Agenda Package - 07-09-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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004 0 ATTACHMENT A Emergency Services Training Center Background lnforrnarion Central Carolina Community College began planning for capital improvements to our Emergency Services Training Center (former site of the Sanford/Lee County Airport) in 2001 as a result of the Higher Education Bond Bill (Senate Bill 912). This bond bill followed a state-wide referendum passed by North Carolina voters in November 2000 which authorized $ 3.1 billion dollars of state capital bonds for capital improvements at the state's universities and community colleges. This action made it possible for Central Carolina Community College to receive $ 93 million in state funds for Lee County projects if the County provided S 5 million in local matching funds. Lee County acted quickly to arrange the issuance of certificates of pailicipation to provide the needed match. The matching funds were assigned to construction projects at the CCCC Telecommunications Center and at the Emergency Services Training Center (ESTC) since those two sites were easily transferable to the county to service as collateral for the financing. The original $ 2.5 million budget for the ESTC was used to plan facilities that included a classroom building, a burn building for fire & rescue training, and a training tower for fire, rescue, and police training. In the fall of 2004 Lee County asked the college to expand our plan to include a 3,460 square foot area to house the Lee County Emergency Management Center at the ES'l C site. The cost of the additional space was estimated at $ 422,000 which included $ 35,000 for architectural and engineering services. Then, in the spring of 2005, the engineering cost estimates for the ESTC project exceeded the appropriated budget by approximately $ 500,000 and CCCC asked Lee County for additional funding in order to bid the project. Due to county budget constraints at the time, the commissioners were unable to provide additional funding for CCCC and also decided to withdraw from the plan to add space for the Lee.County EMC project as well. The design work for the EMC project had been completed and paid for at that point and David Smitherman, County Manager at the time, indicated that the county would need to make an adjustment to CCCC's project budget for the EMC design cost. That adjustment has not yet been made. In June 2005, CCCC's ESTC budget was reduced by $ 100,000 by a Lee County assessment for a sewer line extension to the construction site. This charge was not budgeted on our end due to a misunderstanding with former manager Bill Cowan concerning who would bear the cost of that sewer line. So, since additional funding was not available in the spring of 2006, CCCC contracted with our architectural firm to re-design our planned facilities to fit the