KENANSVILLE — Although Gov. Bev Perdue has elected to freeze the distribution of the Education Lottery Fund, Bobby Norwood, Duplin County Board of Education maintenance director approached the county commissioners Monday with what he called “good news.”

On March 26, a bill was passed that basically called for freezing education lottery funds unless funds are available for full distribution to the public school building capital fund.

“I have received a number of e-mails concerning clarification (of this bill),” Norwood began, then proceeded to state briefly that, in matter of areas of public safety, lottery funds can be released. Therefore, he stood before the board seeking approval on revised applications for lottery funding.

As previously requested by the governor, the applications were to be submitted in a hierarchical manner, with the first being of greatest importance.

According to Norwood, the bleachers repair project was deemed the highest priority for the Duplin County Board of Education and, luckily, the funds were released.

“I received an e-mail verifying that the money would be sent to the local government as soon as today, Monday,” Norwood conveyed to the board.

In addition to the bleachers repair project, the Board of Education and the commissioners laid out six other projects, including air conditioner and window repairs, that would rely on the allocation of education lottery funding.

“We prioritized these projects in a matter of safety at ball games,” Norwood said.

Since some lottery funding was released for bleacher repairs, Norwood’s next application will include fixing the air conditioners in several schools. However, as Norwood and his team further researched into projects, they found that areas such as design fees, plans and specifications called for monetary adjustments.

“We’ve received e-mails saying the projects looked great, but they brought to my attention that whenever we changed numbers, then we’d have to go through the entire process again (even though the board previously approved these projects on March 9),” Norwood explained.

Because the original project proposals were more of a “rough draft” and renovations cost more than new construction, Norwood presented the board with new figures.

According to Norwood’s presentation, the plan and design will cost $79,000 and additions and renovations will cost $878,336, leaving a grand total of $957,336 in comparison to the previous $800,000 estimate for air conditioning system repairs.

“I am here today to ask that you please consider and approve these adjustments,” Norwood voiced to the board.

“It’s almost like a dagger in my heart,” commissioner David Fussell returned, adding that in a sense it reminded him of the $1 million allotted for repairs, but used elsewhere by the Board of Education.

“All I know is that I request the money, and I use it for areas that need it,” Norwood said.

Although the motion and second mustered up bad memories for Fussell he, and the other board members, unanimously approved the revised application for lottery funding.

“This here is not guaranteed,” Norwood reminded. “I have to get this to Raleigh and hopefully we can get to these other projects.”

Jessica Wagner can be contacted at 910-592-8137 ext.122 or reached by e-mail at siphoto@myclintonnc.com