About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2019)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net October 7, 2019 Established in 1972 Vol 47 Issue 40 BOE breaks ground for new school The Glynn County School System officially broke ground on the new Altama Elementary School site last week. From left are: Board of Education Chairman Jerry Mancil; John Tuten & Associates architect Brock Toraben: BOE Member Eaddy Sams; architect John Tuten; BOE member Dr. Hank Yeargan; Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jim Pulos; Director of Facilities Al Boudreau; Altama Elementary Principal Michelle Drew; BOE member John Madala; BOE member Linda Bobbitt; BOE Member Mike Hulsey; and Glynn County Schools Superintendent Dr. Virgil Cole. Altama Elementary will be built from ESPLOST 3 funds at a cost of $28.1 million. It is scheduled to be finished by the end of September 2021. Photo courtesy Glynn County School System BOE to award Altama school construction contract Court grants defense motion to suppress in vehicular homicide case By Pamela Permar- Shierling Katelyn Jones’ trial was scheduled to begin Monday, October 7, but may be delayed due to Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison’s granting of a defense motion to sup press the traffic stop in which a passenger in Jones’ car, Ste phen Deloach, died several days later. In March 2018 Jones was charged with three counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, involuntary man slaughter, felony murder, two counts of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, posses sion of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, reckless driving, two counts of tampering with evidence, and speeding. The charges stem from the results of a traffic stop involv ing Jones which was initiated by former Glynn County Po lice officer Kevin Yarborough in February 2018 at the re quest of GBNET officers. Yarborough testified at an August 1 hearing about the circumstances leading to the traffic stop as well as the stop itself. According to Yarborough’s sworn testimony, he was on patrol on 1-95 as part of the Glynn County Police De partment’s (GCPD) H.E.A.T (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic) and DUI program. Yarborough said he re ceived a call from GBNET (the now disbanded Glynn Bruns wick Narcotics Enforcement Team) officers telling him they might need him to stop a car carrying drugs that was traveling north on 1-95. Turn to Page 4 Defense motion granted During their work session last week (Oct. 3) the Glynn County Board of Education was presented with five pro posals for the construction of new Altama Elementary School. McDonald Construction is expected to be awarded the contract to build with a bid of $21.8 million at the Tuesday, Oct. 8 regular meeting. According to Al Boudreau, Facilities and Maintenance Executive Director, the Al tama budget is short almost $1.4 million. The original Altama bud get was $24,250,000 then it was upped to $26,771,582 to include $1.6 million for the site purchase and $1 million increase in construction cost. By Pamela Permar-Shierling According to Boudreau the new budget is $28,141,950. “We are short almost $1.4 million,” Boudreau said, “but we expect $1.2 million in sav ings from Burroughs Molette.” The BOE also will consider three construction change or ders one each for the replace ment Altama school, Glynn County Stadium, and Glynn Academy’s Sidney Lanier building. The Altama Elementary School change order is for a $150,000 increase to the Owner’s Contingency to cover extra fill and the sewer discov ery and tap. According to architect John Tuten the original estimate to haul out unsuitable dirt and bring in fill dirt was simply that, an estimate. “We don’t know how much dirt will need to be replaced on a site due to having to re move unsuitable dirt and tree roots.” Tuten said. “I can as sure you every truck load of dirt is monitored.” “Also part of this change or der is the JWSC (Brunswick- Glynn Joint Water and Sewer) tie in,” he continued. “We did not know the condition of the lines, and now we think that it will be simpler than what we have allowed for in the $150,000. We think $50,000 to $60,000 of the change order will not have to be spent.” The change order for the Turn to Page 12 School Board Still no decision on Oglethorpe Center By Pamela Permar- Shierling The Brunswick City Com mission made no decision dur ing last week’s work session (Oct. 2) concerning whether or not to build the Oglethorpe Convention center, the size of the center, or the funding mechanism. City Manager Jim Drumm presented three options to the commission: • Option 1 - A 20,000 sq. ft. center with design plans be tween 85 and 90 percent com plete. Elkins Construction as construction manager at risk would price out the design and give a guaranteed maxi mum cost of construction. The city would pay Elkins about $35,000 for the guaranteed maximum pricing. Estimated Turn to Page 6 Oglethorpe Center City, County discuss SPLOST at joint meeting By Pamela Permar- Shierling During the joint City - Coun ty Commission meeting last Tuesday, Oct. 1, which was to discuss the 2020 SPLOST list, the only SPLOST project that was discussed was the County Courthouse project. However, the extent of the courthouse project isn’t known yet since the committee ap pointed to study the court house space needs doesn’t report to the County Commis sion until Tuesday, Oct. 8. What is known is that any thing done to the courthouse, if it’s included in a SPLOST, would be a Tier One project. That means funding for the courthouse project comes off the top reducing the amounts Turn to Page 13 Joint meeting County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - Development Authority awards grants Page 3 - Joe Willie, Robbie Sue "Best on air Personalities" Page 5 - County outlaws private business on public property Page 10 - City passes storm water ordinance Page 16 -Back Talk 0 94922 29970 3
