Wayne Community moves forward on projects
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 5, 2017 9:58 PM
The Wayne Community College board of trustees recently approved an amendment to the Wayne Works project, to pull out a portion of the project and potentially have it funded by the county.
WCC President Thomas Walker Jr. said the master plan and concept drawings for the Advanced Manufacturing Center have been completed by Boomerang Design, including some preliminary planning for the welding phase of the project. The proposal was also submitted to the county.
The center will house manufacturing training equipment currently at WCC. It will be used to train new and existing workers while attracting business and industry to the area.
Walker said he had met recently with the county manager and representatives of the commission and WCC boards.
"Our plan for our project had us getting into the building totally in 2019," he said. "But there are state statutes that allow for what's called an informal project.
"An informal project by definition is one that is less than $500,000."
The recommendation from the building committee was to expedite the process by working out an agreement with the county to fund an informal project, specifically the welding portion, Walker said.
"The rationale behind that is that we could get to work right away, run a fairly rigid tight timeline with the goal of getting in in the fall of 2018 with the welding component," he said.
There are some details to work out with the attorneys, he explained. But once approved, the paperwork would go to Raleigh for state board approval and the architects could begin soliciting bids.
Board member Keith Stewart made a motion for the welding project to be removed from the scope of the original project. It was seconded by board member Veda McNair and passed unanimously.
Board chairman David Jackson suggested another motion would be needed requesting approval from the state community college system office, allowing the county to do the fit-up for the welding project.
"This one is if they (the county) give us the money and we manage it, which was the last thing that we were leaning toward based on in put from the systems office that came up last Monday," said Don Magoon, WCC vice president of administrative services. "If the attorneys have worked out something different, then we won't need this (motion). But just to be on the safe side, I would approve it and then if the county is allowed to do it, then we won't need this (motion)."
Walker said some of the recent discussions have been around who would take a lead in the project, the county or the college. It became "muddied" and "complicated," he said because the college is considered the lessee.
"The most direct route is for the county to say, we'll give you the money to do and the county runs the project," he said.
The board approved the revision for the county-funded welding phase of the project, if needed.
Board member, and commissioner, Wayne Aycock, said he had been concerned about whether the commission would buy into the project but told the board it had received a unanimous vote from the commissioners.
The board also approved an addendum to the Magnolia roof replacement project, being funded through the ConnectNC bond.
The project had gone out to bid, with all bids opened on Sept. 12 coming in considerably over budget, Jackson said.
The building committee recommended the job be rebid in November and increase the budgeted amount up to $400,000. The original appropriation was $363,825.
And in the interest of time, Jackson said, since the original form had been approved by the board and the funding available for it, the building committee was requesting it be allowed to select the contractor, provided the company comes in within the budget. That request was also approved by the board.