Elberton BOE Approves New Granite Bowl Scoreboard

By David Stephens, WSGC Radio, Elberton

The Elbert County School Board is going the local route when it comes to replacing the scoreboard in the famed Granite Bowl.

At their regular meeting this month, the board approved a bid from Skeeter’s Designs, of Dewy Rose, GA, to replace the current scoreboard in use at the Granite Bowl.

Elbert County School Superintendent Chuck Bell said the board continued discussion on the issue at their work session last week, and said due diligence had been done when it came to making a recommendation.

“We’ve reviewed proposals that have been submitted by both local and non-local bidders for this project, and we have conducted purchase analysis”, explained Bell.

The new scoreboard will feature a LED message center, and is expected to cost $52,705.

Board Chairman Ben Baker, addressing questions he had been asked about why the board had to be replaced, simply said the scoreboard is near impossible to maintain now.

“Well, we can’t get parts for it, and it is just past its day”, said Baker. “With this messaging center, this will be able to be used at graduation to run the students names across, so I’m personally very pleased with this.

Baker said this bid is between $80,000 and $150,000 less than what the board was looking at earlier this year, and pointed out another cost saving item that was considered in making this decision.

“We were going to have quite an expense running the wiring from the scoreboard to the box, but all of this will be wireless”, explained Baker. “So, you are not going to have the cost of digging under the granite to get that run up there.”

Baker added that the current frame will still be used with the new scoreboard, but that everything else would be brand new.

The motion to approve the bid from Skeeter’s Designs passed with a unanimous 4-0 vote, as Board Member Jeff Burden was not present at the regular meeting.