BC 2004 10 18 Regular (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

October 18, 2004 page 649 consequences associated with the increase in the adequacy fee for schools. He expressed concern about the lack of opportunity for public input prior to enactment of the fee and about the potential impact the fee would have on housing affordability. Vice Chairman Suggs arrived at 6:47 p.m. and was present for the remainder of the meeting. Cindy Fertenbaugh, resident of 1307 Dennbriar Drive N.W., Concord, and member of the Cabarrus County Board of Education, commented on the growth in public schools. She spoke in support of the school bond referendum. Ted Kluttz of 466 Crestside Drive S.E., Concord, spoke in support of the public school bonds and the community college bonds. He stated the school adequacy fees would not provide the funds to address the immediate need for new schools. Jim Arstark, 5625 Weddington Road, Concord, spoke in support of the school bond referendum. Ric Starnes, candidate for Register of Deeds and residing at 4330 Old Airport Road in Concord, spoke in opposition to the $225,000.00 spent to outsource the scanning and indexing of documents in the present Register of Deeds office. He stated in his opinion this was an unnecessary expense and the scanning/indexing could be done in house. Julie Hicks, 204 Ridge Drive, Harrisburg, objected to Commissioner Privette's concept for school funding. She spoke in support of the school bond referendum. Jerry Williamson, 92 Marsh Avenue N.W., Concord, supported Commissioner Privette's school funding plan and privatization of the ABC Board. Further, he spoke in opposition to the school bond referendum. Gary Embler, 7702 Windsor Forest Place, Harrisburg, spoke in support of the community college bond referendum. Commissioner Privette discussed the recent comments made at a meeting of the Finance and Tax Committee of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners in regards to Cabarrus County's adequacy requirements. xe stated the other members of the committee felt that all counties in North Carolina should have the authority to collect school adequacy fees. Commissioner Carruth spoke to senior adults regarding the school bond referendum. He said passage of the referendum was needed to meet immediate school needs and was the first step in a long range, multi-prong strategy to fund school construction. He asked all citizens to investigate the numbers in order to make an informed decision on November 2. (E) OLD BIISINESS (E-1) Construction Management for Justice Center Project Kelly Sifford, Community Development Manager, reported on the progress of the Justice Center Project which included: surveying, appraisals, property negotiations, geological and environmental testing and schematic design. She stated the final schematics are to be presented to the Board in January 2005. As outlined in a memorandum dated October 15, 2004, Ms. Sifford reviewed the services currently provided in the contract with Ware Bonsall Architects, services that would be duplicated by hiring one of the two construction management firms and the legal and liability issues involved with multi-prime bidding. She stated staff recommended the hiring of Ware Bonsall for the on-site management of the project for the following reasons: Ware Bonsall already has a contract to provide many of the services that the construction management firms offer; Ware Bonsall has hired a construction management company (Hanscomb, Faithful & Gould) that has extensive correctional experience to perform value engineering and estimating services; and the County Attorney can negotiate with Ware Bonsall to ensure that the construction manager would have reporting responsibility to the County in the contract to address concerns of "self policing". In addition, Ms. Sifford stated Ware Bonsall received excellent recommendations on projects where they provided the on-site management service. There was general discussion among Board members concerning "self policing" and whether an outside firm with no ties to the architect should be