West Greene expects to open new elementary center on time
The new West Greene Elementary Center will be ready when the school year starts.
Construction crews work Friday to repair a retaining wall that collapsed near the new West Greene Elementary Center last year.
ROGERSVILLE – West Greene School District expects to begin classes in its new elementary center on time at the start of the new school year despite construction setbacks that included a retaining wall collapsing behind the new facility late last year.
The board approved a motion Thursday night to notify the state Department of Education the district has formally closed the Graysville and Springhill-Freeport elementary schools and will open the new West Greene Elementary Center Aug. 31.
The notification is necessary for the state to change the district’s building codes in regard to reporting requirements, Superintendent Thelma Szarell explained at the board meeting.
The motion was approved unanimously, although one board member, Tom Coss, questioned at a pre-board meeting whether the building would be ready.
“We’ve been told a few times that it was going to be done,” Coss said.
The building was originally expected to be ready for use in November, however a contractor is currently finishing up work and turning rooms over to the district as they are completed.
Szarell said the building will be ready for the start of the school year. The district already has moved most of the furniture and supplies into the building, she said.
Szarell agreed, however, to write a letter to the state to make sure that should any “catastrophe” occur and the new building not be ready for use, the district could continue to use its current building codes.
Karl Borgman of Aecom, the district’s construction manager, later also reported that K-2 Engineering would be at the elementary center Aug. 4 to inspect it for an occupancy permit.
“I’m confident it will not be an issue,” Borgman said. “Things are going very well.”
Asked about outside work that still has to be finished, Brian Henderson also of Aecom said, at most it could result in the issuance of an occupancy permit with conditions.
The board discussed several issues regarding work to be finished on the grounds of the new school.
It approved a change order to have Burchick Construction Co. replace cracked concrete slabs on the sidewalk at a cost not to exceed $10,000. The board also discussed repairing the concrete slabs on the basketball court, which board members said are not level.
Szarell said work on the new retaining wall behind the new elementary is proceeding as planned and expected to be completed before the start of school.
The district had to replace the retaining wall that was constructed there earlier after it collapsed in November. The board in April hired Burchick Construction to build a new wall at the site at a guaranteed maximum price of $5.26 million.
In other business, the board hired attorney, Robert Creo, to serve as a mediator in regard to the district’s dispute with the general contractor on the school project, Liokareas Construction Co. The private mediation will be held Sept. 15.
Liokareas earlier filed a lawsuit against the district seeking damages for additional work it claims it was required to perform partly in response to issues involving the failed wall.
Board solicitor Barbara Graham said following the meeting that the contract between the district and Liokareas for the school construction required that any dispute regarding the project first go to mediation.
In response to a question by a board member about whether each party’s position would be made public, Graham said in mediation such matters remain confidential.
The district also is in mediation on issues regarding the elementary project with the architect, The Hayes Design Group. The board approved a motion to enter mediation with Hayes last month.