San Gabriel Valley : School District Agrees to Pay Construction Cost Overrun

The science labs were in order, but the bill wasn’t.

After administrative turnover and a lot of haggling, the West Covina Unified School District voted to pick up the tab for construction costs that went $43,824 over estimates, officials said.

The district originally voted not to accept the additional charges submitted by the Whittier construction company that was hired to convert six classrooms at Edgewood Middle School and two in West Covina High School into modern science laboratories. The original bid was $346,500, said Erwin Jones, interim superintendent.

But when contractors started work, they found that the state of the 35-year-old buildings “was a mess,” he said. The original building plans were incorrect and some of the rooms were infested with termites. The problems resulted in additional work and additional charges, Jones said.

But West Covina’s previous superintendent and an assistant superintendent did not inform the rest of the district about the new charges before they left their jobs. And the other members of the district voted against paying the new bill because the additional charges were “sprung on them,” Jones said. “When I explained what each new work order was for,” they agreed to pay, he said.