Steve Mensing, Editor
♦In welcome news for both the County Commissioners and the Rowan-Salisbury School System, the two former adversarial bodies may be moving toward closure on the Central Office Issue. 329 S. Main appears to be out of the running in the Central Office sweepstakes. At the moment the front runner is a property at 504 N. Main Street in Salisbury, the site of a former J & M flower Shop. The property resides in an area near Ralph Baker Shoes, Richard’s BBQ, and Pierce Construction. Another possibility is the Belk’s building, at the newly acquired Salisbury Mall, which may be proposed at Monday’s commission meeting in addition to the 504 N. Main property.
The county commission and school board attorneys maintained conversation, regarding the budget mediation, since June according to county and the school board sources.
Dr. Richard Miller, Chairman of the Board of Education, called a board meeting for next Thursday morning at 8:00 A.M. at the Ellis Administration Building at 314 N. Ellis Street in Salisbury to review the outcome of Monday’s County Commission meeting called for 3:00 P.M. Discussion of the both the County Commission and School Board proposals are expected to take place. Some optimism resides in both camps that closure may be reached and a new Central Office will begin construction.
After the Central Office is finally agreed upon–the 2013-2014 school’s budget needs to be settled. Other considerations are proposals of Cleveland and Woodleaf elementary school consolidation into a possible West Rowan Elementary School. Commissioners last month offered to finance $22 million dollars for the elementary school consolidation and other $6 Million dollars for the construction of a Central Office at any location other than 329 S. Main. Many commissioners and several school board members view 329 S. Main as too small for future expansion, lacking in required parking facilities, and possessing 38 feet of infill with the water table running though it–making it somewhat challenging for multiple story building construction.
(Above featured panoramic photo of 504 N. Main St.)
