For the Greenville Public School District, meaningful utilization of its Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to complete various building improvement projects is imminent, now more than ever.
During their regular meeting Tuesday, the GPSD Board of Trustees voted 4-0 to hold a special called meeting concerning the architect agreement and overall ESSER projects with Durrell Design Group owner, Greg Durrell, who is the project manager.
Trustee Drew Newsom was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
The urgency of a looming special meeting was also partly in light of an item in the district’s “Bills and Accounts” report, which displayed a seemingly large dollar amount for services rendered by Durrell Design Group.
According to the meeting agenda, the board was slated to consider approval of the architect agreement for ESSER projects.
Board attorney Dorian Turner broached concerns of Durrell pertaining to the district moving forward with entering in the contract with his firm and the other firms being considered and advised consulting incoming superintendent Dr. Glenn Dedeaux about the matter.
“The problem that we had is we had finalized between Dr. Monroe, myself and the project manager Greg Durrell what we thought the firm contract with the district should be and then on this past Thursday evening, I got a call from an attorney who said he represented both of the architectural firms that the district is looking at retaining and so they submitted to me last night some additional changes. I’m in the process of reviewing that,” said Turner. “So far, I think we’ll be able to reach an agreement.”
Summarily, Turner said there was a need to “pull” the contract because what the other architecture firm proposed did not reflect the agreement in the board materials.
Due to that fact, the board resolved to schedule a special meeting to further discuss the contract and the projects it will encompass.
“I don’t know that you want to wait and lose a whole month before you get those architects on board once you get an agreement finalized with them,” she added.
Board trustee Jan Vaughn affirmed the board’s concern and the need for a special meeting.
“The board is very concerned too because actually we hadn’t done anything. So, we do need to have a special meeting because you see on the bills and accounts that Mr. Durrell is continuing to get paid,” said Vaughn. “We need to have a special call meeting ASAP and let our new superintendent get on to whatever it is we need to be doing with these funds.”
Each board member was of like sentiment.
Nearly a year and a half ago, the board was presented with a report detailing where the district’s most significant costs lie in terms of campus sites in dire need of repair, internal and external improvement, modernization, etc.
Back in January, outgoing superintendent Debra Dace updated the board on the progress of the project, which was said to be in the “pre-planning” phase.
As reflected in GPSD’s report of Bills and Accounts for the month of January, $34,627 was the cost for services of the Jackson based architecture, consulting and planning firm, Durrell Design Group.
Federal programs director Brian Foster said at that time, his meetings with firm owner Greg Durrell had been about a variety of things and that Durrell had walked through each campus extensively, from the hallways to the restrooms and formulated a budget for the improvements that needed to be made.
Next steps were said to be to gather plans based on the completed reports, collaborate with the architects and develop a scope of work to be approved by the board.
Dace referred to the project management contract and reiterated that all of the work would be phased out in 36 months and probable costs for the project had been developed.
She highlighted during the board’s regular January meeting the total ESSER construction budget is roughly $31 million.
GPSD’s project management fee is $623,000; the design team fee — 6% of the construction fee — is roughly $1.8 million; and miscellaneous cost estimates will be developed based on the approved contract requirements.
Dace also noted during the January meeting that the two architectural firms being considered were JBHM Architecture of Jackson and Beard + Riser of Oxford.
