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Construction Catastrophes Part 1: The Kelseyville Bait & Switch

By Philip Murphy

6-2-05

 

If you ever needed a textbook example of good intentions gone wrong, the Kelseyville high school Auditorium/cafeteria/music room project would serve as a prime subject for study. Originally approved by voters in November 2001, the 2.9 million dollar project was promised to be completed within the next two years, and got an over 80% positive response from the electorate. For years the students had to do without a cafeteria of any kind, making for some miserable lunchtime experiences, particularly during inclement weather. Kelseyville high's first-rate music program was also in need of proper shelter, as they had spent many years crammed into a small classroom who's space was so limited that the band had to practice in shifts. The music program and it's popular husband/wife team of Tom and Beth Akins was a big part of the reason the community showed such eagerness to increase their property tax burden at the ballot box, and the community was truly looking forward to seeing their schools talented band and choir groups perform in a venue that properly showcased the student's impressive musical abilities.

 

But anyone familiar with the Kelseyville school board's history of construction disasters should have had second thoughts about the plan, as some of the same people who had orchestrated the Riviera school fiasco and the high school gym mess were once again calling the shots. The Riviera school project had run-up over one-and-a-half million dollars in architects fees before the plans were scrapped and a new firm was hired for the design work for the structure that closely resembles a lightly renovated factory complex. Much of that cost overrun the school district had to cover itself, but even though the state had warned them for years that Sacramento wanted their money back that was spent on the wasted work, the district successfully hid that fact until long after the project was completed. Then the bad news slowly dribbled out, with the first figure of the sum owed to the state quoted by former superintendent Ken Clark as $160,000. This figure grew to $250,000 and then finally to over $450,000, with the revelation of the "forgotten" debt conveniently timed to coincide with a pay-raise demand from the teachers. Most of the guilty parties made a clean getaway, but two (Peter Quarterollo and Gary Olson) are still on the board, and both men have their fingerprints all over the latest predictable mess.

 

As a warm-up for the current disaster, the board tried to fix some termite damage on the gym, which turned into a full-scale renovation, thanks in large part to the slipshod work habits of the district's former building maintenance superintendent. This same employee was given an early golden parachute retirement from his position that paid far more than the salary of a starting teacher, with nary a public word said about his failure to respond to years of reports of termite swarms infesting the building. His too-little-too-late approach to dealing with the wood-munching insects cost the district hundreds of thousand of dollars and the use of the gym for a year before the situation was finally rectified.

 

So along came the "barf-a-torium" project, as it was soon nicknamed, and the board had yet another chance to redeem itself with a blank sheet of paper and bag of cash in hand. The voters were made several promises beyond the 2.9 million price and the two-year timeframe, including a provision for the formation of a citizens budget oversight committee. This committee was eventually put in place by the district superintendent Boyce McClain, who simply took the project master plan committee and changed their job description to fiscal watchdogs. Unfortunately, the watchdogs turned out to be lap dogs, as you might expect from the project's primary cheerleaders. Included in the roster of the budget committee is county Special Districts administrator Mark Dellinger, county assessor/recorder Doug Whacker, former board member Dr. Kurt Andrus, current board members Gary Olson and Rick Winer, and county biologist Greg Gusti. With the exception of Whacker, the entire crew had plenty of baggage to drag along to committee meetings, and should never been considered for the task of overseeing the finances of the project. With the foxes guarding the hen house it didn't take long for problems to crop up, and the first one was perhaps the most contentious.

 

The board was looking for architects, and got a recommendation from the superintendent for the Semington firm, in spite of a strong pitch made by local architect Tom Aidala, who's highly acclaimed work includes the design of Berkley's Zellerbach auditorium. Semington's design was a unimaginative, windowless hulk, while Aidala's plans were a stunning yet practical one-of-a-kind concept. With the exception of the board's lone female Valerie Ramirez, the board voted to go with the Semington design, mainly because of an unfounded personal dislike of Aidala and some of his supporters. Aidala's design was unquestionably more practical, far better looking, and cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars less-plus it didn't necessitate the removal of several majestic oak trees. The rudeness and arrogance of board members Winer, Olson and Quarterollo was breathtaking, as Olson even went as far as to claim that the numerous citizens on hand (who were overwhelmingly in favor of the local design) didn't even have a right to weigh in on the matter, since the board had been elected to decide the outcome without interference from the electorate! So with the ugly, expensive, out of county design chosen as the winner, the ball began to roll, albeit slowly.

 

The next big mistake was to choose Rainbow Construction of Ukiah as the prime contractor, which was inevitable due to theirs being the lowest bid. Rainbow was already on the ropes, in large part due to lawsuits plaguing every major job they've tackled in recent years, of which many arose due to problems with mold contamination. Rainbow has been sued so many times they are no longer capable of securing bonding, which means after the auditorium job they may be done for good. So the contest began between the architect and contractor to see who could drag their feet the most, with each blaming the other for scores of revisions, omissions and additions to the original plans. Along with the delays the cost began to spiral upwards as well, with steel and wood products price increases adding to the already out-of-control budget. The original design was so flawed that the home next door had to be bought and demolished in order to allow vehicle access to the building, which finally broke ground in the Spring of 2004. Work crept along at a snail's pace all summer , and only began to really take shape as the rainy season neared. Once the Winter storms hit the project got even further behind schedule, and the wood sheathing and rafters became completely soaked. Severe warping and mold damage were evident, yet Rainbow pressed on, covering the damp, fungus-laden structure with metal roofing and stucco. As the project limped forward into the Springtime, another flaw in the design made itself apparent, and that was the building's heating and cooling system. Totally omitted from the artists rendering, an ugly forest of ducts, vents, pipes and metal boxes now festooned the rooftops of the side of the building that was most visible. As the ‚05 school year comes to an end, the building is still unusable and full of loose ends in need of tying, and another class of students has graduated without ever setting foot in a building they were supposed to have used for the last two years. So other than the cost reaching the 4 million dollar mark (an over 25% increase), the project being two years behind schedule and the building looking nothing like what the taxpayers were promised (it was even uglier!), everything was A-O-Kay.

 

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