County school construction boss leaves post

Teresa Hinds

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The local head of the firm managing the Clark County School District's 1994 school bond construction program is leaving his post in mid-March.

Ron L'Hommedieu, program manager for Parsons-Fleming-Taylor, will head up the company's $2 billion, 15-year expansion project for Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Mo.

James Clark, who for the past year has been PFT's construction manager for school district projects, will replace L'Hommedieu.

"We hate to lose him because that represents a loss of continuity with regards to PFT management," said Fred Smith, head of facilities and transportation for the school district. "But at the same time, we realize people need an opportunity to learn and to grow and we've been preparing for that."

Smith said the school district is "very comfortable" with Clark as L'Hommedieu's replacement. "We think things will continue to operate smoothly," he said. "We don't expect any major change in the level of service provided by PFT."

For L'Hommedieu, the move is bittersweet: He's worked hard at smoothing over the relationships between PFT, local contractors and the school district, but St. Louis is home.

Controversy arose from the beginning of PFT's tenure as construction manager for the $605 million bond because of what L'Hommedieu described as divisiveness between the various school district departments involved in construction.

In addition, L'Hommedieu said school district construction and rehabilitation employees were "hurt and offended" that an outside construction management firm was brought in to oversee the 1994 building program. The school district felt "they had done a good job" on 1988 bond-funded projects and didn't need a private manager, he said.

The public, however, felt it didn't get what it was promised in the 1988 school bond. Public pressure led to hiring an outside firm to manage the next building program.

"It was almost impossible for over a year because we couldn't get people to work together," L'Hommedieu said. "The steps we've made in bringing the school district departments together is monumental.

"We've developed standards of criteria and design solutions from the different interest groups" such as the maintenance and planning departments, principals, parents and the Rainbow Book, a publication that outlines rehabilitation work to be done at the older schools in the district. As a result, L'Hommedieu said relationships and communication are better.

The communication problems created "confusion" among local contractors, L'Hommedieu said, causing more problems. But standardizing procedures from project to project, he said, has resulted in improved relationships.

Still, PFT has its critics, which L'Hommedieu takes in stride.

"One of our jobs is to make contractors do their work," he explained. "There are contractors who do that, and there are those that don't."

L'Hommedieu paraphrased a statement made recently by Bob Broadbent, chairman of the Bond Oversight Committee: "If you love PFT, then we wouldn't be doing our job."

L'Hommedieu is looking forward to going home to St. Louis and being closer to his children and grandchildren.

He's also looking forward to his new endeavor, which will almost be like coming full circle in his career: L'Hommedieu worked on the original construction of Lambert International Airport.

Airport projects have been L'Hommedieu's speciality since 1983. He's been the program director for the Washington National and Dulles International airports in Washington, D.C., a program management adviser for Chicago O'Hare International Terminal, construction manager for the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport, and the program director for the Denver Stapleton International Airport.

Before joining the 1994 bond construction program, Clark, L'Hommedieu's replacement, was the construction manager for earthquake repairs to California State University, Northridge.

During Clark's 32-year career, he's been the program manager for numerous airfield projects, including the NASA Space Shuttle landing site in White Sands, N.M.

Clark said he is looking forward to overseeing the coordination of design and construction for the remainder of the 1994 bond program.