Fort Smith School Board reviews Peak Center flooding report; elects new officers

A drainage assessment on what might have caused at least the last two flood incidents at Fort Smith Public Schools’ Peak Innovation Center recommends abandoning below slab drainage pipes along with other fixes.

Scott Archer, principal engineer with HSA Engineering of Fort Smith, presented an assessment on draining at Peak Innovation Center at the board’s regular meeting Monday (June 19).

The center has flooded three times since it opened March 28, 2022. Record rainfall in Fort Smith caused flash flooding in the city June 7, June 8 and June 10 of 2022. That incident caused flooding in the east parking lot of the facility. The building experienced a second flooding incident following a storm March 23. Relatively moderate rainfall in early June led to the third time water entered the building.

FSPS hired HSA Engineering Consulting after the March flooding. At that time, HSA recommended the district check and ensure the control joints were sealed; hydro-jet the underground drainage; run a camera through the drainage lines to ensure structural integrity is intact; and excavate areas to ensure roof drainage is intact and functional. The contract with HSA was not to exceed $3,500. According to Shawn Shaffer, executive director of facility operations for FSPS, the district completed those measures.

The HSA report stated that based on initial evidence, their suspicion was that a below slab roof drainpipe had failed allowing water to escape below the slab.

“Although our investigation did not uncover a definitive failure that we believe could have caused the significant water intrusion event, we do believe there are issues with the roof drainage system that should be addressed to improve roof drain performance,” the report said.

Recommendations in the report included:
• Abandoning the existing below slab drainpipe and reroute the drains serving the internal gutter drain between the east and west wings of the building from the existing below slab drainpipe to the south end of the building and terminate them into the existing south drainage ditch;
• Reworking the below grade roof drain piping on the south side of the east wing to allow adequate relief of the drainage from the south half of the east wing of the building; and
• Further investigating the abandoned sewer lift station sump on the north side of the building to ensure that the piping serving that sump has been adequately capped to prevent water from entering below the slab from that sump in the event storm water is infiltrating the sewer sump.

At Monday’s meeting, Archer’s recommendations included abandoning the existing below slab drainpipe, reroute roof drains between east and west buildings to exposed drainage at ceiling and take south to ditch as well as reworking the below grade roof drain piping on the south side of the east wing to allow adequate relief of the drainage. Those fixes have an estimated cost of $160,000.

The summary presented Monday night said there are holes in the existing drainage system next to the building, that existing drainage system was downsized from a 10-inch to an 8-inch drainage pipe, and the connections from 4-inch to 12-inch inch pipes are not standard or
properly sealed. Archer said the issues of the under slab drainage pipes were there with the original building and worked in the past but he believes that bypassing that drainpipe would be the best option.

Board member Talicia Richardson asked Archer who should be financially responsible for the flooding problems. Superintendent Dr. Terry Morawski said a review of communications and contracts would need to be conducted before that could be determined. Joseph Velasquez, FSPS construction project manager, said the fix recommended by HSA would be in addition to a fix suggested by Halff Associates.

Following the June 2022 flooding, a drainage project by Halff Associates (formerly Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc.) that includes an additional parking lot, was approved by the school board. That original project was expected to eliminate future drainage problems by raising the lower parking lot on the property and excavating the east field for a detention pond. At the May 22 school board meeting, Velasquez presented to the board modifications to the project. The modified project changes the original presented drainage fix as well as extended options presented in April to only include raising existing parking, removing existing 42-inch diameter reinforced concrete pipes and installing 4.5-foot by 6-foot box culverts and putting in a trickle channel.

The board gave FSPS administration direction Monday night to connect with a civil engineer to design what is needed for HSA-recommended projects and determine a price tag for such.

NEW OFFICERS, FILLING A VACANCY
In other business, board member Dalton Person was unanimously elected president of the school board after a slate of officers was suggested by board member Phil Whitaker. Richardson was elected vice president, and Whitaker was elected secretary.

The board also decided to advertise for the vacancy left when Board President Dee Blackwell resigned earlier in the day. The board will accept resumes and cover letters from those in Zone III who wish to serve on the board and will decide on a replacement at a future board meeting. FSPS announced the resignation of Blackwell as a school board member and the board president Monday, citing family health challenges.

The board has 30 days to appoint someone to fill Blackwell’s seat. That person will serve the remainder of Blackwell’s term and will be eligible to run for that seat in 2024 if they so choose, said Marshall Ney, the district’s attorney.