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Dare County commissioners advanced new construction Phase III and the Dare County Early College at the board meeting held May 5, 2025.

The board’s Capital Improvement Planning Committee discussed the projects included in Phase III. Those projects include completely redoing the Public Works site on Roanoke Island, a new Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Building for evidence storage, an EMS Station #5 in Nags Head, and redoing the Buxton Public Works site. A Waves EMS station will be addressed at a later date.

Barnhill Building Group, LLC, of Rocky Mount, is construction contractor and based on these projects prepared a pre-construction fee contract. The fee for the four listed projects is $585,421.

The overall budget for the four projects is $60 million.

The board adopted a Capital Project Ordinance for Series 2025B Limited Obligation Bonds, approved the contract with Barnhill and authorized the county manager to sign the contract.

The commissioners next moved to building and financing Dare County Early College.

Barnhill’s guaranteed maximum price to construct the new building at the Manteo campus of College of The Albemarle is $21,100,676.

The Capital Project Ordinance lists these additional expenses: owner costs $348,496; furniture, fixtures and equipment $1.05 million; owner contingency $400,000; issuance and underwriters discount for bonds $451,121.

The project will be funded with debt proceeds from the sale of Series 2025A Limited Obligation Bonds totaling $23,350,293.

An initial resolution for the bond issue is scheduled for adoption at the board’s meeting June 9. After the initial resolution is adopted, a public hearing on the bond issuance will be held.

The board approved a budget amendment appropriating funding from the fiscal year 2025 budget for one-time purchase of items requested in the fiscal year 2026 budget. These items total $409,874 and are listed as:

Courts Capital Outlay, $7,800

General Services Capital Outlay, $7,800

Information Technology Capital Outlay, $176,000

Sheriff Capital Outlay, $44,490

Planning Capital Outlay, $5,000

Soil Conservation Capital Outlay, $1,500

Public Relations America 250 Events, $50,000

Tillett Center Capital Outlay, $3,584

Facilities Maintenance Capital Outlay, $3,700

Register of Deeds Vital Records, $100,000

Register of Deeds Capital Outlay, $10,000

Additional budget amendments in the consent agenda are as follows:

– Mandatory replacement of two unsupported servers for Communications: $30,000

– Increase the Medicaid Managed Care Revenue and IGT Non-Federal Share costs based on current year actual projections: $55,000.

Dare County entered a lease agreement with the Town of Nags Head for the town’s continued use of the building on land that Dare County purchased from the Town for the Nags Head EMS station. The building is used as a wellness center for employees and their families. No rent is charged.

The county is obligated to provide space for certain state services. The leases are for three years at the rate of $1 per year. The board approved the leases and authorized the county manager to sign these leases:

– Juvenile Justice leases about 954 square feet of office space in the Dare County Justice Center.

– Adult Corrections leases about 192 square feet of office space located at 49815 Highway 12 in Buxton as a convenience to Hatteras Islanders.

– Adult Corrections leases about 1,312 square feet of office space in the Walker, formerly Wilkenson, Building located at 2601 North Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills.

– Adult Corrections leases about 1,057 square feet of office space located in the Dare County Justice Center in Manteo.

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