Orange County NC Website
Approved 11/21/00 <br />~~ <br />5. Project Approval <br />A project's inclusion in the ten-year plan does not give the Schools or the County legal authority <br />to expend funds. The legal authority to expend funds lies in County Commissioner approved <br />capital project ordinances. Therefore, the schools should not incur any expenses for any capital <br />project until the Board of County Commissioners approves the capital project ordinance. <br />In order to provide timely flow of the approval process and ensure that all elements are <br />addressed, the following steps should be followed: . <br />Details included in each system's ten-year Capital Investment Plans regarding the scope and <br />timing of various phases of individual capital projects is limited. To that end, as individual <br />Boards of Education begin discussions related to new capital projects (new construction, site <br />acquisitions, major renovations, etc), they will be expected, in writing, to notify the Board of <br />County Commissioners of the substance of those discussions. The memorandum from the <br />School Board will: <br />• Provide the Commissioners with an overview of the project concept along with other <br />project specifics that the Board of Education has defined to that point; <br />• Justify the need based on current school capacities and projected student enrollments <br />consistent with the School Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (if the Ordinance is in <br />effect at this time); <br />• Provide a preliminary cost projection of the project based upon the adopted school <br />construction standards and provisions of the Cost Effective Facilities Initiative (CEFl), <br />which has derived from earlier discussions about "value engineering" (if this policy is in <br />effect at this time); <br />• Request that the Board of Commissioners approve a capital project ordinance to provide <br />funding for the initial planning phase of the project; <br />• Instruct the Superintendent to update the County Manager, in writing, of the project's <br />progress at his/her monthly meetings with the County Manager. <br />Upon receipt of the memorandum from the Board of Education, the Board of <br />Commissioners will: <br />• Act upon the project concept by either approving it or asking the Board of Education to <br />amend the concept plan; <br />• Instruct County staff to confirm the project's cost estimate and student capacity in <br />accordance with the County's adopted School Construction Standards Reports along <br />with student enrollment projections; <br />Page 4 of 6 <br />Policy on Planning and Funding School Capital Projects <br />