Chavez contractor says no mold when district took school

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Chavez contractor says no mold when district took school

6:30 PM 5/02/02

Doug kson Education reporter

The general contractor for Madison's troubled Chavez Elementary School says

there was no evidence of mold when it turned control of the building over to

the district. The assertion by Westra Construction, contained in a letter

sent this week from its law firm to the project's architects, is the latest

volley in the legal maneuvering between Westra and the district.

Westra's immediate goal is to be paid the more than $400,000 it says the

district still owes it - the company has triggered an arbitration clause in

its contract with the district to pursue the payment issue, as well as other

disputed matters. The district is withholding the money and wants the firm

that designed Chavez Elementary, Potter Lawson Architects, to agree that the

payment should not be made, said Clarence Sherrod, attorney for the school

district. Potter Lawson previously had approved the payment to Westra; the

district is asking it to reconsider.

Sherrod said the district will use the arbitration process to file a

counterclaim against Westra within the next month. " That's one mechanism we

can use to try to recover damages, " he said. He declined to discuss any

other details of the district's legal strategy. As part of the arbitration

process, the two parties first will attempt to settle their disputes through

mediation, said attorney Mullins of Wickwire Gavin, the Madison law

firm representing Westra. Both parties agreed to that scenario in the

construction contract, he said.

Chavez Elementary, at 3502 Maple Grove Drive on the city's Southwest Side,

closed in November - just three months after opening - due to health

complaints from staff and students. At latest count, mold has been found in

25 of 32 classrooms, according to the district. Late last year, the

district hired s Engineering of La Crosse to investigate what caused

the mold. In its March report, the engineering firm said builders failed to

control humidity levels during construction, let rain enter through a leaky

roof, and didn't dry interior wall areas after a flood, among other things.

These factors and others " significantly increased the likelihood of, and we

believe subsequently caused, fungal growth within this facility during the

time of construction, " the report said. Westra, in its rebuttal letter

this week, said the consultant's report is " internally inconsistent, "

premised on " inaccurate information " and " narrowly focused to blame Westra. "

Westra says that representatives from Potter Lawson and the district

regularly inspected the work during construction but didn't mention the

problems purportedly found by the consultant. " If the factors mentioned by

s were important or problematic, they would have been noted in the

minutes of the regular meetings conducted by Potter Lawson or in Potter

Lawson's weekly walk-through notes, " writes Mullins, on behalf of Westra.

This is significant because, Mullins writes, " the absence of objective

evidence that mold existed at the time that (the Madison School District)

accepted the building is compelling evidence that it did not occur during

construction. "

Potter Lawson did not return a phone call seeking comment. Sherrod said the

district would not comment on specific allegations made by Westra.

Price, assistant superintendent for business services, said the

district is withholding $424,133 of Westra's $5.6 million payment. The

school cost $11 million to build and furnish.