ASHEBORO – Randolph County has taken a big step toward the construction of a new elementary school as the Randolph County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of land for the new Liberty Elementary School.
At its Oct. 7 meeting, the board approved the purchase of 32 acres of land at a sale price of $62,500 per acre located at 4547 Starmount Road for the site.
“The board and myself believe this is the best site for the new school,” Randolph County School System superintendent Stephen Gainey said. “The feasibility study may require us to buy more, so we’ve been given the leeway that if we need up to 40 acres, we could purchase that, but we’re going in at 32 and we hope that will solve it, but if we do the feasibility and environmental studies and it eats into some of the buildable land (22.4 buildable acres), then we may have to buy another acre or two.”
The sale agreement also comes with a 180-day window, which can be extended by 90 days if need be, for the school district to inspect the site and make sure that it is in fact usable for their intended purpose.
Gainey said the expectation is to have the school complete by spring 2027 to be usable for the 2027-28 school year.
Board approves other items
The board also approved a contract with the Town of Liberty to handle its animal control services with the plan for it to be an annually renewing deal and the purchase of three additional Axon body cameras for the Sheriff’s Office using $2,533 in Law Enforcement Restricted Funds.
“The use of body cameras has become an essential tool in minority law enforcement and providing accountability, transparency and evidence collection and these cameras will help to protect both our officers and the citizens they serve,” said chief deputy Aundrea Azelton.
The board also provided a bit of an update on its efforts to support those in the state affected by Hurricane Helene.
“We have a lot of caring hearts,” said county manager Zeb Holden. “We have a lot of folks within our organization who are spending time in the western part of the state helping in any way possible and providing services. Right now, it’s more emergency services, rescue services, incident management and that need is going to evolve. They’re going to need folks from planning, folks from tax … they’re going to need assistance for a long time and we’re glad to be able to assist as much as we can.”
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners will next meet Nov. 4.
