Minutes
Construction Advisory Committee Meeting
January 29, 2007
Committee members met at the Fayette County Board of
Education to discuss the ongoing construction occurring within the school
system. Mr. Lee Davis, Comptroller, welcomed
the members to the meeting. Dr. John
DeCotis, Superintendent, and Mr. Davis thanked everyone for coming to the
meeting.
Mr. Davis discussed the last Board Meeting concerning
construction projects. At this meeting
on January 22, 2007, the Board discussed the prospect of looking for land for a
second elementary school to be built in the northern central quadrant of the
county, near the Sandy Creek Road area.
Although John Wieland properties has deeded the Fayette County Board of
Education property in the “Centennial” subdivision in Peachtree City, the Board
is not able to build on this property at this time due to a heavy amount of
rock in the land and single road access to the site. Aside from the suitability of land in the
northern central area, building in this area of the county would disrupt the
least amount of students when elementary school boundaries are discussed again.
Mr. Davis also discussed setting up meetings to proceed
with the sale of $30 million in school bonds.
These bonds will be set up as traditional bonds, with lower payments and
a lower debt service.
Dr. DeCotis discussed boundary plans that the Board of
Education had suggested at their “Board Institute” meeting, held on January 27,
2007. Beginning in April, 2007, the Board
will begin a task force of community and school representatives to discuss and
seek information for elementary school boundaries. This task force will report to a staff
committee. Formal school boundary
discussions will begin in August, 2007, and lines are expected to be drawn in
November, 2007. New boundaries will be
in effect for the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.
Mr. Klaus Darnall, Construction Manager, reported on the
most recent FY2005 bond construction projects.
The construction on Bennett’s Mill Middle School is still ahead of
schedule. The metal roof over the gym is
complete, and will be painted to match Cleveland Elementary School’s roof. The HVAC units in the gym are fully
operational. The building is 90%
painted, with the cafeteria completely painted; ceiling tile grids are 40%
complete; and classroom tiles are 20% complete.
They are glazing the exterior windows and completing exterior
doors. Weather permitting, the school is
scheduled to be completed for August, 2007, however the contractor will try to
finish construction before this date.
Dr. DeCotis informed the Committee that the Board has
hired a new principal for Bennett’s Mill Middle School, Ms. Rae Presley-King,
and other staff hirings would continue to happen in the near future. Dr. DeCotis further advised the Committee
that the Bennett’s Mill attendance zone would be discussed at the Called Board
meeting on February 5, 2007. In all, the
school system received a 93% response rate to the survey that was sent out to parents
of eighth graders who are slated to attend Bennett’s
At Fayette Middle School, the kitchen is progressing
well. The electrical switch gear for the
new equipment has been installed, and by the end of this week, 100% of the
concrete block in the serving line will be installed. During the summer, the HVAC units at the
school will be replaced, and new units will be added to the gymnasium.
At Brooks Elementary School, footings for the addition are
being installed and the project is underway.
The addition is expected to be completed by Fall,
2007.
At
For proposed elementary school #1 (at Inman Road and Hwy
92), the site plan has been approved by the State Department of Education;
working construction documents are being planned by the architect.
The land proposed for elementary school #2 (Sandy Creek
area), the Board of Education has contracted for tests to be done for rock
borings and septic system standards to support the school.
Mr. Mike Satterfield, Director of Facilities Services,
spoke about the “10 year facilities plan” projects/special projects to be done
for this summer. They are beginning to
receive requests and plans are underway for supplies, etc. The department is now filling work orders,
which are estimated at approximately 6,000 per year. The special projects slated thus far are
concrete block press boxes for the baseball fields at Fayette County and
McIntosh High Schools. In addition, Mr. Satterfield mentioned that Sandy Creek
High School’s track is being finished with rubber, which will be
completed in time
for their first
home track meet in April. Mr. Darnall
mentioned that for schools to get state renovation funding, they need to be 20
years old, or timing needs to be 20 years from the last time that state
renovation funding had been used.
Mr. Davis spoke about the information he received on the
Governor’s budget, which projects a 40% reduction in funding for capital
outlay. In addition, if the state
ad-valorem tax is cut, this will leave Fayette County with a $7.2 million
reduction in revenue. Although this
capital outlay decrease will not affect us with our current building phase,
this will affect us for the future.
Since Fayette County tries to be proactive about planning for future
student populations, we have not earned state funding for our recently built
elementary schools.
The meeting was adjourned.
Dr. DeCotis thanked everyone for coming and stated that he hoped they
enjoyed the meeting.