Dr. Shanna Wilkes of the Gilmer County Board of Education has released the following information for the citizens of Gilmer County.

A ground-breaking ceremony to start the renovation of Huff-Mosley Memorial Stadium on the campus of Gilmer High School is scheduled Monday, February 8 at 1:30 on Pettit Field. The public is invited.
The Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) that was approved by the Gilmer County voters last March includes three major projects. These are renovation of the stadium and band practice field, construction of an agriculture education center, and refurbishing Gilmer High School.

In addition to the work about to begin on the stadium, the design for the new Ag Ed Center to be built at Clear Creek is being finalized. Construction is expected to begin later this spring, and the completion date is projected for December 31 of this year.

Preliminary needs for refurbishing the high school are being identified now, and these are to be included in the upcoming revision of the school system’s five year facilities plan required by the state. This plan helps determine the school system’s eligibility for certain capital improvement funds available from the state which could be used to partly refurbish classrooms and other instructional areas at the local high school. Work on the state’s five-year facilities plan is underway now and is expected to be concluded this summer, at which time more specific planning for the refurbishing project will begin. The proposed completion date is expected to be sometime in 2018.

Monday’s ground breaking ceremony starts the initial phase of construction for the most recent ESPLOST. This early work includes synthetic turf surrounded by a new track, some preliminary fencing, and some athletic structural equipment needed at the stadium to support sports such as football, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track and field. The stadium is also used for a number of other school and community activities throughout the year.

The early phase of the renovation project also includes a padded synthetic turf practice field for the marching band, marked and striped the same as the game field at the stadium. The newly resurfaced band practice field will remain in the same location as the current practice area, which is convenient to the band room at the high school.

Following the demolition work at the stadium, the remaining part of the stadium renovation is expected to also begin during the next few weeks. It includes upgrades to the main entrance ticket area, a new visitor’s entrance ticket area, additional dressing facility for visiting football teams in the fall and home sports teams in the spring, new visitor’s concession and restrooms building, and exterior upgrades for existing stadium buildings and fencing.

Already, there have been improvements made and additional areas constructed at Clear Creek Middle School to support displaced high school spring sports teams, which will be practicing and conducting track meets and soccer games at the Clear Creek site this spring while construction is underway at the high school. The field lights at Clear Creek will enable activities to be conducted during early evening hours on afternoons when middle school teams need the facilities.

Parrish Construction Group is the construction manager for the stadium renovation project, and Charles Black Construction Company will be building the new Ag Ed Center at Clear Creek. Breaux and Associates is the architectural firm designing the facilities and improvements.

Last August, the local board of education (BOE) appointed an ESPLOST Construction Advisory Committee (ECAC) that is assisting with the projects. The ECAC recommends priorities, assists in developing criteria, establishes subcommittees to obtain input from stakeholders, and monitors schedules and progress.