SAN BENITO — After more than two years of hurdles, San Benito school district officials say they are back on track with a $1.2 million project to pave their bus barn’s gravel parking lot.
After officials launched the project with a 120-day timetable in September 2021, a company losing the construction bid filed a lawsuit, requesting the court grant a restraining order that delayed work for about five months.
Meanwhile, officials negotiated the cost of the contractor’s change order request after workers broke a water line, further delaying construction.
Now, officials are planning to complete the project within five to six months, board member Rudy Corona stated Wednesday.
Long ‘journey’
During a meeting, Superintendent Theresa Servellon presented school board members with the project’s timetable showing the series of hurdles officials have faced during the construction of the Jana Kay Landrum Auxiliary Services Building’s parking lot located in the San Benito Industrial Park.
“It has been a journey to insure that we get this project to where it needs to be,” she told board members during a building committee meeting Tuesday.
Construction company files lawsuit
In September 2021, officials launched the project after the school board voted 4-3 to award the construction bid to Brownsville-based G&T Paving, which presented a bid of $1.2 million, with a 120-day timetable.
Meanwhile, the board’s three-member minority noted Rio Hondo-based Rhyner Construction Services was proposing a $994,980 bid with a 60-day timetable.
On Sept. 26, 2021, the company filed a lawsuit, requesting a judge grant a temporary restraining order, Robert L. Guerra Jr., a Brownsville attorney representing the company, said Wednesday.
“Rhyner Construction offered the lowest price and the quickest time of completion,” he said during an interview. “Based on the bidding criteria, we felt it was in the best interest of the school district to select our bid. We had issues regarding the way the bids were graded.”
Guerra said the case has been dismissed.
Servellon: District followed state law
During Tuesday’s meeting, Servellon told board members officials followed state laws during the process in which an administrative committee evaluated the district’s five proposals leading it to recommend G&T Paving for the job.
“G&T had the highest score,” she said. “The reason behind the score for it to be ranked No. 1 was that it did have experience with projects of this magnitude. It had a very strong financial structure. This company has been in business for decades.”
On Jan. 26, 2022, the court dismissed the lawsuit, she said, adding Rhyner had until Feb. 26 to appeal.
“So for that entire time, work was halted,” she said.
Water line break
After construction resumed, the contractor hit a water line, leading officials to hire GDJ Engineering, an Edinburg firm, to evaluate the construction site, Servellon told board members.
“We hit the water line and that’s when it was determined that this was deeper than a paving project,” she said, adding, “they hit that fire line where there was water that flooded that entire area.”
“We did bring in GDJ, which is an engineering-architectural firm to make sure that we were getting everything done correctly because it did end up being more than just paving, as they started just tearing up the asphalt,” she said. “So that also was part of the process.”
At the construction site, crews went to work to repair the broken water line, Servellon said.
“The water line needed to be repaired — the fire line needed to be repaired,” she said. “So that was also a process that we went into.”
Change order negotiated
Meanwhile, G&T requested a $132,000 change order, leading officials into negotiations, Servellon said.
Last month, board members agreed to pay $76,000, officials said.
“So the change order ended up (with) the credits for the fire line, credit for the area that was not required to be paved,” she said, adding, “it was more for material cost escalation.”
Background
The project is aimed at building a concrete pad in the gravel parking area, Corona said.
“The Landrum parking lot project came about to address concerns from bus drivers and maintenance staff referencing huge potholes and low-lying areas that would puddle up with water after heavy rainfalls,” board President Ramiro
Moreno has stated. “It was important to address these concerns since this is where our buses are housed and this is where our district transportation originates for our students.”
