Fortunately, that's not how that works, that's not how any of this works. The server will remain up as a 1.8 server until such a time that it can be updated to 1.9 when that version comes out. This causes no issues and nothing will crash, you will just need to use client versions that are compatible with the server's version.
Staff has control to update Minetime to 1.9 once it comes out but that doesn't mean that will happen immediately or soon. Skyblock, for example, only recently updated to 1.8.
When 1.9 comes out, there is code changes that removes nms from Minecraft's MCP(mod coder pack) which will cause many plugins to break. This may or may not effect Minetime.
It will be possible to play in 1.8 until we decide to update to 1.9. This likely will not happen for a while after its release as it will take time to create server setups that will function as desired on a 1.9 server. There are plugins that break with every major update. So, before we ever update the server to a new version of Minecraft, we first have to go through and test/fix/cleanup each setup. Several plugins may need to be updated and reconfigured, others may just need to be removed and replaced with something else if they are no longer supported by the developers for new versions of Minecraft. Either way it is always a bit of a process to update a server and I would not expect to see us running 1.9 for a while after it's release.
I know what will happen in 1.9. Pvp will be ruined forever, along with Microsoft's reputation, and Steve Jobs will come back to life and buy Mojang. Then everything will be fine and macs will be distributed to all the minecrafters of the world.
1.9 is removing nms code (it's used by a lot of plugins) and it's going to be worse than any other update. Other updates mainly brought new features.
When 1.9 comes out you can still play with a 1.8 client until the server updates. That probably won't be for ages.
my main worry is that when and if Minetime updates to 1.9, our plots will all be removed again :/ I lost one of my best builds to the 1.8 update...
My main worry is that pvp will forever be ruined, leaving me and many others almost no reason to play minecraft.
pvp is just pvp, even with the dual wielding, it'll still be pvp, I for one don't actually pvp at all, I don't really support it