Douglas E. Barnhart Terminated from Ocean View School District
In May 2006, Ocean View School District in Orange County terminated its agreement for all current work with Douglas E Barnhart, after a unanimous vote by the school board. Earlier in the year, Ocean View School District Trustee Tracy Pellman requested that the district “end all work with Barnhart” and hire a new construction management firm.
In a memo submitted to the president of the board of trustees and to the Interim Superintendent, Pellman said:
“As time progresses it has become apparent that the services for which we contracted with Douglas e. Barnhart have, in my opinion, either been poor or non-existent. For example, our gymnasiums are sitting on compromised foundations.”
According to a memo submitted by Trustee Debbie Cotton to the Board of Trustees in January 2006, a consultant stated that water was coming up from underneath the foundation of the gym floors, and that the water was getting trapped under the floors, causing a bubbling effect. The floor at one of the schools was partially removed because it was buckling under the bleachers.
The Orange County Register reported that each of the four floors will require about $1 million to repair. The district’s trustees have also begun selecting a law firm to handle “complex litigation including construction defect issues” regarding the middle school gymnasiums.In addition to the flawed gymnasium floors, Trustee Pellman’s memo sited delays with other projects that Douglas E. Barnhart had managed for the school district.
“At Harbour View, the cement sidewalk that connected the old building to the new one was never completed. Further the underground sewer lines were never connected and so on.”
“Last summer it came to the Boards attention in August 2005 that we were over one month behind schedule because a key subcontractor failed to show up to work and when he did he had no supplies. Barnhart was managing the project and should have prevented this problem. As a result, students were forced to use ‘out houses’ for the first six weeks of school.”
As a school-district employee, you do your very
best to protect and nurture school children by providing
them with safe, high-quality facilities in which to learn.
In order to do that, you need to make wise decisions about
school district funds and staff time. You need qualified
professional contractors and consultants that will work
with you throughout the construction project, and not drag
you through the headache of litigation.
Douglas E. Barnhart has been
involved more than 200 lawsuits since 1990.
If you have a school construction project
coming up, be sure to know all of the facts before getting
involved with Douglas E Barnhart, Inc. The students in your
district deserve it.
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