DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The contractor seeking an additional $18.1 million for work on the still-empty Fort Madison prison blames repeated changes, conflicting directives and defective designs.
The Des Moines Register reports that it reviewed documents filed by Walsh Construction, of Chicago, and responses by Shive-Hattery Architecture Engineering, of Des Moines, which also worked on the prison project. Because the prison still doesn’t meet state building code, it remains empty.
Walsh project manager Brian McGinty said in an August 2014 letter to the Iowa Administrative Services Department that Shive-Hattery dismisses any notion that its design might be the problem and tries to blame Walsh and its subcontractors.
But a Shive-Hattery team leader said in a December 2014 letter that Walsh Construction had submitted some incorrect information to the state and made erroneous assumptions.
