MAXTON — The old Maxton High School gym should soon be ready to turn over to the town of Maxton to be used as a community center.
Brenda Fairley-Ferebee, a member of the Public Schools of Robeson County school board who represents Maxton, told Maxton commissioners Tuesday that repairs to the gym floor and other parts of the old building are just about finished. The old gym is located across the street from the Townsend Middle School.
Ferebee also told the board that she has requested of school administrators that no one enter the building until all of the work is complete.
“There’s been damage done as soon as something is finished,” she said. “That’s why I have requested that no one be allowed in the building until the project is complete.”
Late last year, the school board authorized its attorney to draw up a lease proposal for the old gym that was to be approved by the town of Maxton. At the same time, the board authorized $45,000 in insurance money and $45,000 in local money to be used for improvements to the facility: repairs to the roof, addition of a new wood floor and replacement of windows.
In March, the school board approved an additional $15,000 for repairs to the wood floor.
Maxton officials have been lobbying the school district for years to allow the town to use the old gym as a site for recreation programs. The school district has declared the facility as surplus property.
The gym will be turned over to the town once the repairs are complete, school officials have said.
In other business, the town commissioners:
— Approved a resolution supporting Robeson County’s inter-governmental mutual aid agreement. This agreement allows all law enforcement agencies to work together anywhere in the county, Maxton Police Chief Tammy Deese said.
— Approved a contract with the state Department of Corrections that allows the hiring of inmates for $1 a day to do such jobs as pick up trash and cut grass.
— Approved the town’s list of delinquent taxpayers to be advertised in the newspaper.
— Recognized members of the Townsend Middle School championship basketball team. This is the first time that Townsend Middle School has won the county championship, according to Eric Sanders, the school’s principal.
Sanders said that the 12-member team won the championship title by defeating Orrum Middle School in late February.
— Recognized members of the local Police Department-sponsored STEP team for winning a competition held in Laurinburg earlier this year.
— Recognized several students who participate in the county’s “Students Making a Change” youth philanthropy program.














