Photo: The City of Rainsville, Rainsville Industrial Development Board, and DeKalb County Board of Education held a joint ribbon cutting for the new bus garage last Thursday. (Marla Jones | Southern Torch)

By Zach Hester, Reporter • zach@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala. — The DeKalb County Board of Education, in conjunction with the City of Rainsville and the Rainsville Industrial Development Board, announced the official opening of the new DeKalb County bus garage last week.

The project has been ongoing for the past 18 months to ensure plenty of time for planning and construction.

“Working with the City of Rainsville and the Rainsville Industrial Development Board to provide a new home for our bus garage has been a great exercise of teamwork,” said DeKalb County Superintendent Dr. Jason Barnett. “It has been a pleasure to work together on this project and I look forward to the benefits it will provide our school system and ultimately our students.”

The garage, which has the capability of housing more than 100 school buses, sits on 10 acres of land in the centrally-located Rainsville, just off of Roy Sanderson Drive. The location should be a huge asset to the school system.

The members of the DeKalb County Board of Education were pleased to see the project come to a close.

DeKalb County Board member Matt Sharp said, “I would like to thank Dr. Barnett, Mayor Lingerfelt, the Rainsville City Council and the Rainsville Industrial Board for working so cooperatively with [us] in helping us build the new DeKalb County Bus Garage.”

Fellow board member Mark Richards interjected that he was, “proud to see the teamwork and effort that went into making this a reality. This will serve as a wonderful facility for our school system and should improve operations tremendously.”

DeKalb County Board chairman Jeff Williams stated, “This centrally located facility will save us time, money and increase efficiency. It will give us ample space to park our entire fleet in one secure location.”

In addition to the City of Rainsville, Rainsville Industrial Development Board, Superintendent Barnett also thanked the Fort Payne Waterworks Board for their willingness to work with them during the construction of the new facility.