Months after the Macon County Board of Commissioners rejected the lone bid for one phase of the Highlands School renovation project due to inflated costs, the county will seek an alternative route forward.
At its Oct. 10 meeting, the Macon County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved soliciting a Construction Manager (CM) At-Risk for the first phase of the Highlands School project.
The first phase of the Highlands School renovations would include replacing the HVAC, roof, windows and flooring. This is the same scope as the previously named Highlands Middle School project, due to mainly impacting that wing of the K-12 school.
Going with the CM At-Risk route is a way LS3P Senior Vice President Paul Boney, the county’s architect on its school projects, hopes to circumvent the cost issues with the proposed project.
“You can pick that person that’s not based on price, it’s based on qualifications just like design firms,” Boney said. The CM At Risk would then bring back options for the design elements LS3P comes up with.
Boney confirmed soliciting a CM At-Risk through a Request for Qualifications wouldn’t cost the county anything upfront.
Trying the CM At-Risk route comes after the lone bid for the Highlands Middle School project came in at $1,184,195 on May 25. That bid was well above the $634,300 the county has received from the N.C. Repair and Renovation fund for the work. In subsequent meetings, the school board and county rejected the bid.
Boney laid out the CM At-Risk process, saying it gives the county the power to select what aspects of the project go forward with.
The CM At Risk process could help LS3P get a head start on certain items that take months to receive, such as HVAC and windows. When asked about a price on these Phase One items, Boney said together they would likely exceed the $634,300, but it “won’t be in the millions.”
“To me, mechanical, windows, roof and floor aren’t options, those are have to’s,” said Com-missioner Josh Young.
According to Boney, Phase Two would be the Pre-K addition and Phase Three would be renovation.
Commissioner John Shearl asked about the wording saying the CM At-Risk would be for all the phases of the Highlands School renovation, including the Pre-K addition.
In response, Boney said the county can terminate any phase they don’t want to do and terminate the CM at Risk at any time.
“You’re not committing to the larger project, we’re just trying to move it forward,” Boney said. “It’s the fastest way to do that.”
Previously, the commissioners and later the school board voted to pause the separate High-lands Pre-K project in the spring, drawing the ire of many Highlands residents for what they felt was a lack of commitment from the county. Since then, Highlands community members have worked with LS3P to commission Highlands School project construction documents.
“We’re trying to get that number down,” Boney said of the $1.18 million price tag, adding that it could entice smaller bidders who don’t have the bonds big enough for a whole project.
Board Chair Paul Higdon asked Boney if this route would cost less. Boney couldn’t guarantee it but felt like redoing the full project bidding process would yield a similar dollar figure.
Young asked about a budget limit. Boney said it’s called the Guaranteed Maximum Price, negotiated between the county and the CM At Risk.
Boney said many of the larger school districts his firm works with use a CM At Risk for school building projects.
“Because they have found it a good way to move forward with the project because we’re working with them hand in hand from the get-go and they know what the budget is and they’re continuing to refine the cost estimates and get subcontractors that fall within that budget,” Boney said.
Later, Boney said there’s typically less conflict going the CM At Risk route but there’s been sit-uations where it wasn’t better or less expensive.
County Manager Derek Roland felt the CM At-Risk route won’t come in below $1.18 million, and Finance Director Lori Hall said that Phase One won’t be less than the $634,300 N.C. Repair and Renovation fund money.
Other options Boney presented were to redesign the entire project and put it out to bid again, or to hold the previous $1.18M bid. Higdon said the latter was a bad idea. Before the final vote, Boney suggested not voting that night.
During the discussion of various routes, Higdon said, “I feel like we’re the funding arm for the Board of Education a lot of the time,” and said the county is spending so much money on the school system.
School Board Member Hilary Wilkes said the Pre-K project by itself, which is in the design phase, is estimated at $5.5 million. Shearl said the folks in Highlands were seeking private funding for that aspect of the project, although he said he hadn’t heard from them in months.
Wilkes said the biggest issues among the Highlands residents pushing this forward are procurement of windows and doors. Wilkes added that Phase Two and Three, which includes the full new wing of the school and the larger aspects of the Pre-K and Middle School projects, is close to being put on construction documents.
“As a taxpayer, it makes sense to me to tack all this together,” Wilkes told the commissioners, saying it would lead to “fewer cooks in the kitchen.”
Wilkes said jumpstarting the project would lead to construction work starting in the summer of 2024 and finishing in summer 2025, being ready when school doors open in August 2025. Regarding private funding, Wilkes said presenting the full plans to Highlands residents could maybe lead to “an angel donor.”
“I feel like holding any of this up won’t do any good,” Wilkes said, explaining that Highlands residents want to see it move forward.