By PAT NEWMAN
Staff Writer

To pave the way for another school sales tax referendum, a citizens group Monday night asked the Fayette County Board of Education to share power with them.

The group, known as Citizens for Quality Education, proposed a steering committee to monitor and manage a school building program. CQE evolved from the political action committee formed last summer to promote passage of the one-cent special local option sales tax, designed to raise $90 million for school construction. The referendum failed in a September vote, the second time that's happened in the past three years.

Chaired by Janet Smola, the group now wants to include a steering committee composed of county and municipal officials, construction experts and knowledgeable parents from across the county.

Speaking in favor of organizing a steering committee was Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox, who said all local government entities need to pay more attention to growth problems facing the board of education. He offered the committee as a “means of marshalling community leadership,” and “bringing credibility to the plans.”

“I like the idea of working toward the same goals,” said Debbie Condon, board of education chairman. She advised Lenox and Smola to sit down with school superintendent John DeCotis to discuss their plans. “This, or something like it, will lead to greater communication,” Lenox said.

Smola said the idea of organizing a committee to specifically address building schools came as a result of numerous conversations with citizens leery of the SPLOST, which was voted down in September.

“Many voters were concerned about funding, the limited uses of development impact fees and the thought that it [SPLOST] would encourage growth,” Smola said. “But the single most verbal concern was how to manage the proposed projects.”

A handout from CQE stated that the long-term steering and oversight committee would organize “for the purpose of assisting the Fayette County Board of Education in planning for, locating, and financing school facilities in Fayette County. CQE also intends to be an integral part of the design and construction process.”

The committee calls for 15 volunteer community leaders who would make recommendations to the board by June 1, 2000 on what facilities they believed would be needed by the school system over a six-year period.

Their recommendations would include type, size and general specifications for each new facility, the general and optimal location for each new facility, the scope, nature and rationale for additions or renovations to existing facilities, a phasing plan on all projects with completion dates, and the best methods of funding the projects.

Procedures for management would be recommended to the board by September 2000 and cover land acquisition, facilities planning and design, construction bidding, contracting parameters and construction management and oversight procedures.