Ongoing Havre Schools Construction Projects

What’s going on with the Havre Public Schools building projects? Before I start let me make one thing perfectly clear. The following article is an article of opinion based upon what we have been told, most of which is second-hand so take it for what it is worth. I do find it very interesting that nothing is ever said publically by any school board member about either the Highland Park School addition or the Havre High School collapsed roof findings.

A quick trip by the high school and it appears that the crew from Clausen Construction has the roof all buttoned up and weather tight. You can see in the picture a small area in the front that still has plywood showing and that’s where I observed workmen still climbing in and out last week. Why is no one coming forth with the cause of this collapse? Upon talking with one of the workmen that had been on the repair sight I was told that the snow load was nearly to the designed maximum of the roof which was around 25# per square foot. Also it appeared to the repair crew that some bracing and tons of screws holding the structure had been left out when the roof was initially constructed which leads me to believe the School District will have to hire someone to go through all of the roof framing beefing up the weak areas to insure we don’t have another collapse. It is also my understanding that the school has hired an engineer to design the needed repairs. I was told that the School’s insurance is paying for the repairs completed by Clausen Construction but they would not be paying for any additional work to bring the roof up to the current building codes. Does anyone have the “rest of the story” that they care to share with us? It would appear to me that the taxpayers will be ponying up some dollars for yet another school building project. If what I was told is true and the roof does not meet code for roof loads I have to wonder why there wasn’t some oversight in the first place when Anderson Construction was building the roof. There are still a lot of unanswered questions and I would hope the school board would come forward with some honest and complete information in the very near future.

I won’t say anything about the Highland Park School addition other than point out that when this blog first moaned about the “boondoogle” back in October of 2009 we were told the project would be complete for the 2010-11 school year. When I drove by on Saturday I still see plastic up around the cafeteria portion of the building and a large propane tank providing temporary heat.

Can someone please tell us what is going on?

Updated information reported by the Havre Daily “News” in tonight’s paper.

Thomas, Dean and Hoskins, the engineering firm hired by the school board to study what caused the roof collapse at the Havre High School said in part the failure was due in part to failure by the contractor to simply follow the plans. The contractor apparently did not install an adequate amount of screws fastening the framing together and in addition also failed to install many in the proper locations.

The HDN article went on to say that the engineers had talked to Havre Public Works director Dave Peterson who handles the City’s building inspection and “he is comfortable” bringing the roof up to the newer building code standards.

Wasn’t Dave Peterson also the building inspector at the time this roof was constructed? I am sure the contractor bought the required building permits at the time of the roof construction back in 1997 so how did the project pass inspection with tons of screws missing and inadequate bracing? Was this project even inspected by the city building inspector?

Something stinks here