The bleachers haven’t been repaired because they can’t be just fixed. It’s deteriorating concrete and they will have to be replaced at a cost of roughly $400-500,000. Last year, the schools began paying $15,000 per year after decades of less than $1,000 per year. Even that didn’t happen due to proration during the pandemic. Average cost of basic upkeep is $40,000. That doesn’t make any improvements, just the very basics.
The problem should have been faced in the early 2000’s. With large annexations, the city changed. No longer was the city just about Thomasville City Schools. Now four county schools are in the city limits and those folks’ tax money pays for the stadium too. Yet they don’t use it. Less than half of the kids in the city limits attend city schools.
So there you have the dilemma. How long does the city provide a stadium at minimal cost and have everybody pay for a stadium that is used 20-30 days a year? People forget that the city government and the city schools are separate entities. By law, the schools can’t spend money on property they don’t own. The commissioners may help some, but very little. Merger and redistricting may be the long term solution to many ills, but won’t happen in my lifetime.
Sorry to highjack this thread, but that’s the direction it’s been going. This issue won’t go away. Three fourths of the council and mayor graduated from THS. With several members retiring this fall, that will change. In just a few years, the city schools will be less of a priority for the people sitting in those chairs.