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Commissioner Halkiotis said that over the past three years there have been several meetings with Mebane and they have been very receptive and cooperative with this. Libbie Hough brought up the issue of smart growth principles and how they can implement these in the middle school. Specifically, the natural day lighting feature is an important sustainable system far the model. With the construction costs being estimated at $2.7 million over, this could be one of the first things to go. They want to protect this and other smart growth principles. This is the main component of the cast overrun. Chair Jacobs said that on October 25th the County Commissioners will have a work session on capital spending, and they will have a clearer idea of how they can respond in the short term and long term with regard to capital spending. John Link said that they already have in place the ability to sell bonds or to borrow money far all major projects based on the construction standard costs on the books. He suggested that the OCS look at its capital schedule for all projects. One of the issues is when the school system would have to have the last million or the last two million, because this will tie in with the schedule for debt service beyond what they have scheduled now. They need to talk about the schedule of expenses with these two projects (middle school #3 and high school #3). He said that there may be a state-wide referendum for school construction and this might not be until next fall. He is not very optimistic about it, but it is a possibility. He said that it would be helpful to speak in specifics as to exactly when the money is needed for both projects. Brenda Stephens said that their fund balance is the only funding source for major start-up costs for middle school #3. She asked if there was another funding source that the County could find. She said that they dipped into their fund balance already this year, which lowered it significantly. Chair Jacobs said that it would be useful to see an estimate of the start-up costs e. High School #3 (CHCCS Major Issue) Elizabeth Carter said that Neil Pedersen will bring forth some of their concerns about the third high school. They will also come in above budget for this school. Neil Pedersen said that the memo from Steve Scroggs and him to John Link is attachment 1 e. He made reference to the third page. There was a detailed presentation by Steve Scroggs to the Board of County Commissioners already. Neil Pedersen said that they did not discuss financials at the last meeting. Based an estimated costs, they are $4.5 million over the budget. The budget did not include some of the athletic fields. The school board reviewed several options and they did not believe that they could reduce the scope of the school. There are two options of cost reductions. In option 1, they brought in money from the other capital budget line and value engineered some itemized reductions. Other than that, the entire project remains intact. He said that they have 7,000 square feet over what was programmed because of the plan to go from 800 to 1,200 students. Option 2 would delay the construction of the auditorium and choral and band room, and build them in phase 2. This is not acceptable. In this option, they would build a general purpose room