Concerned by cost overruns and other problems in the board of education's $106 million school construction program, Carroll County Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier called yesterday for more government control over school projects.

"I think I would like to see the county be a little more involved in school construction. I think it would be great if the school board stuck to education and the county did construction," Frazier said.

The call for change occurs as school officials face possible state penalties for building a wastewater treatment plant -- a major part of a $16.3 million renovation and expansion of Francis Scott Key High School -- without the environmental and construction permits that are required by law.

School officials acknowledged the lack of permits yesterday and revealed that the Francis Scott Key project is over budget. Kathy Sanner, director of support services, said she is calculating how much and will not release the figure until the next school board meeting next month.

A state panel that supervises school construction is reviewing a $1.7 million overrun at Cranberry Station Elementary School in Westminster, which is expected to open in August, one year behind schedule. Frazier, who has been critical of school construction overruns, said she is concerned by the new problems faced by the board of education.

"I think it surely throws up some red flags," she said. "Overruns have to come from somewhere. Whether it's in budget or not, it's still taxpayers' dollars."

Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge agreed, calling for a review of school construction budgets.

"I think the overruns on the schools need to be looked at more closely, and we need to figure out why it's happening. We can't continue to have overruns on projects," she said.

Gouge said direct county government control of school construction is unlikely because such a system would make the county ineligible for state school construction funding. But she hoped that the Board of County Commissioners and the board of education could work more closely together on the construction problems.

The commissioners' "hands are tied to a certain extent. We have to be the people who give the money, but we have no way of doing the checks and balances on it. I would like to have a working relationship with the board of education so that we can sit down and talk about these issues and find out what's wrong and correct it so it won't happen again," she said.

Both boards are expected to meet in the next month, she said.

School board President Gary W. Bauer said he sees no need to take control of construction from school officials.

"We brought in a whole crew of people. I think we've hired a lot of excellent people. I don't see why we want to change that," he said.

Pub Date: 3/16/99