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A representative of the general contractor for the Central High School athletic facilities project told the School Board there was a only a 35 percent chance the football/soccer stadium will be ready to host the school’s homecoming football game Oct. 11.
Superintendent Scott Pierce said he was surprised by the dire forecast.
“I didn’t know it was that low,” Pierce said of Camosy Construction representative Todd Peyron’s estimate. “The odds are not in our favor.”
Pierce said the school has rescheduled all football and soccer games to be played at opponents’ stadiums for this season, but was still counting on being able to host the homecoming games.
The chief problem with the stadium project has been poor soil found once digging at the site began. That has meant deeper digging and replacing peat soil with clay taken from “borrow pits” elsewhere on the school site. The first estimates were that the stadium should be ready for the opening of football season. Later the estimate was adjusted to October. Tuesday’s dismal forecast was the latest prediction.
Opening of a new tennis facility in time to host matches this season also is in jeopardy, but perhaps not as bad as the stadium, Peyron said.
The problems have caused new costs. Powers Lake Construction, the contractor doing the site work and digging, has submitted a bill for $194,000 in new costs, Peyron said.
But Pierce and board members were quick to point out the amount of money the district can spend on the project is set. Overruns for parts of the project will have to be made up by scaling back other aspects.
“We can’t spend more,” Pierce said. “We have to work within the dollars we have.”
Ah, Were soil borings done prior to letting bids. This should have been done as this is a big factor in any digging of a hole. The contractors should have known what they were getting to. Somebody goofed. The School District? The contractors bidding on the job. Sounds like the contractors have some questions to answer. And what about a penalty for going past a certain completion date. This is done with a lot of projects and pays for the overages.
Sounds like nobody was thinking.
Curious — Borings were done and the results were discussed last night. A board member asked if there was any recourse regarding the borings. Peyron defended the borings as accurate, but that no one knew how bad things were until the real digging started. He also said they only went 15 feet deep with borings, which was not deep enough given they have found unsuitable soil down to 30 feet. Peyron said he did not know why deeper borings were not done. He also said it may have ended up to be cheaper for contractors not to have known the full extent of the poor soil before they put in bids and have to instead react to it.
Kinda sounds like a smoke screen. Unless provisions were in the bids for additional costs, the contractor should be held to the bid price. IMHO