Dr. Justin Robertson
Hamilton County School Supt. Justin Robertson on Tuesday defended the recent hiring of architects to give updated assessments of several major school building projects.
And he said more such assessments by architects are needed before proceeding on certain school projects.
Dr. Robertson told members of the school board's Facilities Committee, "I think it was the right approach 100 percent. I recommend we do it moving forward."
Some County Commission members slammed County Mayor Weston Wamp after an unfavorable newspaper article that said he shielded the use of the architects from the commission.
Chairman Jeff Eversole has directed a new county Audit Committee to look into charges made in the article.
Commissioner Chip Baker, who was highly critical of the handling of the process of hiring of the architects, is on the Audit Committee and helped form the panel.
County Mayor Wamp defended hiring the architects, saying it was a step of "due diligence" to protect taxpayers. He hit "the biased, inaccurate reporting by the Times Free Press" and said a number of corrections were made to the article in later editions. The newspaper said there were a few "technical" corrections.
The county mayor said he worked closely with Dr. Robertson on the use of the architects.
Dr. Robertson said Tuesday that use of the architects on the five main items on the priority list "instills more confidence in these projects so that we're not just shooting at the hip on these projects."
He said he is going to ask the school board to take up to $100,000 from the school fund balance (rainy day fund) for architects to examine a number of schools that could be beneficiaries of a major bond issue recently approved by the commission.