Horry schools interviews project managers; facilities director wants management firm

Horry County Schools officials have shortlisted four candidates to interview for new project manager positions to oversee the construction of five new schools.

The district’s facilities committee wants to hire more district staff to lift the burden on current project managers, but the facilities director suggests hiring a management firm to oversee everything.

Last month, the facilities committee requested the district once again post job applications for more project managers. The first attempt had only one previous applicant meet the district’s needs. This second attempt – which was advertised in almost every local and state news outlet – yielded four people worthy of interviews, according to Mark Wolfe, director of facilities.

“Very few people had school construction experience,” Wolfe said. “There are four that I would consider possible interview candidates.”

A project management firm would cost the district between $1.5 million and $3 million, Wolfe said. He’s been pushing to hire a firm – rather than more district staff – to oversee the projects for several months. The district’s facilities staff is already overburdened by current construction projects and does not have the ability to monitor the new schools, he added.

“I really don’t see using my overburdened current project managers on five more concurrent projects,” he said.

The facilities committee, however, doesn’t want to spend any more money on the new schools.

“I just don’t want to spend $3 million,” said Holly Heniford, committee and board of education member.

Wolfe said he understands the concern over the possible $3 million cost, but said a management firm would be the district’s best bet because of the time needed for new employees to acclimate to the projects. It would take too much time to train new staff on how exactly to manage school construction, especially since the Board of Education wants to meet an August 2017 completion date.

“I still believe the project management company would be our best bet to get on the ground running,” Wolfe said.

Neil James, committee chairman and board member, said the committee isn’t going to budge until all options are exhausted.

“I hate to be blunt, but we’re not going to agree to [a management company],” James said.

Heniford brought two local architects’ resumes to the facilities meeting to show “there are qualified people” for the job. Neither person applied for the district position.

The problem with those people, Wolfe said, was that they both run their own businesses and would not have enough time to also oversee these projects.

“It’s going to be a full-time, 40-plus-hour-a-week job,” Wolfe said.

The most current job posting drew in 30 applicants, but only 18 met the minimum requirements. Out of those, only four met other requirements Wolfe felt were necessary for a project manager, he said.

The district advertised the positions in local and state newspapers and on job search websites, according to Mary Anderson, chief human resources officer. Staff even contacted construction and architecture firms previously used by the district so they could advertise within their own companies, she said.

“We used social media, Twitter, and other less traditional methods of advertising as well,” Anderson said.

The cost of all the advertising was about $4,800, Anderson said.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Horry schools interviews project managers; facilities director wants management firm."