HILO — The Ka‘u gym and shelter has been open for more than three months, but Hawaii County officials are now seeking reassurance that the $18 million project meets state and county building codes for emergency shelters.
County Public Works Director Frank De Marco on Thursday signed a $100,000 contract with Honolulu engineering company Martin & Chock Inc. for “structural engineering (failure analysis including forensics) services” for the gym.
The contract is to ensure the structure meets high-wind and wind-borne debris protection requirements in accordance with state and county codes for hurricane shelters, according to the professional services contract award posted on the county procurement website. The company was selected from four professional services companies.
De Marco said Tuesday the work is required by the state Emergency Management Agency for hurricane shelters. He said the inspection should take about six months, but the county will keep the consultant on retainer in case there are problems that need to be addressed. De Marco didn’t immediately know if the required analysis is generally done so late in the process.
“These are the premier structural experts in the state,” De Marco said. “That’s a good thing. People are coming to this place with the expectation it will be safe.”
The county had already paid Mitsunaga and Associates an additional $55,000 on top of its original $1 million design contract to “review hurricane shelter design criteria, review design of record for compliance of the hurricane shelter design criteria including structural calculations, site inspection and verification of the structure that is being constructed in compliance with design of record and meets the hurricane shelter criteria,” according to a June 1, 2015, change order.
De Marco was not Public Works director when the contract and change order were issued. He said the state requires a third party review, rather than one conducted by a contractor working on the project.
“The contractor raised some concerns about the structural elements in the contract,” De Marco said.
The gym project, financed with $18.1 million from the state, has had $748,122 in change orders as of Nov. 30, according to county Finance Department reports.
The most recent included $229,424 to contractor Summit Construction Inc. for modifications to the floor due to excess moisture and $290,601 to Summit for modifications to windows and acceleration of installation. Overtime charges were also factored into those figures. The project was one of two known in the county where the county agreed to pay overtime to get the project finished more quickly.
The floor and windows of the building have long been problem areas.
Last year, the concrete flooring for the 21,069-square-foot gym portion of the 43,300-square-foot building had to be torn out at contractor’s expense and redone when it didn’t pass county inspection.
County officials had denied there was anything wrong with the windows when asked about them prior to the public release of the recent change order.
But former Mayor Billy Kenoi’s frustration with delays escalated to the point that on Aug. 5, he called three Public Works engineers into his office and fired them on the spot, according to several sources within and closely aligned with county government who asked not to be identified because they feared retaliation.
The three employees were called back to work the following week, after being told no formal action was taken. Shortly after that incident, management of the project was transferred from Public Works to Parks and Recreation.
Kenoi celebrated a grand opening of the gym Oct. 5.
Mayor Harry Kim said he called a stop to contractor overtime when he took office recently.
The shelter was the brainchild of the late Ka’u Democratic state Rep. Bob Herkes. After five years of unsuccessful appeals for $10.9 million from the state Department of Education for a gym for Ka‘u High School and Pahala Elementary School, Herkes renamed it a civil defense shelter, asked for $18.1 million and in 2011 got the money transferred to the county in hopes of getting it built more quickly.
A former longtime civil defense chief, Kim Tuesday said he doesn’t know if the newest inspection will turn up any new problems. He said he was told the inspection is required.
Kim’s glad to see an emergency shelter in an area that’s long needed one, he said.
Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung, who’s often questioned the administration about change orders in county projects, said he wondered about the delay between finishing the project and getting the inspection, but he supports the move, if the administration thinks it’s needed.
“If there are legitimate concerns, then I’m behind them all the way,” Chung said.