Running track going out for bids

LISA HOBBS – News Editor

Luke Saldana won a track state championship at Warren County High School without ever taking part in a home meet. Perhaps future Pioneers will get a chance to compete at a new proposed running track at Hickory Creek Elementary School.

According to Director of Schools Dr. Grant Swallows, Warren County School System is almost ready to bid out a competitive eight-lane running track. He stated, during a county Education Committee meeting on Monday, that the project is “within days of being able to go to bid.”

Commissioners Carlene Brown, Scott Kelly, James Zahn, Chris Rippy and Caleb Graves were in attendance.

Currently, the school system has $8.3 million designated for capital outlay projects. The director stated that $3.5 million will be needed to construct the high school’s new cafeteria. There is also an ongoing project at West Elementary School’s gymnasium and new bleachers being installed at the high school.

Bids for the track are anticipated before the end of 2026.

“If we go to bid and they say, ‘it’s going to cost $10 million to build the track,’ we don’t have that much money. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think we are going to build the track,” stated Dr. Swallows, who did not express that belief regarding eight tennis courts that are also in the track construction project. “Now, can we get eight tennis courts? We’ll have to wait and see how much the bids come back at.”

Commissioner Rippy questioned if the middle school’s track will be repaved, to which Dr. Swallows replied, “I think its deteriorating as it goes. I think we are going to have to resurface that in some way. For those of you who were at Nunley Stadium Friday night, they like to drive floats around it. So, putting an actual track surface on it makes that difficult. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but at the same time, we cannot continue with that the way it is.”

The discussion was held during Monday evening’s orientation to educate new members. It was an hour’s long meeting that provided an overview of how the school’s budget is set and the roles of both the Board of Education and Warren County Commission.