Sticker shock from higher-than-expected price tags didn’t stop votes on the Franklin High School and Highlands School projects at a May 28 joint meeting of the Macon County Commissioners and Board of Education in the Franklin High School Fine Arts Center.
According to the presentations, the new Franklin High School estimations have the maximum price at $137,624,444, while the Highlands School project would cost $8,575,068. Both of these prices are higher than the last ones publicly stated. The last publicly discussed FHS project price was $118 million and Highlands School was $5.5 million.
In the end, the school board unanimously recommended, and the commissioners approved, in a split vote, summer work at both schools in advance of the entire projects.
The summer work at Franklin High School, costing $411,611, will consist of earthwork, utilities and paving, mainly underneath the student parking lot, relocating the greenhouse and setting up a temporary classroom.
The Highlands summer work will cost $508,385, consisting of creating deep foundations, a concrete package and structural steel. A boiler burner retrofit’s cost is unknown.
The commissioners passed the FHS summer work by a 3-2 vote, with commissioners Danny Antoine, Josh Young and Gary Shields in favor, and commissioners John Shearl and Paul Higdon against. The Highlands summer work passed 4-1, with Higdon the lone dissenter.
The county commissioners also approved paying LS3P $231,800 for the next phase of the Franklin High project and $16,463 for the next phase of the Highlands project, which is part of both contracts. Those votes were 3-2 and 4-1, respectively, with the same vote composition as the summer work. The commissioners tabled the LS3P payment during the May 14 regular meeting, saying they would discuss it on May 28, although the commissioners didn’t mention that during the May 28 meeting.
At various points over the meeting, each of the commissioners, except Shields, expressed displeasure at there being any votes at the May 28 meeting, saying they thought it was just going to be a work session.
The purpose of the three-hour meeting was to be a “budget work session regarding the Macon County School System Budget,” according to the agenda released by the county last week.
During his presentation to start the meeting, County Manager Derek Roland said the projects are on a tight timetable where the construction managers at risk need to start work this summer.
“In order to stay on schedule with these projects assuming we broke ground on Franklin High School in October, we are going to have to continue taking these steps and do summer work at both the Franklin High School project and the Highlands School project to keep these projects on schedule,” Roland told the boards.
The two school projects will cost at most $146.2 million, Roland said. So far, Macon County has spent $4.1 million in architect and planning fees for these projects.
Roland said the county’s financial position is excellent to fund these two projects.
“It has taken over a decade to build the financial position that accompanied the fiscal year 2025 budget, and at the same time, the fiscal year 2025 budget could impact generations to come,” Roland said.
Roland said one financial plan is to transfer $20 million out of the general fund balance (currently at $48 million) as a down payment on the project and limit the amount of debt the county will take. Taking out the $62 million Needs Based Public School Grant that Macon County received in January would still leave $64.2 million needed to fund the project.
Macon County is planning to present a financial plan to the N.C. Local Government Commission in September.
Roland said they will not neglect other county projects during the next several years while they pay off the school projects. Roland said they are leveraging roughly $105 million in county money into $193 million in capital improvements, with the remaining $88 million in grant funds.
Roland said the only financing is for the FHS project, with the Highlands project covered by county funding.
The county is planning its financing of the FHS construction based on a 5% interest rate, but Roland said due to Macon County’s AA+ credit rating, they should get around 3.75%. Roland said they won’t know for sure until September.
After Roland’s presentation, School Board Chair Jim Breedlove got unanimous approval for the summer work and the estimated maximum price for both projects from the school board.
In response, Young wanted to know what drove the prices up and asked if it was the maximum possible price. Roland said the designs are 80% done. Henry Irving with Carroll Daniel said $137.6 million will be the Franklin High School project cap. Later, Roland described that as a “gentleman’s agreement” with a consensus of commissioners, although they did not hold a formal vote on the estimated maximum price of either project.
John Shearl spoke multiple times during the meeting about his issues with the presentation, saying he only saw the new dollar figures and plans at 2 p.m., four hours before the meeting, after not seeing any plans for months.
Shearl said he made a mistake in his last vote to advance the project forward with no completed plans.
“I will not vote for any other project without talking to my constituents,” Shearl said, later adding the taxpayers deserve the final say on this, a repeat of his various past calls to put the FHS project up for a county-wide vote.
Shearl said voting for the FHS summer work would essentially commit the board to the $137.6 million project and that he wasn’t ready to do that. Carroll Daniel Estimator Kyle Dorsey said committing to the summer work does not commit the county to the entire project.
Shields said he felt that if they delayed the project, it would be high risk and wanted to continue to go forward.
Later, Shields defended the liaison committee. For the last year and a half, Young and Shields have met regularly with School Board members Diedre Breeden and Hilary Wilkes as part of the school liaison committee. With only two members from each board, their meetings are not public. The liaisons have met with the project’s architect, LS3P, and recently with the FHS construction manager at risk Carroll Daniel and Highlands School construction manager at risk Vannoy Construction.
Shields said the commissioners who aren’t liaisons have been left in the dark due to state rules on public meetings, saying “No apologies, that’s just the way it is.”
Breedlove said a public review of the documents has been available for several months, including details on “soft costs” and said their board was apprised during the process.
“We feel very comfortable with LS3P and Carroll Daniel…we’ll continue to look at ways to save money,” Breedlove said. “As we delay, things get more and more complicated.”
Wilkes added that each month’s delay adds around 1% more in costs to the project, which currently would be $1.376 million. Dorsey said the numbers presented are conservative estimates and can be lower after the sub-bidding processes, of which there will be around 50 total for the FHS project.
Higdon said that due to the poor lighting in the Fine Arts Center, he couldn’t read the papers that had the new cost estimates, and he wasn’t prepared to vote on anything that night. Higdon also said he never heard back about the drainage questions he had.
Shearl also asked about the East Franklin School project, to which Roland replied it’s not in the five-year Capital Improvement Plan. Shearl voiced his fears that with other potential projects on the horizon, it could lead to a forced property tax increase in a few years.
LS3P’s Emily Kite spoke to the board about the specifics of the 277,000-square-foot new FHS building and the drainage project that is part of the summer work. Kite said it will fix the size of the underground pipes and there are no anticipated flooding issues downstream as the drainage ditch flows past Phillips Street and near Wayah Street.
Antoine said building a new FHS should have been done 30 years ago, and he doesn’t want to kick the can down the road. Antoine also said Shearl’s constant criticisms of the FHS project make it seem like Shearl is resisting it.
Highlands summer work
Kevin Aull, project manager with Vannoy Construction, presented the Highlands summer work proposal. That work will consist of “Area A,” which will be the middle school addition and renovations of $508,385 plus the boiler burner retrofit, which will have a dollar amount on June 7.
Shearl asked “how much fluff is in it” and why the price tag went from $5.5 million to $8.5 million, bemoaning the lack of information.
Wilkes then interrupted to say she offered Shearl a tour of the site and to look at the numbers and he didn’t respond. Shearl said he doesn’t remember such an offer, and said he supported the Highlands School project “one hundred thousand percent,” but that he won’t just write a blank check.
“Nobody is putting fluff into this project that doesn’t need to be there,” Wilkes said to Shearl. “It has been vetted, it’s gone through the liaison committee, it has gone through multiple strategic thinking sessions, both with the administration, with the faculty, with those who have input into the needs of this. And I have been in every single meeting for five years on this, and I can promise you there’s nothing in here that doesn’t need to be in here or is exaggerated in any way, shape or form.
“If we hadn’t had to wait another year on this because our funding was pulled on the architects, when you start adding cost, when you delay these things…one thing I will say is that I can confidently present to you this plan, these numbers and say that it fulfills the scope that you and I have discussed and that you put forward before, and due to delay of time, that’s where we’re at now,” Wilkes said.
After Shearl replied that he hadn’t seen the information, Shields put an end to the back and forth, saying he’s had to accept blind faith in these projects and the work of LS3P and Carroll Daniel.
Other project news
The FHS and Highlands projects dominated most of the three-hour meeting, but there were some updates on other projects.
MCS Facilities Director Todd Gibbs spoke about the Highlands soccer field geological testing. The one-year boring survey showed swamp and pond muck below the field. The current drainage system on top of the muck has lost efficiency over time, so the water now sits atop the grass. One solution is to remove the muck and fill it with soil, sand and aggregate. The other is to install another drainage system, but Gibbs said it would also lose its efficiency over time.
Shearl asked Breedlove about the idea of replacing East Franklin School. Breedlove said there’s no price tag as they don’t know whether to build on the same site. Breedlove did say there are inherent problems with the building. MCS Maintenance Director Tracy Tallent said the major issues there have been sewer.
Near the end of the meeting, Breedlove said the school board will have memorandums of understanding for the FHS and Highlands projects for the commissioners at their June 11 meeting. School Board Attorney John Henning said doing an MOU between both boards is a best practice. Breedlove also said his board authorized sending a letter to Rep. Karl Gillespie and Sen. Kevin Corbin to consider public school funding. Breedlove says there’s a lot of debate in the legislature about public school funding,
At the end, the school board adjourned while the commissioners recessed until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4 for a budget work session.