News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Clay County Board of Education is moving forward on the High School CTE building after approving an estimated $825,000 bid.
Clay County Board of Education Chairman Benji Bailey said he was grateful the board received three competitive bids on the project. Bailey said the awarded bid was not the lowest.
“Due to the fact that it is grant-funded and we are on some short time constraints with this building we chose to go with the provider that we have worked with before,” Bailey said. “And again relatively it was all close to the same price.”
Bailey said the school system has 18 months to complete the project. Bailey said he expects to break ground sometime during the spring semester.
“I don’t know how fast they would get started,” Bailey said. “Preferably it would be nice if we could do more when the kids are not on campus but still a lot of the planning and things that they will need to do upfront will get going pretty soon.”
The board previously had concerns about whether the building should have a shingle roof or a metal roof. Bailey said the board decided to go with a shingle roof as recommended by the architect.
“We felt it would be better off to go with a cheaper option,” Bailey said. “The way it was designed, everyone involved so far thinks it would be able to withstand the weather just a little bit better.”
Bailey said the building is being built on an isolated corner of the high school’s campus and would not drastically affect students if construction began during the school year. Bailey said he is looking forward to the building being completed as it will provide better learning opportunities for the students.
