Commissioners reject funding of new central office design
By TOM CHEREDAR, For the Williamson Herald
tched.wh@gmail.com
The Williamson County Board of Commissioners denied a $700,000 funding request for a new central office facility Tuesday, leaving school board members with the task of finding alternative accommodations for the growing number of WCS employees.
Commissioner Clyde Lynch, whose motion to cut the funding from the resolution passed 13-9, said he did not think it was necessary to build a new central office, despite the school system’s projected employee growth and current cramped facilities.
“I think the timing is very sensitive here,” said Commissioner Judy Hayes, adding that the need for new schools is more important.
Hayes said more space might be available to the school board after the renovation of the county courthouse is complete.
The school district faces space limitations in the 26,000-square-foot Williamson County Administrative Complex, which it shares with county government employees.
While Hayes also suggested rearranging furniture in the existing space, the school district routinely doubles or triples the occupants per office, according to Kevin Fortney, director of facilities and construction.
The school district has also deferred placing employees within the various schools, which each utilize space for education and academic purposes, Fortney said.
“It has been a great building,” Fortney said at the Board of Commissioners’ meeting Nov. 13. “Space has been very beneficial to us up until the last few years.”
Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Sharber said more space is needed regardless of where it comes from.
“Maybe we can home office a bunch of our people. Certainly organizations are doing that now,” Sharber said. “Both the county and the school system cannot continue to grow and stay in this building together.”
“We’re running out of room,” she said.
According to the school district’s research, a new central office was the most cost-effective way to accommodate growth long term.
“We could actually pay for a building in five years for what we would spend on leasing space,” Sharber said.
The school board’s proposal calls for a 48,000-square-foot new central office facility to house the current 114 WCS employees, which is estimated to increase to about 180 total hires in the next 15 years, according to Fortney.
Fortney said the building could cost $8.8 million, but the initial $700,000 request would have paid for architectural design plans and geographical studies necessary before beginning the project.
The preferred location for a new central office building is the school-district-owned property located off of Berry’s Chapel Road in Ridgecrest.
The property, which cost the county $1.8 million, is not suited for a new high school due to the various ponds, streams and waterways, according to Fortney, who added that a small portion of it could, however, be used for a new central office pending a formal review of the land.
County commissioners voted 19-2 to adopt the amended resolution from the school board for $26,664,000, which is intended to fund security improvements to school entrances.
Posted on: 11/15/2007
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