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McAllen, Texas, School Board OK's Negotiations With Contractor

Posted on: Friday, 26 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 26--McALLEN -- The McAllen school board voted 6-0 during a special meeting Thursday night to authorize Superintendent Yolanda Chapa to negotiate a project management contract with Houston-based Jacobs Facilities Inc. as part of the $97.85 million bond program voters approved in May.

Board member Ricardo Chapa was unable to attend the meeting.

Under the bond program, a new elementary school will go up on the northwest side of town; a school will be built to replace Thigpen and Zavala elementary schools; Fields Elementary will be replaced; and construction on a new maintenance and operations building, and central kitchen, will begin.

The board's vote came after a committee it created to interview management firms -- comprised of three board trustees and two members of the district's Community Capital Advisory Committee -- recommended Jacobs.

The committee comprised board President Javier Farias, vice president Sara Tippit, secretary Myrna Garcia, capital advisory president Michael Blum and capital advisory member Jeff Underwood.

The district had asked 91 firms to submit qualification statements, but only nine responded. The interviews revealed Jacobs had the most experience managing school construction projects and that it had handled the highest project volume at one time of any of the other firms, said Lorena Pequeno, director of purchasing.

If the board contracts with Jacobs it will provide oversight of contractors, who will in turn ensure the district does not spend more money on projects than they have in bond funds. Jacobs saved eight schools with which it has previously worked a total of $53.7 million, Pequeno said.

"They were all very good firms, but this firm's credentials were extraordinary," Blum said.

Board member Conrado Alvarado was hesitant to move forward with the vote, because he said he didn't realize when the committee interviewed the firms, he would not have the opportunity to scrutinize them further. But after Pequeno and some of the committee members explained the interview process, Alvarado went along with the vote.

"I kind of feel like I'm delegating (the interviews) when it should be our responsibility," he said.

After the vote, some members asked Chapa how long the negotiations would take.

"It usually runs no longer than 21 days," she said.

The board also voted 6-0 to authorize Chapa to enter into a contract with First Southwest Asset Management Inc., to invest the funds the district received from the bond sales in July.

And the board voted 5-0 to authorize a $1,500 salary raise for teachers and administrators, and to increase clerical and technical employee hourly wages from $8.65to $9.30. The vote was 5-0 because trustee Mark Kent had to leave early to attend a graduate class. The vote also included a 50-cent hourly increase for manual trade employees, from $8.25 to $8.75.

During a workshop after the meeting, Linda Herrera-Ramos, the district's chief financial officer, presented a $163 .2 million preliminary budget proposal. The final proposed budget will be presented during the board's regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting.

The proposed budget is a .98 percent increase over last year's budget and is based on a projected property tax collection rate of $73.3 million. The district expects to collect 93.5 percent of property taxes this year.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

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Source: The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)

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