In its last meeting of the year the Bryan County Board of Education took a step toward the future by accepting a bid to build a middle school in South Bryan.

Construction of the new Richmond Hill Middle School will cost taxpayers $22,067,877. That was the amount bid by Doraville-based Hensler and Beavers Construction and was the lowest of nine submitted.

Metter’s TQ Construction submitted the highest bid of $25,109,000. Companies from Savannah, Vidalia, Statesboro, Valdosta and Aiken, S.C., were among those who bid.

Yet it’s unclear when work will start on the new school, which is expected to open for business in the fall of 2011. Officials still have to work out a water and sewer agreement with the Bryan County Commission and acquire rights to pave a road into the campus, School Superintendent John Oliver said.

The cost of those projects is not included in the $22 million pricetag, according to Oliver. The BoE has $31 million in its capital projects fund, but also plans to build a new Bryan County Elementary School.

The new Richmond Hill Middle School was designed by architect James Buckley and sits on a 42 acre campus off Hwy. 17 and Belfast Siding Road. It is part of a tract of approximately 100 acres which eventually may include a new high school.

Read more of this story in Saturday's Bryan County News.