WHS cost: action item

At their regular meeting Monday, Oconee school trustees appear likely to vote on exactly how much to spend to build the new Walhalla High School. And one trustee has confirmed she and some of her colleagues are wondering whether $55 million is too much. That’s the proposed guaranteed maximum price from the project’s construction management company at-risk. The clearing of the property on highway 11 in Picket Post has been completed. Now, according to Trehel Corporation’s Jack Weber, the builders are waiting for an official go-ahead. But District Five trustee Buddy Herring has raised questions whether too much is being spent for spring sports facilities that are being slotted for property to the north side of the academic building. Herring says the new Walhalla High would get a soccer practice field and a regulation game field yet, he said, there is another county high school whose soccer game field doesn’t meet regulation requirements. And the trustee who occupies a seat next to Herring, District Four’s Denise McCormick, can feel Herring’s pain. McCormick’s comments are being aired today on 96.3/WGOG NEWS.