The commissioners endorsed earlier action by the BCCC Board of Trustees to award the bid for the building’s construction to Centurion Construction Co. of Raleigh, one of 12 firms that presented bids for the project.

Centurion Construction Co.’s bid of $4.84 million includes construction of the building and five additional projects č part lot lights, landscaping, compressor and vacuum equipment, telecommunications and wiring and a lecture room sound system.

The 30,600 square-foot building, to be located on the eastern edge of the campus along U.S. Highway 264 five miles east of Washington, will double the space available for the nursing and medical laboratory technology programs at BCCC and help free up needed space for the college’s popular Arts and Sciences Division, college officials have said.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in about a year, the county commissioners were told.

The estimated total project cost of $7.6 million for the building and equipment includes a $1.31 million contingency fee, $722,627 in furniture and equipment, $618,316 in various architect and engineering fees and other planning and survey fees.

These costs are expected to be paid through grants and loans by the county and community college from sources including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Economic Development Administration, Golden LEAF and state certificate of participation funds, among others.

The funds obtained to date are about $400,000 short of the expected total project cost, but the county plans to apply for grants to cover this shortfall, County Manager Paul Spruill told the board.

Commissioner Stan Deatherage asked Spruill what the county would do to make up the shortfall if the county doesn’t receive the grant.

“We will be holding cookie and bake sales before we spend another $400,000,” Spruill responded.

In other business, the board:

• Heard a report from Marc Finlayson, executive director of the Highway 17 Association, on construction projects under way and planned for the highway. Since 2006, some $251.4 million funds have been committed for construction projects along the highway and five projects – including the Washington Bypass, New Bern Bypass, Jacksonville Bypass, Wilmington Bypass and work on the highway near Bridgeton – are under construction, the commissioners were told. The association has received a $250,000 grant for “a thorough and comprehensive economic impact study of what eastern North Carolina will look like” once the highway is completely upgraded to four lanes, Finlayson said. The association is also working with officials in Virginia to “encourage” that state to make improvements to the highway, he said.
• Voted 5-2 to approve a resolution presented by Deatherage in support of a bill before the N.C. General Assembly that would eliminate the cap on charter schools in the state and make other changes to legislation affecting charter schools. Commissioners Ed Booth and Jerry Langley cast dissenting votes. “We need to allow choice in our schools,” Deatherage said. Booth expressed concern about the measure placing financial burdens on the county to pay for charter school capital projects.
• Unanimously voted to accept a $400,000 Scattered Site Community Development Block Grant from the N.C. Department of Commerce and a $500,000 Economic Recovery Project Grant from the N.C. Department of Commerce. The board also voted to approve a contract with Holland Consulting Planners to administer the grants.
• Voted 5-2 to approve $3,694.32 in travel expenses with Commissioners Deatherage and Hood Richardson casting dissenting votes.
• Unanimously approved contracts for mowing and weed-eating for the county’s Water Department to T’s Lawn Service and Landscaping for $850 and $1,400, respectively.
• Unanimously voted to appropriate $3,000 to pay for the restoration of portraits at the Beaufort County Courthouse.
• Unanimously approved a resolution similar to one presented by the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners asking the N.C. General Assembly to repeal legislation requiring county health departments to implement a private drinking water and permitting, inspection and testing program.
• Unanimously approved the following appointments: Richard Smaw to the Department of Social Services Board; Donald Sadler to the Beaufort County ABC Board; Sonya Toman, Patsy Jones, Chase Stallings and Lindsay Crisp to the Region Q Workforce Development Board; Chuck Latham to serve on the Town of Belhaven Board of Adjustment, and Bobby Parker as Beaufort County tax assessor and tax collector.
• Voted unanimously to give the City of Washington authority to issue permits for fireworks displays in the city limits and in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction for two years.
• Unanimously approved a revised fee schedule for vaccines and some testing procedures performed by the Beaufort County Health Department.

All commissioners attended the meeting.