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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

City Council on Thursday approved an Elizabethton City Schools request for an additional $250,000 to “help close the funding gap” for capital needs related to the Dave Rider Center for Athletic Performance and upgrading the indoor turf at the newly constructed baseball hitting facility near Joe O’Brien Field.

In a letter accompanying the request, Director of Schools Richard VanHuss explained “there were several items we had to value engineer out of the project to get the project within budget.” To “value engineer” a project is to weigh each component in terms of its value to the overall project for budgetary considerations.

Among the unbudgeted costs cited by VanHuss were:

•  a covered walkway that would connect the new building with the existing gymnasium, at a cost of $50,066;

• state fire marshal mandated changes to the sprinkler and fire suppression system, at about $90,431;

• an increase of $196,488 in the bathroom buildout portion of the project due to fire marshal changes; and

• $259,612 for paving related to the project, including the repaving of existing asphalt from new construction to Jason Witten Way.

 “We’re going to repave the entire area of the parking lot behind the school, from this new facility behind the gymnasium, the loading dock, the cafeteria, and all the way back out to Jason Witten Way,” VanHuss told City Council. “And that was never part of this, but it really will improve so many things about the school.” He said the current pavement in that area dates back 50 years to the original construction of the school.

In response to a question, the director reiterated the new facility is not just for athletics. “Every student that walks through that building at Elizabethton High School will have an opportunity to use this facility,” VanHuss told council members while detailing several programs and usages for the new facility.

In the letter, VanHuss said the system would also like to add a synthetic rubberized floor system for the weight room portion of the facility, which would cost about $32,000.

With respect to the baseball hitting facility, VanHuss explained in the letter that Elizabethton High School Baseball Diamond Club spearheaded the project, and the original design included repurposing donated turf to finish off the construction. “Since the construction of the building has been complete, it has become necessary to consider upgrading the indoor turf area of the facility,” the director wrote, estimating that professionally installed artificial turf would cost about $25,000.

“This addition would make all our baseball facilities among the best in the state of Tennessee,” VanHuss said.