New designs on school-building process

Friday, Jan. 16, 1998 | 10:46 a.m.

Delays continue to plague construction work on at least four elementary schools, the Clark County Bond Oversight Committee learned at a meeting Thursday afternoon.

At a separate meeting later in the day, held by another committee formed in response to school funding issues, two spokesmen for a major construction and engineering firm offered a solution to such delays.

They suggested the "design-build" concept, which essentially involves one contract between the state, or district, and the builder who also designs the project.

It would essentially be a turn-key operation, with the contractor taking care of all aspects of building at a fixed price agreed upon at the beginning.

The method might cost more up-front, because money would have to be built into the contract agreement to cover as many risk factors as possible, but building would be put on a "fast track" and completed in less time than the method no in place.

Hugh A. McCoy, director of marketing for the Morrison Knudsen Corp. of Boise, Idaho, and Robert Burns, a vice president of MK Centennial, a Las Vegas subsidiary of Knudsen, explained the "design-build" concept to the Clark County School District Board's Oversight Panel for School Facilities.

The Oversight Panel, which met at the Grant Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Blvd, Thursday evening, was formed as a result of an attempt by the 1997 Legislature to explore ways of funding school construction projects other than bonds.

The panel, which listened to suggestions from the public during its second meeting, will make recommendations to the Legislature, which has shown no inclination to use state funds to build schools.

The Oversight Committee, which met at the Education Center, was formed to oversee the spending of bond money raised by elections in 1994 and 1996. About $1.2 billion was raised as a result of bond issues in those two years, igniting a building boom in the school district.

James Clark, program director for Parsons-Fleming-Taylor, told board members the contracting firm of Addison Inc. has failed to commit necessary resources to a project that includes Pittman, Ronzone, Beckley and Gilbert elementary schools.

PFT company was hired by the Clark County School District to manage the construction of new schools and the renovations of older ones using funds from a 1994 school bond issue.

After many delays and cost over runs on other projects overseen by PFT, the school board decided last year not to renew its contract with the company and will instead oversee 1996 bond projects itself.

The four Addison projects that are behind schedule were to have been completed last Aug. 23 but now have an estimated completion date of Feb. 15, and even that may not be possible to meet.

Clark said an assessment of liquidated damages is under review by the school district.

The damages would amount to $314,400, at the rate of $2,400 per day for 131 days.

The committee discussed the possibility of putting the contract with Addison in default and finding someone else to complete the project.

Clark said the default process would add another two month to the already lengthy delay.

"The best solution is to have the contractor do the job," he said.

At the Oversight Panel meeting later in the day, McCoy and Burns promoted their "design-build" proposal as a functional way of building schools -- but admitted it does have disadvantages.

One of the disadvantages is that the school district would have little input into the design. Custom building costs more than tract homes, the two explained.

According to McCoy, every state but Nevada and one other either permit design-build as a general rule or are considering legislation allowing it.

Nevada permits it on a limited basis in only one or two departments -- the education department is not one of them.

McCoy said the concept can be used by any department for almost any project of any size and should be presented to the state legislature for consideration.

County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a member of the Oversight Panel, listened to a number of suggestions by other people who spoke but then, in frustration wanted to know what any of it had to do with finding alternative ways of finding funds to build or renovate schools.

"I feel uncomfortable," she said. "The comments are important, but they have nothing to do with the mission this committee is charged with. Before we have these kids of discussion l... we must first answer the financing."

There were a variety of suggestions from the general public, who did no show up in great numbers at the evening session.

One person suggested a "turn key" operation in which a contractor buildings a school and sells it to the district.

Another suggested neighborhood funding, such as has been done in Summerlin.

Becky Maddox, with Nevada Concerned Citizens, had several suggestions:

-- tighten the purse strings.

-- don't use union labor.

-- reduce frills.

-- cut back on the number of school administrators.