Santa Fe High School

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District settles suit on Santa Fe A/C

Engineer to pay $175,000 as full settlement

12/14/01

McDonnell

The Edmond school district finally has closure in a six-year legal battle

over Santa Fe High School's heating and air conditioning system.

At a special meeting Thursday, the Edmond School Board voted 4-0 to accept a

proposed settlement agreement with Albert Janco, the engineer that designed

Santa Fe's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

The agreement calls for Janco to pay the district $175,000 as the full

settlement and for both parties to file dismissals, with prejudice, of their

claims.

Board president Lyndon was not present for the vote, which came after

a brief executive session.

In 1995, the school district sued Janco and the now-defunct MNT Architects

Inc., the designers of the HVAC system for Santa Fe. The district claimed

the system overpowered the school, overheating and overcooling it, creating

an uncomfortable learning environment.

In addition, the district has maintained that problems with the HVAC system

contributed to mold contamination at the school, said Superintendent

Goin.

The district used bond funds a few years ago to remove all the system's duct

work, take out several air conditioning units, put in two large

dehumidifiers and replace the ceiling tiles at a cost of about $2.8 million,

said Bret Towne, district director of plant services.

That's in addition to the funds used to clean up the mold contamination.

The HVAC system and duct work at the $11.4 million school had an original

price tag of $750,000, according to Edmond Sun file reports.

In 1996, the school board agreed to a $75,000 settlement from MNT

Architects.

But in 1998, an arbitration panel ruled in favor of Janco in the district's

$400,000 case against him. The board opted in 1998 to appeal the panel's

ruling.

Since that decision, the case against Janco has been winding its way through

the legal system, with various filings with the courts taking place, but no

major developments until Monday.

On Monday, both sides aired their points in a mediation conference in which

the proposed settlement agreement was formulated, he said.

" I think it was a complicated issue. There were multiple facets to the

problems at Santa Fe, " Goin said. " We felt like at this time the most

prudent course of action was to go ahead and settle this through mediation. "

According to Edmond Sun file reports, the district spent $117,000 in

attorneys' fees pursuing the matter up through the 1998 arbitration ruling.

Since the board decided to continue its legal battle in 1998, the district

has incurred about $23,500 in legal costs, Goin said. He predicted the costs

would be closer to $30,000 by the time the case is brought to complete

closure.

A desire to not incur further legal costs was part of the reason the

district opted for mediation, Goin said.

" Who knows what the outcome of a trial would have been, " the superintendent

said. " We know we would have incurred more legal fees, but we don't know

what the outcome would have been. "

With the problems at Santa Fe " substantially corrected, " it was time to go

on, he added.

" We felt like this is an old item that needed closure, " Goin said. " We go on

and we try to be very careful about any construction projects we do. "

Board member Jim Austin said he felt the settlement was the best the

district could do. He said he wishes the district could have obtained more

money since it took so much to fix the problems at Santa Fe.

" It was the best deal we could make considering the time involved and the

questions there as to whose fault it really was. This was the best we could

do, " he said.

The alternative was to go through a full-blown trial, and there is no way of

knowing how long that would have taken, Austin said. And after the trial,

the parties would have been given opportunities for appeals.

It was a complicated case, and Austin said he is glad it is behind the

district. And he said the board has learned an important lesson " that slow

and steady is the best approach when it comes to construction and that

quality is crucial. "

Board member Lerri said she thinks the decision to settle is in the

best interest of the district now, six years from the time the legal battle

began.

Although $175,000 isn't much money, said she thinks it is important

to close out this issue and focus on immediate concerns, rather than past

mistakes.

" I think at this point, we've done all we can do, " said. " I think our

main responsibility is to learn from this. "