Friday morning the Orange County School Board accepted a conceptual proposal for the county’s long discussed career and technical education (CTE) center.
The proposal comes months after the school board adopted a process to implement the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2022. The act allows localities to work with the private sector to complete major projects such as the construction of new schools or education facilities. It’s an alternative to the typical procurement process and allows for more creative and innovative financing options. The county already had a PPEA process in place though it hasn’t been utilized.
The PPEA proposal was submitted by Gilbane, a Richmond-based firm, in collaboration with RRMM Architects. The latter developed and presented a feasibility study for the proposed center in 2023. The firm was also one of six to submit bids in a request for proposals (RFP) process that was issued in May and concluded at the end of June with none of the proposals being awarded or rejected.
The 43-page PPEA proposal that was released to the public provides little to no detail about what the actual facility would consist of, instead focusing mainly on Gilbane and RRMM’s record of achievement and that the building would fit into the already set $15.5 million budget. That number was initially included in the county’s capital improvement project budget with an annual debt service payment of $1.2 million, but was removed due to the county being unable to fund the debt service. The school board utilized $900,000 in leftover money from Gordon-Barbour Elementary School renovations to fund the center’s engineering and design. Proprietary information in Gilbane and RRMM’s proposal is included in a second, non-public document.
The school board voted 4-0 to accept the proposal which now starts a 45-day window for the board to receive competing proposals from other companies as part of the PPEA process. Once the window closes on approximately Dec. 22, an evaluation committee consisting of five school division officials will meet and review the proposals, ranking them and interviewing the top proposers during the week of Jan. 5-9. The committee is expected to recommend a proposal to the school board at the board’s Jan. 12 meeting. In accordance with the process, all proposals received will be posted to the school division’s website. The committee will also take into consideration public feedback as well as the feedback of the county and the Town of Orange since the facility will be located in the town limits.
District 1 school board member Melissa Anderson suggested adding a school board member to the evaluation committee which currently consists of superintendent Dr. Daniel Hornick, director of facilities and maintenance Marshall Rutter, coordinator of facilities and maintenance James “Marty” Pitts, executive director of secondary instruction Dr. Renee Honaker and Orange County High School Principal Nick Sodano.
District 3 board member Jack Rickett disagreed. He said the committee is not unlike others that have been created in the two years since he’s been on the board. He also said that since timing is a big piece and the board transition will be happening at the beginning of January, not having a board member on the committee streamlines it.
“We have some terrific people here,” Rickett said. “We need to allow them to do their job. At the end of the day, the recommendation comes to the board.”
District 5 board member Sandy Harrington agreed.
“We’ve proceeded this way in the past,” she said. “I think it’s appropriate to maintain and continue that process. I agree the information will come back to all of us as a full board which is the appropriate place for a decision to be made.”
District 2 board member Darlene Dawson said she was ambivalent about the issue since the board members would all see the information anyway.
The board voted unanimously to accept the unsolicited proposal and post it for advertisement.
Rickett thanked all those who have been involved in the CTE center process. He said the community has spoken loud and clear about the desire to have a center. He said moving the project forward will be able to give students the opportunity to graduate with marketable skills and increase the county’s ability to attract quality businesses through a well-trained workforce.
“I’m thrilled we’re at this moment after years of discussing it and kicking the can,” Dawson said. “It’s an exciting day in Orange County to be able to move this forward.”
For more information about the project and to view the redacted proposal from Gilbane and RRMM, visit https://www.ocss-va.org/departments/facilities-maintenance/capital-projects/ctefacility.
