WOODSFIELD — The Switzerland of Ohio Board of Education met on Wednesday to discuss moving forward with the Beallsville High School field house project.

The board met in June and voted 4-1 to move forward with the upgrades to all its athletic facilities. Monroe Central, Beallsville and River received $2.6 million toward those upgrades. Of that amount, $1 million is to go to Beallsville’s Blue Devils.

The fieldhouse is to be located at the football stadium and a separate baseball field is to be constructed as well. The baseball team currently shares its field with the football field. The wrestling team also will benefit from this project since matches will be held in the field house in winter months. The problems the board has faced with the Beallsville field house project are the cost exceeding the budget, and that it might not be ready for the 2018 season.

In Wednesday’s meeting, board member Jeffery Greenley said the Beallsville field house project will proceed on budget. There have been modifications to the plan that significantly reduced the cost of the project while continuing with how the project was originally proposed. Greenley said there have been no mechanical plans set yet. The board expects to receive those plans in three to four weeks, he said.

“Because an engineer was on site and able to discuss with project leaders, we have a firm estimate of what we need to get these projects to continue.” Greenley said.

All of the board members agreed to move forward with the field house project.

Board member Jerry Gust then proposed that he and another board member be appointed to go over projects such as the field house to keep the board apprised of the progress. Gust offered his time due to his construction background.

“I don’t see why we can’t put someone from the board to go over these projects and relay something to us. You know, tell us what is going on. Not just the Beallsville project, but other projects, too,” Gust said. “I’m curious about what’s going on at Monroe Central, too. The board has been dragging their feet. These projects should be moving faster.”

Board member Ronald Winkler agreed with him that plans are not moving forward as fast as they should, but Greenley disagreed.

“I respect that, but I don’t think projects have been at a standstill,” Greenley said. “We are getting them to move forward.”

Despite opposing views from board members about the projects not moving forward the way they should, it was agreed that someone from the board could relay messages about the projects to other members.