In their first public meeting to address school construction problems, the county commissioners demanded yesterday to know why a wastewater treatment plant was built illegally at Francis Scott Key High School.

For two hours, the commissioners and the Board of Education grilled school administrators on construction woes that could lead to the dismantling of the plant, cost thousands of dollars in state penalties and result in delays on other school projects.

"My bottom line is how much is it going to cost us?" said Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge.

That question needs to be answered quickly as the commissioners craft next year's capital improvements budget under tight state deadlines. Other pending school projects could be affected by the overruns, school officials said.

"It's costly," said school board President Gary Bauer. "Some projects may be pushed out because of additional expenses."

Many of the expenses are tied to the $16 million renovation of Francis Scott Key High School outside Union Bridge, which school officials said is over budget. Officials have not said how large the overrun will be, but much of it results from problems in finding a discharge point for an $800,000 wastewater treatment plant.

School officials built the plant without the required state environmental and construction permits. The school system faces state penalties and might be forced to dismantle the facility at taxpayers' expense if a lawsuit neighbors filed challenging the plant construction is successful.

'Get to the bottom'

The school system could be fined as much as $10,000 a day for the error, said school board member Susan Krebs.

"We want to get to the bottom of this," Krebs said in an interview after the meeting. "We owe the public some answers.

"I think the cart was put before the horse," Gouge told school officials, criticizing the botched construction project. "What was the hurry to build the plant without a permit?"

Superintendent William H. Hyde and school officials could not fully answer the question for the commissioners.

"What you have is an incredibly unfortunate circumstance," Hyde said, explaining that the plant was built quickly to accommodate the high school renovation schedule and involved input from school, county government and state officials.

"There were no indications to us that we would have difficulty obtaining the permit and here we are," Vernon Smith, assistant superintendent of administration and former school construction director, told the commissioners.

In an interview with The Sun this month, Smith said he was responsible for the decision to proceed with construction without the required permits.

Officials are scrambling to find a discharge point for Francis Scott Key's wastewater treatment system, which has been idle since its completion in July.

Neighbors stopped a plan to discharge the effluent into a tributary of Little Pipe Creek. A $400,000 proposal to connect the plant to Union Bridge's sewage system has been met coolly by town officials. Kathleen Sanner, director of support services, said Union Bridge leaders would not accept the effluent unless the town received grant money from the Maryland Department of the Environment for water-system improvements.

Sanner said the department had not decided on the funding.

Other discharge options would cost $300,000 to more than $600,000 and take six months to two years to complete. Many of the options would require state permits and could face opposition.

Gouge reminded school officials that the county is under pressure to find a solution. Without permits or a discharge point, the county has been paying $9,000 a month to haul the raw sewage to Westminster's treatment plant each day.

Elementary school problems

Before yesterday's meeting, the school board held a 2 1/2-hour closed meeting to discuss problems at Cranberry Station Elementary School in Westminster.

The school, expected to be completed in August, is $1.7 million over budget and a year behind schedule. Many of the problems are tied to a dispute with the original contractor over rock removal at the construction site. A state panel is reviewing the overruns. Since the county raised taxes in 1995 to pay for school construction, four of the first five projects have gone over budget by more than $2 million. Two did not open on time.

Planned or being constructed are a $29 million high school in south Carroll and middle schools in Hampstead and Westminster that are to cost $14 million. A second high school for Westminster is under consideration. "It's unusual to have one school after another over budget," said Gouge, who asked for another meeting with school officials April 7 to continue to address construction problems.

Pub Date: 3/31/99