County to cut ribbons on schools
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 31, 2015 1:46 PM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday will take part in ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the new Grantham and Spring Creek middle schools.
The Spring Creek ceremony is at 11 a.m. followed by Grantham at 1 p.m.
Also on Tuesday, Commissioners will be asked to approve a request by the Wayne County Board of Education to release lottery funds to help finance a student common area at Goldsboro High School.
The meeting will get under way with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.
The school board will use lottery and local option sales taxes to pay for the Goldsboro High School project.
In April, commissioners turned down the school board's initial request for the lottery funding calling bids for the high school project "excessive."
The original estimate was $1,370,463 and had been approved by the state Department of Public Instruction.
The lowest bid was $2,025,886. The school board was able to lower the bid to $1,823,071 by cutting some alternatives from the project.
But commissioners balked at the bid still being $452,608 more than the estimated cost.
Commissioner said they thought the price tag was high because of the short turnaround. The school board had wanted the project completed before students returned to school last week.
Commissioners asked the school board to consider rebidding and allowing more time for construction.
The school board agreed and entered into an agreement for $1,549,797 in July -- still an increase of $179,334 over the original estimate.
The school board is asking that the county allow it to use $179,334 in lottery funding to cover the amount over the architect's estimate.
County Manager George Wood is recommending that commissioners approve the request.
In other business Tuesday, the board will consider additional staffing for the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
During their planning retreat earlier this month, commissioners said they were concerned about the county's crime rate.
Wood and Chairman Wayne Aycock have since met with Sheriff Larry Pierce.
Pierce has two areas where more manpower could be used, Wood said.
One detective is used almost exclusively on gang-related activities working with local, state and federal officials, Wood said.
An additional deputy could be used to handle that workload, he said.
Pierce uses a unit on especially critical cases, but has limited manpower, and would like to add a second three-person shift of one corporal and two deputies, Wood said.
Instead of spreading the hirings over two years, Wood is recommending that all four be hired through the current budget.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners will consider motions to:
* Award a bid for the demolition/clearance of one house under the county's 2011 Community Development Block Grant-Scattered Site Housing Program.
* Award a bid for installation of a modular home under that same program.
* Approve an engineering contract with Stanford White for an emergency generator, building chiller units and HVAC system for the courthouse annex.
* Approve the auction of Lots 22B and 22C in Park East for two-year farmland lease.
* Release Wayne County's pro rata share of property taxes on the Mount Olive Industrial Park shell building. Since the building was sold to Mt. Olive Pickle Co. prior to June 30, property taxes for the full year were due. The company has paid its pro rata share of the property taxes in the amount of $4,087.57. The county's pro rata share of the property taxes is $2,919.70.
Items on the consent agenda are: Applications for Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exclusion for 2015; applications for Elderly or Disabled Property Tax Exclusion for 2015; applications for Property Tax Exclusion; fire service funding agreements for fire departments through Oct. 31, 2016; establish a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 9:15 a.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on a request to rezone and zone parcels along U.S. 70 West and budget amendments.
Public comments will be taken at 10 a.m. when speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.