County rejects GHS bid
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 22, 2015 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Commissioners Joe Daughtery, left, and Ray Mayo, right, question Interim School Superintendent Dr. Sandra McCullen about a Board of Education request for more money and approval of a contract for a project at Goldsboro High School. The board asked the school district to rebid the project.
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to construction of a student commons area at Goldsboro High School, but not at the price that the school board was willing to pay.
Instead, commissioners rejected the school board's request for more money and asked that it rebid the project.
Nor were commissioners swayed by concerns voiced by Interim Superintendent Dr. Sandra McCullen that their action would delay the project by up to six months.
County Manager George Wood said the delay at most would be 30 to 45 days.
Wood asked Mrs. McCullen where she had gotten the idea that the delay could be up to six months.
She said that was what the project architect had told the school board.
Commissioners also suggested that items the school board had cut from the project in a failed attempt to bring it in on budget be returned to the bid package.
Commissioner Joe Daughtery made the motion to reject the request to approve the contract and additional money and to ask that the project be rebid.
There is no guarantee rebidding the project will result in a lower bid, but it is possible, commissioners said.
Commissioner John Bell said the school is in his district and offered an amendment that the county and school board staffs meet to seek a solution.
Bell said he was offering the amendment so that the school board would not think commissioners were trying to "micro-manage" the project. And, like Mrs. McCullen, he said the Goldsboro High School community was watching to see if the promised project would be built.
He later withdrew the motion and did not vote on Daughtery's motion and in accordance to board policy was counted as a "yes" vote making the final tally 7-0.
The state Department of Public Instruction last month approved spending $1,370,463 for the project. However, the lowest bid projected the cost at $2,025,886.
The school board scaled back the project by $202,815, but it was still $452,571 over budget.
On April 13, the school board approved the additional funding needed for the Goldsboro High School project for a total project cost of $1,823,071.
The school board wanted to use $126,814.48 in lottery money remaining from the completed Dillard Middle School and Carver Heights Elementary School gym projects.
The school board asked commissioners to increase the lottery fund allocation for the Goldsboro High School project by the same amount of $126,814.48.
It also asked that the remaining overage of $325,756.52 be paid from half-cent sales tax revenues.
The lottery and sales tax revenues belong to the school board, but their use requires commissioners' approval.
But commissioners Tuesday said no and questioned why the school board would agree to spend more money instead of rebidding in hope of getting a better price.
Daughtery asked Mrs. McCullen what the cost per square foot would be.
Mrs. McCullen said that she did not have that information with her, but that it was around $384 per square foot.
"I think we would all agree that is kind of high," Daughtery said. "I suppose my question is why wouldn't we just rebid it like we did at Charles B. Aycock? You all did a great job in regard to rebidding Charles B. Aycock.
"I think it came in close to a million dollars under."
That question was discussed at length by the board of education, she said.
"They looked at all options," Mrs. McCullen said. "There were concerns about could it be rebid and what would the cost be if we did that."
Out of several options, the decision was made to ask commissioners for approval of the bid and for more money, she said.
Daughtery said the school board had also done a good job on getting a lower bid price on the Spring Creek Middle School project.
He asked why not use those savings for the Goldsboro project.
Most of that money will be used for contingency items such as paving, furniture and other items at Spring Creek, WCPS finance officer Beverly Boltinhouse said.
Commissioner Bill Pate asked Mrs. McCullen to describe the commons area project.
It has been on the facilities plan for "quite a while," she said.
It would be built in an area near the cafeteria where students congregate, she said.
If they go there now students are out in the elements, she said.
"It would put a shell over that area, it has bathrooms and so forth," Mrs. McCullen said.
Commissioner Ray Mayo asked if the school board had decided not to rebid because "time is of the essence?"
Mayo said the square footage cost of $384 was "way out" from what has been seen in other areas of the county.
"It can't cost but so much to go out to bid again, and I am leaning toward going out to bid unless time is of the essence," he said.
That is what the school board discussed and its members want to see the project get started, she said.
Mayo said the county has saved nearly $1 million several years ago when it rebid the Steele Memorial Library project in Mount Olive.
Commissioner Ed Cromartie asked what the per-square foot cost was for the new Spring Creek Middle School.
That cost is around $186, Mrs. McCullen said.
Chairman Wayne Aycock said it would be difficult to explain to taxpayers why it would cost twice as much per square- foot to build the smaller Goldsboro project than to build a brand new school.
"I just have a real issue of not trying to limit our cost by going back to rebid," Daughtery said. "I mean the rebid process, maybe I am wrong, but we are talking about 30 to 45 days."
Commissioner Joe Gurley asked how there could have been such a large gap between what had been estimated and what the bid had been.
Neither Mrs. McCullen or Mrs. Boltinhouse could answer other than "fixed costs" had played a role. Also, it is a small project and only three companies submitted bids, Mrs. McCullen said.
Mrs. Boltinhouse said that officials with Mosely Architects said they had been "very surprised" at how much over budget the bids had been.