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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

As Troubles Grew, Sta Called Expert Officials Thought Agency’s Architect Needed Help Managing Plaza

Spokane Transit Authority executives and board members knew five months ago their own architect was mismanaging construction of the downtown bus station.

Last September, citizens and elected officials who serve on the STA Plaza Steering Committee voted to hire an outside consultant for $65 an hour, part time.

Three weeks ago, they elevated the consultant, Bruce Winer of Winer Purnell & Co. in Spokane, to fulltime status as construction manager. His contract calls for a salary up to $8,000 a month.

County Commissioner and STA board Chairman Skip Chilberg confirmed Monday that Winer had been hired to better manage the project.

The Spokesman-Review reported Sunday that the transit center has been plagued with cost overruns, trivial squabbles and poor judgment. Those problems have helped send the project’s cost to $20 million; the building’s cost has nearly doubled.

While STA mostly blames its outside architectural firm, Tan Boyle Heyamoto, construction documents and internal memos trace much of the responsibility back to the public agency itself.

Many of the problems resulted after STA used its in-house architect, Art Thoma, to manage construction instead of hiring an independent outside firm, which is a common industry practice.

Thoma admitted last week he never had built anything as elaborate as the Riverside and Wall transit center.

Project officials and board members interviewed at length last week about Thoma’s performance never mentioned Winer’s hiring.

City Councilwoman Bev Numbers even called Thoma’s work “admirable.” Thoma earns nearly $62,000 a year.

“A number of mistakes were made. I really don’t think, though, that pointing fingers at this stage of the process would be productive,” Chilberg said.

Three telephone calls each to Winer and Thoma were not returned Monday.

“Mr. Winer is a full-time employee,” Chilberg said. “He does have decision-making authority on a dayto-day basis at the site. He is effectively project manager on behalf of STA.”

But STA Executive Director Allen Schweim sees Winer’s hiring differently. He said Thoma and Winer are equals, leaders of a project team.

“We had insufficient resources available to meet the workload,” Schweim said.

Internal documents blame many of the construction problems on lastminute design revisions ordered by Thoma, even though STA agreed later they made no sense and accepted the outside firm’s recommendations.

Both Schweim and Chilberg refused comment on Thoma’s performance, saying it’s a personnel matter and inappropriate to discuss publicly.

Winer was hired as construction manager to get the bus station “completed as soon as possible at minimal expense,” Chilberg said.

Three years ago, STA told the public the bus station would cost $12 million, including purchase of the land for $4 million.

But the price is nearly $20 million now, and the project is at least four months behind schedule.

Between October and December, STA board members approved 72 construction change orders and $2 million in cost overruns.

Millions of other dollars have been lost to inflation, sharp price increases in construction labor and materials, poor planning and unexpected site conditions, such as excavating into underground utilities.

Winer’s contract calls for him to “provide daily on-site management to monitor, document, expedite and control the project from STA’s perspective.”

The two-story Plaza is designed to keep waiting passengers out of the weather and buses from clogging curbs in front of businesses.

Chilberg said many of the construction and design problems will be the subject of arbitration or even lawsuits.

“It’s not appropriate for me to comment any further on that aspect,” he said.

County Commissioner and STA board member Steve Hasson renewed his call Monday for Schweim to be fired.

Hasson has opposed the Plaza from its conceptual birth.

During a closed-door STA board meeting last week, Hasson said Chilberg told the board Schweim had admitted Thoma was “in over his head.”

Schweim and Chilberg refused to detail the conversation.