Those who are struggling in their battle with addiction will soon have another place to go for treatment.

During a special called Martin County School Board meeting Thursday, board members approved the sale of the old Inez Middle School to developer Greg May.

May is working with Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) to develop the property into a new treatment facility serving people in Martin County.

“My development group is committed to helping address the drug epidemic in our region because this crisis hits every family including my own,” May said in a news release. “Our partnership brings together our team’s construction and property management expertise with their nationally-recognized treatment program. Eastern Kentucky has facility needs and we wanted to focus here first.”

This is the third project May has worked on with ARC. ARC CEO Tim Robinson and many of the senior administration officials are Martin County natives.

“I spent my childhood and early adult life here and witnessed so many people grapple with the chains of addiction,” said Robinson in a news release. “My late father, former Martin County PVA Tim Robinson, Sr., helped create the Martin County SAVE program. Now we aim to build off that existing foundation to save thousands, one life at a time.”

Officials say Inez will also become one of five communities for the ACT Now pilot collaborative, which is designed to build stronger relationships between communities and law enforcement.

Work should begin soon on the renovation project at the school, but no word on when it will be completed.