A decision on design fees for a new Manning Elementary School and rehabilitation of Weldon High School won’t be made until the Halifax County Board of Commissioners go into budget deliberations for the upcoming fiscal year.

Commissioners today, however, did agree that no immediate changes were needed for the county’s school improvement plan, a document that in essence supports the need for the two projects.

The matter of design fees for the projects came up in discussion of County Manager Tony Brown’s recommendation that no changes be made to the school improvement plan.

The decision does not mean, however, the plan won’t be looked at in the future, board Chairman James Pierce said during today’s meeting. “I had a discussion with the county manager and his recommendation of no action doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be updated.”

That discussion led to the topic of the design fees, which Roanoke Rapids Graded School District Superintendent Dennis Sawyer and Weldon City Schools Superintendent Elie Bracy III jointly requested during a February commissioner’s meeting.

A recent letter from Sawyer requested an update for the design fees and architect fees.

Pierce said the matter would be discussed during the board’s budget deliberation process.

“We would like to see them move forward with the plan because it takes two to three years to build a school,” Doug Miller, the Roanoke Rapids director of school facilities and operations, said following discussion of the matter. “We hope the commissioners will move quickly. We have some substantial capital needs at Manning that make it difficult to operate.”