Mold could be a problem, one contractor has said.
By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com
PORT ORCHARD
Port Orchard’s 8-year-old City Hall has leaks in some of its
windows. What it will take to fix them is uncertain.
City Engineer Maher Abed said last year’s unusually wet winter
resulted in some leakage on the first and second floors. Abed said
his department originally thought a small number of windows would
need to be weatherized and some Sheetrock replaced. He said the
project now appears to be larger in scope, but he indicated the
situation is no cause for alarm.
Dan Fischer, of Fischer Contracting Inc. of Poulsbo, has a
different take.
Fischer, the same company that is renovating the leaky Kitsap
County Public Works Building, submitted a bid in August to recaulk
the leaky windows. Fischer, in the bid proposal, said that, while
his company could perform the work for $183,747, he could not
guarantee it, because caulking the windows would only be a
temporary fix.
“The condition of the building is such that other portions of the
exterior envelope will develop problems within the next year,”
Fisher wrote. “We also must caution the city that the current
condition of the building indicates that it is likely that mold is
already growing in the wall cavities.”
Fischer told the Kitsap Sun he believes the problems at City Hall
are similar to those of the Public Works Building, which has
required a complete refitting of the building “envelope,” at a cost
of $2.6 million, due to faulty construction. He said the cost for a
similar fix to City Hall could run as high as $1 million.
Abed dismissed Fischer’s evaluation, saying, “The higher number of
$1 million is speculative at best and is not based on facts, so I
will not address it at this point. All I can say is the city is
prepared to fix the problem in a timely fashion.”
Abed also dismissed the suggestion of mold being a problem, saying,
“The architect doesn’t think there’s mold. Without opening it up,
we don’t know for sure,” said Abed. “With mold you’d have a smell,
but we haven’t experienced that.”
Before the extent of the problem was known, the city solicited bids
from its “small works roster” of companies available for small
repair and maintenance jobs. Fisher was the only company to submit
a bid.
An assessment from Art Anderson and Associates of Bremerton, who
designed City Hall, led city officials to opt for a formal bid
process for the project, said Mayor Kim Abel, who added Fischer’s
opinion also influenced their decision.
“With only one response, we said, ‘That’s not very
representative,’” said Abel. “But we also took his concerns to
heart.”
Art Anderson will help the city prepare bid specifications for the
formal bid process.
The city’s preliminary budget includes $250,000 for the City Hall
project. The money is currently in the supplemental budget, said
Councilman John Clauson, chairman of the finance committee. Adding
that amount to the main budget would require other adjustments to
balance the budget, he said.
Abel said she’ll wait to see the bids submitted before becoming
alarmed.
“If they all come in outside the box, we know we’ll have to do
something else,” she said.
Port Orchard City Hall was dedicated in 1999, and the prime
contractor was Yuns Construction of Seattle.
Join a conversation about Port Orchard City Hall at Speaking of
South Kitsap, a blog at www.kitsapsun.com.
