GILROY
– As long as a special citizens committee gives its OK, Gilroy
Unified School District plans to hire two full-time construction
managers to oversee the $150 million of facilities upgrades slated
through 2008.
GILROY – As long as a special citizens committee gives its OK, Gilroy Unified School District plans to hire two full-time construction managers to oversee the $150 million of facilities upgrades slated through 2008.
The decision comes on the heels of districtwide teacher and staff layoffs and flirts with violating Proposition 39 laws which forbid districts from using school facilities bond money to pay employee salaries.
Citing advice from district lawyers and a massive $2.5 million savings, school board trustees gave their nod of approval anyway Thursday night at a study session on the GUSD facilities master plan. The district says it has a choice of spending, over the next five years, $3 million on construction management contracts or hiring two full-time construction managers for $750,000.
“We’re talking about getting more bang for your buck,” Trustee David McRae said. “When you have to rely on someone outside your own everyday team, you’re getting about one-fourth the work out of a person.”
The district will bring the issue to its newly formed Citizens Oversight Committee March 26. The oversight committee was formed after voters approved a $69 million bond measure in the November 2002 election.
“The intent of the law, the spirit of the law is that you can’t use bond money to pay existing employee salaries,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “But we’d be hiring someone specifically for construction projects and it would be on a temporary basis.”
Assistant Superintendent Lee White said attorneys across the state have a variety of opinions on Proposition 39 implications. GUSD’s bond counsel, she said, believes that hiring a new and temporary employee directly involved with new construction would not violate the letter or the spirit of the law.
“Our bond counsel advises us to provide information to our citizens oversight committee before proceeding with this,” White said.
GUSD is in the first phases of a $150 million facilities improvement plan. Over the summer, major demolition and renovation will begin. The flagship and final project is a second high school that is scheduled for completion in 2008.
Construction managers – or project managers – are crucial, the district says, for coordinating projects in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
“I am very concerned about workload for our existing staff,” Trustee Bob Kraemer said. “My only question is whether we should be hiring even more help.”
