By Jamie Gardner
On Tuesday, June 13, the Appling County Board of Education met for a regular monthly meeting. During the meeting the board discussed two options for the FY2012 Tentative Budget. The first option was at $25,723,011.00 for revenue and expenditures and the second option was set at revenue $25,723,011.00 and expenditures $25,810,396.19. Under the second option, which was approved on a split vote, the board would utilize fund reserves to balance the budget using $87,385.19.
Board of education adopts tentative budget
It was explained that as of May 31 the board was faced with a deficit of $413,733.84 for FY2012 and the group had explored a seven-day reduction in the work calendar schedule for teachers. However, it was reported that board members along with Superintendent Scarlett Copeland and central office employees found additional savings in areas and made additional system transfers that resulted in the deficit being reduced to the $87,385.19. Under the second option there would be no need to reduce the work calendar schedule. The board is also projecting to have an ending fund balance of $4,912,614.81.
Voting in favor of approving the second option were board members Randy Sellers, Scottie Ammons, Minnie Barnes and M.C. Barlow. Opposed was board member Randy Crawford.
Superintendent Copeland thanked board members and system staff for the hard work put into this year’s budget.
Pope addresses board
Prior to the meeting, board members and Copeland joined representatives of Lentile Construction and architect Larry Pope for a tour of ongoing construction projects. Copeland reported that she is really enjoying having Lentile as the system’s construction management company in Appling County adding that the company keeps an eye on the facilities and costs.
Larry Pope also made a presentation to board members about construction management. Pope stated that there are basically several ways a school system can build new facilities. These include design, build and bid, construction management at risk and construction management services.
The first option is self-explanatory in that the system can handle the construction of a new construction project in house.
The second, which is what the system is currently using on a number of projects, is construction management at risk. This is a construction delivery method that allows the owner to (1) hire a construction manager at any time during the project pre-design phase. The construction manager and the architect/engineer work together to develop and estimate costs for the design. A guaranteed maximum price is provided by the construction manager at risk who then receives proposals and awards contracts to subcontractors. Or (2) hire a general contractor after the completion of the design phase. The procurement process for the construction manager or general contractor must be competitive qualifications selection. Following a procedure similar to that contained in O.C.G.A. 36-91-20 is acceptable.
The third option is to hire construction management services. In this method the system can choose to hire an individual, company or firm that represent the governmental agency in an administrative and oversight capacity of a construction project. Basically this person or company acts in an advisory capacity.
Pope explained that Lentile was selected to be the construction manager at risk for the projects in Appling County. He explained that the construction manager at risk comes in at one price for the entire project and works hard to get the best price when bidding projects in order to stay under budget on projects. He also stated that construction managers have to follow state law just like general contractors, such as advertising for bids, etc.
At a prior meeting questions had been raised about the way bidding was handled for the new track. Pope told board members that as the architect for these projects he established guidelines for the bidding of projects. He stated that included in the guidelines are a number of items set aside for potential contractors such as experience, financial strength, etc. Pope shared that in regard to the new track facility there were a number of bids submitted with the majority of bids being in the $900,000.00 range and there was one bid that was in the $700,000.00 range. He added that at the pre-bid conference he told potential bidders to make sure that submitted bids meet all requirements of the bid specifications. Some of the specifications or requirements called for years of experience on projects such as irrigation, quality control requirements and at least 10 projects in excess of $100,000.00 in a certain amount of time. Pope said he reviewed the bids himself and the low bid did not meet bid requirements. He added that the next lowest bid did meet requirements.
Pope finished by saying that he and the construction manager would have had to change the requirements to accept the low bid and that would not be fair to the bidders that met the requirements. “I feel good that you are getting what you are paying for,” added Pope.
He also cited a number of projects in which the construction management has been under bid/costs and returned the money back to the system.
Other business
Board members accepted the resignation of Sandra Hukill, a para-professional at Altamaha Elementary School.
The board approved three requests for leave for Marie Davis, Krista Carter and Ashley Winn.
An out-of-state field trip request was approved for the Appling County High School Show Choir for July 15 - 24.
Board members approved to open a number of positions recommended by Copeland. The positions include an administrative assistant position for Title I, a Migrant Support Services Provider, a lead teacher at ACHS, a para-professional position at ACHS, a Special Education position at ACHS, a career technical instructor at ACHS, an ISS/football coach position at ACHS, a para-professional position at Altamaha, and four para-professional positions at Appling County Middle School.
The board approved a request to seek bids for a new lawnmower for the system. After some discussion, the board stated that bids would be opened at the next meeting.
The board approved a request to seek bids for the Phase III portion of the Appling County Elementary/Primary Schools HVAC replacement.
Board members approved a request to seek bids to establish a new bus yard behind the system’s bus maintenance shop.
On a split vote the board approved a change order request to add additional parking adjacent to the sports fields, tennis courts area. The total cost of the change order is $117,000.00. Ammons opposed the motion.
The board approved a request to conduct a surplus sale to be held on July 13. The sale will include various equipment and five buses.
The financial reports for April and May were unanimously approved.
Following a closed-door session for personnel and litigation purposes, board members voted to hire two community coaches for ACHS and also approved a recommendation to hire Lisa Herndon to fill the highly qualified math position at ACHS.
Voting in favor of approving the second option were board members Randy Sellers, Scottie Ammons, Minnie Barnes and M.C. Barlow. Opposed was board member Randy Crawford.
Superintendent Copeland thanked board members and system staff for the hard work put into this year’s budget.
Pope addresses board
Prior to the meeting, board members and Copeland joined representatives of Lentile Construction and architect Larry Pope for a tour of ongoing construction projects. Copeland reported that she is really enjoying having Lentile as the system’s construction management company in Appling County adding that the company keeps an eye on the facilities and costs.
Larry Pope also made a presentation to board members about construction management. Pope stated that there are basically several ways a school system can build new facilities. These include design, build and bid, construction management at risk and construction management services.
The first option is self-explanatory in that the system can handle the construction of a new construction project in house.
The second, which is what the system is currently using on a number of projects, is construction management at risk. This is a construction delivery method that allows the owner to (1) hire a construction manager at any time during the project pre-design phase. The construction manager and the architect/engineer work together to develop and estimate costs for the design. A guaranteed maximum price is provided by the construction manager at risk who then receives proposals and awards contracts to subcontractors. Or (2) hire a general contractor after the completion of the design phase. The procurement process for the construction manager or general contractor must be competitive qualifications selection. Following a procedure similar to that contained in O.C.G.A. 36-91-20 is acceptable.
The third option is to hire construction management services. In this method the system can choose to hire an individual, company or firm that represent the governmental agency in an administrative and oversight capacity of a construction project. Basically this person or company acts in an advisory capacity.
Pope explained that Lentile was selected to be the construction manager at risk for the projects in Appling County. He explained that the construction manager at risk comes in at one price for the entire project and works hard to get the best price when bidding projects in order to stay under budget on projects. He also stated that construction managers have to follow state law just like general contractors, such as advertising for bids, etc.
At a prior meeting questions had been raised about the way bidding was handled for the new track. Pope told board members that as the architect for these projects he established guidelines for the bidding of projects. He stated that included in the guidelines are a number of items set aside for potential contractors such as experience, financial strength, etc. Pope shared that in regard to the new track facility there were a number of bids submitted with the majority of bids being in the $900,000.00 range and there was one bid that was in the $700,000.00 range. He added that at the pre-bid conference he told potential bidders to make sure that submitted bids meet all requirements of the bid specifications. Some of the specifications or requirements called for years of experience on projects such as irrigation, quality control requirements and at least 10 projects in excess of $100,000.00 in a certain amount of time. Pope said he reviewed the bids himself and the low bid did not meet bid requirements. He added that the next lowest bid did meet requirements.
Pope finished by saying that he and the construction manager would have had to change the requirements to accept the low bid and that would not be fair to the bidders that met the requirements. “I feel good that you are getting what you are paying for,” added Pope.
He also cited a number of projects in which the construction management has been under bid/costs and returned the money back to the system.
Other business
Board members accepted the resignation of Sandra Hukill, a para-professional at Altamaha Elementary School.
The board approved three requests for leave for Marie Davis, Krista Carter and Ashley Winn.
An out-of-state field trip request was approved for the Appling County High School Show Choir for July 15 - 24.
Board members approved to open a number of positions recommended by Copeland. The positions include an administrative assistant position for Title I, a Migrant Support Services Provider, a lead teacher at ACHS, a para-professional position at ACHS, a Special Education position at ACHS, a career technical instructor at ACHS, an ISS/football coach position at ACHS, a para-professional position at Altamaha, and four para-professional positions at Appling County Middle School.
The board approved a request to seek bids for a new lawnmower for the system. After some discussion, the board stated that bids would be opened at the next meeting.
The board approved a request to seek bids for the Phase III portion of the Appling County Elementary/Primary Schools HVAC replacement.
Board members approved a request to seek bids to establish a new bus yard behind the system’s bus maintenance shop.
On a split vote the board approved a change order request to add additional parking adjacent to the sports fields, tennis courts area. The total cost of the change order is $117,000.00. Ammons opposed the motion.
The board approved a request to conduct a surplus sale to be held on July 13. The sale will include various equipment and five buses.
The financial reports for April and May were unanimously approved.
Following a closed-door session for personnel and litigation purposes, board members voted to hire two community coaches for ACHS and also approved a recommendation to hire Lisa Herndon to fill the highly qualified math position at ACHS.
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