There was a moment during a February 26 Public Building and Site Commission (PBSC) meeting when commissioner Robert Edwards, clearly frustrated, pointed at the new community center’s construction manager, strongly suggesting he get into a room with all necessary parties, “and nobody comes out until it’s resolved.”

He was referring to concerns being expressed by a growing chorus of PBSC members, Community Center Commission and Senior Center representatives, and First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, when it was revealed publicly that the project was running very close to its fixed budget’s red line.

In addition, there appear to be several shortcomings that occurred during the design phase of the project, where key construction aspects and/or materials were not included and had to or have to be retrofitted into the project at additional expense.

In at least one case involving steel work at the center’s main front and rear entrances, delays in getting the plans redone and approved while adding minimal or no additional cost have put an already lagging schedule at least three weeks behind.

Joe Giacobbe, the project supervisor for construction manager Caldwell & Walsh and target of Mr Edwards finger wagging, told the PBSC and other officials at this week’s meeting that in the worst case scenario, the substantial completion of the center and its subsequent public opening could be delayed into August.

Hopes early on, according to Community Center Commission member Kinga Walsh (no direct relation to the Walsh in the project management firm), were to hopefully have the facility open to residents in late May or early June. She also expressed concerns that delays and substantive design changes at this late stage of the project, could have some impact on separate fundraising initiatives.

Mr Rosenthal was equally frustrated when he spoke to The Newtown Bee the following morning. Looking out his office window at the rising community center building, which he estimated was nearly 75 percent complete, the first selectman said any ability he may have once had to manage anticipated cost overruns was long gone.

One of the first issues to come to his attention was the fact that steel structural elements for the canopy over the senior center entrance way were not included in any original plans. PBSC Chairman Robert Mitchell said this was discovered so late that it generated a change order, along with potentially added expense.

More recently, it was learned that steel supports for movable partition walls that would section off one larger space in the senior center and two larger spaces in the community center were also not included in original plans. The first selectman and PBSC chairman both explained that making fixes would involve having to get steel beams into already completed rooms and installing them in the ceilings — not a small effort, and it also involves measurable, unbudgeted expense.

But the latest issue, and the point that elicited the “get everybody into one room” remark from the PBSC’s Mr Edwards, was the revelation that steel work and supports that are integral aspects of the community center’s front and rear entrance ways were also missing from plans.

At that point, construction manager Mr Giacobbe admitted that while he hoped a fix was close, his team had not yet reached a solution that would minimize any further structural retrofitting, along with related costs.

Mr Rosenthal, who came into the project while it was already in process, said now is not the time to find fault. He just wants to see the project done right, and done well, even if it means delaying the center’s public opening.

Mr Mitchell, on the other hand, along with other PBSC members, attributed some delays and potential cost overruns to a lack of coordination between the architect and structural engineer.

Calls for any comment from the architect, Rusty Malik, at Quisenberry Arcari Malik LLC were not immediately returned.

“This appears to be just another design issue that has to get rectified,” Mr Rosenthal said. “None of these folks can say that I haven’t met with them on [the design issues]. But finding out about them once the project is 75 percent done deprived us the opportunities to adjust things in an earlier stage to pay for what we needed to pay for. So now I have to take paving out to pay for change orders.”

Mr Rosenthal said the steel for the movable partitions is a perfect example of an expense point that could have been managed more effectively if it was discovered during a much earlier stage of the project.

“Now the building is all closed in, so they need to figure out how to get the steel into the room along with a jack lift, get it elevated and welded into place,” Mr Rosenthal said. And he believes a number of the issues noted during the latest PBSC meeting are not the town’s fault.

“Had these items been bid and in the project from the beginning, we would have compensated,” he said. “Back then, we could have probably found something to cut to pay for it. But at 70 to 75 percent completion, I don’t think there’s anything more I can cut. I’m out of things — what, am I going to cut — paint and tile? — to pay for steel. I don’t think so.”