MOUNT VERNON —Although the Knox County Career Center purchased the Baptist Temple site on Yauger Road in June for an adult education medical programs center, major renovations to the building have not yet begun.
The amelioration of some safety issues was, however, completed by Kirk Construction over the summer.
Bernie Pachmeyer, KCCC superintendent, explained. “The only thing we really had Kirk Construction do was take care of the prominent safety issues. All he did for us was make the stage safe. What that site has that our main school does not, is a very large area like a lecture hall. What we wanted to do in that was conduct our inservices. It is a very comfortable area for our teachers to be in, where they could enjoy listening to the speakers, eating some breakfast or lunch and then have an opportunity to network with each other. So, although it is planned for adult education use, we wanted to be able to run our opening sessions over there this year.
“Because the baptismal had been removed from the stage, there was a huge hole in the stage which was a huge safety risk. It was also apparent there was no way to access the stage if you are handicapped. Therefore, a ramp was put in so anyone who was challenged or in a wheelchair would have an opportunity to be on the stage.
“I called three builders. Of the three builders, one couldn’t fit the time line. The second person did bid on it, as did Kirk Construction, which submitted a lower bid.
