There is nothing new reported almost 11 months after the Fort Smith Public School District hired a Texas legal firm to consider legal action against companies involved in the design and construction of the district’s Peak Innovation Center.
The school board in late August 2024 agreed to hire San Antonio-based Pearson Legal PC to advise the district on its potential claims related to construction defects at Peak that resulted in frequent flooding. The facility is focused on providing a wide range of workforce development programs and certificates, and regional partnerships include the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
“While we do not have a public update to share at this time, I can confirm that the Board of Education has received two updates in executive session,” Addie Reith, a communications specialist with the district, said in a July 15 statement. “I expect we will have additional information to share in the coming weeks, and we will plan to proactively reach out to you at that time.”
School Board President Dalton Person said the board has met twice in executive session – Jan. 27 and May 19 – “for the purposes of ‘pre-litigation discussions.’” The agendas for the two meetings do note a pre-litigation topic for the executive session but does not indicate the discussion is for Peak.
Person said Pearson Legal has not concluded its review. The firm, Person noted, is to be paid on a contingency basis.
“They are still engaged in this, and their work has not concluded,” Person said. “I do not have an estimated month of conclusion to provide you for what they were engaged to do. Finally, to my knowledge, there has been no final determination of what actions will be taken as this continues to be a complicated and fluid matter.”
PEAK BACKGROUND
An independent investigation into flooding issues at Peak Innovation Center found that a lack of detailed plans for the building and multiple code violations caused problems with the rainwater drainage system that led to flooding.
Envista Forensics, hired by the district to find out the cause of multiple instances of flooding at Peak, presented a report on their more than five-month investigation on March 26. At that meeting, Envista confirmed it did not contact any company associated with the project other than the school district as part of the investigation.
At least four of the firms involved with the planning and construction of the Peak Center contacted the district after being asked if they wished to respond, in order to disagree with the findings. Documents in response to that FSPS request, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Talk Business & Politics, shows that the main architects, the project manager, the contraction manager at risk and another architect for the project disagreed with the Envista report.
The district has invested more than $20.363 million, including millage funds, public and private grants, and other sources of funding, in Peak, “a place where career and college-bound students develop real-world skills and earn industry-specific certifications to create a future workforce that will drive success across industry and beyond.”
The subject of an independent investigation into the flooding issues was broached after two companies involved with the construction of the center – Fort Smith-based Turn Key Construction, the construction manager at risk for the Peak project, and Halff Associates (formerly Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc.), engineers for the project – wrote letters to the school board raising concerns about the building and water issues. A June 1, 2023, letter from Halff to the school district noted that because of a “loss of trust with FSPS staff” they would no longer provide design services on the Peak project.
