Laurels to owners of Richard’s Barbecue and Shulenburger Surveying who came to the school system’s rescue on an important aspect of the central office about to be built on North Main Street. The deal was struck several months ago, but both businesses are dealing with the reality of it now.

The central office building was going to be so close to the property line between it and a building owned by Shulenburger that it would require expensive footings and a windowless firewall. To give the building more space and avoid those requirements, Richard Monroe agreed to partner with the school system to buy the Shulenburger property — and Richard Shulenburger agreed to sell and move. Monroe will take part of the property to expand his parking lot at Richard’s Barbecue. The school system will keep the rest for breathing room.

Heavy equipment has moved in, silt fences are up and the real work is about to begin. There are many people who deserve thanks for bringing this project to this point — not least of whom are Lee and Mona Wallace, who agreed to a property swap that made all the other pieces fall in place. But Monroe and Shulenburger stepped up at the end of the planning process to solve a problem that had a lot of people stumped.

 

Dart to tax money wasted when government building plans change — but elections happen. Commissioner Craig Pierce is grumbling about the $58,000 the county paid LaFave Construction on a contract that new commissioners have cancelled. LaFave had been hired to turn two areas in the former Salisbury Mall into spaces for the Board of Elections and Veterans Service Office, plans now on hold while the county looks at the bigger picture. Pierce appears to be concerned about waste. How ironic. The school system and city government spent much more than $58,000 preparing to build the central office in the 300 block of South Main Street. But when Pierce and Mike Caskey were elected to the board of commissioners, they joined Jim Sides in voting down the site. They would say they had good reasons for that; today’s commissioners would say the same on the mall vote. When power shifts, plans change —at a price.