To the editor:

A good in-depth article appeared in Sunday’s Journal-World about the continuing saga concerning the school construction projects. The gist of the article was the school district struck a “deal” with the sitting city commissioners to waive the inspections and fees, hire an unnamed structural inspection company and have the balance of the normally required inspections done for free by the county. However, it was also agreed that the county has no enforcement capability.

Some area building inspection departments weighed in that this typically was not allowed and was inadvisable. This is very poor stewardship of our tax money as well as an unnecessary risk to the students and staff who will be occupying these buildings. Building codes are minimum standards, not something to aspire to.

Soliciting low competitive bidders obligates the winning contractor to honor contract terms and conditions. The owner is also obligated to enforce those terms and conditions. Somebody has to look over the construction work daily from an owner’s standpoint. The design professionals typically assess percentage completion on a project based on progress payment submitted but do not do detailed inspections unless a particular situation arises that requires attention.

No enforceable inspections, obvious lack of oversight by the school district, and one wonders when the next shoe will drop. I hope the window Doll is looking through in the photo in Monday’s J-W has the required tempered safety glass, but who knows for sure?