WJCC Board Unhappy With School Completion Delays

By Amber Lester Saturday, July 24, 2010

The plan went like this: J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School would be complete by June 17 and Lois Hornsby Middle School would be complete by July 1.

But construction didn’t go according to plan, and the Williamsburg-James City County School Board members didn’t hold back as they expressed their disappointment to construction managers with McDonough Brolyard Peck, Inc. at their Tuesday meeting.

 

As it stands, the construction is expected to wrap up by the end of this month. But when school board members have recently toured the new schools, located on a shared site off Jolly Pond Road, they’ve seen work that still needed to be complete, such as windows that weren’t fully installed, unfinished floors and incomplete brickwork. Phone lines and Internet services have not been installed, either; the contractors said they wanted to wait to put valuable technological equipment in the buildings, where it could be vulnerable to theft.

 

The board’s frustration came to the forefront Tuesday when MBP construction manager Kevin Willis said the schools had reached “substantial completion” during his presentation. In an update posted on the online meeting agenda, MBP defined substantial completion as “the stage in the progress of the Work when the Work or designated portion thereof is substantially complete in accordance with the Contract Documents so the Owner can occupy or utilize the Work for its intended purpose.”

The board members disagreed with his definition of substantial completion, however. They said that the construction contract stated substantial completion would be met when the building could operate for its intended use – in this case, as a school where children are educated. As of Tuesday, children could not efficiently be educated in the buildings, they argued.

MBP’s general conditions said that when the contractor considers the work substantially complete, it will submit a list of items left to be completed to the architect, Grimm+Parker. The contractor will then complete the items on the list. The architect, with the construction manager, will inspect and if satisfied, will determine the substantial completion. The architect issues a Certificate of Substantial Completion, at which point the owner and contractor become responsible for security, maintenance, heat, utilities, damage to the work and insurance.

Board member Joe Fuentes told Willis that he had stood before the board at previous meetings and repeatedly assured them that the work would be completed on time. He questioned how the possession of a temporary certificate of occupancy from the county could mean substantial completion had been reached. Willis said the county always issues a temporary certificate of occupancy before it issues a permanent one.

James City County Chief Building Inspector Joe Basilone said that’s not the case. “If everything was finished 100 percent and we went out to inspect it and didn’t find anything, we would issue a permanent certificate of occupancy,” he said Friday.

Basilone said the county’s Code of Compliance office works with the Planning office, Environmental Division, Fire Department and Service Authority to decide whether to issue a permanent certificate of occupancy. After touring the buildings, the county issued a temporary certificate for the elementary school around July 1 and another for the middle school on July 16. Both will expire Aug. 30; school opens on Sept. 7.

A temporary certificate of occupancy is issued before the completion of a structure if the building can be occupied safely prior to full completion, according to the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.

He said that under the temporary certificate of occupancy, school staff could go ahead and start getting acquainted with the building and setting up offices and classrooms. “It’s a good thing to have some overlap because the construction staff knows things about the building that school staff needs to know,” he said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Willis explained some the delays. The ceramic tile for the bathrooms had to be shipped from Holland. The fire alarms had to be replaced after the fire marshal found the decibel level was not high enough; the replacement took two weeks. “Substantial completion in our terms does not mean everything will be complete,” he said.

Still, the board members said the contract stated the buildings could be used for their intended purpose when substantially complete. “I don’t see a disconnect here,” said member Denise Koch. “I saw gaps where water could come in the windows. I didn’t see just ceramic tile from Holland left to be done; I saw a lot more than that. The dates were done in negotiation with you all and our principals were adhering to those dates.”

She went on to point out the contract was not with a school board, but with a community. “The citizens provided the funds for the new schools and expect us to use those judiciously,” she said.

Member Joe Fuentes said he’d like to see the division pursue liquidated damages, an amount of money collected if a contractual agreement is breached. In the contract, MBP agreed the owner would retain $1,000 for each calendar day after the substantial completion date that work is not substantially complete. After 31 days, that amount would increase to $1,500 per day.

He did confirm, however, that the school division could still pursue the liquidated damages after completion.