New high school construction continues

Published 9:31 am Thursday, November 12, 2015

Despite weeks of rainy days, progress on the new Davie High continues, project manager Jim Moorefield told Davie Board of Education members on Nov. 3.

“They are pouring concrete and laying block almost every day,” he said. War Eagle Drive is partially paved and temporary power is on.

The board had some discussion regarding construction budget updates.

Superintendant Dr. Darrin Hartness said there is a long process in the payment procedure for each stage of construction. Subcontractors submit a payment application, which is reviewed by the general contractor before moving to Moorefield and the architectural firm. They all have to sign off the work has been done and is in alignment with the construction schedule.

The application then goes to Jeff Wallace, assistant superintendent for operations, then to Deborah Smith, finance officer, before being submitted to the county’s finance office.

“None of the payments come from Davie County Schools. They are all made from the county’s finance office. A reconciliation process requires the two agencies to get together and reconcile the books, and that’s a lot of work to do each month,” Hartness said.

His recommendation was for a quarterly reconciled report, rather than a monthly one.

Steve Ridenhour said, “This is not for me, it’s for the people who are paying the bills. At the end of the day, if something does go wrong, we can always say we were on top of it.”

But he and others said they were satisfied with a quarterly reconciled report, as long as a monthly report showing payment applications was always available for viewing.

Smink said that wasn’t a problem, as she records every invoice as soon as she receives it.