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It took more than a year, but on Wednesday officials from Blacksburg and Montgomery County held the first meeting of the old Blacksburg Middle School Transition Committee.

The committee, which was appointed by Blacksburg Town Council and Montgomery County supervisors, will make recommendations on how best to redevelop the old school.

Wednesday's session was mostly organizational, with members setting a schedule for future meetings and agreeing to organize a countywide design contest to gather ideas for what might be built on the property.

The old school sits on 20 acres of downtown Blacksburg real estate. Its future has been a subject of intense debate since it closed to public school students in 2002, and was an issue in the May council election.

County and school officials hope to make millions off the sale or lease of the property. That money would go toward school building projects.

But whatever ends up there must also provide a steady flow of tax revenues to local governments, county officials have said.

The committee is made up of Town Manager Marc Verniel, County Administrator Clay Goodman, Councilman Paul Lancaster, Supervisor Gary Creed and two at-large members: Virginia Tech architecture professor Kathryn Albright and retired Blacksburg Middle School principal Gary W. McCoy.

No members from the Montgomery County School Board have been appointed to the committee, even though the school owns the property and has not yet agreed to turn it over for redevelopment. School board member Wat Hopkins sat in the audience Wednesday.

The committee's next meeting is set for 2 p.m. Dec. 20 at the Montgomery County Government Center on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg.