By JON HARRISON/Staff Writer

Pelham City Schools is still looking to move its central office in the near future.

The offices are currently located in the bottom of city hall and the surroundings have been described as “tiny” and “cramped”.

Pelham city Board of Education President Rick Rhoades said he hoped to be in the new offices by January 2015 but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen.

Plans to move the Pelham City Schools central office to the vacant upstairs of the Pelham Water Administration building were approved during an Oct. 20 city council meeting. Pelham City Schools is now leasing the space for the city of Pelham for $3,900 a month. This relocation would take the offices from a 2,600 square foot space to an over 4,000 square foot space.

“Right now we can be in the middle of a group meeting and someone is taking a call at their desk in the immediate area,” said BOE President Rick Rhoades. “It can just feel a little jammed tight.”

Former reports have stated that the tentative drawings for the new space include a large conference room and bigger work areas. Rhoades hopes that that the conference room will be used for workshops and board meetings.

“We have just run into some red tape, I guess you would say,” said Rhoades. “Its just taking a little longer to get all the parties involved together.”

Rhoades now says that he doesn’t know a specific timeline for the offices being relocated but he hopes that it will be as soon as the spring.

“Our staff at Pelham City Schools has done an incredible job working so close together, said Rhoades. “But I think everyone deserves their own space and a little more autonomy.”

At the last Pelham City Council pre-meeting work session on Jan. 5 the subject was on the schedule as old business and was not discussed due to there being no further progress since the meeting before.