“We will explore options. Nothing is off the table,” he said when asked if one of the solutions to funding a possible $22.853 million to $23.715 million school would be through a bond issuance. “We're going to try to find the quickest funding with the best price.”
Brown's comments came after Roanoke Rapids Graded Schools Superintendent Dennis Sawyer stood before the board today to inform them the school system's board of trustees last week selected Smith Sinnett Architecture of Raleigh for the design and planning of the new school. “We would like to open by 2018,” he said. “I know time is of the essence.”
Sawyer and his staff met with county administration last week to discuss the selection of the architectural firm and other matters that will go along with possibly building a new Manning school.
Discussion of building a new school is nothing new and in February commissioners laid the groundwork for the process by allowing the school system to proceed with solicitation of requests for qualifications for architectural firms that would be best suited for designing the school.
Sawyer told the board today that discussion of building a new Manning school comes as the debt for Belmont construction was retired in 2011 and the debt for Weldon Middle School construction will be retired this year. “To prevent escalating costs, it's important to begin as soon as possible.”
Sawyer said Smith Sinnett is no stranger to the school system as the company was involved in the armory project as well as the proposed athletic complex.
Plans would call for the new school to be built in two phases, one building going under construction while the other is used for instruction. Such a construction method, John Sinnett, a principal in the company, said, would save around $3 million.
Board Chairman Vernon Bryant recommended taking no action on the matter today. “We need to take the information and study it. Then we'll be able to hopefully make some decision.”
The next meeting of the board is a May 18 budget session scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the boardroom of the Historic Courthouse.
