Architect Assures Edmond Town Hall Project Will Make Grant Deadline

By John Voket

Over the course of many months and years, as plans for the Edmond Town Hall’s new elevator have transformed from concept to blueprint to reality, the project has faced numerous delays and unexpected developments. But despite many pitfalls, some coming as recently as this week, architect Frank Black remains confident the installation will meet or beat a state mandated deadline to expend grant funds allocated for the project.

The project has a budget of $1.5 million, $1 million from the town that was appropriated in 2001 and $500,000 from a Small Cities Grant from the state. Several months ago, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal was forced to request an extension on the state grant because delays were expected to push the project close to or past the initial grant deadline.

At Tuesday’s Town Hall Board of Managers meeting, trustee and board chairman Edgar Beers reminded Mr Black that the final extension stipulated the deadline must be met.

“The grant extension is approved through June 30,” Mr Beers said. “That means all work has to be done, and all funds need to be expended.”

Mr Black appeared certain the deadline would be met.

“Overall the project is on schedule. I don’t see there will be any further modifications to the schedule or completion date. By June 30 we should be going around with our punch list,” he said, referring to the checklist ensuring all components of the project were completed.

Mr Black also provided an update on excavation occurring on the west side of the town hall, telling trustees that workers were battling through a concentration of clay-laden soil and invasive water, which are further hampering progress on the project.

“I’m concerned about how much clay is down there,” Mr Black said. “[Workers] are excavating the clay, which is packed like cement, by using jackhammers and heavy equipment.”

He said early-on in the project, workers did test borings down to 38 feet, about 20 feet apart and found sand, gravel, and stones, typical of this area. But now workers are hitting water 35 feet down.

Mr Black said it was likely original builders were challenged by water, which may be emanating from an underground stream. He said there was a high concentration of gravel around the foundation, which he believes original architects required as a means of helping drain water away from the structure.

Concluding that he would monitor developments closely, Mr Black and the trustees then turned their attention to another facet of the project. Mr Black reported that adjustments made to realize up to $35,000 in savings through “value-added engineering,” might actually end up shifting a significant cost increase to a related area of the project.

During the course of developing the project, a modification was made to the style and model of the actual elevator car keeping the overall project in conformity with stated requirements, but saving about $35,000 on the overall budget. This week during an engineer’s meeting, Mr Black said he was informed by the project manager that the new car’s slightly smaller size would require almost $35,000 in collateral adjustments being added to the scope of the job.

“What they’re saying is we got $35,000 savings with the elevator car, and now they’re adding $35,000 to make it fit…it’s a wash,” Mr Beers said.

Mr Black acknowledged that modifications to the steel and structural specifications, mere inches in the overall scope, are being multiplied to offset the savings.

“In order to put [the new car] in, we made modifications to the structural drawings — inches in each direction,” Mr Black replied. “But I’m going to need to verify if all the changes made were necessary, and see if those changes justify the increased price.”

Mr Black reported that the project manager, representing Meriden-based LaRosa Building Group, said material prices would increase $5,100, shop labor would jump up $7,900, field labor would increase $10,400 and changes to shop drawings would go up $2,000.

“They’re claiming they need to bring in a crane now, which originally they said they would not need,” Mr Black told the board.

The architect further told trustees that when he refused to entertain a price increase, the project manager, Gary Broderick, became offensive, raising his voice and getting angry.

“He was trying to bully his way through getting the changes approved,” Mr Black said. “It’s part of the contractor’s game; some play that game more than others.”

Mr Beers suggested that if an appropriate compromise is not reached on the matter, he wanted to bring in the company’s owner to moderate the disagreement.

“Mr LaRosa seems to be a man of integrity, in my experience on previous occasions when he walks onto a site he brings an air of cooperation to the job,” Mr Beers said. “We need to hold the line on costs on this or it can get out of control.”

Trustee Sandy Motyka said she though it was common practice for contractors on municipal jobs to assume there were virtually unlimited financial resources on jobs of this nature.

“Mr LaRosa promised us ‘value-added engineering,’ and I’m sure he’d be interested to know that is not taking place,” Ms Motyka said.