by Jackie Nunnery
LANCASTER—In a close 3-2 vote, Lancaster supervisors on Thursday, September 24, added $13,145,000 to the capital improvement plan (CIP) to cover the costs of renovating the existing middle school into a new primary school.
District 1 supervisor Jack Larson indicated the school project is “a good plan,” but he said he is concerned about the design costs being 20% of the project cost instead of the average 10%. Larson also objected to the proposed nine month timeframe for design. “What that tells me is that the amount of money going to the firm doing this work is way out of line with the project.”
Larson wanted to re-advertise the design portion of the project. He said he believes any delays “would be well worth it.”
District 4 supervisor Bill Lee agreed with putting a re-advertising condition on the funding, but District 3 supervisor and board chairman Jason Bellows insisted that it is time to move forward. “We’ve been fighting this battle for 10 years now. It is time to move…
