S IGNA L T R I BU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill VOL. XXXIX NO. 33
Signal Hill City Council OKs bond for new library
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
August 11, 2017
The council also approved company to oversee construction of library. Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
New library funding and construction were central topics at the Signal Hill City Council meeting on Aug. 8. To help pay for the new library, the council approved the formation of a Signal Hill Municipal Financing Authority to issue a new bond. It also awarded a contract to Simplus Management Corporation to oversee the library’s construction. In other business, the council reviewed community recreation needs and a medical-marijuana initiative petition. It also approved the purchase of several replacement vehicles for City departments and updated its part-time salary schedule. Mayor Edward Wilson awarded proclamations to four outgoing City commissioners. Library funding City Manager Charlie Honeycutt reported that the new library project needs supplemental funding, leading the council to approve the refinancing of two existing tax-allocation bonds, as well as creation of a Signal Hill Municipal Financing Authority to issue a new $8-million bond. Honeycutt explained that the original library budget was created in 2011 and the former Signal Hill Redevelopment Agency had issued bonds to cover a portion of the cost. “At that time, the nation was trying to recover from job losses […] especially in the construction area,” he said. “Because of the recession, the library budget reflected the competitive construction pricing of that time period.” But there was a four-year delay in implementing the bond measures due to the State eliminating redevelopment agencies in order to use the funds to address its own budget issues. The library project had to be put on hold. “Because of the perseverance of the city council, Signal Hill continued to fight for the library bond funds and were able to gain approval from the State to use those funds, in late 2015,” Honeycutt said. “Unfortunately, the four-year delay had a financial impact on our project budget.” In June, the council accepted staff’s recommendation to reject three bids received for construction of the library, since all were $2 to $4 million higher than staff’s construction cost estimate. In explaining why bids were higher, Honeycutt cited a plethora of large-scale municipal and housing construction projects that have created a shortage of skilled construction workers, driving up costs. The council had directed staff to explore options to reduce construction costs, as well as other funding options. The result was that the Library Design Committee met with the project architect to develop cost-saving design recommendations. In addition, staff will change their approach in the next round of bidding, including considering non-prequalified contractors. “Maybe we’ll find a contractor that’s in between projects, and this basically is a good way to fill up a year,” he suggested. see COUNCIL page 8
Photos by Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Browning High School, currently in the “fine-tuning” process of its construction, will open on Wednesday, Aug. 30, when about 150 students will begin the school year as its first freshman class.
With open doors
After years of district’s planning, Browning High School’s first set of freshmen to begin this fall. Denny Cristales Online Editor
As students and teachers go back to school at the end of this month, about 150 teenagers will call a new institution home when they enter Browning High School as its first freshman class on Wednesday, Aug. 30. The opening of Browning High School– bordered by Redondo Avenue, Obispo Avenue and East Hill Street– is a culmination of the years the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) has spent planning the small high school since the Measure K construction bond was approved about 10 years ago.
The budget for the program is $70.6 million, including land work, construction management and design. Measure K does not cover instructional supplies; those items derive from the district’s general fund. Browning High School is the second small high school funded through Measure K– Ernest McBride High School being the first– and is one of five schools funded through the same measure in the district. The school is a thematic institution that will prioritize career-pathway programs connected with tourism, recreation, hospitality, culinary arts and people movement. Students will also have access to business and community partnerships with the Port of Long Beach and Long Beach Convention Center. “It’s always exciting to open a new school,” said Chris Eftychiou, director of
the LBUSD’s Public Information Department, in a phone interview last week. “It will accommodate the first class of 9th graders– about 150 students in all– and we will gradually phase in more students until there are about 800 students at the school. It’s a beautiful campus.” Browning High School is, in part, modeled after McBride High School, a thematic school focusing on engineering, public safety, health and medical disciplines that just graduated its first senior class this past school year. Browning will also still emphasize A-G university requirements for students. “It will still be an intensive college-preparatory program, but it will still have that focus on those particular industries,” Eftychiou said. “So, when students graduate, they will see BROWNING page 9
Alan Reising, executive director of the LBUSD’s Facilities Planning and Development Department, said the chain fencing will come down in the next couple of weeks as work begins to finalize around the perimeter of Browning High School in the wake of the start of the school year on Wednesday, Aug. 30.