Agenda - 03-11-1998 - 6 - Laserfiche WebLink

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R�6_pml -The bmithfield Herald-JunOo "199 Next school to cost just $68 a square -.foot The board of education had feared $90 -$100, but negotiated contracts for a carbon -copy school kept costs low. By JENNIFER PENDER Staff Reporter Ray DeBruhl. building consultant to John- ston County schools, made his point Wednes. d "y. Carbon -copy c+chouls built under negotiat- ed contracts are cheaper than schools orcon- ventional design put out to bidders. Debruhl said after revealing the cost of a new western Johnston elementary school. 9f we had competitively bid, we would not have gotten the same results," DeBruhl told school buard members, county commissioners and state leaders. For the new schi►ol. DeBruhl negotiated with the contractors building the new Glen - dale-Kenly Elementary School. The result- Glendale- Kenly, with 76,959 square feet,- will open in August at a con- struction cost or $69.80 per square foot. The western Johnston school, 82,238 square feet at McGee's Crossroads, will cost $68.37 per squar* root. The ogres surprised County Commis- sioner Eleanor Creech. "You don't see many things today where the prices actually de- crease," she said. Moreover, the school board had expected the McGee's Crossroads school to cost $90 to $100 a square root, about average in today's building market, noted board member Dea- con Jones. DeBruhl was the architect or recently passed legislation allowing Johnston schools to negotiate building costs with contractors. He chose the Glendale -Kenly contractors be- cause they were building Johnston's first tru- ly prototype school. Using the Unitary Sys- tem Approach, or USA, they will take the Glendale -Kenly designs for classroom, cafete- ria and administrative spaces and arrange them to suit the McGee's Crossroads site. Superintendent Jim Causby said the Uni- tary System Approach and negotiated con- tracts will get western Johnston an olemen- tary school sooner than the old approach to building campuses. `It was an effort to build more facilities economically and at a more rapid pace," he said. Conventional schools tAke 16.18 months to design and build, Causby noted. The McGees Crossroads school will open In August 1898, less than 14 months from now, he said. Donnie Britt is president of Britt Plumb- ing Inc., which will install the plumbing at McGee's Crossroads for $3.19 per square foot. 'As far as price,, they're getting a good price," he said. Then again, DeBruhl and his design team, including architect Jimmy Hite, know how to build schools cheaply, Britt said, noting that he will use plastic pipe instead of cast iron at McGee's Crossroads.'Me whole organization is a good crowd for solving problems," he said. "USA didn't want rrills." House Majority Leader Leo Daughtry, who pushed DeBruhl's bill through the legislator, said USA and negotiated contracts will save Johnston taxpayers millions. "It was very im- portant to the county to build schools at a reasonable price," he snid. "When you spend public money, you have to be responsible." For the McGee's Crossroads school, De- Bruhl estimates the savings at $1.5 million. The legislation also allows him to negotiate contracts for an elementary school in Benson and a middle school at Cleveland. "Hopefully we can be n model for other counties throughout the state," said County Commissioner Cookie Pope. Britt. whose plumbing company is based In Wilson, certainly hopes so. "I wish we could do it here in Wilson County," he said. "This is really a gem here, and its going to be a hot item statewide." 'Britt said he hoped DeBruhl and his team would be successfbl in negotiating contracts for the Benson and Cleveland schools. If not, the board of education will have to advertise for bids, 9'd like to keep the same team," Britt said. "The more famillar the team, the smoother the project."