Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The board has voted to retain the Moseley McClintock Group, a company that has planned and designed high schools throughout the state.
Board member Tom Leggette tried last week to persuade the board to delay action for two weeks until local architects, engineers and business people could express their views.
On a 4-1 vote, the board decided to hire the Richmond firm, but the contract won't be signed until the members can review it.
Several Roanoke Valley companies submitted proposals to do the work, but Chairman Frank Thomas said Moseley McClintock was the best-qualified for the proposed $20 million project. The firm has an impeccable reputation for doing quality work, he said.
Moseley McClintock will be paid $69,945 for the feasibility study, plus $1.2 million in design and engineering fees if the school is built.
Leggette said he believed it was a mistake to hire the same firm to do both the feasibility study and the plans.
The study will determine whether a large school should be built as proposed or if existing schools in South Roanoke County should be renovated and expanded to meet space needs.
"If the firm recommends a single new high school, some people will say that the feasibility study was biased because the firm stands to gain a lot in architectural and engineering fees," Leggette said.
"Let's separate the two parts and get the feasibility study first, and then move on from there," he said. Otherwise, he said, some people will think the study "has been rigged."
Leggette, who represents the Windsor Hills District, which is served by Cave Spring High, said some taxpayers also are concerned about the flow of tax funds to an out-of-town company that doesn't benefit the Roanoke Valley.
Supervisor Bob Johnson said that he, too, was concerned about the money leaving the valley's economy.
"It is disappointing. I would have thought that we had the expertise locally for the job," Johnson said. "Exporting the dollars to Richmond is disconcerting."
Johnson said he does not have access to all factors that went into the decision, but "on a level playing field, I would have hoped we could have awarded the project to someone locally."
The supervisors have approved bond funds for the architectural and engineering work and cannot block the hiring of the Richmond company, but they still have veto power over the project because they must provide the construction money.
Supervisor Harry Nickens said he wouldn't second-guess the board's decision to hire Moseley McClintock, but he agreed with Leggette that the feasibility study probably should have been done separately.
Nickens said the School Board could have used the same firm if it had waited until after the feasibility study was finished and then awarded a contract for the architectural and engineering work.
Thomas said he was confident that the Richmond firm would make a "fair and objective feasibility study" that would review all alternatives for meeting space needs.
"Given these people's reputation, I find it hard to believe that they would skew a study to increase their fee," Superintendent Deanna Gordon said.
The firm has designed 16 high schools and 18 middle schools in the past five years, including schools in Chesterfield, Rockingham, Southampton and Spotsylvania counties and the city of Portsmouth.
"Their recent experience was one of the big factors in the selection of them," said Homer Duff, director of facilities and operations for Roanoke County schools. "When you are going to have heart surgery, you would rather have a doctor who has done 30 rather than two or three."
Leggette said he was not suggesting the Richmond architects and engineers would do anything improper, but he was concerned the situation could create an "appearance of impropriety" that could undermine the credibility of the feasibility study.
Leggette, a lawyer, said he considered the Richmond firm to be in a potential conflict of interest by doing the feasibility study and having a contract to design the school.
"We need a disinterested party to do the study," he said. "It should have been bid separately."
Supervisor Lee Eddy said that ideally it might be best to have two firms for such a project, with one doing the feasibility study and the other the design work. But he didn't want to second-guess the board.
"If everything else is equal, I would prefer a local firm get the job, but I don't have all of the details," Eddy said.
The interviews with the architectural and engineering firms and the negotiations were handled by Thomas and the school system's construction committee. Leggette and other board members did not have access to the information before Thursday night's meeting.
"In a project of this magnitude," Leggette said, "I think the whole board should probably be involved."
by CNB