Franklin County Looks Ahead to Next eSplost

The Franklin County School Board is looking ahead to their next eSPLOST.
At their meeting this month, the board went over the list of projects already completed using the current eSPLOST and those projects yet to be done.
The biggest project, building the new core building at Franklin County High School is completed.
But School Superintendent Dr. Ruth O’Dell said there’s still about $2-million left for remaining projects.
O’Dell said the board’s other big concern was to fix some issues they saw as safety concerns.
“So we’ve been looking at the rest of our projects. We have about 2 million unencumbered funds now. So the first thing the board wanted to do was the safety things. Anything that had to do with safety, and we’ve completed a variety of things that seem small, but had a big impact on people.”
One of the projects yet to be done, O’Dell said, is fixing a safety issue at Royston Elementary School.
“At the very back of Royston is a public street. So if you try to leave the doors open, for instance, in the gym to get some ventilation in there, it is right out to the street. In order to have that open, we have built a wrought iron type fence around it with a panic bar, so you can get out if you needed to, but they can open the door and get some air.”
Another project is at the Middle School where some electrical outlets are causing a safety hazard.
“So, remaining they had these power outlets that stuck up. They did everything in the world, they put chairs over it, everything, to keep kids from tripping over it. Now I have even tripped over them. So, we were able to get all of those removed and tile put in.”
Other projects on the list for this year’s eSPLOST include resurfacing many of the school parking lots, as well as purchasing a new school bus, and repairing the canopy at Royston Elementary.
O’Dell said the board is now looking at projects for SPLOST 5
“So, we have a very good starting place for SPLOST 5, but we will doing some of that kind of planning between January and August of this year. Then, we’ll have a community group that will be involved in looking at it, and then you would be talking about a March ‘16 vote on SPLOST 5. So, there is a lot of planning that needs to be done ”
Voters will decide on the next eSPLOST in March 2016.