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2022-02-03 Agenda Review NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 PAGE 317 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 4:20 p.m. in the Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina. Members present: Chair Julia Olson-Boseman; Vice-Chair Deb Hays; Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, Jr.; Commissioner Bill Rivenbark; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; County Attorney Wanda M. Copley; and Clerk to the Board Kymberleigh G. Crowell. Chair Olson-Boseman called the Agenda Review meeting to order and announced that the purpose of the meeting is to review and discuss the agenda items for the February 7, 2022 Regular Meeting with discussions as noted: Regular Item 7: Consideration of Contract for ES&J Enterprises, Inc. In response to Board questions, Environmental Management Director Joe Suleyman stated that the cost for the partial closure came in higher than originally budgeted. The decision was then made to do a temporary closure versus a permanent closure. Aesthetically the temporary closure will not have a nice green finished product and staff will be managing a greater amount of stormwater because there is no soil layer to absorb the water, but it gets the project within budget. In response to additional Board questions, Mr. Suleyman stated that the closure type change will have no impact on the height of the landfill. The difference between a permanent closure and a temporary closure is the two foot of soil, six inches of topsoil, and the sod that protects the liner system. When a permanent closure is done, the temporary liner system will be removed and replaced with a more robust liner system with a protective cover. Any change in the height of the southern property would have to be approved by the Board and the northern property is already at its maximum height. In response to additional Board questions Mr. Suleyman stated that most of the Hurricane Florence debris has been consumed either through the compost system or for erosion control. A small amount has also been given away for various projects. There is still some debris onsite, but by state law it cannot be placed in the landfill. STAFF UPDATE - RiverLights Elementary and Pine Valley Elementary Construction Budget Update Eddie Anderson, New Hanover County Schools (NHCS) Assistant Superintendent for Operations, provided a budget update on the RiverLights Elementary and Pine Valley Elementary Construction projects as follows:  NHCS Budget Update – Facility Planning and Construction:  RiverLights Elementary School:  Construction: $23,082,300  Total Project Budget: $27,120,391  Budget March 2021:  Pine Valley Elementary School Replacement:  Construction: $23,509,750  Total Project Budget: $27,809,976 NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 PAGE 318  Budget March 2021:  Mary C. Williams Renovations:  Construction: $5,871,000  Total Project Budget: $7,716,486  Budget March 2021:  What Changed:  Global economic impacts including supply chain interruptions, material shortages, labor shortages, and inflation  Updated Budget:  Cost analysis obtained from the following resources: local contractors, cost estimators, Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and discussions with other school districts  RiverLights Elementary School:  Construction: $38,378,875 (> 66%)  Total Project Budget: $43,492,517 (>60%)  Updated Budget January 2022: NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 PAGE 319  Pine Valley Elementary School Replacement:  Construction: $39,205,500 (>67%)  Total Project Budget: $44,323,142 (>60%)  Updated Budget January 2022:  Mary C. Williams Renovations:  Construction: $13,554,711 (>103%)  Total Project Budget: $16,114,449 (>108%)  Updated Budget January 2022: NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 PAGE 320  Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund:  Potential Supplemental Funding:  The 2021 State Budget (SL 2021-180) includes significant changes to the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund (NBPSCF). The NBPSCF is funded with revenue from the NC Education Lottery and is designed to address critical K-12 school facility needs across North Carolina.  NHCS eligible in 2021-23 State Budget (SL 2021-180)  New maximum grant amounts: $30 million for Elementary Schools  Grant funds can now be used for new buildings, additions, repairs, and renovations  Local matching requirements now range from 0% to 35% based on property tax data  Application deadline is Tuesday, March 15, 2022  Potential Grant Funding:  Next Steps:  NBPSCF Grant Application:  Board of Education: February 15, 2022  County Commissioners: February 21, 2022  DPI: March 15, 2022 In response to Board questions, Mr. Anderson stated that currently, Pine Valley Elementary has a lot of classrooms but lacks the support spaces that would be provided in a school built today. There are exterior doors to classrooms, and for certain classrooms, a student must go outdoors and walk down the sidewalk to get to the restroom. These are examples of the difficulty in addressing some of the school’s safety and security issues. During construction, some mobile units will be placed onsite and a wall will be built between the field and the current school. The new school will be built on the field and then the old school will be torn down. He also confirmed that NHCS normally receives about $2 million in lottery funding which is typically put towards annual capital expenses. A brief discussion ensued regarding the priority in which the schools are needed. Mr. Anderson stated that he would recommend that each project run concurrently. The earliest that the Pine Valley and RiverLights schools could be completed is August 2025. The design would be completed with bids in hand for Mary C. Williams by the time RiverLights is complete which would allow construction to start as soon as those students move into RiverLights. In response to Board questions, Mr. Anderson reported that NHCS has approximately 1,000 less students enrolled than prior to the pandemic. Since redistricting, NHCS has not updated its enrollment projections. It was felt NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 PAGE 321 that with the pandemic ongoing accurate numbers would not be received by updating the projections at this time. NHCS is looking to update enrollment projections in the fall of 2022. Ogden Elementary is slightly over capacity but Blair Elementary and Porters Neck Elementary are slightly under capacity. Bellamy Elementary is at capacity and Anderson Elementary is slightly over capacity. The construction of RiverLights will provide some relief for those schools. The projects would not create any redistricting as the Pine Valley district will remain the same and the Mary C. Williams district would become the RiverLights district. In response to Board questions, Mr. Anderson stated that if RiverLights does not move forward, then NHCS will not be able to move forward with Pre-K expansion. NHCS believes it is a better plan to create larger Pre-K centers and efforts are made to limit Pre-K classes being in K-12 schools. Pre-K centers are unique and the way to go and this construction will allow for Pre-K centers to be in the northern, central, and southern areas of the County. If he had to prioritize the three projects, he would say that RiverLights and Mary C. Williams are the priority. Chair Olson-Boseman thanked Mr. Anderson for the presentation. A brief discussion was held about the willingness of the New Hanover Community Endowment (NHCE) to help. County Manager Coudriet stated based on discussions with NHCE members, they do not believe that their charge is to step into the shoes of local government. Although they would not want to replace what would otherwise be the County’s responsibility, that does not mean that they are not interested or capable of helping. After a brief discussion about the NBPSCF grant, the Board approved by general consensus for NHCS to move forward with the grant application. NHCS will bring the application to the Board at its February 21, 2022 meeting for formal approval. The grant application is due to DPI by March 15, 2022 and if awarded, the Board will have 60 days to decide on whether to accept the grant. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chair Olson-Boseman adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kymberleigh G. Crowell Clerk to the Board Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting.