|
Contractor may
have to pay for delays in school kitchens
By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com
Work is so far behind on kitchen renovations at Fayetteville Intermediate
School that the county will soon begin charging the contractor for some
of the cost of the delays.
Klaus Darnell, construction project manager for the Fayette County School
System, told board members Monday night that more delays and excuses made
by the contractor late last week “were the last straw for me.”
The same company, Devcon Construction, was awarded the bids on both Fayetteville
Intermediate and East Fayette Elementary last February. The kitchen at
East Fayette is completed, but problems with the fire alarm system have
delayed moving in.
“The health inspector has OK’d it and the fire marshall was
in on Friday, but we’ve still got problems,” said a frustrated
Darnell, adding that another inspection was set for Tuesday. “Hopefully,
we will be able to get in that kitchen this week.”
But it will be Nov. 3 at the earliest at Fayetteville Intermediate. Since
work began last winter, lunches at both schools have been prepared in
the kitchen at LaFayette Education Center and driven over daily.
While state funds were provided to replace the kitchens, the expense for
making lunches off-site has been footed by the school district, but Darnell
said the bills would be going to the contractor if things don’t pick
up soon.
“I wrote a letter to the contractor Friday telling him that if the
deadlines aren’t met we’ll begin charging them for the cost
of the catering,” Darnell told the board.
“Good for you,” replied Board Member Janet Smola.
There was better news to report on Whitewater High, were student parking
areas have been paved, classrooms are being painted and fencing around
the playing fields is installed.
Official ground-breaking ceremonies took place Oct. 14 at both McIntosh
and Sandy Creek high schools for expansion projects on those campuses.
At Sandy Creek, interior demolition work is completed and grading is continuing
on the site of a new 1,000-seat fine arts theater, which takes up the
space where teachers used to park.
Changes to the existing student parking lot to add an extra entrance and
exit should be done by week’s end, Darnell said.
At McIntosh, bulldozers have leveled the old student parking area next
to the exisiting gym, digging a hole for the foundation of a new physical
education facility.
The project made things difficult in the early going for the nearly 1,600
students on campus, said Principal Tracie Flemming.
“Now that we’ve learned to accommodate construction, we are
doing OK,” she said. “The students had to learn to get to campus
a few extra minutes early to walk all the way around the construction
fence.”
It has also caused problems for home football games this year, as fans
have tried to figure out how to get to the stadium.
Flemming said the school lost more parking spots than originally estimated
when the fence went up to seperate the construction zone from the students,
but the inconvenience will be worth it.
“When the construction is finished in December 2004, we expect to
gain back some parking spaces, and we’ll have a beautiful new gymnasium,”
she said.Buld
|
