Doors delay completion of school investment bond work




At its Thursday, August 21 meeting, Fred Seeba of Patchogue-based BBS Architects and Engineers gave the school board some news it was not expecting. As of mid-July, plans stood that entering the school year there would be nothing left to do for bond-related projects in district buildings. The last chips of Garden City’s $36.5 million 2009 School Investment Bond and Energy Performance Contract – new doors as well as other door locks and handles, “security upgrades” – were supposed to be finished this summer. Both BBS staff and a representative from Con Edison Solutions said they expected to be in the final stages of monitoring the new equipment and security measures brought to Garden City schools by fall.

But now there’s work slated to take place as the seasons change. Stratford Elementary School’s doors were ordered through Pella Corporation, the 89-yearold window and door-making company headquartered in Iowa. But two times since the end of school, the doors for Stratford came in, but they were the wrong color. Pella was on site to take delivery in early August, and the doors did not even make it into the building.

“They took a look at the doors and put them back on the truck to return them,” Seeba said.

The new doors went back to the manufacturer in Indiana, and the right color doors for Stratford are expected to be shipped to New York the week starting Monday, September 15. Seeba says the local distributor would then have to get them on a truck to bring to Stratford, and that can take up more than 10 days itself.

“It might take three weeks to four weeks to get the doors in,” he said.

Board member Tom Pinou suggested to Seeba that someone from Pella use a video camera or smartphone to ensure that the right doors are being sent to Garden City, as the third attempt should be successful. Seeba said he would discuss that with Pella’s staff, but Board President Barbara Trapasso said that it might be difficult to tell from a photo on a phone or iPad that the color was an exact match to what was ordered. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen felt the same.

“I’d be hesitant to commit ourselves to confirming like that because there’s always an issue with the resolution, the trueness of colors on the device, the lighting. I would not want to look on a screen and say this is okay,” Feirsen said.

Due to the turn of events, Pella told BBS that it would take more time this fall to complete installations. With school open during the day, Pella’s personnel will have to work on installing the new doors between 3pm and 11pm and on weekends.

BBS and Garden City’s district administration discussed the delay and possibly taking Pella off of the job to bring in another contractor, but that was not decided. The school board was not pleased with what they heard. Board member Robert Martin said it would be close to Halloween without doors on Stratford Elementary, adding the thought that the district use new doors and hire a painter to paint them. But Seeba gave an example of how that wouldn’t work, and DiCapua assured Martin that the old doors would remain on and function properly until new ones are installed. But that becomes a challenging detail, overlapping with another project. Throughout Garden City schools, door locks and handles are the finishing touches set for “efficiency upgrades” to go along with the boilers, electrical systems and heating improvements set forth by the 2009 bond.

Seeba said “security hardware” for school doors is the next and last project, with a purchase order established by the district. Seeba noted that the order has yet to be finalized by the manufacturer, EM Doors, but he anticipates installation to take place in the first two to three months of the school year, also after school hours.

“That’s really minor and non-intrusive work. It’s door lock sets and cylinders being replaced, hardware and doorknobs, things like that,” he said.

At BBS’ last meeting with Con Edison Solutions work was reported to be complete at Garden City Middle School. Work at the high school was expected to be done by the end of August, but the district and BBS had a meeting scheduled with Con Edison for further updates on Friday, August 22. No other details were available by Tuesday, August 26.

“They really hoped to be done with all of the school district’s buildings by the end of August and then moving into September, it would only be punch-list and close out of items. We have punch-listed all of the three primary and two elementary schools as well as the bus garage and administration building, we have given that information to Con Ed and they are working on final review,” Seeba said.

School District Treasurer Dana DiCapua spoke with Con Edison ahead of the August 21 board meeting. She says they are awaiting a quote on remaining work at Garden City High School from Cardinal Controls, a subcontractor that was brought in to carry out work previously assigned to Thermo Tech.

“Once the quote is done Con Ed will generate a change order for their contract with Cardinal, and they’re saying they will start the work in September,” DiCapua said.

Under Con Ed’s supervision, Cardinal will also be responsible for minor repairs at the primary schools, elementary schools, the administration building and the bus garage.



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