Thursday, September 21,2017
The Baldwin Bulletin I Your local newspaper
Page A9
ALAINA MINSHEW/Staff
Board members present during the special called meeting discuss whether or not to allow Georgia Military College to lease two
buildings on Central State Hospital grounds.
Lease
Continued from A1
took a vote on whether or not
to lease two former buildings at
CSH.
“So right now Baugh Barracks
has a total of 254 beds, we at
present have 285 cadets,” Col.
Ralph L. Kauzlarich, executive
director of GMC’s Milledgeville
campus, said. “Our long term
plan is to have about 300 cadets.
We’re actually turning students
away now.”
While GMC is in the process of
acquiring more space for housing,
they still need room for the cadets
they have right now. Kauzlarich
wants to see the number of cadets
rise, which will require more
housing for the school.
“We’re also in the process
of buying additional property
and have a daycare center on
South Jefferson,” Kauzlarich
said. “We are in the process of
restoring that to give us a little
bit more flexibility of residential
opportunity.”
Russ Walden, CSHLRA board
member, brought up his concerns
about the cadets staying in the
two buildings. Walden said he
doesn’t want to see damage done
to the buildings, and he wanted
to know if the cadets would be
responsible citizens while they
roomed in the buildings.
“I have some concerns that
need to be resolved,” Walden said.
“Who has liability? What kind of
insurance is involved? What kind
of supervision of the cadets will
be there?”
Kauzlarich said the cadets
would be supervised, and they
would usually be there at night to
sleep. They would still have to eat
and do other activities on GMC
grounds.
“They have to be second year
cadets, they have to be ECP
(Early Commissioning Program)
or state service and they have to
have a grade point average of 3.0
or higher,” Kauzlarich said. “For
those of you that went to GMC,
that’s not going to be easy. These
cadets will be focused.”
Walden had further concerns
due to board members of
CSHLRA also being apart of the
board of the GMC Foundation.
John Ferguson, treasurer of
CSHLRA, said others have had
an opportunity to step forward
before GMC did.
“Also a conflict of interest is
of concern,” Walden said. “Four
of us are board members of the
GMC Foundation, and I don’t
want it to look like we are giving
preference to Georgia Military
College as opposed to others that
want to use these buildings.”
All members present voted on
leasing the buildings to GMC
after the discussion took place.
They agreed it was a good
decision to allow the expanding
number of cadets to use the
two vacant buildings. Board
members of CSHLRA, including
Bruce Vaughn, are happy to have
excellent future leaders on the
property.
“Frankly, I’m delighted that
Georgia Military College is
considering our campus,” Vaughn
said. “I’m excited about them
partnering with us and I want to
see them out here on campus.”
BOE
Continued from A1
can do for $2.5 million,” she
said. “We’re looking at how
far your dollars will go.”
Bell said the company
had a geotechnical survey
done on where the stake
holders believed would be
the prime location for the
softball field. However, the
survey showed that the land
would not be able to work
for that due to potential
problems with leveling and
settlement.
“We always suspected
that, but it is always good
to get a second opinion and
make sure that you are true
in your thoughts,” Bell said.
Geotechnical surveys are
done to obtain information
on soil and rock around
a site to determine if a
facility could be placed on a
plot with little problem.
Other challenges GMC
is looking at regarding the
sports facilities are ease
of traffic and adequate
parking, updated restrooms
and aesthetic facelifts.
An estimated cost for the
softball field is $876,000.
Of that, $500,000 would
be for the concession
stands, restrooms and a
field house. An additional
$185,000 would be fore
laser grading, sod, irriga
tion, backstop and netting
for the field.
Smaller costs for the field
include work on dugouts,
bullpens, bleachers, a
scoreboard, batting cages
and storage.
“The softball complex
will have a complete
facelift,” Bell said. “In this
process, we decided the
baseball complex looked
rather well. The baseball
complex is one of the better
facilities you have out here.”
Additional funding esti
mates budgeted $200,000
for tennis court resurfacing
and fencing and $240,000
for renovations of the
soccer field. The majority of
the soccer field costs would
go to laser grading and sod.
When focusing on
parking, there was discus
sion about whether a gravel
lot would be required or if
parking could be done on
the grass near the facilities.
“One of our biggest
concerns has been to
provide access to everyone
at each of these facilities,”
Bell said.
Bell said now the plan
was to pave up to the
handicap parking spaces
and have overflow parking
available beside those
areas. The allowance for
a gravel parking lot, entry
road and mass grading was
placed at $425,000.
To conclude the presen
tation, Bell talked to the
board about the field
houses and press boxes
proposed at the baseball
and softball fields.
The field house would
have two sets of locker
rooms for boys and girls,
as well as a concession
stand. In addition, a second
level would be inside the
building to be used as a
press box for the games.
“That is all to be deter
mined, and you know how
design goes,” Bell said. “It’s
always changing, but this is
a general idea.”
No action has been taken
regarding the facilities.
Right now, the project
is still in an exploratory
phase.
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CONTRIBUTED
A proposed outline shows what the upgraded facility layouts would look like
near Baldwin High School.
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