Thursday, June 23, 2011

Another Million Down the Drain

Its official


Taxpayers will be left holding the bag for close to a million dollars for the Havre High Schools little roof mishap this past winter. The roof failed because the original contractor failed to follow the architect’s plans yet there is no recourse for the school system because too much time has passed. I don’t think this determination surprises anyone in Havre but there is plenty of blame to pass around. An architect that didn’t design a roof to withstand Havre snow loads, a contractor that didn’t follow the plan, a school board that didn’t hire a competent person to maintain the integrity of the project and a local building inspector that failed to inspect the job all share in the blame in this fiasco. Now that the school board has given the go-ahead to spend another mere one million dollars to correct these problems what safeguards are in place to assure the taxpayers this doesn’t happen again?

Can this statement reported by the Havre Daily “News” actually be true?
Havre’s building inspector, then and now, Dave Peterson, who is now director of Public Works, said that the city takes a look at the specifications and plans submitted and then occasionally takes a look at the work being done. Sometimes contractors call the city before pouring concrete or taking some other major step in the process.
Peterson went on to say the City building inspector would be up there “occasionally” but they would be again relying on the school's engineer to keep an eye on things.

What the ??????? Have we learned nothing from our past mistakes? Here a million, there a million, everywhere a million million thanks to the never ending source of ready cash from the district taxpayers

4 comments:

  1. Building permit fees in Havre are the same amounts as the State of Montana uses. Look at the state website(http://www.mtrules.org/gateway/ruleno.asp?RN=24.301.138) and you will see that the City of Havre will collect $5,608.75 for the building permit plus additional plan review fees.

    Is driving by occasionally all the building inspector is going to do to earn this fee? Isn’t the lack of inspections how we come to be stuck with this million dollar repair job in the first place?

    It is time for new City building code enforcement people

    ReplyDelete
  2. A few years back I wanted to build a sunscreen lean-to on the side of my house and was told I can't just use poles dug into the ground to support it when I checked for a permit yet the city built a similiar structure by the fire hall with old logs dug in and they weren't treated or anything

    It's all about who you are

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why doesn't the State building inspector take care of inspecting construction work in the City of Havre? They take care of some of the other towns in Montana

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wonder if they get to collect an additional permit fee for the do-over.

    ReplyDelete