Board authorizes up to $350,000 for Mount Airy High School press box; bids to be solicited

The Mount Airy City Board of Education approved a funding request and bid package on Sept. 16 to renovate the Mount Airy High School press box, authorizing required signatures for procurement and use of Lottery Repair & Renovation funds.

Board members were told the district seeks a maximum allocation of $350,000 from the county's Lottery Repair & Renovation Fund; the county commissioners approved use of those funds at their meeting the previous night. Project estimates provided to the board ranged from $300,000 to $550,000. The district indicated it intends to pursue a prefabricated unit to control costs.

The project scope described in board materials calls for a roughly 500-square-foot press box with an exterior catwalk and four interior rooms: two end rooms for opposing teams' video operations, one central room for game-day announcing and one room for radio and media. The specification materials and drawings will be reviewed after bids are secured; the scope presented to the board covers only the press box itself and does not include additional stadium renovations.

The motion to approve the funding request was moved by Kyle Leonard and seconded by Thomas Horton; a separate motion to approve the bid package was moved by Jayme Brant and seconded by Thomas Horton. The minutes record board approval; specific per-member vote tallies for these motions were not individually enumerated in the text provided.

Next steps: staff will finalize bid specifications and solicit contractors; final project cost will be established through the bidding process and local procurement rules.