Septic reserve leach field installed at school

Additional area housing a reserve leach field is in place at Summerland Public Schools. During the board of education’s Aug. 16 meeting, Superintendent Kyle Finke said installation was completed Aug. 12.

According to Finke, Jacob Sertich, of Wilkins Architecture Design Planning, of Kearney, contacted the superintendent about sharing the cost and “not putting the burden all on the school.” A proposal for the bill to be split among Olsson Associates, Wilkins ADP and the school was presented. The price tag: $47,945.

Board member Jeremy Wagner asked how long the installation took.

Finke responded, “All day Thursday and until noon on Friday.”

“I don’t know that it cost $47,000...I don’t know if it cost $15,000 if it would make me feel better,” Wagner said.

According to Steven Thiele, representing Hausmann Construction, the work would typically be priced and approved in advance.

“Obviously, in this situation, it was a high urgency to get out here and do the work done before school started,” Thiele said. “There hasn’t been a board meeting since the last time it was talked about and the work was done.”

Costs were run through Wilkins ADP.

Board member Nate Schwager called the system not working “frustrating.”

“I can’t say anybody did anything wrong. It’s just one of the things that’s got a bitter taste in my mouth that this didn’t work out like it should, especially after the pond deal. I would feel better if you guys would split it between the two of you and we didn’t have to cover anything. That’s how I feel. To me, when we build a new school, it was with the idea that this thing was going to work.”

Board member Marty Kerkman agreed.

“With the pond deal, I don’t know if we ever did get a good answer why we have water standing. We run all these tests, but nothing ever answered our questions,” he said.

Board member Candice Hoke asked the original cost of the septic system. According to Thiele, it cost approximately $50,000 for the tank and original leach field. Those figures come from a bid from more than two years ago.

Schwager said board members from other schools have asked about firms the school has worked with.

“I would sure love to say we had a problem and these guys took care of it. That’s where I’m at,” Schwager said.

Sertich said as far as he can tell, all engineers involved followed best practices in the industry.

“It doesn’t seem like anybody made a mistake. It’s a situation unlike any I have encountered in my almost 19 years of doing this. This is a flagship project for us, so if that’s the board’s collective position, I want to have a good name up here. If that’s what it takes, I will accept those terms and work out adjustment with Olsson. I want to be on record as saying I don’t feel anyone on the design or engineering team made any mistakes here. There was no negligence. We don’t have a perfect explanation or a nice little package to wrap it up in,” Sertich said.

Schwager said he appreciated that Wilkins ADP “stepped up and doing what needs to be done.”