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news
Brotman facelift
near completion
By Dwight Flenniken
III
On-line Forty-Niner
Lack of cooperation
between employees of Cal State Long Beach and Anderson-White
Construction helped fuel major delays in construction at the
Brotman Hall plaza this summer.
Aaron Oedewaldt,
construction manager for Anderson-White, said he expects the
work in front of Brotman Hall to be finished in two weeks.
"We haven't ever
gotten a schedule from them," said Dale Hartman, project
manager at CSULB after learning of the two-week projection.
Construction on
the plaza was originally scheduled for completion prior to
the start of the fall semester. The project began the Saturday
after commencement took place.
Early in on in
the project, asbestos was found in the area. The abatement
took a total of 28 days and is one of the reasons Anderson-White
gives for pushing back the finish date.
"[Abatement] is
a fairly sophisticated process," said Mike Richwine of
the California Fire Marshals office.
However, Scott
Charmack, director of Physical Planning and Facilities Management,
said he does not believe abatement should have stalled the
project for this long.
"The reason for
the delay has nothing to do with the abatement issue,"
Charmack said.
Other reasons Anderson-White
gives for the lack of progress have less to do with construction
problems than they do with CSULB personnel issues. Oedewaldt
said their company received no cooperation from campus employees.
"Anderson-White
has done everything possible to keep this project moving forward,"
Oedewaldt said.
Another difference
of opinion arose in the exact type of work done by Anderson-White.
"We've done work
we haven't got change orders from," Oedewaldt said. "There
was a complete change of scope from our contract work. We
forced our subs to do work that is up and above their contract
with us."
CSULB officials
said they do not agree with the Oedewaldt statement.
This is not the
first contractual problem Facilities Management has faced.
Contractor default managed to push back the finish date on
two buildings in the Fine Arts department. What should have
been a completed job is now scheduled to conclude in February
2002.
Facilities Management
oversees all campus construction projects, construction inspection
and project management. Another responsibility is to keep
the campus attractive and conducive to student learning, according
to their Web site.
As far as the plaza
is concerned, Oedewaldt said he believes Anderson-White is
completing the project in a timely manner.
The rift between
the two agencies lies in the definition each has of exactly
how much time is timely.
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