School Board cuts ties with builder, approves legal action
The Homosassa Elementary contractor may be asked for more money but may be spared a lawsuit.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published June 29, 2005
INVERNESS - Nearly 14 months after school officials learned of serious building flaws at Homosassa Elementary School and the community began demanding that the district fire the builder, the School Board voted Tuesday to sever ties with R.E. Graham Contracting.
The board also gave its attorney, Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick, permission to pursue legal action against the firm when the time is right.
Fitzpatrick said he had just received a letter from Ted Williamson, the engineer on the project, stating that "significant cause exists to terminate the contract with Graham."
The builder has substantially finished construction of the school, including extensive repairs to the new media center and cafeteria, which were built without required reinforcement and with improper wall and roof attachments. The school district now owns those repaired facilities, but Graham is still obligated to finish odds and ends that remain.
Fitzpatrick said the district gave him the notice and time required in the contract to get everything done, but that time has elapsed, and now the district plans to do the work and charge Graham for it.
The district has a cost estimator examining what it will take to finish the job and have everything ready for school to start in August.
"There are still a lot of things that need to be finished out there," Fitzpatrick said. "We've had a long and very patient relationship with this general contractor."
Graham could not be reached for comment Tuesday. An answering machine at his office stated that his message box was full.
Fitzpatrick said early number crunching indicates that Graham may owe $100,000 or more even beyond the $600,000 the district has withheld from him.
For the delays in the four phases of the job, including the two flawed buildings, Graham owes the district $388,118. The district also incurred $400,000 or more in costs for additional inspections, tests, legal advice and the finishing of projects by district workers.
The work that remains, the portable classrooms brought in to serve as a cafeteria, the expense of sending the Homosassa children to Crystal River schools at the start of the school year, paying some of the unpaid subcontractors and the additional fees of Williamson, the engineer, were also figured into that amount.
"It exceeds the amount of money that we have held out under the contract," Fitzpatrick said. "It appears that someone owes us money."
Board member Lou Miele asked if the district would also hold its architectural and engineering firm, Williamson Dacar and Associates, responsible for what happened at Homosassa.
Fitzpatrick said action is not planned at this time, but he is looking for state licensing authorities to provide more information in the coming months. He said Williamson Dacar and Associates is under the scrutiny of the state's licensing boards for architects and engineers.
The state code inspectors board also is examining Berryman and Henigar, which inspected the project. The state construction licensing board is scrutinizing Graham.
Two of those four examinations are done, but the licensing boards have not yet determined if probable cause exists to discipline the professionals involved.
If lawsuits are filed, Fitzpatrick said, there is a good chance that the other professionals involved in the project could be pulled into the fray.
"Everybody could get into the mix," he said.
While Graham failed in his responsibility to build the buildings right in the first place, Fitzpatrick said, the contractor did help the school district by staying on the scene and performing the repairs - even if that work took far longer and was far more extensive than anyone thought it would be.
Bringing in someone from the outside to finish the work would have been much more complicated, Fitzpatrick said.
"He (Graham) put us in the hole to start with and he didn't get us out of the hole as quickly as he should have, but he worked along the way," he said.
Fitzpatrick told the board that if the time comes to file a lawsuit against Graham, he may opt to file the paperwork but not have it served on Graham. Instead, he would like to see the parties come together in mediation.
"It's always better to resolve a case through mediation," he said. "The thrill of victory and agony of defeat is only the thrill of victory and agony of defeat in the courtroom for the lawyers. It does nothing for us being good stewards of the public's money....
"If we can find a way to resolve this short of a knock-down, drag-out litigation, we ought to do that."
--Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com