Document text
Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 6, 2005 District, insurance company still at odds over school By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune More than three years after fire ravaged Eagle Point Middle School, the district continues to clash with its insurance company over the amount of money needed to replace the building. Rising construction costs have nearly doubled the estimated price of a new building since the fire and caused the Great American Insurance Group to balk, said Eagle Point School District Superintendent Bill Feusahrens. The district hired Medford attorney David Paradis last month to help it recover the full replacement cost, now estimated at $14 million. The insurance company paid a roughly $5 million settlement in 2003 and agreed to pay the entire replacement cost, then estimated at about $7.2 million, Feusahrens said. When the middle school on East Main Street burned in August 2002 just days before school started, the district had funds from a bond approved in November 2000 to build two new middle schools and one was already under construction. Both new middle schools are now open. Advertisement The old middle school was slated for demolition, but the undamaged portion now houses a program for students with disabilities and will be home to the Southern Oregon School of Arts and Academics, a magnet high school, next fall. After a lengthy public process to determine what kind of school building the district needed, it decided last year to construct a new elementary school at the site of the former Glenn D. Hale Elementary School with its insurance money. It hired Dull Olson Weekes Architects, a Portland-based firm, to design a 58,000-square-foot building to accommodate 600 students. Using a no-bid request for proposals, the district early this year selected Robinson Construction Co. of Hillsboro to serve as a construction- management and general contracting company on the project. "We aren’t building a marble edifice," Feusahrens said. He said the planned elementary school would be a wood-framed building similar to the damaged structure, but would conform to new code requirements, raising construction costs slightly. Strong demand for building supplies has pushed up construction costs in Southern Oregon and elsewhere. "I think we are in the ballpark," Feusahrens said, noting that Beaverton has proposed building a new elementary school estimated to cost $15 million. "I understand why the insurance company wants to take an extra look, but we have had no progress since meeting with them in June," he said. Paradis has written a letter to Great American Insurance urging the company to move forward on the Eagle Point claim, but Feusahrens said the district has not yet received a reply. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail District, insurance company still at odds over school ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Fundraisers Advertisement s