Worker Bob Robertson stretches a roll of plastic fencing around the southeast corner of New York School on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Nearby residents are concerned about the safety measures that have been taken surrounding the construction at the school.

Both Lawrence and Douglas County codes require that fences or barriers are installed at construction sites like the one at New York Elementary School where a child fell recently and was seriously injured, several officials told the Lawrence Journal-World last week.

The International Building Code — which is followed by the city, county and school district — requires that 8-foot barriers be installed around the perimeter of a project if the construction is within five feet of sidewalks, which it was at New York Elementary, officials from the city, county and school district said.

Usually construction projects, from beginning to end, must go through a series of inspections by the local government’s building-codes inspectors. And if the property owners or contractors violate the code, they are subject to penalties.

But the district’s construction project took a different path regarding construction codes, city, county and district officials agree.

First, city of Lawrence building inspectors did not inspect the project. In an effort to save on building permit fees, the school district struck an agreement for Douglas County to inspect the numerous school construction projects throughout Lawrence.

Then, through a series of contracts and agreements, the school district gave the contractor sole responsibility for construction site safety and prohibited the Douglas County inspector from overseeing the safety issues at the site.

“Construction site safety is the responsibility of the contractor,” said Julie Boyle, the spokeswoman for the school district. “Our agreement with Douglas County includes: ‘The County will not have control over, charge of or responsibility for … the safety precautions and programs in connection with the work …'”

In another response, Boyle said: “The building inspector is not charged with ensuring construction site safety, that is the responsibility of the contractor.”

But the agreement fails to consider that government inspectors, including Douglas County inspectors, who see a violation are required by building codes to report it.

“We don’t make agreements like that,” said Scott McCullough, director of the city’s Planning and Development Department. “The code dictates what needs to be inspected. The contractor or the owner doesn’t get to choose what is inspected.”

In addition, according to the Douglas County code, all county employees, including inspectors, are required to report “any seeming violation in new construction.”

The city exempted the district last year from following its code because the district was trying to save money on the project.

Voters approved the project — a $92.5 million school bond issue — in April 2013 to improve facilities at all 20 schools in the district and build the new College and Career Center.

In May 2014, the district initially asked the city to exempt the school construction project from fees of $280,000 for inspections and permits, City Commission meeting minutes show.

The city was reluctant to waive the fees because the project was so large, according to the minutes. Such a project would entail many hours of inspections and report writing.

Eventually the city allowed the district to find alternative inspectors by exempting it from city codes, McCullough said.

The district then reached an agreement with Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug to have the county’s codes director, Jim Sherman, conduct inspections but not for the safety portions of the project, according to Boyle.

Weinaug agreed to provide the inspection services for the 20 schools at no cost to the district.

Sherman was the only inspector from the county to conduct inspections at the schools for about a year, until late June, when he took a job as the city of Ottawa’s chief building official.

Sherman is no stranger to controversy.

It was reported earlier this year that Sherman was inspector on a project for a rural Douglas County home being built by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The home was allowed to be occupied despite several irregularities, including the lack of an approved water source. The case has caused Douglas County commissioners to consider hiring a third-party consultant to review the county’s zoning and codes department.

On Friday, Sherman, contacted at his Ottawa office, said he had no comment on the school construction project.

“I’m not answering any questions about the school projects,” Sherman said. “You’ll have to get your answers from Craig (Weinaug).”

Weinaug was out of the office this week and could not be reached for comment.

The contractor on the New York Elementary project, Combes Construction LLC of Bucyrus, could not be reached for comment, and workers at the site declined to comment Friday afternoon.

McCullough said contractors are expected to follow the codes, but that does not always happen.

“There would be no need for inspectors if contractors followed the codes,” he said.

Max McGill, the 8-year-old boy who was injured Aug. 13, was at the New York Elementary playground with a babysitter when he wandered off and fell. He suffered a broken nose, broken collar bone and rib. The top portion of both of his lungs collapsed.

Gregory Herrod, who lives across the street from the school, has worked in the construction industry for years and has a degree in architecture.

He had seen what he deemed to be problems with the site all year.

Besides no fence, the construction equipment was left open to the public, he said.

One weekend, he said, one of the workers was at the site and let his young child drive what appeared to be a compactor.

“We noticed it was hokey for a long time,” Herrod said. “People have been playing on the playground (in the middle of the construction site) the whole time. After the accident, it felt horrible because I never said anything.”

Temporary fencing was placed around the New York Elementary construction site in the days following the accident.

And Herrod said he’s been pushing the district to do more and to be more transparent.

“If I drop the story … and (others) drop the story, they wouldn’t do anything about it,” Herrod said.

This story has been edited to correct Gregory Herrod’s name.