Garland ISD Interim Superintendent Deborah Cron called a special workshop of the board of trustees to discuss problems and potential solutions to the over-budget bond program.
Board President Linda Griffin called the meeting to order and encouraged board members to ask questions.
“We are here to discuss serious situations, serious information, serious things about our school district…We are here to review where we are, where we’ve been and where we want to go,” Griffin said.
Interim Superintendent Deborah Cron
Board Member Larry Glick provided a summary of the numbers from the beginning of the bond program to the present. He said that it had been troubling to him for almost two years that when individual amounts for all projects were totaled, it was $10 million more than what voters were told. Then when overages for the career technical center and natatorium were added, along with Jacobs’ bond management fee and other overages, deletions and additions, the total bond amount was $52.3 million more than the $455.5 million amount told to the public.
Herschel Acosta, representative of Jacobs Engineering, Inc., who works with the district to manage the bond, told the board that as it currently stands, there is not enough money to complete all the projects.
Acosta explained several changes to the list of projects that were made by former Superintendent Bob Morrison without the approval of the board of trustees. There were instances of Morrison adding projects to the list as well as removing some items, so that the money dedicated to those could be used for other projects.
He also directed Acosta to reduce the contingency amount without board approval. The contingency provides for unknowns like unforeseen cost increases or problems found during projects. Jacobs always recommends a 10 percent contingency and Morrison had directed Acosta to change it to 3 percent.
Another overage of more than $20 million came out of Jacobs being told by Morrison to go beyond the scope of work already decided upon and make all high school and middle school band halls the same size, apparently in an effort to be fair. Some would have required the addition of thousands of square feet.
There were also 13 facilities taken off the list under Morrison’s direction without board approval. This represented another $10.5 million discrepancy. Additionally, $3.4 million in changes to applied learning education rooms and clinics were added to the list without board authorization.
Acosta said that with these overages, all the projects could not be completed within budget.
Board of Trustees President Linda Griffin
“There comes a point when you run out of tricks,” Acosta said.
Acosta provided recommendations for cutbacks that would allow for all projects on the list to be completed as well as increase the contingency amount back to 10 percent. Some of the cost saving measures include: Using roof overlays instead of removing and replacing roofs; buying hollow metal doors instead of wood; reverting to the originally planned upgrades to band halls; removing upgrades to clinics and applied learning rooms from the list; and combining Phase III and IV to reduce labor costs.
He added that a natatorium could be built at the original $20 million price but it would be smaller, have less seating and extras and be built by Homer B. Johnson Stadium instead of at the site on Highway 190.
The board will review the recommendations.
“This bond is for the benefit of all children,” Griffin said. “That’s what we went out initially for, to improve the program and educational offerings in our school district. These are tough decisions that we are going to have to make and we need to take our time and make sure that we can live with the decisions…”