Date: Fri 23-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

lirary-construction-BTI-Crumb

Full Text:

Town Weighs The Fate Of Library Contractor

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

From the start, town officials have placed much of the blame for the library's

construction problems on the company it hired to oversee the job.

And last week, they went a step further, announcing they may end up

terminating the company, Building Technologies Inc (BTI) of Prospect, for what

they say has been poor management of the $4.1 million project.

In a May 16 letter to both BTI and Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Company of

Massachusetts, the town's bonding company, First Selectman Bob Cascella said

he is "considering declaring a contractor default for (BTI's) failure to

perform or otherwise comply with the terms of the construction contract."

A May 29 meeting has been scheduled for the town, BTI and the bonding company

to discuss the lack of progress on the job. If an agreement is not reached,

BTI could be fired and the bonding company would take over the project.

The grand re-opening of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, originally slated for

June 1, was recently pushed back to July 4. Now it may be held off until

September.

According to Keith Crumb, vice president of BTI, there's another side to this

story. He claims his company has been the town's scapegoat for many problems

that were out of BTI's hands, and, in some cases, the fault of the town. He

believes his company's reputation has been hurt, and he has hired attorney Ed

Marcus of New Haven to ensure that all the facts are brought to light.

"The basic cause of the delay stems from the failure of the town's contractor

to remove the asbestos in a timely fashion and the architect's poorly detailed

plans of the roof," Mr Marcus said Tuesday.

Last week's decision to consider BTI's termination was prompted by a lack of

progress on the job, a lack of manpower on site, and the company's refusal to

send its contractors in to do work inside the existing building.

The 21,000-square-foot addition is nearing completion, but no progress is

being made in the old section of the library. It all stems from last winter's

discovery of high lead and asbestos levels in the walls of the building, which

forced the town to hire an abatement contractor, delaying work by several

months. The abatement work is done, but BTI has been hesitant about going back

inside, much to the town's displeasure.

"They want the library done, but I refuse to go back in there until a few

issues are resolved," Mr Crumb said Tuesday.

Topping the list of issues, according to Mr Crumb, are two conflicting reports

on the asbestos/lead levels in the existing building. BTI's consultant,

stating that traces of lead/asbestos are still present, has recommended that

all sub-contractors stay out of the building. The town's consultant, on the

other hand, has given the interior a clean bill of health.

Mr Crumb said he doesn't want to get stuck with another $42,000 citation from

the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), which he received in

October of last year, for "willingly" and "knowingly" doing demolition work in

an asbestos area. That fine, which was eventually reduced to $2,100 following

an appeal, may eventually be taken off BTI's hands and instead levied on the

town, Mr Crumb said. He claims the building was never properly tested for

traces of asbestos and he is now trying to prove that it was in fact the

town's fault.

According to Public Building & Site Committee Chairman Frank Krasnickas, the

state Department of Health needs to test the existing building to resolve the

issue once and for all. But, he said, BTI can't use the asbestos/lead problem

as an excuse for the delayed completion of the addition, which was supposed to

have been completed by now.

"He has no manpower. There's no excuse," Mr Krasnickas said.

But as Mr Marcus points out, you don't flood a job with manpower when you

don't have any work to do.

Mr Crumb said he has also not received a $223,913 payment from the town that

was due May 8, claiming it has been withheld. First Selectman Bob Cascella,

however, said he would be in violation of the contract if he withheld payment

and did not know why Mr Crumb had not received his money as of Tuesday.

Mr Marcus expects the payment issue to be resolved at the May 29 meeting.

Mr Crumb believes the library project could be completed some time in July,

but only if everything goes well. If not, it could end up being more like

September.

"We're trying to straighten it out. I feel we're heading down the right path,"

he said.

The town has been especially frustrated with the slow progress on the

completion of the roof over the new addition, which is finally free of leaks

but is still not finished. Roofer Dave Gordon said he's run into several

problems on the roof which were not originally stated in the plans drawn up by

Tuthill Architects of Avon.

The job's clerk-of-the-works, Ed Callo, said he sees a lack of cooperation on

both sides, which has become magnified with all of the library problems.

"Rather than finding ways to get this job done, it seems like both sides are

finding excuses on how to not get the job done," he said.

Mr Krasnickas reluctantly agreed.

"The town's job is to get the job done, but unfortunately, there's all this

finger-pointing," he said.

Mr Callo, a resident of Monroe, said he never dreamed he'd have to deal with

all the problems at the library.

"I thought it was going to be easy. It looked like a nice clean project, but

it's been a problem from the first day," he said.

The first problem on the job, according to Mr Crumb, was during the concrete

pouring where two separate companies had to be let go when "they fell on their

face." From there, asbestos was found in the existing building and the

building schedule fell apart.