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MEMORANDUM L' <br />TO: Laura Blackmon, County Manager <br />COPIES: - Willie Best, Asst. County Manager <br />Donna Coffey, Budget Director <br />FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engineer <br />DATE: February 14, 2008 <br />SUBJECT: Central Efland Bond/northern Buckhorn community sewer expansion <br />financing challenges <br />As per our recent conversations and your request for an update to the BOCC with material <br />for their review, please be advised of the following circumstances: 1) construction plans <br />and specifications are complete, subject to revision based on BOCC review of the draft <br />Engineer's Report and cost estimates and subject to revisions required by various review <br />agencies; 2) all ancillary permits (NCDOT, erosion control, etc.) have been acquired. <br />Furthermore, as of February 5, 2008, a draft or preliminary Engineer's report containing <br />the latest construction cost estimate for the above referenced project from the County's <br />engineering consultant, Coulter Jewell Thames (CJT) was submitted to the BOCC, the <br />County Attorney and yourself for review. As you can see from this report, the estimate <br />has dramatically increased (approximately $1.72 Million) above the amount we have <br />budgeted for this portion of the Efland/Buckhorn projects and from the estimates we <br />received during the effort to move forward with the Buckhorn EDD/southern Buckhorn <br />Community/Gravelly Hill Middle school project. <br />This represents a problem on several fronts. According to the Budget Director, the <br />County's outstanding and near term allocated debt capacity is maxed out through the <br />2009/2010 fiscal years. She also indicated that the County could "loan" itself sufficient <br />funds to complete the project near the end of FY 2010/2011, a strategy made practicable <br />given the fact that we will not be able to begin the process to actually start construction on <br />the project until early Spring 2009. <br />The progress of the project should follow the following outline: <br />• The County must hold a public hearing that has been advertised for at least two <br />weeks on the draft Engineer's report. <br />• The BOCC will have the draft report well ahead of the public hearing and must <br />determine whether to pursue the entirety of the central Efland and the northern <br />Buckhorn Community sewer expansion project; adopt a strategy that breaks down <br />the overall project into several smaller projects funded and constructed over an <br />extended period of time; or adopt some other strategy to move the project forward. <br />It is critical to note here that the scope of the project shown in the Engineer's <br />Report and submitted, reviewed and approved by all of the approval agencies (NC <br />Construction Loans and Grants Section, the EPA, Corps of Engineer's, etc., must <br />be constructed in its entirety as shown in the Engineer's Report.