Apr 15, 2003 By Steve Ostrosky 5 min read

The general contractor hired by the Uniontown Area School District to complete renovations and an addition to Wharton School stopped working two weeks ago and voluntarily defaulted on the project because of financial problems, the school board learned Monday night. Sam Denney of Fairchance Construction Co., who serves as construction manager for the district, updated the board at their work session that contractor Davis and Sons has not been at Wharton since April 4 and has thereby held up work that finally had been progressing at the school after a rough winter season.

“We’re working to get on track as soon as possible,” Denney said. “We hope that a new contract will be tendered soon.”

Denney said the district’s bonding company for the project, North American Surety of Chicago, is responsible for finding a contractor to complete the work. The school directors asked if the next lowest bidder, Maracon Inc. of Uniontown, would be willing to finish the job.

Denney said Davis and Sons was forced to walk away from three other jobs, two in Ohio and one in West Virginia, because of the company’s dire financial straits. He said work on the classrooms and other major parts of the school are not scheduled to begin until June 9, but any loss of time on the project will cause delays.

“We’re waiting for the bond company to come up with a plan for completion,” he said. “They are on the hook for this.”

Board President Harry “Dutch” Kaufman said Davis and Sons was the low bidder on the project, met all of the bid specifications and had done work for the district in the past. He stressed that the default of the company had nothing to do with the school district, though the project will be in limbo until a new contractor is on board.

“We’re in a bind because of this, but hopefully we will get things back on track,” he said.

In other construction matters, the directors discussed at length the proposed improvements to the high school pool, along with other projects under way or in the works. Director Dorothy Grahek asked buildings and grounds director Robert Smalley about the status of the pool project and what improvements were to be included.

Smalley said the board has not given him a clear direction about what they want, but he said he is willing to develop a project that is based on the directors’ scale. He said the HVAC unit and a filtration system may be removed from the project, which would eliminate $465,000 from the proposal, because those items could be reimbursed by the state when the district approves a renovation to the high school.

Smalley said he wanted to review the costs before determining what will be included in the project. A number of items, including replacement of lights, scoreboards, timers and upgrades to the locker room, are still slated to be included in the non-reimbursable project, he added.

Business manager Floyd Geho cautioned the board that funding needed for the projects that are under discussion could exceed the $11.4 million bond issue that the board approved last year. He said that, based on estimates of renovations to the CareerLink building on Iowa Street, which eventually will house the district’s central administration, and the pool project, the district would overspend the money from the bond issue.

“The board has to move with caution, and I think we need to be prudent,” he said. “We can’t stretch it far enough to do all the things we want.”

Geho said pool renovations could cost as much as $792,000, and the Iowa Street property could cost as much as $540,000, the total of which would be more than what remains in the bond issue.

Kaufman said he didn’t think that the Iowa Street property would cost as much as estimated because “minimal improvements” are planned for the building. He said the purchase of the Iowa Street building and the Bryson Motors lot has saved the district $700,000, because the cost of plans for a new central administration building had come in around $1.2 million.

“I don’t see this board approving half a million dollars to put into Iowa Street at this time,” he said, “We were prudent and we got a lot for our money.”

The directors also discussed a planned $872,000 renovation to Bill Power Stadium. The project includes new lights and poles, a new concession stand, new ticket booths, handicapped-accessible restrooms and seating, new fencing and new visitors’ side bleachers.

Architect Mark Altman said the state will not reimburse the district for the stadium project, and the board will vote to solicit bids for the stadium and pool renovations as early as the April 23 regular meeting.

Finally, the board discussed the 2003-2004 school calendar, which calls for a four-day fall break to accommodate the estimated 70,000 people expected to attend the 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa Sept. 15-21.

Originally, the break was scheduled only for Sept. 18 and 19, but the calendar distributed Monday will give students Sept. 16-19 off from classes. Kaufman said the additional days were added because Sept. 16 and 17 are practice rounds for the professional golfers who will play in the tournament, and that event will be open to the public.

“The problem here is that there is no way the buses will be able to get through with all the congestion,” Kaufman said. “With 70,000 people projected to attend, it will be impossible to get children to the high school and to the schools in the mountains for that period of time.”

Kaufman said the calendar shows a last day of school for the 2003-2004 year as June 1 or 2, 2004, and the two election days and Presidents Day will be used as make-up days for the break.

“From a business standpoint, this is an opportunity for our area to cash in on big money,” he said. “Educationally, we’ll just be getting our kids going, but they will have to take a break.”

The board expects to approve the calendar at next week’s meeting.