Van Hook: Pepperell field will be ready

The facilities manager for Floyd County Schools briefs Floyd County board members on what is left to be done on the field and track before the home opener.

The facilities manager briefs the BOE on what is left to be done.

Tuesday marked one month until Pepperell High’s first home football game of the season. And even though the sod for the field has yet to be laid after a summer of correcting drainage issues, the facilities manager for Floyd County Schools said the field will be ready for Sept. 1.

David Van Hook said there are no plans for the first home game to be held anywhere other than Dragon Stadium. The drainage work has been completed, and with the last bit of grading on the field wrapped up, the system is waiting on the sod to be delivered on Friday.

Van Hook updated Floyd County Board of Education members on the project during their Tuesday meeting, telling them the sod could probably be put down by the end of the day Friday or, at the latest, by Monday.

The sod has to be in place for a couple of weeks, allowing it to take root and firm up, before it can be played on, said Van Hook. The amount of time left from the day when the sod is actually placed — around four weeks — should be enough time for this process to take place, he said.

There are a couple of spots at the stadium where old concrete had to be ripped up to lay new drainage pipes, and work was done Tuesday to pour new concrete in those areas, Van Hook said. New asphalt also needs to be put down on several spots on the track where new pipes were put in. Once the asphalt cures, the track will get a latex coating and be painted.

The board also approved the Fiscal Year 2019 state capital outlay projects application, which gives the system eligibility for $2,038,568 in state reimbursement funding and has to be turned in to the state Department of Education by Aug. 15. The projects, estimated to cost between $4.6 million and $5.5 million, are for a new roof and a new HVAC system at Armuchee High, and are part of the system’s proposed education local option sales tax package.

Van Hook said the state is supposed to reimburse 80 percent of the projects’ cost. However, under the aged state funding formula, the system is likely to only be reimbursed 20 to 40 percent.

If the proposed extension of the 1-cent ELOST is approved by voters on Nov. 7, then the system would not have to wait a year to set up the state funding, which Van Hook said it can cancel if the ELOST fails.

Board members also gave the system the goahead to buy four gasoline buses for $323,980 from Resaca-based Yancey Bus Sales & Service. Assistant Superintendent April Childers said with $77,319 from state grant funding, the system was able to get an additional bus. Three of the buses are for 72 passengers and the fourth is a special-education bus, which fits 48 and has a lift.

By acquiring the three larger buses, the system’s remaining high schools without an athletic bus with air conditioning will now have one, Childers said.