Field house renovations behind schedule

KINGSTON, N.Y. » School district officials are working to make up about two weeks of time lost on renovations to Kate Walton Field House after delays they say have arisen because a primary contractor apparently underestimated costs for the work.

At a Board of Education meeting last week, district Director of Buildings and Grounds Thomas Clapper said pressure is being put on Optimus Construction and Development to bring the project up

to speed.

“We are behind schedule about two weeks,” he said. “It’s the only part of the project that we have been (behind) in all the contracts that we’ve let.”

The field house is part of a $137.5 million project to renovate and expand Kingston

High School. Clapped said the delay is not affecting other parts of the project.

He said 10-hour shifts and six-day schedules are being worked to make up the time, with work focusing on new lockers and dressing areas for the pool and gym.

“We are doing everything in our power to help these folks along,” he said. “We’re calling in their subcontractors; we’re making

sure that everybody’s on site when they’re supposed to be on site; we’re making sure their force is doing what they’re suppose to be doing. But they had a really slow start and we’re helping them along.”

Among problems was falling behind on “lowneed” items, such as lockers and railings, leading officials to plan for temporary lockers during the first few weeks of school. Clapper

said the field house will be ready for students when school opens next month.

“We’ll have a soft opening and it will be ready for student occupation,” he said. “It (will be) code compliant and it will have a certificate of occupancy, but there will be a little bit of work to do.

“(Students) will be able to use the facilities, but ... they’re putting some temporary lockers in, and in October, the new lockers will

go in.”

Clapper said Optimus Construction and Development is the general contractor.

“They were quite low on their bid,” he said. “We sat them down, we talked about scoping before we signed contracts. They felt that they could do it for that (amount) and they are struggling.”

Information was not immediately available on the

amount of the bid submitted by Optimus.

During three efforts to get comment from officials for Optimus Construction and Development a representative first kept the reporter on hold for 19 minutes, then hung up when answering the second call, and finally said Clapper had provided “false information but no one has time for these phone calls right now. We’ve got to work.”