VADEN SAVAGE STICKS HIS FOOT IN ONE OF THE MANY HOLES BENEATH HIS DRIVEWAY. GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER At Tuesday’s board meeting, the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors did not take routine action to reject a claim against the County. Instead, members opted to take a harder look at the options available to help Vaden and Beth Savage remedy a construction problem that was exacerbated by the building department’s signing off on a grading permit for work that has subsquently failed.

The Savages had a home built in Lushmeadows in 2008. In May of that year, they hired Holcomb Excavating to move an existing driveway to a different part of the property. The Savages say they “immediately” began to experience erosion issues. They said the contractor attempted some patch jobs, but then directed them to surface it.

Another contractor poured the concrete on the driveway, and erosion problems continued. The Savages used seeding, straw and mesh, but the slopes continued to erode. A surface drain was installed. The slopes were re-compacted and a concrete curb was installed along the entire driveway to prevent further erosion.

Even though the couple went to extraordinary measures, the dirt has separated two to four inches away from the concrete, and now a 40-foot long crack splits the driveway. The Savages hired an engineer in July of 2009 to get compaction tests done. Five of the 8 failed. When they asked if previous compaction tests failed, they learned that Holcomb Excavating never had them done, but the building department signed off without them.

The couple says the contractor gave them all kinds of excuses about the driveway’s failure, from gophers to UPS trucks. Basically, they said, Holcomb said it wasn’t his fault that the County didn’t catch his bad work. The Savages have since learned that he had no insurance at the time.

Now the Savages just want their driveway fixed. They have filed a complaint with the Contractors State Licensing Board (CSLB) to hold Holcomb accountable for his “failed work.” Still they believe “there is also a level of liability that Mariposa County has for passing his work without adhering to existing building codes.”

The Savages say the whole mess could have been avoided if the contractor and County had “followed existing building ordinances to assure proper construction.” Their claim for $35,000 came to the board on Tuesday.

County Administrative Officer (CAO) Rick Benson recommend the board deny the claim, as the responsibility ultimately falls on the contractor. “The County did not cause the driveway to fail,” Benson said.

Acting Building Director Dennis Wister said the driveway should not have been signed off by the County. “The contractor has the responsibility of making sure things are done appropriately.”

Supervisor Jim Allen said the Savages got the proper permits as “a protection” from this kind of thing happening. He expressed concern that the County didn’t catch the problem.

Supervisor Brad Aborn suggested the board take more time to look at the situation. “Things went very wrong,” he said. “It really comes down to having a building department you can go to.”

Supervisor Kevin Cann asked if the same thing could happen again.

“No,” Wister told him. “It would not happen today.”

The Savages told the board they trusted their contractor. “It’s just very frustrating,” Beth Savage said. “It would have been prevented had I had the County’s back-up.”

Her husband explained that the couple isn’t looking for money. “We’re just looking to get the driveway fixed,” Vaden Savage said. “We just want this to be made right.”

Allen said that while the County does have immunity under the Government Code, that should not dictate the board’s action. “Common sense has to prevail,” he said.

The Savages are basically asking for the dirt to rebuild. Public Works Director Dana Hertfelder said that the approximately 300 yards of road base needed for the project is not overwhelming. “That’s not a tremendous amount of work,” Hertfelder told the board.

Board Chairman Kevin Cann asked the Savages to give the County a little more time. Allen made a motion to have the CAO, county counsel, the public works and building departments to get together to “see what we can do to work out a solution.”

The item is expected to be back before the board in the next several weeks.