Silver City Schoolhouse to get larger flagpole base

The Silver City Schoolhouse Community Center will be getting a new, stronger flagpole base when it is completed at the end of this month.

The Lyon County Commissioners on Thursday approved a change order request from Building Solutions General Contracting, which is building the facility, for the construction of a 5-foot square, 3-foot deep flagpole base with a 10-inch diameter pipe 7 feet long to hold the pole in place.

A state historic marker will eventually be installed on the base.

Ron Reno, a Silver City resident who has been heavily involved in the schoolhouse rebuilding, said the larger base was necessary because of where the new pole will be located on the property. The previous flagpole was attached to the building, but that was deemed as unsafe.

He said to keep as close as possible to the original, a 35-foot pole with a hollow ball and rosettes with a star on top will require a stronger base.

Reno said the pole will be located in an area where high winds make a stronger base necessary.

"We need it so we don't drop this steel pole on High Street and onto someone's house," he said.

He said a local metal worker, Chris Brown, was building the flagpole, made of sheet metal entwined in an overlapping design, for only the cost of materials.

"It looks like a tail for a Tyrannosaurus Rex," he said, adding that ABC Sheet Metal Co. is also donating labor. "It is to make sure that it is stable through the winds.

The pole will be encased in the pipe, which will be inside the base, he said.

The cost for the base is estimated at $1,883 and is not part of the original bid.

County Manager Dennis Stark said the reason the flagpole was not part of the original bid was because they didn't have the designs.

Commissioner Bob Milz said the design is consistent with flagpoles of the Comstock era.

"Things are being put back the way they were," he said.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 881-7351.