Dear Editor,
The Dispatch recently editorialized that the cost of the Morgan
Hill Courthouse Project increased as a result of a communication
failure between Santa Clara County and the City of Morgan Hill. The
Dispatch’s editorial is based on a presumption that the project
schedule slipped by several months due to this lack of
communication. This is not the case.
Dear Editor,
The Dispatch recently editorialized that the cost of the Morgan Hill Courthouse Project increased as a result of a communication failure between Santa Clara County and the City of Morgan Hill. The Dispatch’s editorial is based on a presumption that the project schedule slipped by several months due to this lack of communication. This is not the case.
The county approved the Courthouse Project on Oct. 22, 2002 with a preliminary target construction award date of August 2004. The construction contract award occurred on Oct. 19, 2004. The nearness of the actual award to the target award date is a considerable accomplishment on a project of this complexity, and this required the cooperation of the county, the city, and the state courts.
In May 2004 county staff, after witnessing the unprecedented rise in construction materials used one month to “value engineer” and redesign the project to reduce costs. The staffs of both the City of Morgan Hill and the state courts provided considerable assistance to the county during this difficult process, and enabled the cost-cutting redesign effort to move very quickly.
The rise in the Morgan Hill courthouse price had to do with the huge changes that are occurring in the nation’s construction market and not with disagreements between government agencies. The rapid rise in construction prices is a nationwide problem that started slowly last year and then skyrocketed beginning in February of this year. Structural steel prices have gone up 26 percent; reinforcing steel prices have risen 45 percent; lumber prices are up 60 percent; cement prices are hard to estimate; and fuel prices are – well, go to your gas station and you will know.
The rise in construction prices has many causes including weakness of the United States dollar; a huge demand by numerous developing countries for construction materials; and the rise in crude oil prices raising the cost of shipping materials. Additionally, the award price for the courthouse includes $2 million worth of work requested and funded by the state courts and city that was outside the project scope.
The City of Morgan Hill had a staff member assigned to the project throughout the design. The city was represented by this individual at numerous design review meetings. The Dispatch makes an issue of the “gray, soulless building” design that was submitted to the city for comment. During the presentation to the city the architect stated that the conceptual model was kept at a neutral color during early design to focus everyone’s attention on the shapes of the buildings without being distracted by the color. Once the shape was agreed to then the color would be determined. The City Council selected the final color.
An essential element of good communication is to use information to separate facts from conjecture. It is my hope that the information provided here will help accomplish that goal. We take pride in financial and construction management at the county, but there are times where costs exceed estimates because of events outside the control of government.
Don Gage, Supervisor, District One
