Board of Education Approves Budget for Ag Center Remodels

The Stephens County Board of Education approved remodels for the agriculture center at the high school at their meeting Tuesday.

The request for these upgrades was originally brought to the board by board member Len Stovall back in July.

At that time, the board agreed to have ag teacher Bradley Dalton bring a committee together to decide what upgrades were needed most. Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said they would cap the cost around $95,000.

Dorsey also said he went to see the building and it is in desperate need of upgrades.

“The things that I noticed out there like we don’t have concrete for where the livestock is held prior to entering the ring, so you have all that manure and dirt and all that stuff coming in,” said Dorsey. “We’ve got some garage door issues and some conditioning issues and basically some holes that need to be fixed too. It is in a state of disrepair, it’s had some serious neglect.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved the recommended improvements made by Dalton, which include air conditioning for the main building, extension of pole barn and concrete floor, painting the exterior of the main building, remodeling and upgrading the bathrooms and small equipment and door replacement.

The total cost of these upgrades is $95,000, falling within the cap that was set for this project.