Motion to Explore Divorce

As Dr. Orna would counsel, once the element of contempt enters a relationship, it may be time to start dividing up the furniture.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, contempt moved from the background to the forefront as councilors Gitschier and Robinson filed the following motions:

C. Robinson / C. Gitschier – Req. City Mgr. have the proper department explore and provide the Council with process required to replace the Owners Project Manager for the remainder of the High School Project.

C. Robinson / C. Gitschier – Req. City Mgr. explore hiring a Clerk of Works to protect the City’s interest on the remainder of the High School project.

The word explore gives off a “just asking questions” vibe, but the message is unmistakable: the relationship may be broken, and some are quietly inventorying who gets what in the divorce.

In defending the motions, Councilor Gitschier reminded the public that Skanska’s job is to manage the project, keep things on time and budget, and act in the city’s best interest. If you follow along with the Council Meetings (and earn extra credit for School Building and School Committee meetings), there is evidence that Skanska has, at times, failed to live up to the duties of an OPM. Notably, in January of this year, dozens of issues with build quality surfaced and were only remedied when Skanska was publicly shamed. Prior to that, there were issues with the design and function of the bleachers in the new gym. Prior to that, Skanska failed to drill adequate boreholes in the basement of the “old” buildings, leading to the well-documented $40M cost overrun (which remains unresolved – n.b.d.). Around the time of the boreholes were not being drilled, there was also a failure to fully check for asbestos.  Last week, it was revealed that Skanska discovered, in July(!) – a $2M floor issue in the 1892 building. Just last night, there was an informational report on ongoing issues with security concerns arising out of shoddy door hardware. Again, the matter was only addressed after complaints from the public and the council.

Compounding the discord is Skanska’s posture: defensive, brittle, and occasionally hostile. There is almost never an admission of responsibility or even a conciliatory tone. Listen long enough and “OPM” starts to sound like shorthand for Other People’s Mistakes.  Despite promises of accountability and receipt of public money, Skanska seems annoyed by questions from the public about its means and methods.

Given that backdrop, it’s difficult to articulate a coherent argument for keeping Skanska in this relationship.

Rather, I’ve seen two positions that attempt to slightly change the conversation.

1. “If only we’d chosen Cawley.” 

This argument—recently hammered by Councilors Yem, Mercier, Belanger, Scott, and Mayor Rourke—goes something like: None of this would be happening if the school were at Cawley. The 2017 location fight was a civic bloodbath, and if some feel vindicated now, fine – fair game —have at it. But how is that (a) productive to the current situation, or (b) an exoneration of Skanska? The city chose downtown. Skanska was hired to deliver a downtown school with a realistic contingency budget and sound quality control. Notably, many of the failures under Skanska’s watch occurred in the new construction.

2. The Panos Conspiracy Theory. 

On his daily InsideLowell podcast, Ted Panos has offered an entertaining, if labyrinthine, defense: shadowy state actors allegedly pressured Skanska to half-ass the exploratory phase so that the true cost wouldn’t spook taxpayers. Skanska, for unclear reasons, supposedly went along with this to risk its own reputation to keep the secret and engage in corruption. It’s a fun plot, but even if it were true, how is this a point in Skanska’s favor?

That said, where do we go from here? Again, these motions purport to seek an “exploration.” I suspect that the makers of the motion (and many supporting it) are already familiar with 963 CMR 2.11 and the MSBA’s Owner’s Project Manager Guidelines:

Anyone who’s primary motivation is delivering the best school possible should be – at a minimum – curious about the logistics and ramifications of a change in leadership.

In the meantime, I’ll be sadly watching this marriage story fall apart from the bleachers – hopefully they’re working.