SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Sioux City Journal) – Six months ago, Woodbury County leaders learned the new jail under construction would not keep inmates or staff adequately warm in certain areas during subzero weather.
If outdoor temperatures fell below negative 2 degrees, the thermostat in some areas of the jail wouldn’t go above the 56 to 64-degree range, according to documents obtained by The Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Though the project architect designed the Law Enforcement Center to provide adequate heat during cold snaps as low as -15 degrees, problems with the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC), first identified in November 2023, continued to persist for at least six months.
The HVAC issues are a large contributing factor in the latest delay in the troubled project’s completion date, now estimated for the end of July.
“The Authority and County’s damages and lost revenues, which are now in the multiple millions of dollars, continue to grow while the design team’s incompetence and lack of attention in regard to the mechanical engineering aspects of this project only get worse,” Jodie McDougal, an attorney for the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center Authority, wrote in a March 29 letter to attorneys for Goldberg Group Architects (GGA), the project architect, and Goldberg’s engineering consultant, Introba, Inc.
“It has been nearly five months since ASI-10 was issued, and we still do not have a complete resolution of the mechanical system’s testing and balancing issues that are in Introba’s court.” The Journal reached out to Introba for comment. A spokesperson said they do not comment about ongoing disputes.
The documents obtained by The Journal through Iowa’s Open Records law show months of contentious back-and-forth correspondence between representatives for the Authority, Goldberg Group Architects, and Introba.
During a Jan. 25 meeting, Introba asked the Authority if it would be “satisfied with something other than a facility that fully functions in terms of temperature control,” McDougal wrote in a Jan. 29 letter.
“As expressly stated at the meeting — No. The Authority will not be paying $60 million for a facility with multiple areas that would not be able to be heated above the 56-to-64-degree range during times when the outdoor temperatures are within the design range, and the fact that Introba asked this question is remarkable,” the Authority’s lawyer said.
While state code does not specifically address minimum indoor temperatures for jails, it states “all detention and living areas shall be reasonably heated and ventilated.” Woodbury County also plans to house federal inmates in the new jail. While there are no federal regulations governing temperature controls in prisons, the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Facility Operations Manual suggests temperatures should target 76 degrees during the summer and 68 degrees during the winter. The National Institute of Corrections suggests a range of 69-76 degrees, depending on humidity and outdoor conditions.
Frustrated with the slow progress in resolving the heating issues, the Authority eventually resorted to hiring its own mechanical engineer, but Introba disapproved, arguing the move was further delaying the project, documents showed.
It wasn’t until late last month that the Authority said all parties were in agreement on the HVAC issues.
“We’ve had some back and forth between Introba, our expert, and everybody else, and probably for the first time in a long time everybody’s all in agreement, we have a plan,” said Shane Albrecht, project manager for the Baker Group, the Des Moines-based firm managing the project for the Authority.
Troubled project
From the start, the jail construction has been beset by a series of problems, missteps and cost overruns that have added more than a year of construction time and millions of dollars to a project that has grown to over $70 million — far above the $50.3 million bond voters approved in March 2020.
At the time the Authority awarded the general contract to Lincoln, Neb.-based Hausmann Construction, the completion date was set for March 2023. A series of other completion dates were presented, with an official substantial completion date set for September 2023. The deadline passed without completion, with Hausmann saying it could not be finished until at least April due to various issues. The announcement by the Authority came three months after an inspector found multiple missing fire dampers — devices that prevent flames from crossing a barrier — had not been installed.
Most recently, the Authority said they are waiting for solutions to air handling noises that could affect radio operations in the jail control areas.
Too little heat
As Authority officials grappled with the missing fire dampers, they soon learned of another major mechanical system problem — insufficient heat.
On Nov. 21, 2023, Goldberg Group Architects submitted a document titled ASI 10, regarding revisions to the balancing of HVAC systems. In response, Hausmann said “numerous” balancing and control valves would need to be replaced, according to a December letter from McDougal.
“In response, Introba initially communicated, weeks ago, to the Authority and its owner representative that it may have a differing position, but that it is still investigating the matter,” McDougal wrote.
McDougal sent another letter on Jan. 6, saying there has been “absolutely no movement or answers from Goldberg and Introba regarding ASI-10…”
In the letter, McDougal also notified Goldberg that “in light of the continued delays from the design team” and the Authority’s “lack of confidence” in Introba, the county had retained its own engineer, Ames, Iowa-based Resource Consulting Engineers (RCE), to “provide input to it on the issues surrounding ASI-10.”
“The additional expense incurred by the Authority for this engineer are damages that will be borne by Goldberg,” McDougal noted in the letter.
Introba, one of the world’s largest building engineering and consulting firms, disapproved of Authority retaining RCE, claiming the firm would slow down the project.
“… which could not be further from the truth,” McDougal responded in a Feb. 25 letter. “While Introba may not like that RCE is pointing out Introba’s errors, the Authority bringing in its own consulting engineer to provide input has been crucial.”
At the same time, the Authority demanded Goldberg Group Architects hire its own third-party mechanical engineer to consult on the issue. Goldberg denied the request, arguing it would incur added costs to get a new engineer up to speed and potentially delay the project by two to three months, GGA attorney Robert Johnson said in a March 4 letter.
Redirecting the blame
Documents obtained by The Journal show a top Introba executive pushed back on objections raised by the Authority, Goldberg and Hausmann.
In a Jan. 5 letter to GGA, Michael Shea, regional government sector leader for Introba, said Goldberg issued ASI 10 last November to clarify airflow rates and water flow rates. The executive claimed no testing or balancing of the systems had taken place by the time the document was issued.
Shea said claims raised by Hausmann subcontractors were based on incorrect calculations. In addition, he contended Hausmann stopped all system balancing work due to ASI 10, which he described as unwarranted.
“The work included in ASI 010 could be performed concurrently with ongoing work which does not support any extension of time,” Shea wrote in the Jan. 5 letter.
Shea also outlined different instances in which Introba met with or communicated with the Authority and how the December holidays impacted their response times. By the end of December, he said the firm was still unclear of what the Authority was requesting.
By the beginning of January, Shea also was claiming installation of equipment different than the mechanical specifications had contributed to the problems. Of the 14 manual balancing valves Hausmann insisted needed replacing, Introba determined only nine needed to be replaced.
“Introba concedes that due to the type of materials used by the Contractor, ASI 010 requires unintended work to be performed by the Mechanical Contractor,” Shea wrote.
‘Incompetent and dilatory actions’
In the documents obtained by The Journal, the Authority repeatedly raised questions about the competency and qualifications of Introba’s project leaders.
On Jan. 30, the Authority received instructions from Introba on work needed to fix the heating system. The Authority directed Hausmann and its HVAC subcontractor, Sioux City-based CW Suter Services, to start the repairs. Two days later, Introba sent new and different information.
“The Authority did not think Goldberg’s mechanical engineering services provided by its consultant, Introba, could not get any worse, but we were wrong,” McDougal wrote in a Feb. 2 letter.
In a Feb. 9 letter, McDougal noted the Introba senior mechanical engineer leading the LEC project, John Sommers, had quit.
“It appears to the Authority that either Project Manager Michelle Clemons (Who we do not believe is a P.E.) and/or Ryan Cooper, P.E. (who has been out of school merely six years) is now taking the lead,” McDougal wrote.
Documents show Cooper took on the lead role, but two months later, by the end of March, he also had quit.
“The turnover and inconsistency on the project from Introba has been unbelievable,” Authority Chairman Ron Wieck wrote in a March 28 letter to Shea, which was also signed by Albrecht of the Baker Group.
In the same letter, Wieck pointed out Sommers had to step in for Introba’s original lead engineer, Matt Simmons, after Simmons’ “numerous errors were discovered.”
The Authority’s frustration with inaction over the heating problems appeared to boil to a head in a March 3 letter McDougal sent to GGA. In a sentence the Authority attorney both bold-faced and underlined, she emphasized that “over 100 days later, a full resolution of ASI-10 has still not been accomplished…”
“The incompetent and dilatory actions in regard to Goldberg’s mechanical engineering services provided by Introba must end,” she wrote.
McDougal noted Woodbury County’s lost revenue from housing additional federal inmates in the new jail during that 100-day period was “over 7 figures, which is in addition to all of the other delay-related costs to the Authority and County…”
The Authority continued to press Goldberg to hire a new mechanical engineer subconsultant.
“While bringing in another mechanical engineer would obviously delay the project, we are now at nearly five months’ worth of time after ASI-10 was issued without a complete resolution to those issues …,” McDougal wrote in a March 29 letter.
Throughout her letters, McDougal expressed concerns with the lack of communication they received from Introba, stating the Authority “is literally waiting weeks for Introba to make itself available for certain meetings/calls and weeks between responsive comments and information.”
Other complications
This was not the first time the Authority had pointed the finger at Introba for problems with a mechanical issue that had delayed the completion of the project. After the Authority learned about the missing fire dampers in June 2023, it took more than two months for Introba to complete a solution and allow work to begin, Wieck said in his March 28 letter to Shea.
Three months after that work began, officials discovered even more dampers had been omitted.
“This brought the total to 39 omitted dampers … which was nearly 6 months after the original issue was discovered,” Wieck wrote. “The Authority is seeing this same, incredibly slow response from Introba in regard to the [HVAC] testing and balancing issues.”
The latest issue to arise regarding air handling is excessive noise levels. In May, Albrecht said in the master control and secondary housing control areas, air handling sounds are reaching 60 decibels; the industry standard is 35 decibels.
“We’ve got to get that corrected because that radiated noise will affect radio operations,” Albrecht said at the time.
In a March letter, Wieck said the Authority had directed Baker Group to take sound readings to speed up the process “since Introba had not taken that basic step.” The readings showed sound levels significantly higher than the industry standard.
Introba proposed a solution to the noise issue, which the authority disagreed with, according to the letter.
“… the Authority does not otherwise want band-aids to try to solve a problem that should not be present with a new building,” Wieck wrote.
As of now, there is still no resolution to the issue. In a news release Tuesday, the Authority stated they are still waiting for the corrective documents. Kevin Rost with GGA said there are currently ideas from Introba and RCE to remediate the sound issue.
“It’s not been happening at the speed that we would appreciate but it’s moving,” Albrecht said.
GGA blames Introba
In numerous letters obtained by The Journal, McDougal maintained Goldberg was in breach of contract due to Introba’s work on the HVAC system and the fire dampers, and the Authority was considering all options, “including termination.”
In an April 29 letter to Introba’s Mike Shea, Lawrence Goldberg, founding principal of Goldberg Group Architects, pushed back against the Authority’s claims, saying GGA “will not continue to take the blame for your firm’s [Introba’s] slow and incomplete response to the engineering issues that have arisen pursuant to ASI-010.”
Additionally, Goldberg told Shea: “Again, I am imploring you and Introba to prepare and issue a public statement to clarify its primary role in the smoke-damper issue, while reassuring GGA and the LEC Authority that it will redouble its efforts to assist in resolving all of the mechanical engineering issues that have arisen during the course of this project.”
Goldberg noted his firm has tried to “absorb the additional time and expense associated with addressing Introba’s work to the satisfaction of the project owners and representatives.”
“The level of this time and expense should not have been needed, but GGA cannot continue to absorb costs, expenses, or other damages, due to Introba’s acts, errors, and omissions,” Goldberg said in the letter.
In the letter, Goldberg added he was “personally frustrated as to why Introba continued to drag their feet.”
“This did not need to happen,” he wrote.
The Baker Group’s Albrecht said Tuesday he expected most of the remaining HVAC equipment to be installed by the end of this week, noting that the task is ahead of schedule. Testing and balancing would then begin shortly afterward, he said.
Iowa Media Wire 9 contributed to the writing of this article.