|
Officials award contract for construction at SMHS
By Derek Hodges
After years of struggling with construction plans at Smoky Mountain High School, county and school officials may have found the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Enough things have gone wrong that we’re due some good luck, I believe,” SMHS Principal Alex Bell said.
It seemed like good news all around as county commissioners and school board members met at SMHS May 30 to award a contract for the next phase.
Officials learned projects at SMHS will be ahead of schedule and under budget.
Because of a plan to cover a stream on the proposed site of two new ballfields, a lengthy permitting and mitigation process was avoided, architect John Cort said. Contractors will install a tunnel that will allow the stream to travel virtually undisturbed, though it will be buried under several feet of dirt. That option was chosen over piping the waterway, which would have required an N.C. Department of Natural Resources permit, Cort said.
“If you can believe it, this project is actually two years ahead of schedule,” he said.
Work at the high school was delayed last summer, partly because of the permitting. Plans were also slowed because of some utilities that could not be moved in time for work to begin as scheduled. Both of those problems have now been taken care of, Cort said.
Another problem project planners faced last year were over-budget bids. With a 60-day time frame to complete more than is proposed for this summer, bids were considerably higher than expected.
The project has now been divided into several phases, and some portions will not have to be done before students return to school.
With those changes, officials sought new bids. Project engineer Victor Lofquist estimated the project cost at $2.8 million. However, the low bidder, Buchanan & Sons of Whittier, which also had the lowest price in the first round of bids, quoted $2.4 million, a savings of $400,000.
County leaders, who provide funding for school capital projects, voted unanimously to award the contract to Buchanan & Sons, though Commissioner Joe Cowan expressed reservations.
“I know he’s local, and I’d like to see him get it, but we raised a lot of questions last year and I want to be sure we settled them,” Cowan said.
In discussions of the company’s 2005 bid, commissioners expressed concern that the project would cost more than expected, though they admitted the fault did not lie with the contractors but with certain unavoidable circumstances.
Though Cort tried to reassure Cowan and no other commissioners joined his concerns, Cowan continued to question the company’s selection.
“Is that the same Buchanan & Sons that built the sidewalk in Webster?” Cowan asked, referring to a project he complained about in previous commissioners’ meetings. “If it’s the same company, it took them three years to build the sidewalk through Webster.”
Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan defended the company, saying circumstances in Webster, including the fact there was never a written contract, caused the delays.
“There were a whole lot of issues that I don’t think are really relevant to our project,” he said.
Cort assured the group the contract was bonded and would be executed as expected. If work is not completed on time, there are penalties in place, he said.
The project includes grading the former Jones property, located adjacent to the school, covering the stream and constructing a road on the Jones site. That road will eventually connect to the school’s main driveway, allowing parents to drop off students without coming in the main entrance.
While they were talking about construction, officials also discussed plans for a new kindergarten building at Fairview School.
The proposed six-classroom facility will be located in what is now a teacher parking lot next to the school. It would eliminate about one-third of the teacher parking and would require an entire reworking of the school’s access road and parking, Cort said.
Cort’s proposal includes moving the access road, which parents use to load and unload students, to what is now teacher parking. That parking lot would then be moved forward, to the edge of the bank above the school’s ballfields, Cort said. Making those changes would preserve parking and also help with traffic back-ups on Big Orange Way in the mornings and afternoons, he said.
Cort estimated the project at just under $3 million dollars. County officials have committed to completing a kindergarten building as soon as possible.
“I know it’s a priority for the school system, and I think it’s something that’s very doable within the next year,” county Manager Ken Westmoreland said.
In other matters, school officials expressed concerns about the county’s proposed budget, which allocates less to the school system than was requested. The requested amount is essential to continue routine maintenance, schools finance officer David Steinbicker said.
County officials offered to reconsider the schools’ allocation in upcoming budget talks.
Before the meeting was adjourned, Cowan expressed concerns about the amount of construction going on at the schools and the money going into computer technology.
“When you look at the building that’s gone on since 1985, I just wonder if it’s justified,” Cowan said. “Your enrollment is less now than it was, but you’ve got a lot more space for these kids.”
Cowan, a former superintendent who will retire this year from the School of Alternatives, also said he worries county money may be ill-spent buying new computers for the schools.
“As I look at how these things are being used, I’m just not at all satisfied we are getting our money’s worth from these computers,” Cowan said.
Much of students’ computer time is wasted on non-educational activities or waiting for teachers to figure out the technology, Cowan said.
Teachers are being trained to use the computers correctly and effectively, Nations said.
“The quality of a student’s experience with computers is based on a teacher’s use of them,” school board member Thurza McNair said.
|
