LAURINBURG — County residents packed the house for the Scotland County Board of Commissioner’s meeting Monday night with hopes of pushing the board to move forward with the restoration of the former I. Ellis Johnson Elementary School building.

“I am grateful that so many residents showed up to voice their concern and interest in our moving forward to provide a place of hope, community and resource,” said Commissioner Darrel “B.J.” Gibson. “I am personally committed to doing my due diligence in research and development working with our committee to develop a vision and plan that will be effective and efficient.”

All the talk surrounding the old school building started not long after its closing and Scotland County Schools offered to give the property back to the county at no cost.

Most of the commissioners were in favor of continuing to look into utilizing the building but they also said more research needed to be done before any decisions were made.

“The IEJ facility while certainly aged and not the most conducive for a daily educational setting is still certainly fit to be a beacon of support for the community,” said Gibson. “In the words of my fellow commissioner Ivey, just because it’s old we don’t have to throw it away, we just have to use it for different purposes.

“I am hopeful,” continued Gibson, “I am going to remain positive that together we will design a space to be utilized to lift our community.”

While no official decisions were made during Monday’s meeting, the board has agreed to continue moving forward so a solution can be found in how to revitalize the existing building or look at an option for a new facility.

“I have lived on that side of the tracks for the past 44 years,” said Commissioner John Alford. “I am certainly not against anything good for our community. I used to sing and play piano in the gym there. I am committed to this, but it is all about the money. We need some other partners to help make this a reality. Is it doable? Yes, it is doable but we need other help.

“We just have to stay with it,” Alford added “We cant say we can’t do it. We are Scotland County we can make it happen, we just do not know to what extent at this point.”

The Rev. Terrance Williams was one of the community members in attendance and spoke on behalf of ROC INC (Reaching Our Children In Need of Choices) and spoke on the organization’s interest in using the property.

“We are very interested in the IEJ project. I saw the disposals of all the schools and IEJ became one that was hung up in the project,” said Williams. “I know it will cost a lot of money and cost taxpayers, but the proposal would meet the needs of the community and the kids.

“If we would just come together, we could make it happen,” continued Williams. “If the county is able to make an agreement we would take on half of that money to help and encourage it to move forward. For example, if the county put in $40,000, we would be responsible for $20,000.”

Commissioners left the meeting with hopes that the project will continue to move forward. The Revitalization Committee was to meet Tuesday. The representatives of the county, city and school system will discuss what the commissioners had concerns about.

The board will discuss the matter further at its next meeting in September.

The Scotland County Board of Commissioners meet on the first Monday of every month at 7 p.m. Meetings are held at the Emergency Operation Center at 1403 West Blvd.

JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected].