School construction lawsuit settled

After more than a year of contention and a lawsuit over the contractor’s workmanship in building the new La Conner Middle School, the issue has been settled.

The school opened in September 2015, but the district did not accept the project as complete and withheld close to $700,000 of the $11.48 million contract amount, saying there were construction deficiencies.

The contractor sued the school district in April.

A settlement agreement signed by the school board on Monday requires the contractor, Steilacoom-based BNCC, to fix all the deficiencies and requires the school district to pay $340,000.

District Superintendent Peg Seeling said the agreement, which settles the lawsuit filed by BNCC, is a good deal for the district.

Some of the construction problems the district wanted fixed were big ones — like uneven floors due to warped floor joists and seriously flawed tile work in the locker rooms.

Under the settlement agreement, BNCC, formerly Babbit Neuman Construction Company, has to fix “all mold remediation in the crawlspace; all tile work; and all carpet, flooring and concrete topping slag irregularities, including those in the kitchen, corridors, rooms and gymnasium,” by January 31.

Once the work is finished, the district will pay $340,000.

In its lawsuit, the contractor claimed the district owed it more than $930,000.

Before the school opened last year, the district paid $225,771 to have wood mold that grew in the crawl space cleaned up. Wood mold is a common problem with wet lumber, and the district contended that the problem occurred because the contractor failed to keep the materials dry. The mold cleanup the district paid for is not included in the settlement.

At the time, because the district wanted the school to open on schedule, school officials decided it would be quicker to just pay for the cleanup rather than go through a lengthy mediation process to have the contractor attend to it.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the school board decided to reinstate the “C” boys basketball team, which had been cut due to budget constraints. Seeling said since there were 39 boys signed up for basketball, having the “C” team for the kids who aren’t selected for the JV and Varsity teams keeps those who want to play from being excluded.

Negotiations with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community were also brought up at the meeting. The district is asking the tribe to contribute $450 plus share in the cost of a new bus for preschool kids, Seeling said. The Indian Senate is expected to decide on a contribution in December. About two-thirds of the district’s students live on land that the district cannot tax.

In February people who do not live on tribal land – those who pay property tax to the state and county – will be asked to approve new school levies.

The school board also heard a presentation on the progress of court-mandated school funding in the wake of the McCleary Decision from Daniel Steele, of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

In a nutshell, the 2012 decision by the state Supreme Court requires the state to fully fund education because using school levies to pay for basic education is unconstitutional, even though most districts do it.

Schools are supposed to be fully state-funded by September 2018. But according to Steele, there’s a catch – the state doesn’t have enough money to do that. So it’s likely the school districts will continue to rely on voter-approved levies for a while.