Hospital, juvenile facility eye industrial site

By Randall Rigsbee

Since Chatham County purchased a 457-acre industrial site behind Wal-Mart near Siler City for $1.4 million in March 2000, the property has remained unused despite ongoing efforts to recruit industry.

But after five years of inactivity, portions of the property are now being eyed for use by Chatham Hospital, which may build a new facility on the site, and by state officials looking for land on which to build a juvenile detention facility.

On Monday, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an option for Chatham Hospital to buy 30.39 acres within the industrial park property for $375,000.

Hospital CEO Woody Hathaway met with commissioners Monday afternoon to discuss the need for a new hospital.

“We’re large enough to serve your needs and we’re small enough to know your name,” Hathaway said of the 25-bed hospital in Siler City.

Chatham Hospital was incorporated in 1939, first housed in a wood-framed former apartment building.

In June 1950, a modern facility was built and in 1969, the Brooks-Boling wing was added, with further additions and renovations following in 1997.

Hathaway said the hospital provides a “warm, supportive healing environment,” but concerns about the hospital’s infrastructure have been raised in recent years.

“The facility just basically needs to be replaced because parts of it are 55 years old,” Hathaway said.

more- See Thursday, February 24 paper: Vol 85, No.13

School building list set for board vote

By Bob Wachs

The list of school construction projects and current and future price estimates is ready.

All that remains now before it is presented to county commissioners for consideration is a formal vote by the board of education accepting the proposals. That vote, initially expected when the school board met this week, is slated for Monday, Feb. 28 at a special called meeting at 5:30 in the board meeting room at the school administrative office building.

Board members have discussed at length what to include and what not to include in a building proposal. They have also talked about how to pay for the projects, although that decision ultimately rests with commissioners. At Monday night’s meeting, board members hammered out a consensus and then asked superintendent Larry Mabe to prepare a final list of projects, current cost and escalated cost, based on their architect’s estimate of inflation and other increased costs.

After all is said and done, that list includes 18 projects at a current cost of $89,512,000. The total escalated cost is projected at $103,484,000, a difference of $13.9 million.

How much money would be spent ultimately will depend on what projects are approved and when they are built. In addition, county commissioners must decide how to finance the work.

Among the options being considered by commissioners, as well as the board of education, are a general obligation bond that would be a countywide referendum; certificates of participation (COPS), a measure which allows the county to borrow money without voter approval; allocation of new impact fees, a measure introduced by commission chairman Bunky Morgan but to date unapproved; and a combination of some or all of those options.

more- See Thursday, February 24 paper: Vol 85, No.13

School board ready for initial interviews

By Bob Wachs

The Chatham County Board of Education will take a big step toward finding a new superintendent of schools when it convenes a special meeting Saturday morning at 8:30 in Cary.

The session, a closed door gathering at the Embassy Suites, will see the five board members conduct initial interviews with a list of candidates who have survived the first cut of applicants for the position. A total of 32 persons applied before the January 10 deadline, some from as far away as Canada and California although most were from North Carolina and adjoining states, board chairman Allan Zimmerman said.

The office of the N.C. School Boards Association in Raleigh served as an advisor on the process and received the applications for the county. After the deadline, copies of each application were made available to all board members. Individual members then selected between seven and 10 potential candidates. From those individual choices, the board as a whole chose candidates to bring in for a first interview.

Zimmerman says so far the process has been a smooth one. “The first steps went really well,” he said after each member made individual selections. “Obviously we can’t release names now and I’m a bit reluctant to say how many (initial) candidates there are but we think it’s going well,” he says.

After the first round of interviews is complete, board members are scheduled to select finalists for the position by March 7. They then have set aside almost two weeks in late March and early April for final interviews and visits to the communities where the finalists work.

The board’s schedule calls for an April 11 meeting to decide on the terms of an offer or offers with contract discussions to be done by April 22. Board members have scheduled an April 25 announcement date for their choice with the new superintendent slated to begin work on July 1.

more- See Thursday, February 17 paper: Vol 85, No.12