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While school was able to open on time after this summer's $3,033,054 Building Core Reconstruction (BCR) capital project, the Lansing High School swimming pool is still closed and likely to be closed for up to an additional week beyond the anticipated October 3rd reopening date.  Project Manager James Slavetskas told the Board Of Education Monday that delays in getting a subcontractor to start work on the pool on time pushed back the opening date. 

"The pool has been difficult to get completed," he said.  "Lack of manpower in there was probably one of the biggest items associated with getting that work done.  They just couldn't get those people to come to the site.  In the pool area they had no people working there for seven business days.  That put us behind schedule."

An inspection Tuesday would determine exactly when the pool could be filled.  It was scheduled to be filled Wednesday, but Slavetskas says the process of filling the pool will begin tomororow (Saturday).  Workers are tiling locker rooms, but that was not ready for inspection this week.  By Monday about half the walls were prepared but tiling had not begun.  Slavetskas estimated at least a couple of weeks would be needed to complete those rooms, which will also hold up pool use.  Physical education classes have worked around the closed pool so far, but encroaching cooler weather is expected to make it harder.

The most impact has been on the Varsity Girl's Swimming and Diving team, which has been bussed to Ithaca College for practice.  Until now the girls have gone home, then come back to school to be bussed to the college pool.  School officials say that going forward chaperones will be assigned to the high school so team swimmers can stay at school while waiting for the bus to take them to practice.

Slavetskas told the board that most of the overall project is complete except for 'punch list' items and some door and window work that is being done at night now that school is open.  After inspecting all three schools last week a 'substantial completion list' was presented to the general contractor Tuesday.

"All of the items the general contractor has said to us are complete and ready for a review were inspected," Slavetskas said.  "There are some outstanding items that haven't been reviewed."

Remaining exterior work on the high school includes landscaping and extending a concrete slab.  Work on the athletic field is substantially complete.  A week ago an inspection showed the track surface is in good shape.  Remaining work includes a fence repair and landscaping.

Outstanding items in the elementary school include railings in the front entryway and work in the boiler room, exterior doors including a new entrance to the District Office are expected to be installed starting Monday.  Slavetskas says work in the elementary school should be complete by the middle of October.

In the middle school a substantial list of items have yet to be finished.  Window work is being done at night, and it was expected to be completed this week or the middle of next week.  The middle school also needs work on exterior doors.  Everything there is expected to be completed in the second week of October except for steel replacement below the gymnasium.

"We found a number of field conditions once they started digging the dirt out from the steel members," Slavetskas said.  "We found a lot more rot and deterioration that needed to be taken care of.  It's really in pretty bad shape so we're trying to do as much as we can with the money we have to take care of those things."

Unexpected conditions like rotting steel were covered by a $125,000 contingency budget that was built in to the project.  Slavetskas said that about $105,000 of that has been spent, but he assured the board that the remaining $20,000 will cover any new items that are found in this late stage of the project.  He said there have been no official change orders for the project.

The technology building behind the middle school is considered a second phase of the project.  Slavetskas says it has been going slowly because the contractor is concentrating on the main school buildings.  He said there is plenty of time to complete work on the building.  He says the contract calls for it to be completed by November 29th. 

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