Contractors decide who foots gym bill

While some of the details regarding payment are still to be worked out, school officials are adamant about replacing the new gymnasium floor at Alleghany High School and hopeful that work can begin immediately after the weekend of Feb. 15-17.

The gym is part of AHS' new east wing, where classrooms have been in use since the school year began last August. The school had planned to begin using the gym this year as well, until the floor was found to be damaged after a water heater leak last July, with the water later spreading.

Removing and replacing the floor might have begun earlier than mid-February, but the installation was put on hold because of a 28-school regional wrestling meet the school plans to host that weekend, as approved by Utica, the school system's liability insurance carrier.

"The insurance company agreed to let us use it (the new gym) for the wrestling tournament as long as mats are put down," said Charles Joines, chairman of the Alleghany County Board of Education. "We simply felt like it was too risky to get it replaced before the tournament, and the insurance company agreed. (As part of the replacement process) we may have to leave it open a month to let the concrete dry out. Nobody knows for sure."

Board Attorney Fred Johnson said, "Our intent is the very day after the tournament is complete, to begin the work of removing the existing floor and installing a new floor."

Interviewed just before Christmas, Johnson said an agreement had not been reached between the general contractor, James R. Vannoy & Sons Construction, and the plumbing contractor, T. Greene Electric and Plumbing, as to who is responsible for what percentage of the cost of replacing the floor.

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