April 13, 2023 at 5:00 PM - Board of Education Meeting Special Called

Discussion:   (See above)

Discussion:  - Boston led the board members in a Moment of Silence. After a moment of silence, Boston led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Discussion:   (See Above)

Discussion:   (See Exhibit #1) Boston advised, next is the Approval of the Agenda. Hamby advised, I make a motion to approve the agenda. Hale advised, second. Boston advised, okay I have a first and second to approve the agenda. A Voice Vote was taken. 

Discussion:   - Boston advised, next on the agenda is the South Cumberland Elementary Renovation Rebid. We're going to let Mr. Stepp kind of take us up to where we need to be on this. Stepp replied, so after the original recommendation was approved, Mrs. Bray and Mr. Chamberlin talked about it not being Federal money anymore, funding this project and with that being the case, then Federal regulations and requirements aren't needed for this. Which would be possible to save this one we think up to 10%. Is that right Mr. Chamberlin? Chamberlin replied, 0 to 10. Something like that. Chamberlin replied, I've talked with some different people about it and we've heard numbers somewhere between 5 and 10%. Kind of the guesses that some contractors have given me. The contractor that was low, I did ask them to go back to their subcontractors and say what can you save. They came back with a response of $25,000. Which is about 1%. It's a little bit of a guess on our part, but we think it should be more than that and, again, I think the only way we know we're getting fair dollars would be to put it back out to bid. So therefore, that was my recommendation and I think the Finance Department would probably have pushed us in that direction a little bit too. When you know you're already asking people for credits and the fairness of whether you're getting dollar for dollar. Stepp replied, so, with that being said, that's when I sent the information email out to everyone to explain. Just that, so that we knew it would be a savings. So if this is something that we want to do, there's a couple of steps in place. So there'd have to be a motion to rescind our recommendation and then a motion to rebid. Chamberlin replied, so basically we just need you to have a motion to reject all bids. You can go back and just say you want to rescind your original motion and you want to reject the bids and put it back out to bid again. Boston asked, if we put it back out to bid again, are the materials and supplies going to be even an increase to where? Chamberlin replied, we've not seen anything that's made us think that the prices are escalating at the moment. It's certainly always a yes, Mrs. Boston, but we do our best. But I'm not aware of anything that would make me think that we would see a big jump in prices. There's always a little risk when you put anything back out to bid. It's rare that they go down in price, but this is so clean when it comes to the wage rates. For instance, Sheet Metal Workers, when you have wage rates involved. They're rates are $47 an hour for Cumberland County. That's probably double what's normally paid. It's a big impact. Stout asked, so Mr. Chamberlin when you said that the lowest bidder came back at $25,000 less. That was the FTM Contracting, which was the one that we had made the recommendation for? Chamberlin replied, yes ma'am. Stout continued, okay, so hearing the 5 to 10% savings. Is that what you're kind of hearing the range from the other three bids from? Chamberlin replied, I've just made some calls to contractors that we work with and just said hey if you look at the difference between a project with wage rates and without. What do you see in labor rates and that's basically what they said. They think labor rates generally increase between 5 and 10% for a project. So if you figured labor would be roughly half of a project cost. That would be say a million dollars on this project, give or take. If you're looking at 5% I mean that's $50,000 if you get 10% on it you're looking at a $100,000 worth of savings. So it's a little bit of a risk certainly. The prices could go up in materials, but we can do this in about three weeks time. I just need enough time to get it in the paper and meet the requirements from the Finance Department to advertise it, but since everybody's already looked at it and priced it, we can turn it around. I think in about three weeks time. Boston asked, would it be your recommendation to rebid? Chamberlin replied, it's my recommendation. Hamby advised, Mrs. Boston, I'd like to make a motion that we rescind and reject the bid that we previously had. Boston replied, we would only rescind our recommendation. We can't reject. Chamberlin replied, you went to then reject the bids and that's your prerogative at any time. You know, projects you can reject any and all bids, for any reason you want, at any time prior to signing a contract, obviously. Boston replied, we've already got a motion approved that we make the recommendation to the County Finance. Hamby replied, I make a motion to withdraw and reject that bid. Boston replied, okay.  Stout replied, second. Boston replied, okay, so we have a first and a second to rescind and reject our recommendation to the County Finance and the County Commission for the bid on South. (1st motion) Any discussion. No one responded. A Roll Call Vote was taken.

Hamby advised, I would like to make a motion that we allow this South project to be rebid. Boston advised, I'll second that. (2nd motion) Any discussion? Hale asked, I wondered where are we getting the money for the South project now? Boston replied, it's coming out of our general fund. Hale asked, and about how much is it? Boston replied, well the first bid was $2.2 million. Hamby advised, and we had done that in the last special called. Hale replied, yeah, which I couldn't be. Stout replied, the nice thing is, we have a little more time with this now, because we were under time constraints previously. So now we have time to get into the budget and really dig in and look and make sure we're good before accepting anything else when it comes back in. Boston replied, well we've got some time. It's not Federal Funds, it's our money and so that loosens the constraints. Nichols advised, it keeps a little bit more in our rainy day, if we can. Hamby advised, and South needs this completed. When you hear about things happening and counseling going on in closets and students having to meet out in the hallways and classrooms. We need this. Boston advised, well and let me just throw this out there. This is not pertinent, but South was due a renovation of $750,000 two years ago. We did not do that. This is in fact part of their renovation and so they've kind of been anxiously waiting for this. Hamby advised, I did the motion and you did the I second. Boston advised, I did the second. Any further discussion? Boston asked, does everybody understand the motion? Everyone replied, yes. A Roll Call Vote was taken. 

Boston advised, the motion passes. Mr. Stepp you are to. Stepp replied, I'll get with Mr. Chamberlin and Mr. Brock and we'll follow that process. Chamberlin replied, we'll get it out as fast as we can. We should be able to get the advertisement written in the morning.  Boston asked, and you feel very; I guess I'm making myself feel better. Just to support that. Chamberlin replied, don't hang me. Boston replied, but this is your business. Chamberlin replied, I think it's the right thing to do even if it comes back at the same price. It's still the right thing to do, to know that you're looking out for the taxpayers money. Nichols advised, yeah we're using our money wisely. Being good stewards. Boston replied, I don't think we ever do, to do that, but I just want to make myself feel warm and fuzzy. That we're doing the right thing. Chamberlin replied, and I did talk to the other bidder, that was second. Just to say, you know, will you rebid this if we put back out and I did get a yes. Well, I would think at least the low bidder and the second would definitely look at it if not more. Boston replied, okay so you think we will? Chamberlin replied, yes we should have two or three back I would think anyway. Boston replied,  perfect. Nichols replied, maybe somebody new. Chamberlin replied, stranger things have happened. 

Discussion:   - Boston asked, any old business to discuss? No one responded. 

Discussion:   - Boston continued, if not I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Hamby advised, I'll make a motion to adjourn. Stout replied, second. The meeting adjourned at 5:10pm.