SNOW HILL – Talk of school construction dominated a discussion intended to focus on setting a public hearing date for Worcester County’s capital improvement plan.
While they did set a public hearing date of Feb. 3 for the capital improvement plan, the Worcester County Commissioners took the opportunity to question school construction costs included in the document. Commissioner Chip Bertino wanted to know why the Board of Education’s funding request for Showell Elementary School was now $770,000 when it had been $660,000 last fall.
“My concern is very little has been done and costs are already escalating at a significant pace,” Bertino said.
Harold Higgins, chief administrative officer for the county, explained that because the commissioners had not approved the $660,000 request in November, the contract for the project’s architectural design had been re-evaluated.
“Because it’s delayed, they’ll need more money upfront,” Higgins said.
Higgins said the $2.5 million contract was divided into two parts and the cost breakdown was different now that the project had been set back.
Bertino said everyone agreed Showell Elementary School needed to be replaced but said he wanted to make sure school officials and county officials could find common ground on the cost.
“I don’t think we’ve agreed what the starting point is,” he said.
Higgins pointed out that the state, which typically funds a portion of school construction costs, had final approval.
County attorney Sonny Bloxom agreed.
“Even if you fund it on your own the state still has to approve it,” he said, adding that during the construction of Worcester Technical High School state officials had mandated that particular materials be used. “We could’ve done it cheaper but they wouldn’t let us.”
According to Jerry Wilson, Worcester County’s superintendent of schools, the funding request for the architectural design of Showell will be presented to the commissioners again in January or February.
“We are looking forward to working with the county commissioners to provide any additional information they may need and to answer any questions they may have so the Showell project can move forward as rapidly as possible,” Wilson said.
School officials said the project’s timeline would be affected if funding wasn’t approved in the near future.
“If and how much won’t be known until County Commissioners take action in a public meeting regarding the project’s design phase,” said Barb Witherow, the school system’s coordinator of public relations and special programs.
Witherow said it was hoped that the new Showell Elementary School would open in the fall of 2018.