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Stanley Cup a dream come true for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach Clark Donatelli

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The Wilkes-Barre Area School Board has approved payment of more than $2.15 million to its &#8220;design team&#8221; since May 2014, nearly all of it directly or indirectly related to the planned consolidated high school, according to district records.</p><p>Critics of the plan regularly inquire at board meetings how much the team of four local firms &#8212; A&amp;E Group, Borton Lawson, WKL Architecture and Leonard Engineering &#8212; has received, citing the lack of visible results.</p><p>At one meeting, Business Manager Leonard Przywara estimated the amount at about $2.1 million, but offered no details.</p><p>Yet the total paid to each company and the work covered by each payment are a matter of public record, included in meeting agendas before a board vote and in the minutes of those meetings later posted on the district website.</p><p>To get a clearer picture of where the money went and what it bought so far, the Times Leader tallied figures from minutes and agendas from January 2014 through the latest meeting on May 23.</p><p>The review looked at payments approved for the design team and any other capital fund payments. No capital expenditures were found from January through April 2014.</p><p>The $2.15 million paid to the four firms is about one-sixth of the total, which fell just short of $12 million spent in two years.</p><p>Of the four companies in the design team, WKL Architecture received the largest total: $880,019. More than half of that, $575,776, was for work on the new high school. Two other projects made up the bulk of the rest: $166,319 for work on a feasibility study and $133,650 for renovation of the Mackin Elementary building.</p><p>Some other highlights from the data:</p><p>&#8226; The work covered by the payments breaks down broadly into 15 categories. Of those, the renovation of Mackin, now housing grades nine and 10 from Coughlin, was by far the biggest chunk: $7.7 million.</p><p>&#8226; Payments listed solely under &#8220;new high school&#8221; totaled $1.15 million, but other costs were closely related, including $88,650 for asbestos abatement at Coughlin and $33,000 for preliminary work on demolition of the building.</p><p>&#8226; Another $271,364 went toward plans to renovate and expand Kistler Elementary. The overall goal is to merge grades nine-through 12 in a new school at the Coughlin site while moving grades seven and eight at Meyers High School into an expanded Kistler.</p><p>&#8226; The design team received a total of $470,319 for a district-wide feasibility study required for any possible state reimbursement for the project. Apollo Group Inc., the company contracted as the district&#8217;s construction manager, also got $9,110 for that study.</p><p>&#8226; All told, in the time period reviewed Apollo was paid a total of $483,719, though as construction manager the company is involved in every major project. Total payments by project in the two years reviewed ranged from $6,406 for the Kistler renovation plans to $323,294 for the Mackin project.</p><p>&#8226; While the original section of Coughlin was closed in January and students restricted to the newer annex, the board still paid $265,464 for stabilization of the school&#8217;s masonry and parapet. Nearly all that work was done in the fall of 2014 so the school could remain in use until Mackin was ready to open.</p><p>&#8226; The board also spent $266,773 for &#8220;safety sheds&#8221; over the entrances at Meyers and Coughlin, to protect against the possibility of falling masonry.</p><p>&#8226; There were a few projects unrelated to the three high schools, primarily involving another chronic problem in recent years: failing roofs. The board spent $865,584 for roofing at Heights Murray Elementary and $513,766 to replace the roof at Flood Elementary.</p><p>Among the contractors and firms paid in the time reviewed, Panzitta Enterprises was by far the big winner, netting $3.7 million, mostly for work at Mackin. Yannuzzi Inc. receive $1.5 million, also mostly for work at Mackin, and G.R. Noto Electrical Construction Inc. got $1.07 million.</p><p>Panzitta is currently negotiating with the district for a deal regarding the Times Leader building on North Main Street, abutting the Coughlin property. Panzitta wants to purchase the building &#8212; put up for sale last year by the newspaper&#8217;s parent company, Civitas Media &#8212; and renovate it into classroom space before leasing it to the district.</p><p>While critics have been asking about spending on the design team for months, the questions became more pointed after the district denied attorney Kim Borland&#8217;s Right To Know request to see &#8220;the progress plans and specifications&#8221; for the new high school, to be built where Coughlin High School currently sits.</p><p>Borland filed an appeal with the state Open Records Office, and he and district solicitor Ray Wendolowski filed briefs defending their positions. The appeal is still pending.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Critics say WBA has little to show for millions in spending</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

W-B Area “design team”: $2.1 million spent, little to see