RFP Staff
♦ The proposed Central Office requires a through examination before the new Rowan-Salisbury School Board accepts it, makes changes in it, or rejects it for a cost saving true consolidated Central Office on ground the school system or the county already owns.
Rowan County voted dramatically to change the make-up of the school board. County voters wanted a new school board to reprioritize the direction of the school system and protect the taxpayers of Rowan County from settling for an unconsolidated Central Office being constructed at a price far above the 6.5 million dollars the county commissioners allocated. The new school board needs to spend some time examining a property and a proposed Central Office that was rushed through by the outgoing school board. Many question marks remain about the property, but even more so about the expense of this project that could be built elsewhere on existing school system or county property at a greatly reduced price.
No real need rush on this project which is not a high priority. In fact the new school board needs to weigh other options and have all the data at its disposal before it accepts, makes alterations in the proposed central office, or rejects it for a better and less expensive Central Office.
The Central Office is not a done deal. It still has something like 45 day wait after the county submits a loan application for their $6.5 million toward the Central Office. The LGC could very well reject the loan application.
• The new school board will be seated on December 8th and best spend sometime reviewing the Central Office contract and their priorities. They may even investigate how 500 N. Main came to be. Were their any problematic swaps that might not pass a legal litmus such as the North Ellis Street property?
• Has enough parking been obtained?
• Could a better property belonging to the school system or county bring down costs?
• Could the school system save more money for the taxpayers then they could lose by forgoing some or all of the donations? Are there other donors elsewhere who might step up and assist the school system in their efforts?
• Can contracts be written in a way that would assure whatever construction outfit was chosen could not run up overages and would be responsible for their agreements so everything would be built to specifications. Who will forget a local jail whose top floor was never completed and can’t be completed now without running into great expense because the roof would have to be removed to complete construction?
It would seem wise to take an extra sixty to ninety days for all the new and veteran members of the school board to completely familiarize themselves with the proposed Central Office contract so they could make the best decision possible on going forward, making alterations, or scraping it for something better. The public also needs to be better informed about the project.
