County officials are threatening to issue a cease-and-desist order on construction of new schools, unless building inspectors get better access to new buildings.

During Tuesday morning's meeting, the Coweta County Board of Commissioners slammed the Board of Education for wanting to allow an outside firm to certify building inspections on new schools.

The school system maintains the county could delay school openings by not doing timely inspections, but the commissioners were hearing none of that.

The commissioners maintained that they were not sure of the qualifications of an outside firm and if something went wrong in the buildings at a later date, the county would be liable.

Assistant Administrator Chuck Crawford told the board that he had several discussions with school officials about the inspection process. Crawford was particularly upset that the construction companies were not giving the county enough lead time to complete the inspections.

When the commissioners asked Crawford what the school system's response was to his questions, Crawford was succinct.

"They said, 'Duh'," he said.