Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Falsified self-inspections at Henry Mall?

For the Findorff project at Henry Mall on campus, the fox is inspecting the chicken house.  The Fox appears to be Findorff Construction Company.

Consider the evidence.  On July 7 after a moderate rain, I spotted some of the worst violations I've seen in Madison at this site.  The site was inspected just a day earlier by Jeremy White (wwhite@findorff.com).
For each item I could see and photograph from outside, I'll compare Mr. White's self-inspection report from 7/6 with my photo from 7/7:

Construction entrance sweeping/cleaning
Inspector says on 7/6: Inspected: "Yes" Comment:"Daily." Condition: "correct" (means OK).
Photo taken 7/7 afternoon shows very dirty surface of Henry Mall.

Perimeter control: Silt fence (the black fabric)
Inspector says on 7/6: Inspected:"Yes." Condition: "Correct."
Photo taken 7/7 shows silt fence along University Av has been down for a long time. Sediment has spread beyond its former location.

Stormwater inlet protection
Inspector says on 7/6: Inspected: "Yes." Condition:"Correct." Comment: "All inlets look very clean and in good condition."
Photos on 7/7 all look like this one--filters are clogged and unmaintained.  More photos

You can quibble about whether the stormwater inlet filters got completely clogged in one day. 

You can debate about whether Henry Mall got that dirty just one day after sweeping. 

But Findorff can't deny the perimeter fence facing University Ave has been down for days, yet was reported to be OK.  And their site was a mess on 7/7.

Moreover, there have been no inspections of this site since 7/6, even though there have been rain events on 7/7 and 7/11 that require inspections within 24 hours. 

The responsibilities here are truly Byzantine  source
  • The City of Madison is the supervising Permit Authority (Tim Troester)
  • But City says "Inspections not required/enforceable as site is located in UW area of authority."
  • Troester has apparently delegated that inspection authority to Findorff (Bob Dillis is listed)
  • But Jeremy White is really doing the inspections for Findorff.
  • The WI Div. of State Facilities, Russ Van Gilder, is the Permit Holder (violator), but
  • Gary Brown at the UW says he wants to be notified first of problems and he will pass the word down.  I notified him four days ago, but there haven't been any inspections posted.
No wonder it didn't get done right. 

The bottom line: Everyone passes the inspection buck, someone fibs, and there's more mud in the lakes.

Does this sound like the Gulf of Mexico?

"There goes my summer fun." Mud in the lakes again.  Lake Street, 7/7.

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