SFL+A Architects set to draw up plans for Knox and the consolidated elementary school. Vann suggested doubts a new school building could be built for the $15 million dollars allotted–rather he believed costs would approach $20 million dollars. The school board’s L.A. Overcash raised the question about what if the new building proved more expensive than the proposed $15 million dollars? Pierce said chances were fine as long as it could be justified. Hopes were expressed that we would not be bogged down in their original $40.5 million dollar “memorandum of understanding”.
The next Joint Planning Committee meeting will occur on September the 9th
