The Coweta

County School System will soon have all its administrative operations

under one roof.

The Board of

Education voted Tuesday to acquire the former Playtex site on Ga. Highway

16 for use as a consolidated central office and school warehousing facility.

The purchase

of the 29.5-acre site and 175,000-square-foot facility will cost $1.6

million, on terms agreed to Tuesday. The sale is contingent on completion

of a phase II environmental study.

School system

public information officer Dean Jackson said the system has been wanting

to consolidate its operations for a long time, and the Playtex building

should be a perfect fit.

The new central

office and operations site will replace four smaller facilities including

the old Savannah Street School office, the old Madras School site, 237

Jackson Street, 170 Werz Boulevard, and school sites now used for various

support functions.

The move, to

take place in the summer of 2003, will bring greater efficiency and cost-saving

benefits to the school system, said Board members.

"It's

a once in a lifetime opportunity because of the availability of the property,

its suitability for what the school system needs, and the current low

interest rates," said board chairman Bill Covington. "We've

put off renovations and improvements at our current support facilities

because we've known for a long time that a facility like this is needed.

There's not another facility like this in the county."

"We are

currently operating from four separate facilities and are faced with the

necessity of purchasing a fifth, fire-proof building in order to house

student and employee records, as required by new state laws," said

Covington.

"This

meets that need, and is going to benefit the school system through economic

efficiency and operational efficiency. It's crucial that we operate as

a single entity in the school system and not four separate ones."

"The Development

Authority is very pleased with this project, both because of what it can

do for our school system and what it does from economic development point

of view," said Mike Barber, Chairman of the Coweta County Development

Authority.

"The purchase

of the Playtex property, rather than adding to or refurbishing current

administrative properties ... I think is the best long-term option for

the Board of Education, and the timing is very good" in light of

low interest rates and the price of the property, said Barber.

Also, said

Barber, the move will utilize a building that has been on the market for

some time "and make it a positive for Coweta County ... it will free

up and return to the tax rolls several smaller buildings that will be

an economic asset for the community, and the sale of those buildings will

retire debt incurred in purchasing Playtex. That is a big positive for

Coweta County."

The purchase

and conversion of the facility will be financed by a lease-purchase agreement

with the Coweta County Development Authority, similar to that used to

finance the construction of Smokey Road Middle School five years ago.

The 20-year

lease purchase will be financed from general revenues, and will be supplemented

or covered over time with the sale of the other four properties. Money

from the sale of the existing school administrative properties will be

applied to recall of the lease-purchase certificates as the sales occur.

The lease-purchase

agreement does not obligate Coweta County government or the Development

Authority for payment of the lease purchase. The use of lease-purchase

through the Development Authority provides tremendous savings to Coweta

County taxpayers. Not only are interest rates at a historic low, but financing

through the development authority provides a cut in even those rates.

"This

is a positive for Coweta County and the school system," said Superintendent

Peggy Connell. "Putting staff together at one location and having

all of our services for teachers and citizens in one place is important.

And more than that, this move is about planning for the next 20 years

for our school system."

The new site

will also allow ample warehouse and operations space and proper space

for records retention. It is also proximate to the school system's bus

garage.