Friday Update - Will the public get to speak?

[State High Vision]

Friday Update

May 11, 2007

 

What To Do When Your World is Falling Down?

We’ve all been there:  that horrible moment of personal crisis – a medical emergency, a notice you’re being audited by the IRS or the love life of your teenager erupts in heartbreak.  It’s a crystallizing experience and there is a terrible momentary panic “What should I do”?  The answer is not an easy one, but most experts agree on three things; don’t panic, critically evaluate your options and work toward the best, logical solution to the problem.

The School Board is probably having “one of those days” at the moment.  After labeling the high school students  PAWNS, we know that the results of the student survey are being released today, despite the district’s request to students that these not come out until next week. On Tuesday, the district received bids results which drive their project cost  $18.4 million over budget They can’t be in a “happy place”.

What options are on the table?  The first and easiest is to blame the contractors.  “They need to go back and sharpen their pencils”.  This is a bit like an alcoholic blaming their latest DUI on the State Liquor Control Board.  The blame is misdirected and responsibility isn’t being taken. 

Another option would be to repeat the bidding exercise, in the hope that throwing the net wider could bring in some other “fish” willing to do the job for less money.  The problem here is that re-bidding all or part of the project would be grossly unfair to those contractors who followed the rules and submitted their best competitive bid.  These contractors have their cards are on the table.  Another round of bidding is unfair to those who played by the rules laid out by the District.

More importantly, any attempt to cut bids, repeat the bidding process or further reduce the scope of the project in an attempt to meet their “maximum project cost” would be UNFAIR TO THE PUBLIC.  Act 34 (1973), also called the “Taj Mahal” act is designed to prevent behind closed doors school board negotiating of monster, extravagant projects that the public does not want or can’t afford.   The act allows for a public hearing – which we witnessed for 10.5 hours last July – for the public to comment.  WE DID.  It allows for a second public comment if bids come in over 8% of estimates.  THEY DID – by $15 million dollars!  What could our district teachers, physical plant staff, curriculum planners, etc. do with that excess money?

Will the school board actually try to circumvent public comment????

The handwriting is on the wall for this project – it needs an independent review by someone objective.  Let's look at just some of the red flags that have caused this project to soar in price:

Geo-technical issues:  Sinkholes, soft soil, etc. have already added $3-6 million in design and they have not yet opened up the ground where heavy rains, etc. will likely create hazards and additional hurdles.  Note that local engineers contacted the district A FULL YEAR in advance to tell them that this site was problematic – nothing was done.

Permits and approvals – To date, the district has not received approval from the borough, land development approval, zoning changes or other regulatory permits to move forward with the building.  More surprising, they have not finalized the property easements (i.e. taking property from neighbors) and yet had planned to begin construction. 

Long term planning -  Without a long term plan for programs like athletics, the district has had to scramble to identify plans of action during proposed construction, releasing those just 2 weeks ago and adding significant money to the total project cost.  Note that the $2.4 million in phasing costs (including the $1 million for the turf at the South Track) is not included in the bid price.  This project is going to be very hard on the district budget – and on our wallets. 

Cost estimates – Local architects contacted the district last JUNE to tell them that this project would likely go over by $15-20 million.  THEY WERE RIGHT.  Additionally, other professionals have raised questions about the district’s COST TO CARRY the financing.  They believe that this has been grossly underestimated as well. 

The sensible approach is to take the data from the bidding exercise and learn from it.  We all recognize the plan being pushed by the school board is no longer affordable.  Let’s take this opportunity to open the box to evaluate the full range of options and engage the community in the discussion.  We all want to do what’s right for our kids and the community we love.

Now, more than ever, it’s clearly time to Stop and Reevaluate.