By Christopher Hartwell @SILENCESEEN
Known to Las Positas students as the 4000 building, the Mertes Center for the Arts has been left incomplete, and remains this way for much longer than was anticipated.
The construction that was supposed to be finished before the start of the school year as left missing panels in the ceilings of the music classroom, exposed electrical wiring, and lights that need plugging in to be turned on.
During a recent Jazz Band class Cindy Browne Rosefield, coordinator of Music Department stated her class had to play their music by cellphone light because the lights weren’t working in the classroom.
According to Rosefield the construction in the Mertes Center for the Arts was suppose to be clear, cleaned, and finished by Aug 5.
Regardless of the reasons, there were obligations not fulfilled by the companies that swore to fulfill them.
“The construction company left the music job site many times this summer to work on other jobs on this campus. “ Rosefield said.
“The construction company won the bids on a variety of jobs here at LPC.”
Rosefield knows this is what occurred since the Parsons Brinckerhoff project manager Melanie Koslow had stated so.
Rosefield continued by stating “Every day over contract until the project is signed off, the construction company pays a fine.”
Even with those fines, the work continues to be delayed further and further.
While this has forced faculty to work in classrooms that are incomplete, the work on the Mertes Center for the Arts will soon be finished, allowing students and teachers to return to a normal classroom environment.