Schools to open on time
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 14, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Ryan Carter of Metcon Construction used aerial photos of school construction sites Monday night as he updated the Wayne County Board of Education on progress at the new middle schools under construction in the Grantham and Spring Creek communities. Rain has erased most early construction gains, but both schools will still be completed by Aug. 6, he said.
New middle schools under construction in the Grantham and Spring Creek communities will open on time next August despite rain delays that have all but erased early construction gains.
Both sites are muddy, particularly Grantham, said Ryan Carter of Metcon Construction, which, along with T.A. Loving Co., is the construction manager at risk for the projects.
"We have been delayed a little bit with the (Grantham) roof by the weather, but that will be going on hopefully Thursday if we get a break from the weather," Carter told the Wayne County School Board at its Monday night session.
At Spring Creek, the roof is nearly two weeks ahead of work at the Grantham site, he said.
Temporary plastic has been placed in the windows so the area can be heated so that crews can work in the cold months, he said.
"Our contractual schedule completion (for Grantham) is July 17," he said. "The current substantial completion is July 1, so we are still a little bit ahead of schedule. The actual completion is Aug. 6.
"I will say the rain has put a damper on us the last month at Grantham. We get stuck in the mud, but we will push through that."
The schedule dates are the same for both schools even though Spring Creek is a couple of weeks ahead of Grantham, he said.
"Spring Creek is a larger facility so that is why the dates are coinciding," he said. "On our end, I know it is a work ongoing, but items still needing attention from the (school) board and the county -- final sewer is still a large issue on our end. That has not been resolved yet. We are also waiting on some water connections."
Board member Dr. Dwight Cannon said he had noticed the work at the sites is going on seven days a week.
"Earlier in the project we had been working six days a week," Carter said. "We do that regardless to try to make days up for winter time, cold weather. All I am saying here is that we have roughly gained on the schedule about six weeks. Of those six weeks that we have gained, we have lost 70 percent of those gains.
"The project is still on schedule. We just lost some of those initial schedule improvements."
Cannon asked what the school board could do about the water and sewer.
Not getting the work done on schedule holds up the process and could drive up the cost, he said.
Cannon said he did not know whom to ask about the issue.
"What can we do as a board to expedite these things that are deficient?" he said. "We don't want to be the holdup."
Carter said he was not an expert on the issue.
"I do believe that it falls mainly in the county's court," he said. "I think that is part of the agreement that they provide sewer."
The conversation has been going on for some time so there is the potential to have a completed school with no sewer, Carter said.
Cannon said the school board has nothing to do with what Wayne County commissioners do.
Carter said that the contract for the schools is with the school board, not commissioners.
"So this (school board meeting) is kind of the conduit for me to bring up my concerns," he said.
Board Chairman Chris West told Cannon that he, Interim Superintendent Dr. Sandra McCullen, commission Chairman Wayne Aycock and County Manager George Wood met about two weeks ago.
West said he and Mrs. McCullen had wanted to be brought up to date on where the county was with the sewer.
"It was a productive meeting," he said. "(The county is) working hard. It is going to happen. They have encountered a few obstacles, but they are working.
"It eased my mind because there are some concerns. They are responsible for the sewer, and they have accepted that responsibility."
Cannon asked if it had been a facilities meeting or just administrative.
It was administrative, West said.
Board member Rick Pridgen asked what had to be done to get water to the sites.
"That is way less of an issue," Carter said. "It is on schedule to be done, it just hasn't been done yet.
"Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to throw any mud about the sewer. I am just here in the best interest of the schools."
Pridgen said the board had known the sewer work had been a holdup.
Mrs. McCullen said there should be movement on that work within the next two weeks.