During this month’s Gilmer County Board of Education meeting, the board approved a motion to enter into negotiations with Black Construction. According to Superintendent Bryan Dorsey, the approval allows the district to enter negotiations with the firm for advice on expertise, such as cost and quality control. Dorsey says that out of five firms, the board chose Black based on financial ranking and bond capacities, state requirements when choosing a construction firm.

“They serve a lot of similar school systems and a lot of school systems around us and they have a positive reputation,”

Dorsey said in the meeting.

He went on to say the approval does not necessary mean the school system will have to sign a contract with the construction firm, but only enter into negotiations on terms to see how they price projects. The superintendent also said that even if the school system chose to hire the construction firm after negotiations, it doesn’t mean it’s obligated to stay with the construction firm, as all future projects with the firm will be based on performance satisfaction.

Facilities Director Eric Hofstetter said the district first issued an “At Risk” Request for Qualification (RFQ) announcement beginning on October 8th, 2012 on its system website. The purpose of the request was to acquire services for a negotiated per project agreement. In addition, Hofstetter told FYN that the school chose to do an RFQ rather than a bid process because an RFQ allows the fiscal flexibility. This means the district will not pay the firm if no projects are underway. Further, the vendor is paid per project at an agreed percentage of a lump sum cost to the school system. Hofstetter says this allows the school system to budget the cost of each project up front, while the risk is transferred to the construction management company for additional/unforeseen costs over the course of the project.

The five construction firms that responded to the RFQ were B&R Builders Diversified, LLC (Ellijay, GA), Parrish Construction Group (Perry, GA), Winter Construction Inc. (Atlanta, GA), R.K. Redding Construction, Inc. (Bremen, GA), and Charles Black Construction, Inc. (Gainesville, GA).

The companies were rated on a special rating rubric used to score the RFQs. Hofstetter says that out of the five, Charles Black Construction scored the highest overall with notable high scores including but not limited to bond capacity, experience of similar projects in close proximity to Gilmer County, and the ability to complete projects in a timely and efficient manner. Finally, both Hofstetter and Dorsey say the school system has several construction/renovation projects plans already which could include work on large projects such as athletics, renovations, and/or additions.

Black will team up with Robinson, Loia, and Roof Architects and Engineering, a firm the district currently uses. The two will begin and complete board approved capital projects and improvements.

During the meeting, the board also approved its September Financial Report.

Chief Financial Officer Julie Swindle told the board that as of September she had very little tax revenues to report.

“That is perfectly normal for this time of year,”

she said. Later, Swindle told FYN the reason for the tepid revenues. Since the district receives its tax revenues through local property taxes, she explained, it has yet to receive its tax revenues because tax bills were not due until November.

Swindle added that state revenues are coming in as expected, saying the school system is 25 percent through its budget. The school system receives state revenues through the Department of Education, such as money for student funds and vocational grants. Overall, Swindle said the total percentage of expenditures for the school system is 23.384 percent, just slightly over one percent under its target for the entire year.

The next regularly scheduled BOE meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th. To watch the November 13th BOE Meeting in full, please view the video below:

2012 Nov Gilmer Gov BOE from Fetch on Vimeo.