THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250213
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: On The Street
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Somebody should take the heat for the city's recreation center pool fiasco.
The problem is, points out City Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker, ferreting out the rat in the pantry is a job that would stump even Sherlock Holmes.
After spending more than $32 million in the past five years to build three spanking new recreation centers - centers equipped with swimming pools that cost in the neighborhood of $1 million each - the City Council voted Tuesday to shell out more money - $721,000 - to have the pools fixed. That's right, fixed!
The repair tab is now up to $2.1 million, which comes out of your wallets, folks, and it could keep climbing.
Why, you may ask - as Councilman Robert K. Dean asked Tuesday night - weren't the pools built properly in the first place? Who was in charge of overseeing the construction for the city, Gomer Pyle?
It seems the equipment in all three pool rooms, including light fixtures and heating systems, has been rusting since it was installed. What ticks Dean off is that it has happened at the Princess Anne Recreation Center, which just opened last March.
What did they install in these centers, used car parts?
If private industry conducted its business in the same way, Dean contends, it would lose big profits and somebody's head would roll. No doubt about it.
When it comes to cleaving to the bottom line, nobody does it more ruthlessly than your average American business exec. Making the almighty dollar is the name of the game. Sentiment and loyalty be hanged.
Just consider the thousands of people laid off or pensioned off from big computer or media conglomerates, auto manufacturers or banks in the past 10 years. It's part of a widespread strategy to streamline business and to fatten the old profit margin.
That's the American way. And, says Dean, that's the way city officials should conduct municipal business.
Only last December, the City Council voted to spend $1.9 million to repair the pools at the city's three new recreation centers. Damage to the facilities included corroded light fixtures, ventilation ducts and motors, council members were told.
Poor design, city officials sniffed, and blamed it on Krummell & Associates, P.C., the architectural firm hired by the city to draft plans for the centers. The city then sued the company in October 1994.
Meanwhile, the repairs cited last year were to be paid for with the money authorized by the council, while the city awaited the results of the suit.
What the city is seeking, says Assistant City Attorney L. Steven Emmert, who is handling the case, is payment from Krummell & Associates for ``damages resulting from the design flaws'' that have led to the repairs. That includes related expenses for engineering and consulting fees and other charges.
To cover additional repair costs that have popped up, council members were asked this week to ante up an additional $721,000, which they did on a 10-1 vote. Parker was the lone naysayer, although Dean did most of the neighing.
A Virginia Beach Circuit Court judge has ordered the city and Krummell & Associates to settle the legal dispute through a mediator. Mediation is to begin in September and a trial date is set for January in case mediation fails.
The city's swimming pools have been up to their intake valves in controversy for years. A subconsultant was booted from the Great Neck project in 1990 for writing design specifications that required parts sold by a company run by his son and owned by his wife.
Who knows what other little surprises are in store for us as the saga continues to unfold? by CNB