School district wants firm to cover steel increases

The Dresden School District in Hanover is locked in a dispute with its construction company over huge increases in the cost of steel for a new middle school and renovated high school.

Eckman Construction Co. of Bedford, the construction manager, contends that the school district should pay an additional $514,000 for structural and reinforcing steel for the new middle school under construction on Lyme Road in Hanover.

But school officials have declined so far to sign a change order Eckman submitted in late July that included the steel price increase. There is no language in the district’s contract with Eckman that suggests the district should have to pay all of the steel price increases, Wayne Gersen, the district’s superintendent, said in a letter to the school board.

Voters approved a $38.4 million budget for the entire project in May 2003.