Superintendent Derick Austin updated the Board of Education during their monthly work session on Tuesday about the new elementary school.
According to Austin, underground utilities and plumbing have begun to be installed. In addition, construction workers have started completing footers and will be pouring slabs sometime soon. However, construction has run into massive rocks and unsuitable soil while working. The unsuitable soil is being resolved as it was found, but the rocks were deemed a larger issue.
Austin informed the board that there was an expectation of some rock interference on the site, and that expectation was built into the allowance. Based on the company’s recommendation, he recommended to rip the rock to save money. Construction workers will first focus on removing the rock on the building pad before the parking lot area.
“What we have instructed them to do, by means of the third party, is to keep ripping ... at this point, if we need to pivot on the schedule to save several millions of dollars, then we will pivot on the schedule and take our time to do this,” said Austin. “That’s not the plan currently, but we are experiencing some unsuitable. As of right now, though, we are on time.”
Austin also said that at the public meeting next week, he will bring a request for purchasing credits to be used for wetland mitigation. This mitigation is already part of the budget that was previously approved.
Moving into another ongoing issue, Austin reported that a 10-12 ft. in-depth sinkhole has been located in the car rider drop-off area at Putnam County Primary School. Civil engineers have already been on site alongside grading contractors to examine the hole.
Several metal pipes were reportedly “compromised,” which caused the sinkhole to happen. Based on expert investigations, the pipes were likely compromised over many years. Austin closed his report stating that the area has been blocked off, pipes are planned to be replaced, and it should be fixed before school starts. The project will be paid for through emergency local expenditures.
Closing the work session, Austin stated that the Putnam County Charter School System will move forward with the House Bill 581 resolution at the beginning of the year.
The SPLOST timeline is also on target for the Nov. 5 election. A resolution regarding it will be presented at the July meeting.