Expansion project at City Hall gets temporary go-ahead

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, Dec. 17, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

Planned construction for a $39.5 million expansion of Henderson City Hall is still on track after a ruling Friday in federal court on a disputed construction contract.

U.S. District Judge David W. Hagen ruled that the city of Henderson and Pittsburgh-based Dick Corp. can proceed with expansion plans until a hearing on Jan. 14.

PCL Construction, based in Colorado, had asked the court on Thursday for a temporary halt to work, arguing that irregularities in the November bid process gave Dick Corp. an unfair advantage.

Ground has not been broken on the project, but paperwork is moving forward.

The lawsuit by PCL Construction also seeks to force the city to award the expansion project to PCL.

The Jan. 14 hearing, if it goes in the city's favor, would allow Henderson construction officials and Dick Corp. to start construction as planned on Jan. 21.

"It's a good thing the court moved quickly," Henderson construction manager John Simmons said. "This allows me to execute contract documents and move forward with partnering."

Shortly before Jan. 21 Simmons plans to meet with Dick Corp. and subcontractors to help coordinate plans. The meeting is being held in part to head off misunderstandings that delayed completion of a $7.2 million municipal parking garage, Simmons said.

The 4 1/2-story garage was the first part of the $65 million City Hall expansion project.

General contractor KBA Construction completed the garage earlier this month. The company's president has threatened to sue both the city and Simmons for change orders he says added more than $300,000 to construction costs.

The full expansion will quadruple the size of City Hall, increasing it from 56,500 square feet to 283,000 square feet. PCL bid $41.6 million on the roughly 20-month project, $2.1 million more than Dick Corp.

That higher bid, says Aaron Maurice, a Las Vegas-based attorney hired by the city, is what ultimately will sink PCL's suit. Maurice called the suit only the latest in "a shotgun attack" of complaints lodged by PCL since the construction contract was awarded Tuesday.

"The statutes for bidding public works are in place not to protect general contractors, but to protect taxpayers," Maurice said. "And that is key."

The only way the court could rule against the city, Maurice said, is if the city acted in an "arbitrary or capricious" way. But the city awarded the contract to the lowest, responsible, responsive bidder, he said.

PCL has complained about several aspects of the bidding process, including a failed attempt to prove that Dick Corp. had not paid state taxes for a required five-year period leading up to the bid. Dick Corp. provided records going back to 1996.

In the pending suit PCL argues that Dick Corp.'s bid should be thrown out because an electrical subcontractor used by both PCL and Dick Corp. upped its bid by $650,000 in the final hour of bidding.

PCL chose to drop California-based Helix Electric and go with another subcontractor. Dick Corp. chose to stay with Helix, the largest non-union electrical contractor in the Las Vegas Valley.

Because of the last-minute change by Helix, the Southern Nevada Subcontractors Bid Depository, a private agency that regulates the construction industry, temporarily barred the company from using its services. But changing the bid broke no state laws and will do little to hamper Helix's ability to do business in Nevada, Gaylene Potter, administrator for the bid depository, said.

Helix has contracted for electrical work on such Las Vegas Valley projects as Terminal D at McCarran International Airport and the Siena campus of St. Rose Dominican Hospital in southwest Henderson.

Victor Fuchs, president of Helix's Las Vegas operations, blamed the last-minute bid hike on a computing error, saying that his company has been a loyal member of the bid depository for more than 10 years.

"We had an honest mistake during the bid process and we sent out a revised number. We regret that, but hopefully we can mend relationships. We hope our work speaks for itself," Fuchs said.

The full City Hall expansion is scheduled for completion in fall 2004.