Questions below refer to the following notice and e-mail.
To: All members of Reinholdt Street bridge team
From: Michael Smith, manager, information services dept.
Re: Video Conference - Friday, August 21st at 6:45 a.m.
You are advised that there will be a video conference with head office this coming Friday. Everyone who has been involved in the planning and implementation of that project is expected to attend. The purpose of the meeting is to update Mr. Bill Sanderson, who is replacing Jim Watson in overseeing all government contracts, about the progress that has been made and what still needs to be done. This project is presently behind schedule, and Mr. Sanderson would like to get some idea of how far back the deadline needs to be pushed before he calls the city. Please send Mr. Sanderson a brief summary of your role in the project and any other information that you think might be pertinent so that he can have a chance to prepare for the meeting. Mr. Sanderson will also be asking you for your ideas about streamlining our work-flow, so please give that some thought and offer your suggestions.
The conference is scheduled to start at head office at 9:00 a.m. EST, and the time difference means that we will have to start at 6:45 a.m. Of course, we are aware that this falls outside of your regular work schedule. You will be compensated for your time at the overtime rate. The meeting should last about 2 hours, so you will be able to start your regular workday on time. This is the first such conference that we have conducted, and if it is successful, we hope to hold all meetings between our San Diego branch and head office via video conference. So, your participation in making it successful is very much appreciated.
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To: Bill Sanderson, billsanderson@avidconstruction_hq.com
From: Aaron Rothschild, aaron79@avidconstruction_sdb.com
Re: Video Conference
Dear Mr. Sanderson,
My name is Aaron Rothschild, and I am the senior engineer on the Reinholdt Street bridge project. I was asked by Michael Smith to e-mail you with some information with regard to the project schedule.
As I'm sure you are aware, the project has fallen behind schedule. We were originally slated to begin construction at the beginning of May, but there were numerous problems. The most significant of these was that we were unable to find a local firm that could handle the kind of blasting that the project required. The bridge called for blasting for the underpass for James Street, and this was very close to a residential area, requiring a very specialized excavation blast. None of the firms in the San Diego area had the necessary expertise. We were able to locate a company in LA that could do it, but this put us two weeks behind schedule.
At the video conference on Friday morning, I think one issue that would be important to address is why this oversight happened. We were under the impression that the blasting company that we usually hire would be able to do the job, but this is because we were not given a clear idea of the exact nature of the site until it was too late. I think this was a simple case of communication breakdown, but it would be useful to discuss it to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Yours truly,
Aaron Rothschild