A delay in completing the second phase of construction at the
new Sobrato High is costing the district money and impacting
students, Director of Construction and Modernization Al Solis told
Morgan Hill School District trustees.
A delay in completing the second phase of construction at the new Sobrato High is costing the district money and impacting students, Director of Construction and Modernization Al Solis told Morgan Hill School District trustees.
The total budget for construction of the school now stands at $78,458,581, with $78,460,361 available.
Trustees learned last week that some of the contractors involved in the second phase of construction are asking for more money because the phase was not completed in November as scheduled.
“We need to know what’s impacting the completion of the project,” Solis said. “We need to find out where our responsibilities stop and someone else’s begin. We need to see how each of those change orders impacted the schedule.”
An estimate of the potential added cost was not available. District officials are hopeful cost savings in other areas of the project would offset any increases.
The school, located on Burnett Avenue in north Morgan Hill, opened as scheduled in August with ninth and 10th grade students in two classroom buildings. The administration building also opened in August. Another classroom building and the library were opened on March 7. The pool, locker rooms and the gym are scheduled to open April 4, Solis said. Trustee Mike Hickey, who owns a construction company, asked Solis if the delay was caused by the district.
“What portion of that is our ball, what portion of it is theirs,” he asked.
Solis replied that Hickey had asked a good question.
“As you know, we have no GMP (guaranteed maximum price from construction management firm Turner Construction),” he said. “We were late with the drawings, the notice to proceed was not issued, we had a five-week delay for the plans, then there were weather delays. We negotiated an extension which took us to November of ’04, but obviously we are several months passed that now.”
The plans for the high school were held by Jacobs Facilities, the firm that built Barrett Elementary and completed some of the renovations at Live Oak High. Trustees selected a new firm, Turner, to build Sobrato High, but Jacobs had the original plans, which were held pending the settlement of a lawsuit between the district and Jacobs. The notice to proceed Solis refereed to was a decision to wait by trustees in issuing original requests for bids for Sobrato; the delay put the start of the project back several months.
Trustee Peter Mandel questioned the source of another cost increase. He read in the status report prepared by Turner that the releasing of some of the buildings in phase two before others increased the cost to the district.
“In phase two, we phased to allow occupancy,” Mandel said. “All that’s costing us extra because we have to restage. Why did we do that?”
Solis said his concern was for the students at Sobrato.
“Phase two was going to be the entire rest of campus,” he said. “It was obvious as we were getting into October and November there was a lot of work to be done and a lot of pending issues with DSA (the Department of the State Architect). Rich (Knapp, Sobrato principal) and I analyzed the occupancy issues … He was short of space, it was impacting his operational schedule.”
Mandel asked about the cost.
“Did it cost us a lot to take these things in chunks?” he said.
Solis said no, that it actually makes it easier for contractors because it takes that part of the project “off their plate.”
He said one reason Turner cited additional cost, for example was the fire alarm.
“The guy has to come out again because he has to re-program the alarm then … We spent a little money to get it into our hands sooner. I don’t have a number for all the additional commissioning we have done … We made a compromise on the need of the school to function properly.”
Solis told trustees that the auditorium likely will not be completed until mid-May at the earliest. The kitchen – which Solis and Director of Food Services Janet Felice propose as the main district kitchen – will not be completed before the end of the 2005-2006 school year. School district meals are currently prepared at the Live Oak High central kitchen.
“I wish I had given Rich the rest of the campus in November, but it just wasn’t possible,” said Solis. “Rich tells me every day the kids are suffering. He does express to me a lot of frustration. Whenever that happens, I have to make an effort to get some of these facilities in our hands.”
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at md****@mo*************.com or phoning (408) 779-4106, ext. 202
