Tomeka Sinclair Staff writer
Williamson
LUMBERTON — The final $10 million needed to fully fund the first phase of construction for the Public Schools of Robeson County’s career tech center will be included in the North Carolina State budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the district’s superintendent.
Freddie Williamson told PSRC’s Board of Education members the news during a special-called meeting held on Thursday.
Williamson said the Department of Public Instruction sent a letter to the school system about the additional funding.
“In this letter, he is informing us that in the General Assembly budget is an additional $10 million that we may be able to receive with the adoption of the General Assembly budget signed off on by the governor,” Williams said.
The budget has received approval from the N.C. House and Senate.
The school district has $50 million in the effort to construct the facility. The project’s first phase is estimated to cost $59,999,841.
Recently, $25 million was awarded in the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund for the Career and Technology Center. The funding adds to the $15 million in Needs-Based funds approved in 2021, $5 million from the North Carolina state budget, $2.5 million from Robeson County Commissioners and the $2.5 million in the PSRC Capital Reserve Fund.
“Originally our project was funded at 80% … The total dollar amounts available to us now at this point for the project is $60 million and that was our original budget so we’re thankful for that,” Williamson said.
Contract approvals
During the special-called meeting, board members voted to approve contracts for the architectural firm, SfL+a Architects, and general construction firm, Metcon Construction, to handle the design and construction of the career and tech center.
In the agreement with Sfk+a architects, the school board will pay $5.1 million to design the first phase. They will also be able to begin work on the second phase, according to Bobby Locklear, assistant superintendent of Auxiliary Services at PSRC. The cost to design the second phase is $1.3 million.
“We have enough funding to complete phase one but while he is doing the work his intent is to go ahead and complete the design for phase two which we will apply for as soon as the next opportunity arises for the Needs Base Grant,” Locklear said.
The goal is to design the facility to be net-zero energy efficient.
“If that’s not possible, we are going to design it with solar panels,” Locklear said.
In the construction firm’s contract, Metcon agrees to work collaboratively with the architect.
“As Sfl+a is designing the building MetCon will then begin to analyze those design plans and survey the market to see how the market is flowing in terms of materials,” Locklear said.
MetCon will then come back to make recommendations to the architect and settle on the most feasible design.
The construction firm will also be tasked with evaluating the supply market and responsible for bids and construction management.
“MetCon did not list, as opposed to SFL+A, a specific dollar amount we will retain them for. Their compensation will be based on percentages,” Locklear said.
One edit made to the agreement before approval was the process of going through litigation instead of arbitration, said Board Attorney Grady Hunt.
“Arbitration is just a very expensive endeavor compared to local litigation… it just gets to be onerous and burdensome,” Hunt said. “I’ve never agreed to arbitration to any contract that I’ve been a part of over the years.”
The goal is “that by August 2025, we will be in this building with students in it and school will be started,” Locklear said.
Summer highlights
A total of 1,172 credits were recovered throughout the high schools in the district over summer break, said Robert Locklear, the assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction.
In addition, 80 students were able to participate in the summer commencement — nine from Fairmont High School, 26 for Lumberton High School, 15 from Purnell Swett High School, 13 from Red Springs High School and 17 from St. Pauls High School.
“When they called the first name there was a lot of cheer and laughter,” Locklear said.
The school district’s Summer Enrichment camps were also a success with daily attendance reaching 2,200 to more than 4,000 students.
“We had a wonderful, wonderful program this summer and I just can’t say enough about the support we received,” Locklear said.
Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at [email protected] or 910-416-5865.
Call:
T:910-739-4322
Address:
2175 N. Roberts Ave,
Lumberton, NC 28358
