LIVE OAK — In an effort to help save its history, the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners agreed Tuesday night to support a grant application from the Suwannee County Historical Commission.

The commission is seeking a Special Categories Historical grant to replace the Suwannee County Historical Museum’s roof and weather-seal the old Atlantic Coastline Freight Depot building after the commission brought in an architect to review the building and provide an estimate of costs for that work.

“It’s over a hundred years old and has a lot of maintenance needs, to put it mildly,” Musgrove said.

The grant period opened May 15 and closes June 15.

As a rural disadvantaged county, Suwannee County is required to match 10 percent or around $44,000, if the grant is awarded, in cash or in-kind gifts. At least 25 percent of the match, or close to $11,000, must be cash.

Due to the short grant window, Musgrove said the Historical Commission was asking for the board to write a letter of commitment saying it would help provide that match. Musgrove added that Live Oak city manager Ron Williams has also expressed a willingness to request funding from the city council and Community Redevelopment Agency if the grant is approved.

The grant, if approved, would be awarded in the state’s fiscal year 18-19. That is also when the county would need to provide the matching funds.

Chairman Ricky Gamble and Musgrove also pointed out that while it’s been awhile, this is not the first time the county has agreed to back a grant for the Historical Commission.

The board approved to support the application unanimously.

Later in the meeting, Musgrove and the Historical Commission received a photo from the estate of Harry V. Wilson for display in the museum. Jim Ward, of Branford, presented the photo of the USS Suwannee to Musgrove.

According to Musgrove, the photo is of the ship during the World War I era.

Ward, who is friends with Wilson’s daughter, said the photo, which was treasured by Wilson, must have belonged to his father if it is that old.

Also during the public comments at the end of the meeting, Jason Pennington with Constitution Leadership Schools, Inc., told the board of plans to open a new school in the county in August 2018.

The school would be a tuition-free charter school that would be a military-style school for middle school grades before expanding into high school grades. He added that it would be a day school, not a boarding school.

Students and staff will both be required to wear uniforms and will have a more strenuous grading scale, Pennington said.

“Our idea or our goal is to instill leadership values and patriotism into our students,” he said. “We feel this is really needed. Not specifically for Suwannee County, but we have to start somewhere.”

According to Pennington, the school will be based out of the old Badcock Home Furniture & More building south of Live Oak across from Melody Christian Academy.

Earlier in the meeting, the board adopted a resolution declaring July 16-22, 2017, Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week.

The county also held public hearings to adopt Special Permits for Temporary Use requests for a pair of firework tents. Both were approved with TNT Fireworks to be set up in the Wal-Mart parking lot from June 15 to July 4, and Family Fun Fireworks’ tent to be in the adjacent storefront parking lot from June 25 to July 4.