Carroll school officials defended yesterday their costly breakup with the original contractor of Cranberry Station Elementary, arguing that tight deadlines and numerous disputes contributed to their decision to take over the project.

While acknowledging that the Board of Education was responsible for some delays on the Westminster school, officials said frequent disputes with Towson contractor James W. Ancel led them to believe the school might not be completed on time.

"Early on, it started to become obvious to us that the adversarial relationship maybe was a little unusual. There were disagreements with the contractor that we believed, our staff believed, and our consultants believed were out of the ordinary," said Vernon Smith, Carroll's assistant superintendent of administration.

Cranberry Station is more than $1.7 million over budget and one year behind schedule. An investigation by The Sun found that the bulk of the cost overrun appeared to stem from school officials' pursuit of an apology from Ancel.

According to school officials, Ancel fought over the amount of rock to be removed from the construction site, over making scheduling information available to school officials, and over drawings for the steel frame of the building.

Ultimately, it was the Board of Education's concern over possible delays because of the dispute over steel that led it to terminate the contract, according to a written explanation provided yesterday by school officials.

"Our consultants in consultation with staff ultimately recommended it was indeed in the best interest of the Board of Education to negotiate a termination of the contract and to proceed with taking over the project in order to achieve the goal that the building be open in August 1999," Smith said.

Smith added that if the school was not opened on time, it would cause problems with redistricting and might force the county to purchase more portable classrooms.

"The issue of delivering the school on time was [paramount] in this process," he said.

Smith said in earlier interviews that there was no problem with Ancel's work, nor could he list any time when Ancel was behind schedule. Smith also said in earlier interviews that he had no proof that Ancel would not finish the project on time.

The demand for an apology, which was prompted by the disagreement over rock removal, led Ancel to terminate his contract with the county, according to correspondence between the contractor and school officials.

Ancel's departure had costly consequences. School officials paid Ancel $1.2 million to walk away, a figure that included costs plus profit on the work performed. Then they scrambled to pull the project back together, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more than expected because of tight deadlines and market conditions.

Under the contract with Ancel, the school was expected to cost $8 million. Budget materials supplied by school officials earlier showed the building will cost $9.7 million -- a 20 percent increase -- not including furniture and architecture and engineering services.

School officials, however, said yesterday that the projected overrun is $1.4 million.

Louis J. Kozlakowski Jr., attorney for the Board of Education, disagreed that an apology played a role in the breakup with Ancel.

"That may be his perception. That's not our perception," he said.

Kozlakowski said the demand for an apology from Ancel was important because Ancel had accused school official of dishonesty.

"The contractor made the allegation of fraud; we felt it necessary that a retraction be in writing," he said.

In a prepared statement at last night's school board meeting, Superintendent William H. Hyde said: "It became apparent that the school board's dispute was not over egos or policy but that children would not be able to attend school as planned."

Ancel's requests for meetings to work out their difference were denied because Ancel and school officials often disagreed about what was said during meetings, Kozlakowski said.

In an interview yesterday, Ancel acknowledged there had been disputes, but that until the demand for an apology, school officials were pleased with his work.

"The disputes escalated after the letter of apology was not provided," he said. "Prior to that time, the Board of Education was complimentary of our work and our ability to expeditiously resolve unforeseen problems."

Ancel also defended his questions to the Board of Education about the structural steel drawings for the school, which school officials were concerned would cause delays.

"The drawings lacked clarity for the structural steel, and it is appropriate to request clarification prior to proceeding with fabrication of steel," he said, adding that the Board of Education canceled a key construction meeting February 1998 that might have resolved the steel problem.

"Those issues could have been resolved had the owner not canceled the meeting awaiting a letter of apology," he said.

School officials also defended themselves against an allegation in a lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court last week by Ancel that accused top school officials of doctoring videotapes of school board meetings. School officials said the videotape had "blips" due to technical errors.

In a video presentation yesterday before the board meeting, Smith showed how a tape change and battery replacement stopped the recording temporarily during an April 1998 board meeting.

"The tape is not edited. The contractor got the total tape," Smith said.

Ancel's lawsuit alleges school officials edited out key portions of two school board meetings. Both tapes were needed as part of a legal dispute with his subcontractor, the lawsuit says. Ancel is seeking $1 million in damages.

Pub Date: 3/11/99