Jackson Free Press

Members of the Jackson City Council grilled representatives of Jackson Public Schools and the JPS Board of Trustees Monday over holdups of $150 million in construction and renovation work on some Jackson schools. Jackson voters approved the work in a 2004 referendum vote, but school officials say skyrocketing construction costs are making it unlikely that every school slated for work will get everything originally planned.

The project included $24 million in building additions, $37 million in school renovations and $89 million in new school construction, including a new $10 million elementary school and two $18 million middle schools in south and north Jackson, to handle the exploding growth in those two sections of the city.

Council President Leslie McLemore told JPS representatives that voters were pressing him for answers on why construction was not moving on the three new schools two years after voters agreed to tax themselves to pay for them.

"Part of the frustration with the general public is that we had expected movement much faster, and so talk to us as candidly as you can about what are the real stumbling blocks here," McLemore said. "… Because when people ask me about it, I don't know what to say to them."

Jackson Public Schools Facilities and Operations Executive Director Fred Davis admitted to the council that the $150 million project was turning out to be more work than originally envisioned.

"The challenge is on a number of fronts this past year, and it takes energy and it takes time to deal with each and every issue that comes up, and there's only so many hours in the day in staff time and board time to address (them)," Davis said.

Exploding costs, due in part to rising oil and construction material prices, are stalling most construction, with the board facing up to a 40 percent price increase on steel. Last Monday, the board learned that no bid for a new water-cooled air-conditioning system came in under $4.6 million—more than twice the estimated price, forcing the board to scrap bid requests and redesign the system for cost savings.

Also, potential student population assessments made just prior to the 2004 referendum vote panned out to be insufficient. South Jackson and north Jackson student populations are growing faster than expected, with parents in central portions of the city migrating to marginally newer neighborhoods at an accelerated pace.

"So if we started out, for example, with a building for 650 students, ... we looked at the new projected growth, and (discovered) that (650) wasn't going to get it. It'll take maybe 750," Davis told the council.

The unforeseen changes are forcing the district to consider cannibalizing money slated for some projects in the $150 million endeavor to insure the completion of others. Projects such as renovations at Barr and Blackburn Elementary schools are on hold, and the board is toying with the notion of downsizing some of the new schools slated for construction, such as the new middle school in north Jackson, a planned 650-student facility that the board is considering making a 400-student facility. The board is also considering swiping $4 million from maintenance projects outlined in the $150 million bond to finance new school construction and school additions.

McLemore questioned why developers couldn't move ahead with new school construction in north Jackson while designers hammered out the problems with Barr and Blackburn.

"My concern is while you're planning and examining and evaluating all of the options, the $150 million bond issue approved by the citizens of the city is not moving forward," McLemore said. "... Can't we start moving on North Jackson Elementary, or North Jackson Middle School?"

Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler warned JPS representatives that his ward's population was exploding, with entire new neighborhoods currently under construction.

Davis assured the council that design work in some schools are "95 percent complete."

McLemore joked that the board should "fire these architects" at this point.

Socrates Garrett, of Preferred Management Group, LLC, one of the joint bond managers of the $150 million project, said the architects were not the bottleneck.

"The architects had the heaviest workload, and they're finishing it faster than anybody else," Garrett said, adding that nailing down minority participation was easy. "The minority community is well known to local program managers like ourselves. We pretty much know where the talent is, so we identified that early on. But sometimes you have to get a lot done with a little resources, and we have a case where the bond was overzealously sold, and the budget is not able to carry all the projects in the bond itself. Someone has to prioritize and make those difficult choices. The school board and school district make those decisions."

JPS board member Jonathan Larkin said the district could not go forward with the new school construction without money-saving design changes in all aspects.

"If you proceed based on the existing specifications and the existing buildings sizes, then when you get down the road, when all the design is done, you'll find that you don't have enough money for Barr and Blackburn," Larkin said. "Are we allowed to do that? Yes. Is it morally and ethically right to do that? No."

JPS Board President Delmer Stamps said the board would begin making decisions Wednesday.

"We're going to put some people to work Wednesday night. We know what we know, and the board will select the best route to go," Stamps said.

Previous Comments

ID

118883

Comment

I really hope that Barr and Blackburn don't get the short end of the stick after all is said and done. I also hope that we don't end up with new schools where students are going to class in broom closets.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-04-23T18:31:05-06:00