ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Board of Commissioners took two more steps toward renovating the future Public Services Building — with one official standing alone in opposition.
During its monthly meeting Tuesday, the board approved a final resolution for financing renovations at the former Pee Dee Electric office on Midway Road.
The project, when complete, will consolidate several county offices under one roof, including the Board of Elections, GIS, Planning and Zoning and Inspections departments, along with the IT and Building Maintenance departments.
The Public Services Building will also house the board’s chambers. Since moving into the current administration building on the corner of Fayetteville and Richmond roads, commissioners have met in one of the courtrooms of the Richmond County Judicial Center.
The vote came hours after the N.C. Local Government Commission approved an application for the county to pursue a $7.5 million installment purchase for the improvements.
Click here to read more about the financing decision made at the July meeting.
Bob Jessup, of Sanford Holshouser, closing is set for Thursday, Aug. 15.
The original “placeholder” loan amount was $7.5 million, but Jessup said Tuesday that the actual amount would only be $5.5 million. However, he added that the resolution still featured the $7.5 million as a “not-to-exceed figure.”
“When we made the application, we made it based on the architect’s estimate,” said County Finance Director Cary Garner.
Garner added that the project would cost more than $5.5 million, but that’s all the county will be borrowing.
Following that vote, a majority of commissioners decided to award the construction contract to Hawks Builders of Rockingham.
County Manager Bryan Land said there were four bids for the project and Hawks came in the lowest at $4,318,063 and was recommended by ADW Architects.
The other bidders were: O’Connor Construction of NC of Pinehurst; Hoss Contracting of Wingate; and Walter B. Davis Company of Charlotte.
Commissioner Justin Dawkins voted against both measures.
“With the recent revaluation, we increased the property tax burden,” Dawkins told the RO on Thursday regarding his nay. “At the time, I voted for the budget based on a last-minute notice from the LGC that we had been put on the (Unit Assistance List) based on concerns about our fund balance not being high enough to cover the depreciation of our sewer and water infrastructure.
“I rationalize the increase in the property tax burden with the need to cover existing infrastructure concerns, the potential for quality-of-life improvements and other required capital projects that may be on the horizon,” Dawkins continued.
“I do not believe that spending approximately six million dollars on consolidating county services and building a new location for BOC meetings is a strategic project for Richmond County, so I did not support it.”
Earlier in the meeting, the board adopted a capital project ordinance for the county’s Lead Service Line Inventory Project.
That was one of a dozen such projects considered for financing that day by the LGC, also including Troy and Laurinburg.
According to the ordinance, the project will be financed by a $500,000 loan from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Infrastructure, with $425,000 loan forgiveness. The remaining $75,000 will come from the county’s Water Department.
