News

County ignoring plan that saves $30M, HHS alumni say

By Bill Moss, Published: August 2, 2016

Hendersonville High School alumni are amping up their campaign to save the historic HHS building for classroom use, accusing the Board of Commissioners of brushing aside an alternative the graduates claim would save $30 million.

Carey O’Cain, who retired as a senior manager from Brasfield and Gorrie, a large commercial construction company, has been seeking an audience with the county commissioners to present the alumni association’s position. Commissioners have yet to give him a formal spot on the agenda, although they have heard from HHS graduates and students.
O’Cain said as he dug more deeply into the design and construction cost of county projects, he concluded, “This just doesn’t add up.”
The county had paid architects Clark Nexsen $2.4 million for design of the Health Sciences Center, he said in a news release that he handed to reporters leaving a Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night. The same firm recommended a new emergency services complex at the Balfour school property costing $13.6 million. “According to national construction data, (for) a project of this nature and size, the construction and design cost should not exceed $11 million even with contingencies for site work, material testing and other soft costs,” O’Cain said. (Commissioner Bill Lapsley, a civil engineer, voted no on the emergency services project, saying the price was too high.)
Last spring commissioners chose a Clark Nexsen option for HHS that would cost $53 million for a new classroom building, gym and cafeteria. When commissioners ordered the architect to enlarge the gym, the cost spiked by $10 million and still left renovation of the historic Stillwell building unfunded.

The county then asked Vannoy Construction, the contractor for the $30 million health sciences building, to estimate renovation cost for the historic classroom building. The pricetag: $13 million, Vannoy said.

All told, O’Cain’s numbers show HHS Alumni Assocation’s plan costing $46 million versus $76 million for the plans the commissioners have endorsed — a $30 million difference.
“Not only that,” O’Cain added. “No students are in termporary trailers, no students are in unsafe environments such as Highway 25, there is more capacity for expansion, Stillwell building is dramatically renovated and a larger auditorium and gymnasium are also utilized.”
O’Cain emphasizes he is not speaking in his role as Laurel Park mayor; he signed the news release “Carey O’Cain, taxpayer.”
He says his numbers are more than wishful speculation.
“Anticipating that the HHSAA’s budget number would be questioned, HHSAA sought out interested general contractors over the last six weeks,” the statement said. Three contractors submitted budgets that came in less than the Clark Nexsen projections — ranging from $36 million to $44 million, an average of $40 million.
“These averages are miles apart from Clark Nexsen’s budget equivalent,” O’Cain says. “Not just miles apart, they are in a different universe.”
It all adds up, in O’Cain’s view, to construction costs that are too high, not only for HHS but for the health sciences center and the new emergency services headquarters.
“It seems the county continues to select an architect without competition,” he said. “Bring in competitors! Have each architect present a proposal identifying their concept including budget … We are trying to keep taxes low yet are missing one of the greatest opportunities to save. Obviously, based upon Balfour (EMS) and the Health Sciences Building, budget control is needed.”
Although commissioners have taken the attitude that the train has left the station, the alumni argue that there's still time to revisit a decision that will map the future of HHS students for a generation.
“Even if a few thousand dollars have been wasted, would it not make sense to change direction and save approximately 30 million taxpayer dollars? … If we scrutinize and manage these budgets our county can have more.”