Some of the work already completed at Esperanza Middle School

Leonardtown, MD — Before Tropical Storm Sandy wreaked havoc on the New Jersey coast in 2012, it roared through St. Mary’s County dumping a ton of rain that caused severe erosion behind Esperanza Middle School. The St. Mary’s County Board of Education has been trying since then to correct the problem that endangered a ballfield and was pretty close to the rear of the school, although there was no structural damage.

During two phases of the work contractors discovered a third section that was hidden by vegetation that also needed remediation. At its June 6 meeting the board approved awarding a contract to SGX, Inc. of Frederick, MD for $48,700 to complete the work.

That’s when things started to get weird. Director of Design and Construction Larry Hartwick attempted to reach the company to inform them they had won the bid. Calls weren’t returned., Emails weren’t returned. The official documents that needed to be signed were mailed and weren’t returned.

Hartwick told the school board at its Aug, 10 meeting that it was the first time something like that had happened to him in all of his years in the construction business.

The school board was anxious to get the work done before the start of school Aug. 24. The inability to find the low bidder led Hartwick to contact the second low bidder, Chappelear Farms, LLC of Charles County, who agreed to do the work for their original bid which was about $1,300 higher than the SGX bid, or $49,999.

Chappelear officials originally told Hartwick that they would not be able to start the project right away because they were working on several other projects. But recently he was informed that work was completed and they could start immediately. With that knowledge the board annulled the SGX bid and awarded it to Chappelear

The board had originally budgeted $789,685 for the project. For the first two phases  $378,564 has been expended. With the approved $49,999 bid by Chappelear and a $15,000 contingency, the project will have a fund balance of $244,500.

Before awarding the new bid Hartwick was asked by board member Cathy Allen if SGX had been investigated prior to the bid being accepted. Hartwick said they received a good recommendation from the National Capital Park and Planning Commission for a million-dollar project they had done for them. Hartwick said that organization told him that SGX’s failure to respond was highly unusual.

The board at their Aug. 10 meeting also approved contracts for 200 buses to transport approximately 18,000 students for the coming school year. Eleven-month employees are back on the job and teachers are due to start next week, with a new teacher orientation Aug. 15 the first order of business.

The school bus schedules have been posted on the school systems website, http://www.smcps.org/ . School buses will conduct a practice run the day before school opens to familiarize themselves with their routes.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com