A discussion on interlocal agreements between the school board and county commissioners led a couple of commissioners to vent about issues they had with certain projects.
The four agreements would outline responsibility and oversight for upcoming capital outlay projects. The school board would oversee the Macon Middle School track and Nantahala School septic system projects, while the county would oversee the Franklin High and Highlands School projects. Macon County Attorney Eric Ridenour said any project that involves debt is under county control, plus the county already owns the Highlands School because it incurred debt for repairs several years ago.
The Macon County Board of Education unanimously approved the interlocal agreements at its May meeting and passed it to the commissioners to sign.
On June 11, Commissioner Paul Higdon felt the interlocal agreements were “essentially a blank check” for the projects. During the discussion, Ridenour realized there was old wording on one of the pages of the Franklin High School agreement and recommended pausing while it’s worked out.
Commissioner John Shearl decried letting the school board have “sole responsibility” for the design of the MMS track and Nantahala septic/wastewater project.
“Throughout this process, we’re the funding arm, we ought to be very much involved in this design stuff and have some kind of authority and oversight by this board so when it comes time to approve funding, we know what we’re paying for,” Shearl said.
Shearl and Higdon complained about the MMS track design, specifically the parking lot added on by the school board, and the language of the agreement.
“It’s basically ‘we’re going to design it, just write us a check and don’t ask us any questions,’” Shearl said.
“With these four projects here…not knocking the Board of Education or anybody that works in that, they don’t have construction experience, they’re teachers and principals and educators,” Higdon said. “You don’t look for them to have contracting experience.”
Commissioner Josh Young asked for someone from Macon County to go through the recently completed Macon Middle School annex building project and make sure the contractors are following the punch list.
County Manager Derek Roland said Project Manager Jack Morgan, a school system representative and the county’s hired architect go through all those projects. Roland said it would be great for a commissioner to walk through these projects.
After discussing contractual wording and responsibility for the projects, Higdon said no one wanted to spend $700,000 on a new Nantahala septic system and still have wastewater dumped in Nantahala Lake.
Shearl recalled school board member Hilary Wilkes’ assertion that there wasn’t any “fluff” on the Highlands School project, saying he recently went to the school and saw (plans for) an outdoor classroom with an added cost of $600,000 to $700,000 and was upset he didn’t know about it.
School Board member Diedre Breeden said their board’s idea was to add clarity to these projects because the school system heard the MMS track and Nantahala projects were their responsibility.
“For the last year, I have been going back and forth on those two projects unsure of what my role is,” Breeden said about the MMS track and Nantahala septic projects. “These two [memorandums of understandings], respectfully, are to help clarify what we need to be doing so we can do it correctly, so we can speed up these processes so we can get the [MMS] track done and get Nantahala done.”
Finance Officer Lori Hall said the school board has the green light on the MMS track since they’re handling the design and the commissioners already approved the funding. Breeden said the Nantahala School project concerned the school board because the commissioners said they wanted the school board to take the lead and the school board is codifying that desire.
Shearl then pivoted to the Highlands soccer field project, criticizing the year-long geological survey the school board contracted out to determine flooding/mud issue mitigation. Shearl said the school system could have used the commissioners’ expertise and inside information on that situation to avoid a year-long wait for results, using Higdon’s earlier line in saying “these people are teachers and principals” to tell Breeden to “rely on the experts.”
Also during the meeting, by a 4-1 vote with Higdon against, the board approved authorizing the county manager to enter into a contract for summer work at the Highlands School for $243,800. This work will be for an environmental assessment of the existing boiler pumps and removing the underground fuel tank.