Board approves $3.91 million payment request for Eastview work, tables Whiteville stadium parking lease

The Columbus County Board of Education approved a payment request (G‑6) of $3,912,308.78 for work on the Eastview Elementary project and tabled a proposed five‑year parking lease with Whiteville City Schools.

Support services/auxiliary staff reported the payment request and described the Eastview work as including site work, geotechnical work, concrete, masonry, metal building, permitting, plumbing and HVAC. "We have a payment request number GDash6 in the amount of $3,912,308.78," the support‑services presenter said during the meeting. The presenter also listed third‑party inspection invoices that together totaled $60,108.14 for Eastview Middle School work and estimated the construction at roughly 75% complete as a ballpark figure.

The board considered a memorandum of agreement to lease land behind the Whiteville City Schools bus garage for stadium parking; the presenter described the lease as five years at $2,000 per year to be paid in July by Whiteville City Schools. A board member moved to table that item and the board voted in favor of tabling the MOA.

The board's action approving the Eastview payment request was recorded as a routine consent/approval item on the agenda; individual roll‑call votes were not recorded in the transcript, and the board announced the motion carried by voice vote. The meeting moved on to other agenda items and later voted to enter closed session under state law.

What happens next: the board approved the payment request and the construction work will proceed pending administrative/contractual follow‑up. The Whiteville parking-lease proposal was tabled for future consideration.