The Demorest City Council is moving forward with plans to convert the old Demorest Elementary School into a municipal complex. And along the way, officials are opening up new places where residents can gather and play.
New meeting space
The council approved funding to renovate the historic school’s auditorium. Once the renovations are complete, the room will be used for city council meetings.
The project will cost around $144,137, broken out as follows:
- Carpet – $15,775
- Fire protection – $8,220
- Camera additions – $5,214
- Council Chamber Audio/Visual – $51,598
- Lighting- $5,430
- HVAC – $57,900
The city is replacing the old fluorescent tube lighting with new LED fixtures. The new HVAC system will replace the one that’s been in place for years.
The council also approved approximately $5,932 for new lighting in the city hall offices. Demorest expects to save around 75% on its utility bills by converting to LED lights.
Gym and parks
During their June 7 meeting, the Demorest City Council also approved $11,459 for landscaping and repairs around the old school’s gymnasium. They allocated an additional $3,000 to fill cracks and seal the pavement on the basketball court.
Demorest has opened the old school gymnasium at 250 Alabama Street for public use. It’s open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is available on a “first come, first serve” basis, free of charge.
Demorest police will open and close the gym and monitor it, officials say. There are also security cameras inside the gym.
The city will also spend $894 on new swings for the park behind city hall. Crews will install the swings on the existing swingset frames at Brent Lee Moore Memorial Field. There will be six regular swings with four toddler swings.
City officials hope to have all of the projects completed by August 30.
‘Getting a lot’ for our money
Currently, Demorest has a $191,500 line of credit available for improvements to the old schoolhouse. After the city makes these improvements, it’ll have about $26,000 left for other projects. Officials plan to use some of that money to replace windows and pay for an electrician to run electricity to the new HVAC units.
Musselwhite said, “I know this is a lot of money,” but he added the city is getting a lot for it.
“Since December, when we started, we will have created a new city hall [and] water department. We will have created an auditorium for our new municipal building and courtroom. We have opened the gym. We will have fixed some retaining walls and storm drain issues [around the gym]. We will have opened up our second park,” said Musselwhite. “I think we are getting a lot of things for our money.”
