RPS Construction Costs: Bad Numbers and Big Disconnects
Written By Kenya Gibson, City of Richmond School Board Member, 3rd District, and signed by colleagues Patrick Sapini, 5th District; Felicia Cosby, 6th District; Jonathan Young, 4th District and Scott Barlow, 2nd District
Last year, I joined many public education advocates and community members to successfully support a meals tax proposal that has generated millions of dollars for the long-overdue construction of new schools. Because our resources are so limited and our needs are so vast, I was eager to see the costs for the three schools in development. My hope was to quickly put the anticipated remaining $30 million dollars towards another desperately-needed new school.
In the spring of last year, I pushed for the school district to own these projects as is typical. I believe that if our district owned the process, we could ensure we build schools that truly meet our student needs in a more cost-efficient way. City council agreed. I spoke at a city council sub-committee meeting in support of Councilwoman Kristen Larson’s resolution stating that the school district should build schools. Her resolution passed, however our board voted to allow city ownership through the Joint Construction Team.
I learned of initial cost estimates in an article by the Richmond Free Press. This was disappointing. I think it is fair to expect that as an elected official serving on the board of the school district who will ultimately operate these buildings, I would have learned this directly from the city in a traditional public process. Furthermore, even meeting minutes from the Joint Construction Team show no mention of the costs that were ultimately shared with city council.
On March 27th, three of my board colleagues and myself submitted a joint letter to the city regarding the high construction costs. The following day, the city issued a press-release regarding the $30 million overage. On April 1st, the city administration responded with a letter.
As someone who was trained as an architect, spent considerable time exploring costs for projects like this, and is familiar with the bidding process, the responses provided by the city do not sufficiently explain these high fees. LEED green building methods, inflation, and the cost of building in Richmond should have been accounted for in the estimates we were provided in September last year.
Beyond that — frankly, I feel betrayed that our mayor proudly announced a fully-funded school modernization plan with numbers that the city now says they knew were bad. Clearly, the Joint Construction Team has not prevented communication issues, and may be creating more problems than it solved.
Yesterday, five school board members including myself submitted the response below. I am very thankful to Mr. Patrick Sapini, Ms. Felicia Cosby, Mr. Jonathan Young, and Mr. Scott Barlow for taking this stand with me. While there is more work to do, I am proud to report that last night the board agreed to move forward with a third-party estimate of the facilities plan and that this process will have the full oversight of our democratically-elected school board. While ensuring true good-governance through this process will take continued vigilance — this is progress.
April 8, 2019Dear Ms. Selena Cuffee-Glenn,
We have reviewed the response letter. While we appreciate the additional detail, serious questions do remain. Simply put, based on the estimated building costs we were provided just in September, our construction costs should be millions of dollars less.
We are also concerned that several points in the city’s response do not align with actual board discussions. Namely, our board did provide consensus to proceed with a third-party facilities plan cost estimate. Also, our board did not direct that the new schools must open in 2020 at any cost.
The letter notes that the city was aware that the $110 million estimate was low in September. We are disappointed this was not shared with the board. It is even more concerning to us that numbers which are now described as bad, were used by the Mayor to base his plan for school modernization as required by the voter referendum.
It appears that work must now be redone.At best, all of these issues indicate a disconnect. At worst, they highlight a significant flaw that is created by removing school construction oversight from the school district.
Our hope now is that the third-party estimate of the facilities plan is completed, with expediency and with the full oversight of our democratically-elected school board.
Sincerely, Ms. Kenya Gibson, School Board Member, 3rd District; Mr. Patrick Sapini, School Board Member, 5th District; Ms. Felicia Cosby, School Board Member, 6th District; Mr. Jonathan Young, School Board Member, 4th District; Mr. Scott Barlow, School Board Member, 2nd District.
cc: Ms. Betty Burrell Mr. Robert Stone Mr. Gary Hundley Mr. Darin Simmons Mr. Bobby Vincent Mr. Andreas Addison Ms. Kimberly Gray Mr. Chris Hilbert Ms. Kristen Larson Mr. Parker Agelasto Mr. Ellen Robertson Ms. Cynthia Newbille Ms. Reva Trammell Mr. Michael Jones Ms. Elizabeth Doerr Ms. Cheryl Burke Ms. Dawn Page Ms. Linda Owen
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