SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — Nicholas County School Board President Chip Perrine feels a little better this week about the future of new county schools that are being built or planned to be built.
Following a meeting Tuesday with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Perrine is hopeful they will offer more assistance to the county in getting these schools finished.
“It was pretty positive,” Perrine said. “They said we had more leeway than we actually thought.”
Perrine said discussions with the state and the SBA all ended similarily, with no more money being offered to the county.
With that, Perrine has already called for a special meeting to take place this Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Nicholas County Board Office with FEMA officials. The school board plans to submit multiple plans to FEMA for their consideration.
“Hopefully one of them they’ll agree to and then we can get our schools built,” said Perrine.
Nicholas County officials met with the governor’s office and the the state School Building Authority Friday, June 2, realizing they were $72 million short in their budget for the school projects.
Of the future Nicholas County Schools, the new Richwood High/Middle School is currently being constructed. It’s being built at Cherry River Elementary in Richwood and has a $42.5 million price tag.
Ground has yet to be broken on the Glade Creek project which will be the site of a new Summersville Middle School, Nicholas County High School and a technical education center. A bid at $148 million was submitted last month for the project, which is about $51 million more than the county has left in federal and state funds.
FEMA already awarded $180 million in 2018 for the new Richwood High School and Summersville Middle School.
The seven-year anniversary of the June 2016 flood is about two weeks away.