Contractor for Vista High School Is Rehired

The Vista school board has grudgingly rehired the contractor they fired four weeks ago for being behind schedule in the construction of the district’s second high school, which may not be ready for students when classes begin in September.

Trustees took back C.V. Holder on Wednesday after weeks of strained negotiations with the Gardena contractor and the bonding company that put up the nearly $21 million for Rancho Buena Vista High School, which the district hopes to open by September to relieve overcrowding at Vista High School.

However, trustees only agreed to bring Holder back if officials from the bonding company--Safeco Inc. of Seattle--directly supervised Holder for the duration of the construction job.

“The bonding company will be taking over the construction project and will be monitoring the situation,” district Trustee Sandee Carter said.

Although trustees would rather have hired another contractor, Holder will be rehired because he is familiar with the job and because the school must be finished by fall, Carter said.

“Sometimes you just can’t afford to get divorced,” Trustee Lance Vollmer said recently at the prospect of rehiring Holder.

Holder could not be reached for comment.

The contractor was fired April 15 after trustees complained that he missed a March deadline to complete the school.

At the time of Holder’s firing, trustees were most angered that several school buildings still were unfinished along with much of the roofing, Trustee James Hagar said.

Carter said the district will, in the coming weeks, decide whether construction workers need to work extra shifts to finish the high school. The contract includes funds for possible overtime pay.

Since Holder was fired, subcontractors have continued working on the school.

Carter said the district still expects Rancho Buena Vista High School to be ready for students Sept. 8, although workers still will probably be landscaping and painting parts of the school on the first day of classes.

The high school is expected to accommodate 1,600 students who otherwise would have to jam into Vista High School.

Vista High School is 1,700 students over its 2,000-student capacity.

If construction can be finished by September, it would end a seemingly endless string of problems that dogged the school since it first was planned five years ago.

District trustees had to pay $2 million more for Rancho Buena Vista High than they expected because costs and state laws had changed by the time the project went out to bid in 1985.

Trustees also were forced to prune $900,000 from the cost of the school because of rising construction costs and new state laws such as requirements for six science labs instead of four. Covered walkways, skylights around most of the school and a weight-lifting room were among the items cut by trustees.

In addition, construction was delayed for months at a time because some of Holder’s subcontractors defaulted.