Citizens committee to have more meetings to discuss Columbia high school site

COLUMBIA — The citizens committee charged with recommending a site for Columbia’s next public high school will now have two and possibly three meetings, according to an e-mail sent Thursday by committee facilitator Jim Ritter to the group’s 20 other members.

How the committee will go about its duties and whether members will consider a sixth site offered Wednesday will be decided at a meeting Tuesday, according to an agenda that accompanied the e-mail. Up high on the agenda for that meeting is whether the committee will take public comment.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the administration building for Columbia Public Schools, 1818 W. Worley St.

No date has been set for the second meeting. Infrastructure costs and other site details will be discussed at that meeting, according to the e-mail, and then committee members will rank their choices in order of preference.

Here is the text of Ritter’s e-mail:

“Dear Committee Members,

After reviewing the scope of the work, it is apparent to me that we will need to have more than one meeting. At our first meeting, we will review data/information and hear from key people. At the second meeting, we will have available estimated costs for infrastructure for each site. Also at the second meeting we will discuss each site, and each of us will be asked to rank our choices from 1 through 5 (or perhaps 6). If time is too short, we will consider a third meeting, but time is a factor for the school district.

“I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.”