I write few editorials, even fewer about Wake Forest’s leadership, and I was not going to write and publish this until I thought about the man my husband and I met Friday after the town board retreat at Wine 101. A Heritage resident, he told us he had been following the retreat on Twitter all day – he did not say who was sending out the messages – and when we said we were surprised, he said he wants to know how his tax money is spent.
I believe town officials and the local press are obligated to tell taxpayers why the $12 million town hall has to have another round of repairs because, the latest inspector says, of shoddy construction. From what I have reported in the past, from what I recall and from over 15-plus years of observing the Wake Forest town operations, I do not believe the explanation has any illegal or corrupt elements, but I do believe there were errors in judgment based on an ethic of squeezing nickels and spending as little as possible while keeping staffing as slim as possible. Thrift in public affairs is commendable except when it leads to poor quality in the outcome.
Today I sent two questions (rewritten here to be clearer for my readers) to Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell. My questions and his response are below.
1) The review committee – architect Stephen Hawley, Parks and Recreation Director Susan Simpson and purchasing agent Randy Driver – rejected the Heaton bid as unresponsive. The committee did not go on to the second lowest bid. Instead Hawley spent several days working with Heaton to clear up the questions he had and then recommended approval. Why?
2) There were irregularities and poorly done work that was found as work began and progressed on the building when an architect was only inspecting once a week, Simpson had many other responsibilities and no construction experience and the town inspections department was making limited inspections. Why was there not a decision made to change course and hire an onsite professional construction manager?
This is O’Donnell’s reply, quoted in full:
“Despite the issues we are working to address related to its construction, Town Hall is a signature facility in downtown Wake Forest. Not only is it where the town’s business is conducted, it is also rightfully identified with many of our community’s most popular events, including our Memorial Flag-Raising Ceremonies and the Lighting of Wake Forest. Time and again visitors to town hall share positive comments about the facility. So nobody is more disappointed than we are that after spending more than $500,000 on locating and remediating leakages, the building continues to leak.
“Prior to commencing the project a core team of staff was formed including Mark, Susan, Aileen, Chip and myself. The purpose of the team was to select the architect, determine work space needs, identify space needed for programming, assist with the building’s core design, and select the materials used in the interior design. In addition to selecting Little Diversified Architectural Consultants as the architect, the town also hired Little to serve as the construction administrator – a common practice at the time. The town chose not to hire an onsite construction manager either prior to or during construction because town officials trusted Little to protect our interests. In addition, at the time the building was under construction, the hiring of an outside construction manager wasn’t a common practice as it is today. By the time town staff recognized there were issues with the building’s construction, not only were we quite far along in the process, but the town had not included funds in the capital budget for a construction manager to provide oversight.
“Both Heaton and Little Diversified have acknowledged mistakes related to the construction of the building. Heaton forgave $207,000 – retainage payable plus accrued interest – of the final bill and the town received an additional $300,000 in cash settlement from the litigation suit. In addition, Little forgave their final bill to the town as part of the settlement. Incidentally, Heaton’s bid was never rejected. The architect did, however, investigate Heaton’s record before recommending it as the responsible responsive low bidder.
“As a result of this experience, the town learned a number of valuable lessons. Perhaps most importantly, the town now has on staff a professional – and extremely capable – facilities manager who is charged with overseeing these types of construction projects.
“In closing, we remain extremely proud of town hall’s LEED Platinum certification. Our building is one of very few city halls in the country to have achieved LEED Platinum status. The issues related to leaks do not affect our Platinum status, nor do they detract from the facilities environmentally friendly and sustainable.”
O’Donnell’s response was received about 1:30 p.m. today, close to the deadline for placing the Gazette on line. It deserves full reading and consideration which my colleague, David Leone, the associate editor at The Wake Forest Weekly and I will give it in the next few days.
Please, readers, give this your own consideration and thought. Were the questions answered adequately? Let us know.
We must move forward, as Mayor Vivian Jones said, but we must also hope to understand why a situation such as the town hall leaks came to be.
One Response
I have spent most of my professional life in public buildings and was involved with bringing several public buildings on line. . In North Carolina they are all built by the lowest bid contractor. Many of which go bankrupt while the project is under construction. A bargain is not always a bargain. Next time you are in a high-rise public building remember that the elevator you are about to step onto was purchased at lowest bid, installed at lowest bid and maintained by lowest bid. Maybe take the stairs!