Schools to rebid for GHS project
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 28, 2015 1:46 PM
The Wayne County Board of Education will be asked to rebid a project to create a commons area at Goldsboro High School at its meeting Monday, possibly delaying the project by six months.
Earlier this month, the board learned that the bid on the project had come in higher than anticipated, forcing a decision to reject the bid and start over or cut corners on amenities.
The low bid came in at $2 million. Last month, the state Department of Public Instruction had approved spending $1,370,462 for the project.
The school board made some adjustments, but the price tag was still $452,571 over budget.
Maintenance Director David Lassiter told the board that he had been contacted by some local contractors who expressed interest in the project but had been unavailable to participate in the bidding process earlier. The board entertained the idea of waiting a few months and seeing what kind of bids came in.
At its April 13 meeting, the board voted 5-2 to proceed with the project and ask the county Board of Commissioners for local half-cent sales tax money to pay for it. Board Chairman Chris West and board member Jennifer Strickland were the dissenting votes.
Wayne County Public Schools officials appeared at the April 21 commission meeting to plead their case for funding the project.
The request was to use $126,814 in lottery money left from the completed gym projects at Dillard Middle and Carver Heights Elementary schools and to match that amount with lottery funds.
The commission was also asked to access $325,756 from the half-cent sales tax revenues. Money from both sources belongs to the school board, but requires commission approval.
Commissioners said they still supported the GHS project but rejected the board request, asking that the project be rebid.
The facilities committee met Monday, debating the best way to proceed.
Attending were committee members Arnold Flowers and Eddie Radford, along with West, sitting in for Dr. Dwight Cannon, who was officiating at a funeral at the New Jersey church he pastors.
West said it would be difficult to justify spending more than had been originally budgeted for the project, especially on something that does not enhance the educational program at the school.
The commons area would provide a place for students to congregate during lunch or while waiting for the buses or pick-up and drop-off during inclement weather.
"Even though it may not have an educational value in terms of math or English, there's that comfort zone of kids having a place to go," Radford said. "The public is kind of looking forward to that addition, so anything that can be done on the money end would be appreciated."
Ashley Dennis, senior associate at Moseley Architects, said she did not believe the project had been "over-designed" and that historically smaller projects will come in at a larger price.
"We were prepared for this. The estimate was at least $250 a square foot. In no way did we expect it to come in at $400 a square foot," she said, adding, "I don't think you're going to come in under budget because of where the (construction) market is."
West said he was confident that several local companies would bid on the project and the biggest loss would be the calendar delay.
"We're going to lose three or four months," he said. "If we can save $500,000, if we can save $200,000, it's worth it to Wayne County Public Schools.
"We don't have the funds and I'm just speaking for Chris, I just think that we need to rebid the project and we need to rebid with the alternates and without the alternates."
The alternate he favored eliminating are motorized shades, a $26,149 expense, he said, while the item he would hate to lose is terrazzo floors, which came in at $46,000.
"There's terrazzo floors at Goldsboro High School," he said. "Terrazzo pretty much is maintenance-free."
Ultimately, he said he wants to give the community what was promised and what they expect, while being good stewards of the taxpayers' money.
A timeline for the bidding process was discussed.
Ms. Dennis noted that with the passage of time, there could be an "escalation in materials costs."
"If we wait, I wouldn't wait until August, but in June because (companies) are going to start looking at their calendars," she said, tossing out an arbitrary completion date of February.
"I wouldn't think the finish date is going to be as critical as the price," Flowers said.
The committee will take its recommendation to the full board Monday -- to advertise the project in May, open bids one month later with a target completion date of April 2, 2016.