A Call to Action on Behalf of Children
Commissioners Refuse to Take Action to Provide Decent Schools for Transylvania County Students
North Carolina law gives the Board of Commissioners fiduciary control over the Board of Education. This means that the school board cannot issue bonds, and the county commissioners must sign off on financial obligations.
The $68 million school bond passed with about 59.6% of the vote in November 2018. The county commissioners immediately instituted the 10-cent tax increase for the bonds. A joint meeting with the commissioners to discuss plans for the bond occurred in January 2019 and the school board got to work. A local School Bond Construction Committee was formed; the membership included two county commissioners as well as two school board members, administrators, and representatives from the three schools involved. Teresa McCall and Jason Chappell currently represent the commissioners on this committee. The committee meets regularly, makes recommendations to the school board, and is aware of all decisions. There are certainly opportunities to ask questions.
The necessary contracts to proceed with detailed specifications and bids were sent to the commissioners on September 3, 2019. The commissioners did not sign the contracts to pay the architect and construction manager until January 13, 2020 – delaying the bond projects for more than four months.
Once the contracts were signed, the process began – a long process that included oversight and approval by various state agencies.
Before bonds can be issued, the school board must submit detailed plans and confirmed bids to the commissioners. As you probably know, the bids for the original plans for the school bond projects came back $18 million over budget. This happened because of supply chain problems and the precipitous rise in the cost of building materials. Nobody was incompetent.
As a result, the school board had to go back to the drawing board. The architect and construction manager came up with three options that would preserve the most important parts of the bond project. The school board, a majority Republican board, unanimously selected Option 1, which includes 75% of the original plans.
In order to proceed with the bond projects, the school board now needs the commissioners to sign off on contracts to pay the architect and construction manager to produce the detailed plans for Option 1 and send out the plans for bids. The school board presented its case to the commissioners in a joint meeting on January 31st, and asked for a timely response. If work on the bond projects is to proceed this summer, the contracts must be signed by April 4th.
It has been 7 weeks and the commissioners have not signed the contracts, effectively stopping any progress on the bond projects. Larry Chapman has stated in writing that the delays “are not due to anything the Board of Commissioners have or are doing”, a dishonest statement. They have now delayed the projects twice.
The commissioners claim that their questions have not been answered, an assertion that the school board denies. The membership of two county commissioners on the School Bond Construction Committee supports the school board’s assertion.
The commissioners state that since the new plans only include 75% of the original plans, they are under no obligation to honor the school bond vote. Actually, the language of the referendum says only that the money will pay “the capital costs of constructing, improving, renovating, and equipping school facilities, including improvements at Brevard High School, Rosman High School and Rosman Middle School…” This is still the plan.
The commissioners also claim that many voters who supported the bond referendum have changed their minds. 9,313 citizens voted yes on the school bond referendum; 6,297 voted no. For the referendum to have failed, more than 1,500 citizens would have had to vote no rather than yes. The argument is absurd.
Members of the school board have asked local Democrats and other supporters of the school bond projects to email school board members and county commissioners in support of proceeding with the local school bond projects.
Request for Action:
In a single (sample below) email to the county commissioners, state your support for proceeding with Option 1 for the school bond projects and your expectation that the county commissioners will approve the contracts for the architect and the construction manager before April 4th. (Note that you are not asking the commissioners to issue the bonds yet. You are asking them to approve the contracts.)
TO: jason.chappell@transylvaniacounty.org; jake.dalton@transylvaniacounty.org; david.guice@transylvaniacounty.org; larry.chapman@transylvaniacounty.org; teresa.mccall@transylvaniacounty.org
Subject: APPROVE THE SCHOOL BOND CONTRACTS
BODY: Dear Transylvania County Commissioners:
As a tax paying voting resident of Transylvania County, I am writing to you regarding the school bond passed with a majority of the vote in November 2018. I support proceeding with Option 1 for the school bond projects and I request the county commissioners to approve the contracts for the architect and the construction manager before April 4, 2022. I am not asking you to issue the bonds yet, simply I am asking you to approve the contracts.
I further request that Commissioner Chappell put a vote on approving the contracts on the agenda for the March 28, 2022 meeting. Transylvania County Commissioners need to honor the voters’ support of the bond referendum.
Thank you,
Copy the five county commissioners on the email. (This is so the school board members know how many emails the commissioners receive in support of the bond projects.)
If you want to go further, email Jason Chappell and request that he put a vote on approving the contracts on the agenda for their March 28th meeting. We would like to see some personal responsibility for refusing to honor the voters’ support of the bond referendum. Voters need to be able to hold the commissioners accountable.
If you want to go even further, attend the county commission meeting on March 28 at 6pm. Sign up for public comment if you feel so moved.
Questions? Email Alice Wellborn at alice.k.wellborn@gmail.com
