Highland Supervisors consider school improvements

Monterey, Va. –

The Highland County School Board has requested that the Board of Supervisors provide funds for school capital improvement projects for this year. County Administrator Roberta Lambert describes the issue for Supervisors at their meeting earlier this month.

“At the end of the fiscal year June 30, the school returned approximately $166,000 to the county, and they are asking the Supervisors to take that money and fund capital improvement needs for one year,” said Mr. Lambert. “They have submitted to you a list of capital improvement needs of $120,898 – various things including tile, restrooms, playground fences – different things,” she said.

At a meeting with the School Board on Wednesday, September 19, the Supervisors approved transfer of $200,000 into a capital improvement fund for the school. This clears the way for the School Board to fund the projects in their request. Still pending is the grant proposal to the Appalachian Regional Commission to help fund replacement of the school’s old windows with more energy efficient windows. In other business, the County Administrator reported to the Supervisors on the current status of the McDowell bridge project.

“In regard to construction on the bridge in McDowell, beams have been installed and they are preparing the deck to be poured and the pour should occur in the next couple of weeks and then railings will be installed,” said Ms. Lambert. “The recreational access project is being initiated in VDOT’s programming system. We should hear soon is funds will be allocated and if this occurs VDOT will set up a kickoff meeting with the county to initiate the project,” she said.

As of Friday, September 21, the concrete for the bridge had not been poured. The completion date for the bridge is still set for mid-October. The Supervisors are waiting to hear from the Virginia Department of Transportation on funding for the recreational access road to the pool in Monterey. Ms. Lambert summarizes the current situation for the Board.

“The recreational access application for funding, which would be to install a road from Rt. 220 into the pool and recreation area next to the school complex is being processed by the Virginia Department of Transportation,” said Ms. Lambert. “Their plans are to have the application on the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s September 19th meeting for action. So we need to adopt a new resolution just indicating that you authorize me to act on behalf of the Board of Supervisors to execute any and all documents necessary to secure the funding,” she said.

The Supervisors approved that resolution. Finally, Ms. Lambert reported to the Board on the current status of the McDowell solid waste disposal facility.

“What we are waiting on right now is for approval of the E & S (erosion and sediment) plan that was submitted to the county’s building and zoning office,” said Ms. Lambert. “It was sent from there to an engineer for plan review, and it was sent back to the county’s engineers who prepared some additional information, and it will go back to the plan engineer and hopefully that process will be completed soon. That should be the last element we need before we go to bid on the project,” she said.