$1 million OK’d for Sawyer building

Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Legislative Interim Finance Committee Monday approved spending $1 million to take the exterior tiles off the sides of the Sawyer State Office Building in downtown Las Vegas.

State officials said they had to use $1 million of a diminishing state emergency fund to pay for the Sawyer Building work because the tiles could fall from the building and hurt or kill someone.

Gus Nunez, deputy general manager of the state Public Works Board, warned that some of the faulty tiles could become "airborne" during a stiff wind or an earthquake. There is netting on the building to catch the falling tiles and barricades around the building now.

About 50 tiles have fallen off the building so far, but nobody has been injured. But now they are falling at an increasing rate, Nunez said.

Kevin Senn, Reno attorney for the Public Works Board, said a negotiation session is scheduled for Dec. 8 to discuss whether the contractor will repair the building. But so far, the contractor has made no offer to fix the defective work that is resulting in tile falling off the building, Senn said.

The building at Las Vegas Boulevard North and Washington Avenue was completed in 1997 at a cost of $29 million.

Senn said a lawsuit was filed three to four months ago in District Court in Las Vegas against the general contractor, Precision/Kitchell, the tile contractor, Carrera-Marble Co., and the architect, Luchesi-Galati.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said she had been told that the contractor about two years ago had offered to repair the building, but Senn said that was not the case.

Senn said the state "has a very good case." He said experts point to faulty construction as the reason for the falling tile.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said this is not the first time there have been construction problems on a state building.

"It always come back to bite the taxpayers," but the blame should be placed where it belongs -- at the feet of the state Public Works Board, she said.

Senn, however, said it is not a problem that arose from the contract arranged by the state.

The job to tear down all of the tiles would cost an estimated $2.9 million. The Public Works Board wanted to take more than $1 million from a rehabilitation project at the Clear Creek camp south of Carson City to supplement the job. Nunez said the board felt the safety issues at the Sawyer building had a higher priority.

But Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, objected to switching any money from the Cleark Creek project to take care of the problem in Las Vegas. He said the Public Works Board could come back to the Legislature when it meets in February and seek more money for the Sawyer work.

Nunez said he hoped a contract could be awarded in 60 to 90 days. He said the job to remove all of the tiles would take about six to nine months. Once removed, the outside of the building will be waterproofed, he said.

Then the Public Works Board will seek $10 million from the 2005 Legislature to install new tiles.

About $450,000 is being taken from a rehabilitation project of the Kinkead state office building in Carson City to be used for the Sawyer building.

That money had been earmarked to level the floors at the Kinkead building. But Nunez said it would not be wise to spend the money on the Kinkead building because the state expects to phase out its use over the next five years. The building houses many of the agencies in the Human Resources Department and also the Public Works Division.