SAN BERNARDINO — Repeated faulty designs for smoke control systems were allegedly to blame for millions in cost overruns for the High Desert Detention Center expansion, according to a lawsuit filed May 1 by San Bernardino County seeking $13.6 million in damages from the project's architectural and design firms.
The Adelanto jail expansion was completed in February 2014 after going nearly $29 million over budget.
The lawsuit alleging breach of contract and negligence against Los Angeles-based HOK and Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. comes after the county announced negotiations were underway in April 2014 between the parties in an effort to resolve the dispute and avoid litigation.
After budgeting $700,000, about $182,000 has been paid by the county to Allen Matkins law firm for legal services, and the lawsuit's filing would have appeared to indicate that talks of more than a year were unsuccessful. But county spokesman David Wert on Tuesday told the Daily Press that county officials, to the contrary, remain in discussions with the firms as evidenced by the county seeking a six-month stay on the legal action to "resolve this case through mediation," according to a copy of the complaint obtained Tuesday.
"... The filing of this lawsuit does not represent a breakdown in talks with the defendants, an attempt to put any pressure on them, or any escalation in hostilities," Wert said. " ... The county's only interest is in recouping the money. The filing of the lawsuit happened at this time out of time considerations."
If the next round of talks does not lead to a settlement, a trial-setting conference has been scheduled for Oct. 28 in San Bernardino.
The $145.4 million project opened to much fanfare, nearly tripling the number of inmate beds at HDDC to more than 2,000. But there were purported flaws in the project's design, the county claimed, which ultimately led to a slew of change orders and amendments to the county's contract with Lydig Construction.
Those flaws boosted construction costs to nearly $120 million from the $91 million budget, county officials have said. According to a county staff report from February 2014, there were 12 approved change orders and 13 approved amendments to the construction contract since 2010, cited as unforeseen issues and extra work mandated by third parties.
Attempts
to reach officials Tuesday with HOK and Jacobs Engineering Group were not immediately successful.
"The county is informed and believes that Lydig internally began to raise questions with HOK and Jacobs about the sufficiency of their design of smoke control systems in January of 2011," the complaint said. "Ultimately, it took nearly two years for HOK and Jacobs to rectify all of the defects in their designs."
The county claims they were forced to accelerate the project and incurred costs doing so, while under pressure to complete the expansion by Jan. 31, 2014 or face losing $100 million in state funding.
First District Supervisor Robert Lovingood expressed "concerns" about the project in April 2014, saying that the county's legal movement was "aimed at rectifying (concerns) and protecting the best interest of taxpayers."
California is expected to absorb $100 million of the project cost with help from $1.2 billion in state-approved jail funding in 2007. The final amount of state financing remained subject to review by participating state agencies as late as December.
Future Space Needs Reserves and Ongoing Contingency as well as High Desert Public Safety Operations Center Project savings primarily funded the county's $44 million pick-up. General Fund Contingencies were used to pay $4.8 million.