Still no running total on the school district website. My grand total amounts to $1,238,943,65.
Tomorrow's agenda lists these change orders:
a. GC-31-58 to Nello for $8,419 for 6th floor B Building pitch pockets to fix clearance between roof and ductwork,This month's total is $67,225. We can't even get that from the math wizards.
b. GC-32-59 to Nello for $6,000 for shotblasting in 6th floor B Building for areas of unforeseen asbestos,
c. EL-14-60 to Farfield for $11,045 to furnish and install emergency transfer electrical cabinets,
d. EL-15-61 to Farfield for $3,038 to provide LED fixtures in lobbies of F Building,
e. PL-05-62 to Vrabel for $4,412 to add ball valves to all trap primers that did not have valves indicated,
f. PL-06-63 to Vrabel for $3,098 to add piping under physics room in G Building not on drawings,
g. PL-07-64 to Vrabel for $2,338 for floor drains, trap primers and piping in the pool storage area,
h. PL-08-65 to Vrabel for $1,167 for air gaps as required,
i. PL-09-66 to Vrabel for $8,264 for roof drains and associated piping in G Building,
j. PL-10-67 to Vrabel for $2,224 for added floor drains in fine arts restrooms,
k. PL-11-68 to Vrabel for $1,757 for waste piping to added toilet room in G Building,
l. PL-12-69 to Vrabel for $10,544 to furnish and install water feeds to boilers and chillers, and
m. ME-04-70 to McKamish for $4,919 for 6th floor B Building changes in patching, ductwork and crawl space demolition.
15 comments:
How do you overlook $8,000 in roof piping and $11,000 in water feeds to the boilers and chillers?
Good question. Perhaps the architect, engineer, designer or whomever should pay for this oversight...
This change order stuff has got to stop. To protect the public's money, those responsible should pay for their "oversights", as well as be penalized. It's ridiculous to keep giving the ever-increasing tab to the taxpayers.
Instead of laws and regulations that always seem to give the district a break, we need legislation to help taxpayers. If the people in charge are held accountable, they will clean up their acts.
Amen 12:01.
Some of these are probably uDue to unforeseen circumstances, but things like running ductwork thru and elevator shaft or not knowing what type of flooring is under carpet is just plain incompetence.
How dies no one know how many water feeds a boiler or chiller need?
It is the same thing over and over. The agenda is posted. I add them to the total and i blog about them. We complain. They get approved. Bullies win.
Elaine
The real absurdity is that with all this spending their will be little or no improvement in student performance.
Think about it. One of the biggest justifications for the project in the first place was that building B couldn't be updated to "31st century education" classrooms. It was just too old, too antiquated and didn't have the necessary infrastructure to provide our students with modern learning spaces.
Funny though isn't it that the superintendent is posting photos and taking students on tours of the building that needed to be torn down.
Look at building B's classrooms and compare them to those being constructed in the new science wing.
I defy anyone to correctly identify which room is in which wing from a photo of the rooms at the same stage of construction without a caption identifying it.
Will anyone step up to challenge the status quo?
Nope.
Elaine
How? We had a number of people step up and challenge the 'status qjuo' and what happened? The few that did manage to gain a seat were instantly marginalized and those that choose to try and get elected met with what I believe were teacher's union tactics that illegally ridiculed them.
We saw candidates signs torn down at polling places, one-sided media content from the 'official' community magazine.
Without a fair and unbiased examination of the issues and enforcement of the rules nothing will divert the status quo.
We saw it in the rules regarding the high school project.
The misinformed taxpayer would assume that when the HS project's first bids came in way over the Act 34 limit a referendum would have been automatically triggered.
No... the board feined shock and anger that they were mislead on the project estimates. They asserted that they were going to get to the bottom of why projectiions were so wrong! Have we yet heard how this project didn't come in at Kubit's FAQ target of $95 million. Don't hold your breathe waiting for it.
Instead of letting their constituents have the say they believed they were entitled to (because they knew the voters would vote no) they simply took enough items put of the specifications to get bids under the limit.
They and the contractors knew full well they could change order all the essentials deleted back in and nothing could stop them.
Even today the mindset seems to be on the commission and the school board is more money, more revenue will solve all our woes.
Look at the district, we have fewer students but a growing staff. Same at the municipality.
They create more advisory boards which of course come up with solutions that require more spending.
The answer to every government issue is... spend more money!
10:59 AM, don't vote for the candidate who tore down signs.
There are two school board directors running. One of them tore down signs. In case you aren't aware of which one did that, both of them supported the high school renovation. Vote accordingly.
Elaine
I wasn't planning on voting for either. But even if we eliminate these two there are still 7 other directors, none of which have ever managed to sway the board not to approve a change order.
In fact, has there ever been a vote cast yet by any director not to approve a change order?
Or has the superintendent ever when announcing the change order agenda items advised the board NOT to approve one?
Seriously, through all the elementary, middle and now HS renovation has one change order ever been denied that anyone can remember?
Sure several have been altered slightly or folded into another related CO, but has one ever been rejected completely.
Why don't we just dispense with the comedy and issue the superintendent a rubber stamp that reads... Approved!
Mt. Lebanon has two local governments - the municipality (civil government) and the school district. Unlike more rational parts of the world, in Pennsylvania a school district is an antonymous taxing entity not beholden to the local civil government for approval to set tax rates.
The electorate in Mt. Lebanon considers "off year" elections to be of little or no consequence, even though the actions of their school board may likely affect their wallets more than what happens at any higher level of government. The typical turnout rate in a Mt. Lebanon off year election is around 37%. Of that percentage the majority of voters are collectivists; people with well above even the Mt. Lebanon average income, a large number of whom are civil servants or otherwise make an income from some sort of interaction with government, and who believe in the "goodness" of government. There are a number of judges, Federal employees, Commonwealth employees, teachers, etc., who live in Mt. Lebanon and see the school district and its employees as fellow travelers. They are not about to be persuaded by any evidence, study, or rational proposal that would diminish the authority of the school district and increase individual freedom and choice.
The school board consists of nine individuals who all see themselves, for the most part, as the "saviors of public education" and the champions of children. When someone is convinced that he (or she) is righteous it is impossible to have a rational argument about processes or outcomes that don't fit into his worldview. (For an interesting take on this subject read "Do We Live in a Post-Truth Era?" by Ronald Bailey of the Reason Foundation.) Thus E-mail that tries to persuade or appeal to the mind but is outside of that board member's "political religion" is not answered; citizens who appear at public comment time and raise uncomfortable points are ignored or ridiculed; parents who bring concerns about courses or school accessibility are dismissed. The prevailing attitude is "we are the experts, and you are an idiot." The irony is that each board member is likely to be a moral, caring person. But in the context of his position and his world view each board member becomes, in the words of C.S. Lewis, an "omnipotent moral busybody," and not about to be disabused of his convictions.
Taken together what I have outlined explains a lot. The district's cheerleaders can claim that the "vast majority" of Mt. Lebanon residents support a new high school and our system of public education based on election returns; even though the actual opinion of the"vast majority" of Mt. Lebanon residents is unknown (which is why referendums are feared). It is disingenuous to say that 67% of 37% of registered voters represent the "majority" of the polity; but if you can convince the electorate that what is being offered in a school board election is the best they can hope for then your side has an almost guaranteed lock on a win. The people who don't vote may be turned off by the candidates; or the dirty tricks that go on in a local campaign; or they may not want to incur the enmity of their neighbors; there are lots of reasons why people don't vote. And thus the "bullies win."
Yet it is a universal truth that no government or board lasts forever. And when people take a collective and substantial shock to the wallet they can get really angry, very quickly. That shock is coming, and when it does I know nine people who may wish they had chosen another way to "serve" the community.
Unfortunately Richard, I suspect you're right about the impending shock.
The trouble with shocks though is that once one experiences the hair-raising electrocution that knocks their arse to the floor the damage is already done.
I work in a company that has something like 500 employees here in Pittsburgh. In the past year I have had three people tell me that they were considering Mt. Lebanon to raise their family but decided on somewhere else.
One chose Upper St. Clair. One chose South Fayette. The other chose Peters.
It's interesting to note that all three of these people chose south (South Fayette is sorta south but not south hills) and they chose longer commutes.
To a man they all cited Mt. Lebanon's reputation as being a highly taxed community.
It's important for our elected leaders to understand that word has gotten out that the VALUE we receive for our tax dollars is not enough to satisfy the urges of people to be taxed to a lesser degree.
Argue all you want about our schools. USC and Peter's both are equal to or better than Mt. Lebanon in education according to local and regional publications. And they have buses.
Argue all you want about how the municipality is run and the snow is plowed one minute after it hits. USC and Peters residents can say the same.
What we have left to argue with is our sense of community and our downtown and our restaurants. To some these factors may indeed convince them that they should pay $2,000 to $4,000 (or more) in tax each year to enjoy their proximity to these assets. However, to most it seems that the perpetual overtaxation is a detriment to giving serious consideration to Mt. Lebanon as a desirable community in which to set down roots.
The problem in the long run with this is that over time Mt. Lebanon may be left with a good deal of people who see value in the high tax rates. Those who are willing to pay more will likely have no sense of what level of taxation is "too much". Is this not the mentality we see today in our locally elected officials?
Dog parks, turfing fields, maximum allowed expense on the high school.
I am one who will likely leave my friends behind in a few years after my kids graduate. I'd prefer not to move until after they graduate. Plus, I can see my friends easily by living just five minutes away in USC. Some of them might even be closer to me than they are now.
The numbers are pretty straight-forward. Assuming similar sized homes go for similar prices in USC/MtL, over 10 years a MtL resident would pay almost $7000 more than someone in USC.
The question our elected leaders must answer is what value does that extra tax money bring.
I'd like to see the district include an explanation or justification of each of the change orders. Without being on the inside, it is very difficult to ascertain the reason the change is required. Was it an oversight in the original plans, was it a change in scope, etc. I can't make the meeting but perhaps someone will ask the board to direct staff to include an explanation. The board should be asking for this on each and every change.
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