Mora County suing firms over government complex
Minimum payment of $2.9 million sought for ‘deficiencies’
SANTA FE — The Mora County Commission is blaming the failure to complete a long-stalled county government complex, which has stood unfinished for years, on design and construction teams in a new lawsuit.
The commission is suing the former Ortega, Romero and Rodriguez Architects firm of Santa Fe, Franken Construction Co. of Las Vegas, N.M., and Hands Engineering of Santa Fe for a minimum of $2.9 million for numerous deficiencies in their work.
Attempts to reach Antonio Ortega, the project’s chief architect, were unsuccessful. Messages to Franken Construction President Jim Franken and Hands Engineering were not returned.
Back in 2004, voters approved $2.65 million in general obligation bonds paid through prop-
erty taxes to go toward the massive complex. The building was intended replace Mora County’s courthouse and to house administrative offices.
Phase one, which was the creation of the two-story, 43,000-square-foot complex’s outside shell, wasn’t completed until 2011 due to a lack of funds for the project, which had a total estimated cost of $14 million.
A 2012 audit of the project showed that about $1.4 million was spent on architectural fees and the county spent $600,000 on Ortega, Romero and Rodriguez’s contract.
According to the state court lawsuit, the county hired a consulting engineering firm in 2014 to assess the needs for interior construction. The firm later reported “a number of design and construction deficiencies” and said the structure’s lateral support wasn’t meeting “applicable building codes or appropriate engineering standards.”
In March 2017, the county hired other companies to fix the infrastructure for about 21,500 square feet of the shell, repair thermal insulation and correct other problems.
Though the county’s investigation is still ongoing, the complaint states that it has discovered even more “hidden defects” since that corrective work began. It cited structural columns not properly connected to the structure’s foundation and problems with shear walls not up to code, among other issues.
According to the complaint, Mora County has already shelled out about $1.3 million to find and fix these problems and estimates that it will spend at least another $1.6 million.
The county alleges that the three businesses are culpable on numerous counts, including breach of contract, negligence, violations of the unfair practices act and many others.
“The taxpayers should not have to pay for the defects caused by the general contractor and design team,” Paula Garcia, chair of the board of County Commissioners said in a statement. “Franken Construction, Hands Engineering, and Ortega Architects must pay for the losses they have caused.”