The County Commission on Wednesday passed a resolution to freeze $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds that had been intended to build a gym at a county school on the closure list.
An amendment was passed that limits the pause to no longer than Jan. 1.
Commissioner Lee Helton said the aim was to have a "pause" until the School Board acts on the recently released facilities plan.
The list includes closing Rivermont Elementary, which had been slated to get a gym with the funds.
County School Supt. Justin Robertson said he is 95 percent sure due to the delay in the project that the winning bidder would not go forward. He said the cost would likely be more on a rebid.
Supt. Robertson also said that community meetings are going on concerning the plan, and the School Board is not due to act on the proposal until December or January.
He noted that the School Board voted 8-2 to proceed with the gym.
County Mayor Weston Wamp said Rivermont Elementary is "an old, very modest school" that is among the most likely schools to be closed.
He also said that the cost for the gym was above the $1.5 million passed on by the county. He said it was $1.72 million.
Supt. Robertson said school officials feel they could carry out the project with the $1.5 million amount by not exercising all the bid alternates.
Commissioner Joe Graham said even if the school closed, the gym might be used as a community center. He said Lookout Valley had finally gotten a gym and it was heavily used.
Commissioner Helton said his motion for the resolution was "not to claw back the money, but to take a breather" on the project until the School Board acts.
Commissioner David Sharpe said Rivermont "had been promised this gym, then it's jerked away from them."
He said if the commission had not intervened "we could be breaking ground right now."
Commissioner Sharpe said, "The county mayor and a commissioner stepped in to stop the process.".