Morgan Hill school district trustees are finding that getting to
the heart of what it’ll cost to build Ann Sobrato High School is
like peeling an artichoke. Questions of staff and would-be builders
produce tidbits of useful information, but there’s always another
layer.
Morgan Hill school district trustees are finding that getting to the heart of what it’ll cost to build Ann Sobrato High School is like peeling an artichoke. Questions of staff and would-be builders produce tidbits of useful information, but there’s always another layer.
So, following a study session on the construction issue Monday, board members agreed that a subcommittee of the panel under vice chairman George Panos would conduct in-depth interviews with two bidders on the project and maybe visit the site.
Trustees also asked staff to provide them with an overview of the district’s financial situation, past spending habits and prospects for the future. The study session is scheduled Jan. 22.
The construction of Sobrato High has proven controversial, given the disenchantment in some quarters with the past performance of Jacobs Facilities, Inc., one of the bidders. In fact, the study session Monday was held because an earlier board (three new members were elected Nov. 5) deadlocked on Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s recommendation to hire Jacobs.
Also bidding on the Sobrato work is Turner Construction Co.
Until a decision is reached, Rich Knapp, co-principal at Live Oak High School, has moved to the district office to oversee preliminary work at the Sobrato site.
Trustees covered a gamut of topics Monday with James Black, a consultant hired to review the bids of Jacobs and Turner, and representatives of the two firms. Black, who opened the session, said either firm could do the job, but urged trustees to nail down a construction schedule since they want to open the new high school in fall 2004.
Black’s review found Turner and Jacobs neck and neck as far as cost is concerned. The finding would seem to resolve an earlier discrepancy – that the Jacobs bid to guide construction of the high school was $3.3 million more than the state-recommended amount and the approximate amount bid by Turner and two other firms.
At the no-decision meeting of Nov. 18, trustees were told that the $3.3 million difference stemmed an “at-risk” factor, meaning that Jacobs took the responsibility for any lawsuits.
The Sobrato project has not gone smoothly. School officials first had to resolve a lawsuit filed by the city of San Jose over intrusion into its Coyote Valley greenbelt. Now, a new board of trustees is raising new questions, including whether the school is needed at all.
What would happen in the eventuality the project is scrapped was raised Monday along with questions about architectural work, construction costs, liability and problems involving cost overruns and the cleanup of toxic agricultural residue at the Barrett Elementary school site last year.
There were questions, too, about the differences between a construction manager, as exemplified by Turner, and a design/build firm such as Jacobs that sees a project through from conception to completion.
Trustees also have been uneasy with an ad in a construction trade journal last month that listed Jacobs as construction manager for the project. The best explanation offered was that the advertisement was technically correct, although Jacobs so far is only the architect of record.
The Panos subcommittee, which includes trustees Shelle Thomas and Michael Hickey, both elected in November, will meet with the construction firms next week and report its findings to the board probably at the Jan. 27 meeting.
Meanwhile, trustees have a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday and another study session Jan. 22, at which time they have asked that district official provide an overview of the district’s financial status.
Thomas especially is concerned about the cost of Sobrato High, given other projects on the books, the uncertainty over how much state funding the district will receive this year and, what she says is lack of information on the cost of in-progress or finished work.
“I want the big picture. We have to know that we’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Thomas said.
Sobrato is not the only project under way, Thomas said. How much is it going to cost to clean up 30 acres at the Sobrato site where farm operations and a subterranean gasoline tank have contaminated soil, Thomas asked. What about the new corporation yard the district needs? How much as been spent on the renovation of Live Oak High School?
The Sobrato development family donated 124 acres to the district for a school. The ensuing lawsuit by the city of San Jose was settled out of court. It gave San Jose 75 acres of the property in exchange for $3.5 million with which the school district could buy other property. The district has initiated procedures to acquire the land under eminent domain law, which allows governments to acquire – with proper remuneration — property needed for the common good.
