To meet the proposed completion date of August 2026, the FHS project design firm recommended authorizing construction documents and the bidding phase for the entire project to begin this August.
Speaking to the Macon County Commissioners at the May 30 budget workshop, LS3P’s Paul Boney and Emily Kite said they are completing documents for Phase One, the football stadium area. This means they have completed documents to request bids and include a cost estimate of 80% of Phase One and 100% of Phase Two, the academic building at the site of the current recreation field, by mid-July, Boney explained.
“We’ll be back before y’all July-August to tell you where we are,” Boney told the commissioners.
LS3P gave “around 50 pounds” worth of schematics to County Manager Derek Roland, which weren’t opened at the May 30 meeting. Boney said those drawings would be looked at in the non-public liaison committee meeting on June 1.
After that liaison meeting, LS3P was set to review the plans with the FHS Athletic Department on June 5 and then with FHS staff and faculty on June 1, 5, 6 and 7.
Boney said any notable changes to the project would go back to the liaison committee and then the commissioners. Kite said the feedback wouldn’t change the overall scope of the project.
The presentation was déjà vu from the Feb. 9 special meeting. LS3P presented the same budget figures as from Feb. 9, including the projected FHS budget estimate from $118,420,233 to $100,239,509. Boney said on May 30 that the $100 million number is “continually refined,” although that wasn’t reflected in the May 30 slides.
“Well, if we bring you guys back in six to eight months, we might get that down to $80 million,” Commissioner John Shearl said as a joke.
At that Feb. 9 meeting, the commissioners authorized LS3P to proceed with the design development of the main campus (Phase Two), which is one all-encompassing building, and move forward with preparing construction and bid documents for the stadium complex (Phase One).
Construction timeline
Boney and Kite presented a construction timeline that was the same as presented at the Feb. 9 meeting, with Phases One and Two going on different schedules. Phase One construction would entail funding approval from the Local Government Commission [LGC] around October/November 2023 with construction starting right afterward and continuing for the next 15 months. Phase Two would have LGC funding approval in February 2024 with construction starting right after and going through July 2026, with the new building opening for the 2026-27 school year. Phase Three, the demolition of the old buildings, would take the rest of 2026.
The only new information presented about the project during the meeting by LS3P was a second timeline, where Phase One construction would start after the 2023 football season and be concurrent with Phase Two construction. Getting funding approval would be scheduled in February 2024 and stadium construction going from March 2024 to June 2025.
The second timeline shows Phase One work beginning in February/March. Kite said that was to mainly avoid starting grading at the onset of winter and starting in a more favorable season.
“Once we start pushing ourselves beyond the middle of July [this year], we’re going to jeopardize our ability to open the school in a fall 2026 scenario,” Kite said, saying the current timeline avoids moving in the middle of the school year.
“If we don’t go ahead with the drawings [in July-August], we’re another six months once that’s authorized before we can get to the market,” Boney told the commissioners.
No decisions were made on the FHS project at the May 30 meeting.
As far as getting contractors, Boney said he feels more sub-contractors will be attracted to a project of this size in spring 2024. Boney said moving forward with construction documents will be a beacon for those companies and would result in competitive bids.
Kite and Boney confirmed the 2023 FHS football season will proceed as scheduled with home games on campus. However, the 2024 season is likely to consist of all away games due to construction.
Project funding
Boney thinks having the documents ready will help the county’s application for the Needs-Based Public School Grant. The $50-$60 million grant would help fund a large portion of the project and cut down debt repayments if the project is fully approved. Boney said the timeline for the grant award would be mid-September.
Boney was deferential to the commissioners, who didn’t make any decisions on the project during the meeting. Board Chair Paul Higdon told Boney the commissioners are currently trying to get through the budget process, which will take up the rest of June.
Near the end of the five-hour, 38-minute workshop during a general discussion, Higdon said, “every time we come back there’s a different story with Phase One.”
“[LS3P] would like to start it tomorrow,” Higdon said. Commissioner Gary Shields replied he wants to keep the ball rolling.
During the workshop, Mitch Brigulio with Davenport Finance gave a finance presentation that mirrored what he told the commissioners on Feb. 9. Brigulio said that Macon County currently had just under $25 million in existing debt and will pay off 80% of that within the next 10 years. Brigulio said with the county’s strong credit rating, they can conservatively take on up to $50 million of new debt for one-time capital projects.
Brigulio went over options on how the county could pay for the FHS project just with Phase One and no new school building, with Phase One and Two, and with both phases and the Needs-Based Public School grant.