FEMA snafu stalls project as construction season wanes

A bureaucratic snafu that's stalled construction at the centerpiece of Linn County's flood-recovery effort should be cleared in about a week, but could still cost the county.

“This about the best weather we've had about all year long, and they can't work” at the new Jean Oxley Public Services Center, Supervisor Linda Langston said today.

The county hosted officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at a Sept. 10 groundbreaking, but little work has happened because FEMA hasn't signed off on the project worksheet. That's required to free the agency's $14 million share of the $14.8 million project.

The hitch: the county's plan to move its information technology department from the basement of the Oxley center, 930 First St. SW, to the Options/Community Services Building, under construction atop a hill off 12th Avenue SW.

That move was included in the worksheet the county submitted back in April, but FEMA requires a separate worksheet be filed for IT's move. And FEMA didn't tell the county it needed a seperate form until the past week.

“We were talking to state FEMA people, Department of Homeland Security people, and they were all saying ‘Yes, it's coming,'” Langston said. ”I said, ‘Please pick up the phone and call, it's been in the project worksheet since April.' It was on page 22 of a 32-page worksheet.”

“We're just processing that as quickly as possible,” said FEMA spokesman Russ Edmonston. “They made a request, so we've got to pull that out of the (project worksheet). It's just a paperwork thing – we'll probably have it done next week.”

Some interior demolition has occurred, but the project has missed three weeks of warm weather, perfect for pouring the foundation at the worksite. Garth Fagerbakke, the county's construction manager, said  there's a week or two of excavation and preparation to be done before cement work can start.

According to Portland Cement Association's Web site, new concrete shouldn't be allowed to fall below 50 degrees during the curing period, five to seven days.

“If they had to go two full weeks we're looking at the 18th,” Langston said. “We're not going to get all the concrete work done by December.”

The average first-frost date for Cedar Rapids was today, according to the National Weather Service.

Assuming the excavation is done in time, contractor Miron Construction may have to enclose and heat the concrete as it dries, at about $2,000 a day, Fagerbakke said.

“We're not going to be able to recover that from FEMA,” said Langston.

The delay could push the project past its scheduled completion date. FEMA stops paying for the county's temporary office space at Westdale Mall in June 2012.

“One on one, the FEMA people have really been quite good,” said Langston. “I have yet to run into one FEMA person who has been a problem. It's when you get into the system” that problems arise.