Meeting re Cost Overruns at new schools Thur 8 am

[Betsy Voinovich]

Here's a message from LCS CFO Kent Zeman:

A Special Board of Education Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. in the Board Auditorium at the Lakewood Board of Education Building, 1470 Warren Road, Lakewood, Ohio 44107 for consideration of a resolution to acknowledge Ohio School Facilities Commission scope of work adjustment and to acknowledge the obligation to contribute district’s proportional share of actual cost overruns in certain circumstances and any other business that may come before the Board.

Kent R. Zeman, CFO/Treasurer

Lakewood City Schools


A resolution to acknowledge an OSFC "scope of work adjustment"--- I don't know whether that means that decisions are being made to not build parts of buildings, or to build more..

also to acknowledge "the obligation to contribute district’s proportional share of actual cost overruns in certain circumstances."

So this means they need more money, right? What are the "certain circumstances"?

If you are free at 8 am tomorrow morning it would be great if you could stop by the Board Auditorium at the Lakewood Board of Education Building and find out more, and let our representatives on the Board know that you are interested.

Betsy Voinovich

[Michael Deneen]

I'm not in the construction business, so I'm not sure how they can feasibly cut out parts of planned buildings.
I hope they aren't going to ask for money.

[Christine Gordillo]

The article at the link below explains how the District is addressing the cost overruns. The Board must approve a resolution that allows the District to ask the state for additional funds.

http://www.lakewoodcityschools.org/News ... bBTiM.dpbs

Christine Gordillo
Communications & PR Coordinator
Lakewood City Schools

[Peter Grossetti]

I'm wondering ... do the construction contact(s) include any penalties for not meeting completion date or exceeding budget. Isn't that pretty standard?

Despite my nationality, I am not in the construction business, either.

[Amy Martin]

SURPRISE, SURPRISE . . .. Cost overruns!! To be paid for by the already overtaxed citizens of Lakewood, who are going to be further taxed out the butt to support Mike Summer's new WRECK CENTER! Add to this the loss in income tax revenue by the workers displaced from Lakewood Hospital and we are heading into a financial disaster.

Our School Board needs to be fired. If we did our jobs like they did theirs, we would all be in the unemployment line. People - get your heads out of the sand and start paying attention.

[james fitzgibbons]

I'm wondering ... do the construction contact(s) include any penalties for not meeting completion date or exceeding budget. Isn't that pretty standard?

Despite my nationality, I am not in the construction business, either.

LOL!!

[james fitzgibbons]

I'm wondering ... do the construction contact(s) include any penalties for not meeting completion date or exceeding budget. Isn't that pretty standard?

Despite my nationality, I am not in the construction business, either.

LOL!!

It seems strange that all these school projects had to be done at the same time. Was there a legitimate reason? Of course you should be prepared for cost overruns, if there is not enough money to complete a project it should not be started, not fair to spend money when it is not yours. Just go to the people and raise taxes. Seems like Lakewood High is far from being finished.
Improper planning. Six Million that is nothing to Mayor Summers.

[Corey Rossen]

I can't even build a doghouse at home on budget, let alone build a school.

Sorry, Stan, costs ran over. You'll have to wait until next paycheck before I can complete it and you can move in.

[tom monahan]

Christine:

I am sorry that I won't be able to make it to this meeting. But I do have a couple of comments.

You have a construction manager and an architect who you have hired for their expertise. I would hope that someone who understands construction and planning has looked at the contracts and specs to see if there were problems with any area of the design, planning and execution of those contracts. There is a section (or there should be) in the architect's contract that outlines "error and omissions" and I would start looking there to see if the architect messed up. I hope that the contracts were not the usual boilerplate type contracts because if they were, the owners has very to stand on. These contacts are so slanted to protect the architects, engineers and construction managers it is pathetic. The owner is at the mercy of these folks, so don't be shy in bringing things to their attention.The architect, engineers and construction managers carry insurance for such oversight problems and I for one would not be shy about going after them to cover some or all of the overruns.

[Patrick Wadden]

SURPRISE, SURPRISE . . .. Cost overruns!! To be paid for by the already overtaxed citizens of Lakewood, who are going to be further taxed out the butt to support Mike Summer's new WRECK CENTER! Add to this the loss in income tax revenue by the workers displaced from Lakewood Hospital and we are heading into a financial disaster.

Our School Board needs to be fired. If we did our jobs like they did theirs, we would all be in the unemployment line. People - get your heads out of the sand and start paying attention.

Amy, I read that link that was posted and it says that the School board is going to go to the State for the extra 6%. Did I not read that properly? BTW, Cost overruns on projects like this are really, really common.

[Bridget Conant]

Except that the state, according to state law, is only responsible for a portion of the cost overrun. The district will have to pay its "share" of the overrun.

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/3318%3A1-3

(4) The school district board shall acknowledge by resolution the obligation to share the school district's portion of an actual cost overrun in proportion to their respective contribution to the project construction fund, if the total project budget is insufficient to enter into contracts or if the contingency reserve and all investment earnings on project funds should become depleted before or at completion of the project.

[Edward Favre]

The reason for the special Board meeting tomorrow is because of a short turn-around time in the OFCC's (Ohio Facilities Construction Commission) agreement to co-fund the overages in the construction project. Board actions are usually done in two readings and there is only one regular meeting, April 4, between today's anticipated receipt of the the State agreement and the deadline to submit. For the purpose of full public airing of the agreement, on two readings, and with Easter week upon us, a special meeting was called for tomorrow morning. This, and the April 4 meeting, are open to the public. In addition, any questions can be forwarded to Superintendent Patterson, Treasurer Zeman, or Board Members.

Lakewood's share of the additional funds are from other savings and revenues. Superintendent Patterson's comments in Chris Gordillio's posting cover those items, so I won't rehash them here. In short, we're in a seller's market when it comes to construction costs in Cuyahoga County with all the other projects going until after the RNC boom. Yet the Board has been and is committed to previously set timelines for opening the new schools.

Board members are not happy about these cost increases either.

[Bridget Conant]

So Mr Favre, do you mean that Lakewood has access to funds to cover their portion of the additional costs?

Am I correct in my understanding that we share this cost with the state?

Thank you.

[Edward Favre]

The answer to your first question is yes. Lakewood has funds from other sources, for example interest earnings on the construction funds. Frankly, we'd rather use those dollars for other good things would could do, but the money is there.

Without having yet seen the OFCC agreement, we anticipate the answer to your second question to be yes as well.

[Amy Martin]

You should ALL resign