$8.5M approved for South Gibson County sports complex

By Crystal Burns

At its Nov. 10 meeting, the Gibson County Special School District board approved a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) of $8,465,106 for the South Gibson County sports complex and authorized the issuance of school refunding and improvement bonds not to exceed $8.63M.

Lashlee-Rich, Inc. is the district’s construction manager. Greer Lashlee and Billy Hill presented the board with bids for Phase II, with Lashlee saying he was pleased to receive 91 bids. Phase I includes all site work and is ongoing.

Phase II includes two baseball fields, one softball field, four tennis courts, a soccer field with track around it, press boxes, lights, scoreboards, a 16,000 sq. ft. practice facility, concession stands, bathrooms, maintenance building, and parking for each athletic field.

The complex is located near SGC High and Middle schools.

Terry Cunningham, the district’s director of Finance and Operations, said that the district would finance the project by issuing unused bond capacity of $7,380,000, which also provides the opportunity to refinance the Series 2009 Bonds in the amount of approximately $1,250,000 for a lower interest rate that could save the district about $150,000 over nine years.

Cunningham said there would be no property tax increase required for the project.

Teachers receive tenure – The board approved the tenure of Toni Patton, Rutherford School; Jennifer Hardison, SGC Elementary School; Kelli Duck, Ethan Ellis, Megan Mouser, and Mark Wilkins, SGC High School; and Krista Grace, Jana Kahler, and Abbey Wilkins, SGC Middle School. To receive tenure, teachers must have at least five years of experience in the district and be Level 4 or Level 5 teachers for the last two years.

Middle school basketball – Micah McVay asked to be put on the meeting agenda to speak to the board about consolidating the middle school basketball programs on the north end of the county. He said the number of students involved in basketball has been declining and suggested the district consolidate Dyer, Rutherford, Yorkville, and Spring Hill (Yorkville and Spring Hill are already combined as the Junior Pioneers) into fifth and sixth grade girls and fifth and sixth grade boys and seventh and eighth grade girls and seventh and eighth grade boys.

Board member Treva Maitland asked for more information from the district to put together a plan for next year.

Student recognition – Olivia Moore, a student at Rutherford School, was recognized for winning first place in the Tennessee Association of Libraries’ bookmark contest last spring. Moore designed a bookmark to create interest for more students to read. Rutherford librarian Jayna Watkins presented Moore with a framed copy of her bookmark as well as a certificate and printed bookmarks for Moore to give family and friends.