Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090146
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The renovation cost might be double the original estimates, but Chairman Frank Thomas said Tuesday the board will "make do with what we have."
The project, which has been estimated at $400,000 when it was proposed several years ago, will cost $800,000 to $1 million.
County Finance Director Diane Hyatt said the School Board has $625,000 available for the project: $75,000 in roof repair funds, $400,000 for renovations and $150,000 for telephone and computer wiring.
School officials are working out an agreement with an energy management company for an additional $200,000 to $400,000 for a new heating and air-conditioning system.
Superintendent Bayes Wilson said new heating and air-conditioning facilities could be acquired with a lease-purchase agreement without the board having to provide the money up front.
Meeting jointly with the supervisors, Thomas and other board members denied they have underestimated the cost of construction cost or overspent their budgets as Supervisor Harry Nickens has charged.
Board member Jerry Canada said he took strong exception to Nickens' charges that the board has overspent its budget and underestimated the cost of its building projects.
"We have not gone over the amount that we have been allocated," Thomas said.
Board member Maurice "Buck" Mitchell said the charges were unfair and damaging to the board.
But Nickens, a former School Board member, did not retract his accusations, saying he has to look out for the interests of all taxpayers, not just for education and schools.
Even as school officials were trying to squelch the controversy over the costs for converting the occupational school into administrative offices, Supervisor Bob Johnson questioned whether the building on Cove Road is the proper place for them.
Johnson said he did not believe the converted school building would make a good work environment for school officials. Until recently, the county's administrative offices were located in a renovated school, he said, and it was not a good arrangement.
Although he has reservations about the move to the occupational school, Johnson said he has no alternative proposal.
Wilson said the School Board never asked to be moved out of its offices in Salem. The supervisors asked school officials to move out so the building could be used for social services offices.
"Money is the problem," Wilson said. "I agree the [occupational school] is not ideal, but it is better than where we are."
Wilson said school officials have considered other sites, but none was better than the occupational school, vacated last year when its students were "mainstreamed" into regular classes.
After the meeting, Thomas said he doesn't expect the board to seek another location for the administrative offices despite Johnson's comments.
"The money is not there to do anything better than what we plan to do," Thomas said.
Although the School Board won't ask for more money, it will have to get the supervisors' approval for the lease-purchase agreement for the heating and air-conditioning system.
"That is still a question mark. The bottom line is that we don't know what it will cost until we know what the lease-purchase agreement is," Johnson said.
"No one is accusing anyone of mismanagement, but we need to know how much it will cost," Johnson said.
Homer Duff, director of facilities and operations for county schools, said that Johnson Controls, the energy management company, has indicated that the new equipment can be purchased with the savings in utility costs.
Wilson said some items might have to be deleted from the renovation project, but he believes "we can get a good upgrade for the money we plan to spend."
When supervisors have questions about school finances, he suggested they should call him or Hyatt.
by CNB