White County Commissioners are once again pursuing preservation efforts for the county’s historic Rowland Sawmill.
The Rowland Sawmill has been a part of the White County community for around 150 years. County Commission Chairman Derrick Hutchings said the commission has made previous efforts in the past after constituents pushed for improvements, but the commission never got those efforts across the finish line.
“So we had some bids to put a structure up down there, and the bids were not consistent,” Hutchings said. “So we, basically is just kind of fell to the wayside at that point.”
Hutchings said the structure is deteriorating and needs to be replaced. Hutchings said the commission has decided to rebid the project after speaking with several community members who are overseeing the project.
“One of the bids that they liked that met the requirements that they were looking for, they reviewed it, so now they are gonna take that bid and base it on the model and request some additional bids. So that company will bid again, and we are requesting other companies to give bids based on the same model so we can get comparative quotes, see which company we want to go with to get it approved, and get that going as well.”
Hutchings said he is hopeful to get bids back in January. Hutchings said the commission needs to work on not letting things slip out of mind.
“Things come up, and we talk about them, and then we forget to put them on the agenda for the next month, and they kind of fall to the wayside if we don’t stay diligent with the topic until we come to a resolution on it,” Hutchings said. “That happens quite a bit. I’m trying to focus more on that this year and try to keep those things active until we come to a resolution.”
Hutchings said the commission had allocated funds for the project in previous years, but did not this year. Hutchings said some community members have raised some funds to help pay for the project, but the county will still have to find room in the budget to chip in to cover the cost.
