At a special called meeting Monday night, the Smithville school board unanimously accepted the resignation of architect firm O’Connell Robertson, which was overseeing the roll out of $35 million in bond projects, and voted to rebid the job to design and build a new junior high and athletic facility.

In a press release, the school district said "It does not appear that there will be a delay in completion dates" after the firm’s resignation, which comes six months after school district voters approved the $35 million bond.

School board members did not discuss the cause for O’Connell Robertson’s resignation, which cited in a letter a lack of "trust and respect" from the board.

"There is a tremendous amount of distrust on behalf of the board of trustees (and) at no time have any of us experienced such a caustic and argumentative meeting environment," Amy Jones, president of O’Connell Robertson said in the letter.

"We are unaware of any action on our part that would initiate such a negative, disrespectful response from the board and district representatives," Jones wrote. "We believe it is not possible to proceed with a productive, timely process."

Jones’ letter did not detail any of the board’s or district officials’ actions that caused them to resign nor did trustees discuss the allegations in open session.

During an April 24 workshop, O’Connell Robertson sought design direction from the board. It presented the anticipated project schedules, and requested direction on site placement for the facilities and specific features requested by staff to add to the buildings which were not estimated in the original bond package.

Architect Jared Sterzinger said that was the time to make sure everyone was on the same page in regards to schedule, project and scope, saying this step was crucial in directing a civil engineer to start work on the project. Firm representatives also said there would be time to adjust the project’s scope further in the process.

A lengthy discussion involving a small parking lot and number of spaces per stadium seats escalated with trustee Dareld Morris criticizing Sterzinger for not having detailed costs which the trustee said he had asked for at a prior meeting for any portion of the project in which a vote was required.

The architects redisplayed the anticipated project schedule on the presentation slide numerous times during discussions to explain the process from planning to completion. They reiterated that until the board decided on features allowing for the creation of the schematic design and hired a construction manager who would figure project costs based on that design, they could only give general estimates.

O’Connell Robertson had told the board several times since being hired that it’d estimate costs conservatively in planning to ensure that the district did not run of out funds during construction.

School board member Alan Hemphill also said that they were overpricing projects and that he could build a practice gym for a fourth of the quoted estimate. He also was visibly unhappy when the architects agreed that they would charge for design time on the optional items the board wanted to keep on the table as possibilities.

Board president Howard Burns was upset to learn that the project was slightly behind schedule due to delays in decisions by the board.

"You say it’s our fault," Burns told the architect firm. "I say it’s your fault."

O’Connell Robertson’s resignation letter came the next day.

The board accepted the firm’s resignation Monday night after a 52-minute executive session with the district’s attorney and voted to assign Superintendent Rock McNulty and the district’s legal counsel to negotiate the fees owed to O’Connell Robertson for work provided.

"First of all, I want to thank O’Connell Robertson for getting us through the bond process and in working with the community and helping us to pass the important bond for our kids and community," Trustee Tay Campbell said.

The firm facilitated numerous community and staff meetings to determine a long-range district facilities plan and the $35 million bond package. It also worked to gain community support for the bond, provided legal wording for the election, met with staff to determine specific needs for the facilities and had received approval from the board for site layout of facilities.

The school board has said the new junior high school would be completed by the 2019 summer and the athletic facility by next summer.