First Selectman: Town Hall Construction Delays

Could Jeopardize Future Grants

By John Voket

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal contends he is only one of many municipal tenants in Edmond Town Hall, but he is the primary steward of more than $1.5 million in municipal funds and grants the town has provided for the facility’s elevator renovation project. As such, he is taking a local architect to task for postponements plaguing the project in its initial stages, contending that avoidable delays may have jeopardized access to up to $1 million more in grants for the renovation.

Mr Rosenthal’s concerns came to light following Tuesday’s Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers meeting, at which the project’s architect, Alan Black, revealed the possibility of further delays and cost increases. During that meeting, Mr Black suggested some of the delays were apparently caused because town personnel would not compromise on state code standards for certain components of the project.

Mr Black told the Board of Mangers that officials coordinating on the project, including Building Inspector Tom Paternoster, called for frost footings to be poured to support a temporary handicapped ramp after that ramp had already been constructed without the footings. Mr Rosenthal said that the building inspector also called for borings on the north side of the building to ensure soil stability, when Mr Black’s original plan was to apparently proceed without them.

 “I wish we were getting more forward progress on the project,” Mr Black told the committee Tuesday. “It seems like every time we move forward we get snagged.”

Mr Black spent the better part of an hour Tuesday evening clarifying concerns of the committee and addressing the timeline, as he expected it to play out, once major construction work commences. He told members to expect the temporary handicapped ramp to be reinstalled in front of the building, and the power assist door to be moved from the north side of town hall to one of the front entryways by the end of this week.

At that point, Mr Black said, test borings mandated by the building inspector could be performed without disrupting handicapped access to and from the facility.

“The borings that were scheduled for September 10 had to be moved out to accommodate the rebuilding of the ramp,” Mr Black said.

Delays in the early stages of the project have repeatedly raised the ire of Mr Rosenthal, who said at least a few of the holdups may have been avoided if the architect did his homework before the project was initiated.

“If there were any delays in these initial stages of the project, it’s because the architect doesn’t understand the process,” he said. “He [Mr Black] submitted plans for review without them being signed off and sealed by the structural engineer. And somehow, the contractor completed a temporary ramp in front of the building without the necessary footings, and without anyone pulling a permit.”

An original ramp, which was constructed several weeks ago, stood unused before it was disassembled and removed from in front of the building last week. On Wednesday, a truck was stationed in front of town hall pouring mixed concrete for a worker who was completing footings and foundation work for the ramp to be reinstalled.

During the meeting, Mr Black told the committee to expect an additional bill to cover the cost to perform this adjustment.

“The contactor came back with [an estimate of] $5,000 to break up the ramp, pour the new foundations, and for reinstalling the ramp,” he said.

The architect said that the inspector insisted forms for the footings be extended to 42 inches below the ground, even though workers were challenged to get the forms below 36 inches because of loose, rocky fill around the front of town hall. The workers eventually met the requirements, and the concrete was poured Wednesday despite Mr Black’s assertion that he was not expecting the building inspector to validate the proper depth of those forms until Thursday.

Mr Black said he completed modifications to the architectural drawings, but was holding them until test borings are completed.

“I’ll wait for the borings to determine if there are any problems with the current foundation,” he said.

After hearing about the potential for further delays, Mr Rosenthal said, “These borings weren’t even an original part of the plan, our building official insisted on them, and he had a right to require them per state building codes.

“Isn’t that something you might think an architect would be required to [anticipate] before he started a project of this scope?” Mr Rosenthal queried.

Following the presentation of a memo from the project construction management, Mr Black was asked to address further cost overruns that the contractor was seeking because the project would be moving into the winter months, and in the event borings revealed the need for further engineering on and around the north side patio area.

“You don’t have to worry about the winter weather, we’ll look at the masonry specifications. There has to be a way to mix the materials for winter conditions,” he replied. “I will address that to the contractor tomorrow.”

He was less specific about the suggestion that borings might compromise the foundation of existing masonry decking and a foundation wall on the north side of the building, however.

“We’re pretty confident that we’re going to find a terraced foundation, but we won’t know until we do exploratory digging — we don’t have x-ray vision. In historic restorations or additions like this there will always be a few surprises.”

These and other delays, Mr Rosenthal said, continued to surprise him. He confirmed Wednesday that the town would already have to request an extension on the initial half-million-dollar grant because the project was not expected to be completed within the stipulated time frame in the grant application.

Mr Rosenthal stated he would hold off on requesting the extension until after the official groundbreaking and construction began in earnest. He expressed more imminent concern that any further and significant delays might cause other potential grant opportunities for the project to be allocated to other communities.

“We are looking at the possibility of obtaining another $500,000 to $1 million in state grants to underwrite the project, but those opportunities will pass us by if the project isn’t moved along,” he said.

The first selectman said early on that he instructed all town departments to, “…cooperate and expedite,” procedures related to the construction.

“It’s important for the public to understand that this is the Board of Manager’s project, I’m just looking out for the town’s portion of the expenditures,” Mr Rosenthal said. “It’s my job to secure and sustain as much grant money as possible, but it’s the responsibility of town agencies to cooperate and review each step in this project to assure the best possible work is being done on behalf of all Newtown taxpayers.”