CCISD cuts ribbon for new transportation facility

By LYNETTE SOWELL 
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Independent School District cut the ribbon on Monday to officially celebrate the opening of its new transportation center, located at 455 Summers Rd. 
Gary Elliott, CCISD’s director of transportation, did the honors by cutting the ribbon after a few words by both him and CCISD superintendent Joe Burns. 
Elliott has been with the district for 35 years and talked about how the facility has been a long time coming. 
“We outgrew our facility 35 years ago,” Elliott said. “I started by sweeping off buses in ninth grade, and ending up in a facility like this.” 
The prior facility on South 5th Street didn’t have room to park all the district’s buses and is flanked by narrow streets. That facility is now the district’s maintenance center. 
Superintendent Burns thanked the community especially for its support during the process of building the new facility. 
“They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a whole community to make a facility like this come to fruition. We’re very proud of this facility.”
He also gave deputy superintendent Rick Kirkpatrick kudos for overseeing the project, stating that “Rick is the one that kept his hand on the throttle on this.”
After the ribbon cutting, guests had the opportunity to take a tour of the new facility, which includes 5,164 square feet of office and training space, a map room, breakroom, along with a 1,900-square-foot training room with audio visual equipment. 
Assistant director of transportation Mike Haire led guests through the front entrance and led them down the hall. 
“Everything’s state of the art. You walk into a room and the lights come on. We use our name badges to beep ourselves in. the security is great,” Haire said.  
Outside, the facility has five bays for bus repairs and maintenance, along with a covered wash bay. There is enough parking for 101 buses and 17 fleet vehicles, with above-ground fuel storage tanks and a fueling station. There is also storage for batteries, tires, fluids and parts. The facility was constructed at a cost of $4.2 million.