Hamilton County Commission to vote next week on whether to freeze funding for gym at school slated to close

The Hamilton County Commission next week will consider whether to freeze funding to build a $1.7 million multipurpose building at Rivermont Elementary — given that it’s one of six schools targeted for closure in a district facilities plan released last month.

The vote comes after the Hamilton County school board approved the construction bid for the project at its most recent meeting.

(READ MORE: $1.7 million project approved for Chattanooga school slated to close)

In August, a Hamilton County working group released a two-phase, seven-year facilities plan that called for campus closures and renovations in the interest of lowering maintenance costs by having fewer buildings.

Among other recommendations, the plan proposed building a new elementary school on the current DuPont Elementary site in Hixson, using that campus to consolidate three out of four smaller schools in the area — Alpine Crest, DuPont, Hixson and Rivermont.

Commissioner Lee Helton, R-East Brainerd, who introduced the resolution calling for a funding freeze on the Rivermont building, said at Wednesday’s meeting that he didn’t want to reallocate the money.

“I’m just asking for a pause until the school system knows exactly what they’re going to do,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem to be prudent … when we don’t know if the school will be in use in three years or whatever the time frame is.”

The money for the new gym was allocated by the commission in July 2022 from federal funds the county received through the American Rescue Plan Act, a stimulus package passed by Democrats in Congress in 2021 to help the economy through the pandemic. The federal funding must be committed to a project by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.

The commission allocated $1.5 million to the project. The school board approved a $1.727 million bid from Wilder Contracting, a Chattanooga-based construction company.

Officials are confident the project will come in under budget, Robert Sharpe, the district’s chief operations officer, said at Thursday’s school board meeting.

County Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, whose district includes Rivermont Elementary, said the needs of students at the school have been ignored for years due to a potential closure or merger.

In March 2020, a facilities report created by MGT Consulting Group called for Alpine Crest, DuPont and Rivermont to be merged. Around a decade earlier, a different facilities plan in 2008 also recommended consolidating those three schools.

“I can appreciate how it might not seem like a pressing matter when those same issues may not be present in someone else’s district, but those issues are present in District 6,” Sharpe said. “Meeting the needs of children shouldn’t stop every time somebody comes forth with a set of recommendations. This is part of how we’ve gotten to where we are today.”

(READ MORE: Red Bank proposes alternative location for consolidated elementary school)

Rivermont Elementary does not have a gym, so students attend physical education in a classroom when the weather prevents them from being outside.

“Obviously, we wouldn’t want to build something, then use it for two years and then go away,” Commissioner Steve Highlander, R-Ooltewah, said. “But on the other hand, we go six, seven, eight years, that’s a whole generation of children that would not have this facility.”

David Sharpe added that until there is a clear funding plan and priority list for the facilities proposal, the commission should continue with business as usual.

“We’ve got to be responsible fiscal stewards for taxpayer dollars,” he said. “But we also have to be responsible in providing the services that families of this community expect for their children, and we have not held up that end of the bargain. We have not done it for 40 years.”

Commissioner Ken Smith, R-Hixson, said he expected to vote for the resolution next week but understood Sharpe’s frustration. He said he wants a timeline on when a school board decision on whether to consolidate the schools will be made.

“I’d rather wait, me personally, a few more months to know whether or not it’s going to be done,” he said. “If not, we’re going to build this gym, as it was allocated to do so.”

Both Helton and Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, said they were not trying to supersede the school board’s authority.

“We’re not telling them they can or they can’t,” Graham said. “What we’re saying is the funds that we’re controlling for this project, we may not agree to spend until there’s been further discussion.”

The school board vote to move forward with the project was 8-2 with board members Rhonda Thurman, R-Hixson, and Faye Robinson, R-Ooltewah, voting no.

Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.