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Posted on 01/12/2006 3:39:43 AM PST by Ellesu
Expensive materials hit sixth-floor work
The cost of renovating the governor’s sixth-floor offices in the State Capitol more than doubled — largely because of fancier materials — during the life of a project that has attracted international comment.
A review of e-mail communications, contracts, reports and other records indicates cost estimates rose by 169 percent — from $111,400 to $299,605 — for work that began two weeks after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the state.
Costs increased partly because the Office of State Buildings hired a private company rather than using state workers. But the single costliest portion of the final bill was $44,000 for walnut trim and granite countertops, according to the records.
The $299,605 total does not include an additional $83,700 for carpet and marble tiles on all three of the governor’s floors of the Capitol. Nor does it include the costs of two 32-inch high definition flat-screen televisions, which retail for about $2,000 each; an ice maker; a specially woven rug with the seal of Louisiana, estimated to cost another $15,000; and 20 new leather and chrome office chairs costing $440 each, the records show.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco was buffeted by Republicans and critics, from the online Drudge Report to the Parisian daily newspaper Le Figaro, after The Advocate reported last month that the Governor’s Office proceeded with the renovation while asking other agencies to slash spending after the hurricanes crippled state government’s finances.
Blanco’s defenders say remaking the sixth floor was just the next step of a larger project, already begun, that didn’t cost much. Remodeling and upgrades of the governor’s fourth, fifth and sixth floors cost $564,838, the records state.
But a further review of the records does not show that remodeling the sixth floor was part of a bigger project involving the other two floors.
The e-mails indicate the sixth-floor renovations were added at the request of top Blanco aide Kim Hunter Reed, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. Reed’s policy and planning section offices are on the sixth floor.
Jimmy Clarke, Blanco’s chief of staff and Reed’s direct supervisor, is the only person in the administration allowed to discuss this issue publicly, Blanco spokesman Roderick Hawkins said. Clarke did not return calls seeking comment this week.
In an earlier interview, Clarke said the governor’s staffers considered dropping the sixth-floor renovations after the hurricanes. But were persuaded to continue because they feared the state could be sued by the contractor.
Jerry Jones, director of the state Office of Facility Planning and Control, said despite what the records show, the sixth-floor project was never intended to be separate from the work being done on the fourth and fifth floors.
The sixth floor was unsafe, he said. File cabinets were in hallways and the carpet was frayed, he said.
“The space needed to be reconfigured,” Jones said Tuesday. “We don’t want the governor’s suite to look like early manufactured homes.”
Meanwhile, renovation work was underway on the fifth floor. The fifth floor did not receive any special amenities like the granite and walnut. Its construction was done by state workers. The fifth-floor work was completed in July 2005 and cost $187,485.
Work on the sixth floor, which covered 1,728 square feet, was slipped into the Division of Administration’s capital outlay list of repairs and renovations on May 24 as a separate project, according to the records.
A $189,809 bid from Cangelosi Ward General Contractors to renovate the sixth floor was accepted by the Office of State Buildings six days before Hurricane Katrina came ashore near Empire on Aug. 29.
Jones said Blanco administration staffers expressed concern about the perception of fixing up their office space while asking other agencies to consider laying off public employees to help cope with a massive budget shortfall after the hurricanes.
Jones recommended to Reed that the job continue, predicting that delay would cause the price to go up, Jones said.
Contractors had estimated on Dec. 29, 2004, that the costs to renovate the sixth floor alone “should run approximately $111,400.” The state could save $10,000 more by doing both the fifth and sixth floor projects at the same time. The design included space for file cabinets and new carpeting. The counters and cabinets were made of a plastic laminate, the records showed.
The sixth-floor plan was changed to include a conference room in February. Then in May, Wilson of the Office of State Buildings decided to hire out the work rather than use his employees.
Then, over the summer, the decision was made to add amenities, such as the granite countertops and the walnut finishing that were in public view, said Jack Ford, the Baton Rouge architect who had designed the fifth-floor renovations and was hired to handle the sixth-floor work.
Granite was seen as more durable and more classy, he said. Walnut was used throughout the State Capitol when it was built in 1932.
“If one of the roles of the governor is to do economic development for the state, then she needs a space that reflects stability and progress,” said Ford, whose company was paid $14,750 for planning the fifth floor and $25,582 for designing the sixth floor.
On Sept. 6, New Orleans police reported that fewer than 10,000 people were left in the flooded city and 240,000 evacuees had reached Texas. Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden sought land to set up mobile homes for evacuees.
It was also the day state officials met with contractors to consider trimming some of the costs of the sixth-floor project, according to minutes of the meeting.
But the group ended up determining that the only way to significantly save money was to change the expensive materials, which would require redesigning the sixth floor.
The participants, who included Ford and his partner, the contractor, Wilson and a state architect, decided that the original budget of $156,000 “was light,” according to its minutes. Sims was asked to write a letter to increase the budget to $295,894.
The contract to Cangelosi Ward General Contractors was issued Sept. 9.
On Sept. 16, Reed had her assistant ask about the options for canceling the contract.
Nearly all contracts paid with tax dollars include provisions that allow the state to drop the deal without notice and without having to give a reason. Jack Ford, the architect who designed the sixth-floor renovations, signed such a contract.
But Cangelosi Ward’s contract was written under a law that the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1995 interpreted as keeping the state on the hook. The state could cancel the contract, but only if it could show sufficient reason. And state lawyers were unsure the impact of the two hurricanes would rise to that level.
“I don’t know what kind of defense we could mount based on Katrina,” Pam Perkins, a lawyer for Blanco’s Division of Administration, wrote in an e-mail on Sept. 16.
Perkins recommended talking with Cangelosi Ward to see what could be negotiated.
Two hours later, Reed replied, “I suggest they visit the contractor so we have that option covered. ”
Robert Ward said Tuesday he was never contacted. He said his company would not have sued if the state canceled the contract for the sixth floor, particularly given the situation caused by the hurricanes.
The company has done $9.4 million in construction work with the state during the past three years, according to bid records.
"We don’t want the governor’s suite to look like early manufactured homes.”
Ya hear that evacuees!
“We don’t want the governor’s suite to look like early manufactured homes.”
Voters living in early manufactured homes might disagree with such an arrogant statement..
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/letters/2179512.html
squandering money
An opportunity for Blanco to buy some new travel clothes..
LETS HAVE AN ELECTION!!!!
wanna bet who would win???
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This is disgusting! Sickening!
This is my Louisiana tax money!
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