Soil to be treated at construction site

The soil also had to be treated at the Lincoln construction site.
BY AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city school district will use one-third of its contingency funds for the new Willard kindergarten-through-eighth-grade building to treat the soil at the construction site.
The board of education voted 3-2 on Tuesday to award a 315,575 contract to Hively Construction of Canfield to use chemicals to treat the wet soil at the construction site on Willard Avenue Southeast.
The soil treatment was necessary because of the wet weather that has plagued the area, said Bill Schurman, senior manager of Carbone, Ozanne and Hammond of Canton, which is handling the construction.
"To keep the project on schedule we need to proceed with this as soon as possible," he said.
Workers for Hively will treat the soil with cement kiln dust to lower the moisture content of the construction site, Schurman said.
Board members Linda Metzendorf and Nedra Bowen voted no on the contract because they felt the soil project would take too much money away from the contingency fund.
"That's a lot of money when the foundation hasn't been put in yet," Metzendorf said.
Funds put aside
Contingency funds are set aside for unforeseen events. The Willard project, estimated to cost 17 million, has 884,931 in contingency funds.
The district used 114,000 in contingency funds to treat the soil at the construction site for the Lincoln kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school on Atlantic Avenue Northeast, but that project was much less extensive than the one at Willard, Schurman said.
Bowen and Metzendorf also said they voted no because the Willard project, which is scheduled to open in August 2008, is seven months behind schedule.
Board President Edward Bolino said approving the contract would speed up the construction process and help the district's 153 million construction project, which is being co-funded by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Bolino, along with board members Shari Harrell and Robert Faulkner Sr., voted for the contract.
"The sooner we can get the buildings up and running the more efficient we will be as a district," he said.
The district is building four new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools and one new high school, which will replace all of the 13 buildings now in use.
agarrett@vindy.com