Figures in USD 450 bond issue are reasonable

By Gary L. Reynolds

Special to The Capital-Journal

I have tried to stay off the Opinion page, but after reading the letter from Cindy and Tony Billau, I feel I must address information which, if not inaccurate, is incomplete.

Of the $32.5 million bond issue, approximately $2 million is for design fees. This is approximately 7 percent of the project costs, which is reasonable for projects of this type and size.

The architect estimated the overhead, profit and general conditions for the general contractor at a rate of 10 percent, which would be approximately $3 million. The board of education chose to hire a construction management firm (J.E. Dunn) instead of a general contractor, with the costs for construction management being a maximum of 10 percent, which is the same as that of a general contractor. The construction management cost for the most recent school project completed in Kansas by J.E. Dunn was 8.2 percent instead of the estimated 10 percent. We anticipate a comparable cost.

The construction management team, along with the architects and the board of education, will set a budget for each project identified in the overall bond issue. This will be considered a "not to exceed" cost for each project. The school district will recoup any savings if the project is completed under budget.

The going rate for construction management is not 3.5 percent, but rather a combination of 2.5 percent for overhead and profit plus 6 percent to 7.5 percent for general conditions, which adds up to the same 10 percent the architect figured into the cost of the bond issue for hiring a general contractor.

Also, the total cost of issuing bonds is a maximum of $130,000, not $1.3 million. All of these costs are standard for the industry.

In regard to the concern, "This leaves only $26.2 million for actual maintenance improvements," the correct dollar amount is $27.3 million and with the construction management fee built into the total bond cost, just as the general contractor fee would be, there is enough money to complete the work identified in the bond issue.

The accusation that "unlike a general contractor, a construction manager has little or no liability for a project once completed" is untrue. The liability lies with the subcontractors, and unlike a general contractor, the construction manager performs inspections of the project 45 days, then six months, and again 11 months after completion.

Both the general contractor and the construction manager work with a 12-month warranty on the work completed. The job of the construction manager is to help the district and the architect manage the risk by being proactive in doing these follow-up inspections. This provides an opportunity for the district to track problems and develop a history of issues that need to be addressed before the expiration of the 12-month warranty period.

J.E. Dunn has had an office in Topeka for 10 years and employs 17 individuals in Topeka, some of whom live in the Shawnee Heights School District and have children in district schools.

The thought that the Shawnee Heights maintenance staff, which consists of three people, can coordinate some of the HVAC, plumbing, electrical and maintenance on the older buildings and save the taxpayers is wrong. With 657,700 square feet to maintain throughout the district, these three dedicated individuals simply cannot coordinate and supervise the renovations addressed in the bond issue while doing their own jobs of maintenance and repair.

Believing the board of education didn't take input from patrons before this issue was put up for a vote is simply wrong. Early in the process, input was solicited from patrons, staff, site councils, PTOs, vendors and others. This effort encouraged the free exchange of ideas, discussions of needs versus wants, assessments of financial impacts, and debate on the priority of each upgrade/renovation.

The issue of prioritizing the upgrades and improvements is simply a reflection of a plan in progress. Obviously, the district will not approve putting down new driveways and parking areas and then bring in heavy equipment which might breakdown the asphalt. Should the bond issue pass, one of the first issues to be addressed will be additional parking east of the high school to accommodate student parking eliminated from the area between the two high school buildings which is the location for the addition to connect the two buildings. The construction of the addition between the two high school buildings will begin as soon as possible, but will be done in conjunction with other bond issue projects throughout the district. The thought that construction of the connect building should come before maintenance in the existing facilities is not true. Again, it will be constructed in conjunction with bond issue projects throughout the district.

All patrons of the Shawnee Heights School District are encouraged to obtain accurate information and vote on Tuesday.

Dr. Gary L. Reynolds is superintendent of schools for Shawnee Heights Unified School District 450.

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