Orange County NC Website
Approved 11/21/00 L <br />• If the Board of Commissioners approves the project concept, the County Budget Director <br />will prepare an agenda abstract and related capital project ordinance that provides <br />funding for the concept and pre-planning phase of the project; <br />• Appoint, by majority vote of the Board, either a Commissioner representative (preferably <br />the same representative that participated in the siting phase of the project) and one staff <br />representative, or two staff representatives, to partner with the school system as the plans <br />develop; <br />• Instruct the County Manager to update the Commissioners on a regular basis regarding <br />the written information shared by the School Superintendent. <br />6. Expenditure of Project Funds <br />Funding for Project Planning -School systems will not expend or encumber for planning of <br />any project until the Board of County.Commissioners has approved the plan concept. <br />Background -For several years, the Board of Commissioners has approved a capital project <br />ordinance entitled Planning for Future Projects for each school system. The creation of <br />these ordinances enabled a system to expend a portion of their pay-as-you-go funds for <br />planning during a project's conceptual stages. Once a project grew beyond the concept <br />stages, systems requested the Commissioners to approve a "project specific" capital project <br />ordinance allocating all funds anticipated to carry out the planned project. In turn, each <br />district expended their monies up-front for planning, design, architect, construction, <br />furniture and equipment. In return, the County reimbursed each District with all of the <br />project-related expenditures up to the total project budget. <br />With the changes implemented by the County Commissioners in June 1999, this process <br />has changed. It is important to note that unless a County approved capital project ordinance <br />is in place (i.e. adopted by the County Commissioners), that the County is not legally or <br />otherwise obligated to reimburse the school system for their expenditures. If the Board of <br />County Commissioners approve the project concept and capital project ordinance as <br />outlined in Item 5 above, the following steps occur: <br />• Following Board of Commissioner approval of fmal plans for the project, the school <br />system advertises for construction bids; <br />• Once the system receives the bids, the School Superintendent notifies the County <br />Manager, in writing, of the result of all bids received. <br />• The County Manager informs the Board of Commissioners, in writing, of the <br />construction bid results. <br />7. Submission Timelines <br />While the Board of Education may receive the bids, it should not execute any contract <br />until the Board of County Commissioners receives bid information and approves a <br />capital project ordinance for the construction phase of the project; <br />Page 5 of 6 <br />Policy on Planning and Funding School Capital Projects <br />