Columnist Jeff German: This RJC problem tops ‘em all

Friday, April 4, 2003 | 10:49 a.m.

The view of Las Vegas from the roof of the unfinished 17-story Regional Justice Center is beautiful.

But that's the only thing of beauty atop the county's "project from hell," which is 20 months behind schedule and millions of dollars in the red.

Like everything else with this $185 million boondoggle, the roof is a mess and a source of heated contention between the county and AF Construction, the building's general contractor.

And it is further delaying the taxpayer-financed project.

County Aviation Director Randy Walker, who has the unenviable task of trying to get AF Construction to complete the job, described the asphalt-covered roof Thursday as a "disaster" that was badly damaged by construction work after it was installed.

The county's project manager, Jacob Facilities Inc., last week sent AF Construction a "non-compliance notice," saying it intended to deduct the $503,362 it paid for the roof from its next monthly payment to the general contractor unless the roof is fixed.

AF Construction was ordered to rip up the roof and install a new one in its place.

The notice brought attention to a series of problems that have been festering since Oct. 25 when the New Jersey-based GAF Materials Corp., which supplied $200,000 worth of roofing materials, said it would not warranty work on the roof because the post-installation damage was "beyond repair."

Then the rains came in February and, as one county overseer put it, the Regional Justice Center began to "leak like a sieve," causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage throughout the project. Sheet rock, ceiling tiles and carpeting were damaged. Mold also started to form on some parts of the building.

AF Construction has since temporarily patched most of the leaks on the roof, and there was little water damage when it rained in March.

But during a tour Thursday, the roof looked like it had been in a war zone in Iraq, and Walker said he worried about future rains.

There were large tar-sealed patches everywhere. Tar also was spread around the roof's metal drains and protrusions, which Walker said were never sealed properly. And a waterproof plastic tarp covered several areas of the asphalt.

Bolts and nails also were embedded in the asphalt and there were large gouges and soft spots from the weight of heavy equipment -- all of which have the potential to create new leaks. And strewn about were piles of heavy metal materials that could dig into the asphalt and create still more problems.

AF Construction downplayed the damage to the roof and said it can be fixed at a minimal cost.

"There's nothing out of line here," said Brad Byington, the company's project manager.

But Walker didn't share that opinion.

"This is about as bad as it gets," he said. "What we paid for doesn't work."

In this case "we" means the taxpayers, who continue to get hit hard in this construction calamity.