Salinas contractor pleads case with SUHSD

Representatives with the contractor company Dilbeck and Sons made their case before the Salinas Union High School District board on Tuesday.

It is all centering around the new Rancho San Juan High School in the north side of Salinas. While school construction is mostly complete, there are still some minor projects that are incomplete, according to the district.

A lawyer for Dilbeck and Sons says they are concerned about what changes the district is doing to the existing construction contract.

“Deleting certain portions of the work from my client’s contract and seeking credit for that work,” said the lawyer during public comment period at the SUHSD board meeting.

Dilbeck and Sons says SUHSD has already paid money for the contract work the company was slated to do. That includes the over $300,000 in small projects the district lists as incomplete.

“It has never refused to do any of the work enumerated. In fact, some of the work that’s listed, and you can verify it with your own staff, has been completed,” said the lawyer for Dilbeck and Sons.

KION could not secure official comment from the district on Tuesday, but will continue to follow up on their position in the dispute.

Construction of Rancho San Juan High School started about three years ago. But work on the school faced a number of delays in that time partly because of severe rainstorms.

The district says they are confident there will not be any delays to the start of summer in three weeks at Rancho San Juan.