BUSHKILL — Engineers have more bad news for taxpayers in the East Stroudsburg Area School District.
A robotic camera inspection has found additional faults in the North campus’s stormwater system. Those, along with a significant number of leaks in the high school’s 18-year-old roof, have put more repairs on the district’s growing list of capital expenses.
Sinkholes below
The school board hired Master Locators in October to inspect 3,000 feet of stormwater pipe at the North campus. A robotic camera was piloted through the 24-inch-wide corrugated pipe to identify the cause of several sinkholes that had formed in the ground above.
The camera identified over a dozen openings and impasses where pipes had collapsed or filled with sediment. Some areas showed signs of repair, while other joints had separated completely.
“They shortchanged us,” said Wayne Rohner, a member of the school board and chairman of the property and facilities committee.
“The contractor didn’t build it according to the approved plans. Now we have to dig that all up and do it properly.”
Master Locators’ initial inspection cost $4,000 and was performed Dec. 12-13. The property and facilities committee voted Thursday to recommend the school board order an inspection of the remaining pipe.
Leaks above
A three-year-old infrared survey suggests that leaks in the Lehman Intermediate and north high school roof are likely to worsen the longer they go unaddressed. The district hired Jersey Infrared Consultants in 2015 to determine where water was penetrating the 265,000 square feet of flat roof.
That survey identified over 25,000 square feet of wet material within the roof, which was only 15 years-old at the time. It cost the district $5,395 for the survey alone.
D’Huy Engineering, the district’s forensic consultant for capital projects, estimated preliminary costs last month for four potential replacement options. Those ranged from $4.6 million to $9.7 million and included materials, labor, fees and contingencies.
Under warranty
“The roof has been leaking since day one,” said Rohner. “For whatever reason, there was a total failure to take advantage of the warranty.”
“I wish I could offer a legitimate answer as to why we, as a school district, chose to do nothing. I don’t get it.”
Builders completed the sewer and wastewater systems at the north campus in 1998 with Bushkill Elementary School. Lehman Intermediate School and the north high school were finished two years later.
Pennsylvania courts recognize an implied warranty for both habitability and workmanship — however, those claims must be filed within 12 years of construction.
District officials may yet have a chance to capitalize on some form of a warranty. The schools’ five-ply coal tar roof came with a manufacturer’s guarantee, said architect John Howard of The Architectural Studio.
“We specified a 25-year, no dollar limit warranty on the north high school and intermediate school roofing system,” he said. “The warranty is through the general contractor and his subcontractors, and through the manufacturer, which is Honeywell.”
“If they’ve been having leaks, they should be calling the company.”
District Facilities Director Scott Ihle, who was hired in 2016, said he was unaware of any such warranty. He could not immediately confirm whether anyone from the district had contacted Honeywell about the leaks in the past.
Going ahead
What, if any, expenses warranties might cover remains unclear. District officials are preparing for the worst regardless.
On Thursday, the property and facilities committee voted to recommend the school board take legal action against the contractors responsible for defective construction work. The scope of that work would include construction and repairs at the north campus, J.T. Lambert Intermediate School and Middle Smithfield Elementary School.
A motion to issue a request for proposals seeking special legal counsel will go before the school board at the Feb. 26 meeting, said Rohner.
“We need to start holding them accountable for their actions,” he said. “We’re talking millions of dollars here. A building and a property that’s 18 years old is not old.”
North campus roofing repairs were moved to the top of the district’s five-year capital plan as of Jan. 31. The project was allocated $8 million over a two-year period.
Stormwater repairs had not made the list.
All remaining capital projects in the plan are estimated to cost $11.8 million. That amount currently exceeds the available capital reserve by $607,025.