$2 million expansion at Sparta School gets green light

The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved moving forward with a public hearing on a nearly $2 million request from the Alleghany County Board of Education to fund an eight-room and multipurpose room addition at Sparta School at a meeting on Monday morning.

A public hearing is scheduled to be held on Jan. 2 at 6:30 p.m., at which time the public will have the opportunity to comment on the project.

Upon the preliminary approval of the $1,950,000 project, Sparta School Principal Susan Murphy commented, “I would like to thank you very much for the support you have given Sparta School in the past and hopefully, continue to give us in the future. This is a beginning for us that is very much needed.”

Presenting a packet of information to the commissioners, Superintendent Jeff Cox stated, “The first sheet inside of there is a summary of the total cost we are looking at for this project. We were pleased to have the bids come in a little bit less than we expected; not by a whole lot, but a couple hundred thousand dollars.

“J.R. Vannoy and Sons (of Jefferson) was the low bidder with the base bid of $1,621,000,” Cox continued. “You see there three alternates. The first alternate was to meet the Aug. 1 completion date...Vannoy and Sons believes for $25,000 extra, they can meet that timeline. It’s really important to us obviously to have the building completed by Aug. 1 so we can be ready when we open school next year and be ready to put children in. Alternate number two we put in case the bids came in a lot higher than we expected; we wanted to at least know the cost of that multipurpose building was...we considered cutting it out and it was $435,000 for that room by itself. Alternate number three, there’s a big rock that sits out in the area (located northeast of the K-2 building at Sparta). It really doesn’t come into play with the construction of the building itself, but as far as having extra space out there for playground, parking or anything else, the rock would need to go. So we went ahead and included how much it would be to get rid of that big rock that’s sitting out there. I do think it’s probably a safety hazard if we left it.”

Cox explained to the commissioners the members of the board of education opted to accept Vannoy’s bid.

County Manager Don Adams requested a summary of the project, including the architectural fees, furniture and technology for the building and the contingency fund, said Cox. “That’s what this summary represents,” he said. “The total construction cost would be $1,950,000. Commissioner J. Warren Taylor clarified, “You have not omitted the multipurpose building here in the total?”

Cox replied, “No. We weren’t wanting to do that to begin with. I do think the space is needed when you have all those preschoolers over there.”

Taylor then asked, “What date would Vannoy have to have the bid in order to complete by Aug. 1?”

In response, Cox said, “Don and I have been working together on this pretty closely to work through the timeline. We’re pretty much to the point where we’re going to have to have a decision from Don to be able to take all the steps he’s going to need to take to get a January public hearing, approval from the LGC (Local Government Commission) and back to you guys in February I think for the final vote and cut them loose after that.”

“So they’re aware of that time lag before the project can actually begin?” Taylor asked.

Cox explained the construction company put together a similar building in Wilkes County that was a little bit bigger than the proposed Sparta project within 40 days.

Taylor asked if the building was similar to that of Millers Creek. “Yes, that was the model they used,” Cox responded.

Board of Education Chair Charles Crouse noted, “I was personally pleased the bids came in what they were. They are below what their initial estimates were, which is good for all of us as far as I’m concerned.”

Commissioner Ken Richardson stated, “I think it was mentioned by Commissioner Taylor when we went to visit Millers Creek in March or April, this was exactly what I was hoping we could do last year. This was what I’ve supported all along and I’m tickled also that the bids came in such as they did. I’m pleased and very much support this part of it. This is one reason I have encouraged us to get together more often. I think it’s needed. I think it should have been done earlier (but) it’s neither here nor there. That’s in the past and you can’t do anything about it. I’m very pleased with all the work that has gone on with this and I can put my support behind this project.”

Cox then addressed what he stated was of concern for both boards, how the project fits into the bigger scheme of things and the long-range needs.

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