ROCKLAND, Maine — The construction company performing a $2.5 million downtown sewer upgrade project has informed Rockland that it will sue the city, claiming the firm has not been paid for additional work that was needed.
The lawsuit on behalf of Harold Warren Construction of Chelsea was served on the city this week even as the company continues to work on the project that is expected to be completed by the end of June.
The lawsuit states that in July 2011, shortly after work began, the company found 14 unidentified water service lines along Pleasant Street that had not been shown with reasonable accuracy in contract documents signed by the city and the construction company.
In September 2011, the company also found substantial ledge on Main Street and previously undisclosed utility services which significantly slowed the work and caused an increase in costs. The ledge was different from what was shown on the contract documents, according to Warren Construction.
In November 2011, according to the lawsuit, the company also found previously unidentified electrical and fiber optic lines and water mains at the intersection of Limerock and Union streets.
The company claims it gave notice to the city and its engineer that changes were needed and that more money would be required.
The city has failed to pay the company and this constitutes a breach of the contract, according to the lawsuit. Warren Construction is represented by the law firm Bernstein Shur in Augusta.
When construction ceased for the season in November, then interim city manager Tom Luttrell said someone — either the contractor or the city’s engineer firm — should have known about the lines at the Limerock/Union intersection. The city council held a closed-door meeting with its attorney earlier this year to discuss the legal issues concerning the allegations and extra costs.
The city’s engineer for the project is Wright Pierce.
City Attorney Kevin Beal said the city has recommended that the disputed costs go to a mediator.
The added costs amounted to $231,637, according to the city. This exceeds the $200,000 contingency in the $2.5 million project. Rockland received a $2.25 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $261,5000 grant from the USDA to complete the project.
The lawsuit does not state how much money the company claims it is owed. The company also is seeking unspecified monetary penalties, interest, and attorney fees.
The work this year began a month ago and will continue through June, west of Union Street.
If there was ever a case to be made for accurate municipal planning , mapping and code enforcement (It really does have purpose !) this is it. This is also why the transfering of municipal document’s, including utility map’s and associated information, to digtial is so badly needed. Putting it on a digital mapping system makes the updating of these maps simple and easy. It also makes them more accurate.
Downtown Rockland sewer up grade and a loan was given from Department of Agriculture and a grant was given from the USDA (Department of Agriculture)?, call me out on this but I can’t think of 1 farm tied to this sewer system, Rockland better keep the city employee that got that funding. Or maybe the USDA should change their name?
Oh come on, you don’t appreciate overly bloated bureaucracy and federal government overreach that thoroughly mal-invests your tax dollars on basic projects a municipal staff apparently can’t handle?
you must be one of them anti-American, freedom loving, tea-party, extremists…
Oh brother, Rockland is in the news again. The Brass Compass. Mayor and a couple councilors who do not listen to the public. Cutting down a healthy shade tree in a park. Incomplete utility maps (again, this is not the first time). Multiple office buildings in the transfer station (how many do they need). Spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to make compost at the transfer station and even more for new equipment, possibly hundreds of thousands more dollars -for compost. Giving astronomical breaks to out-of-town companies to dump at the transfer station, which will eventually cost even more for Rockland residents who no longer can use their own landfill and will have to pay top dollar to truck it out to another landfill once the one in Rockland fills up. And those are just a very few examples that I can think of.
This city can not seam to get their act together.
No excuse for questions on utility lines. All is needed is a call to DigSafe. if the utilities failed to disclose or mark lines, then they would be responsible. One of the issues was a large concrete fiber optic vault, everyone should have known about that.
The road has been dug up several times in the past, why would they not know about the ledge?
Rockland by far has the worst downtown roads and streets in the State! The manhole covers are all below grade and the potholes are terrible, yet they spend millions upgrading the sidewalks with paver blocks and granite. maybe part of the master plan to get us out of cars and on our feet. I just go around town and stop somewhere else.
And this is why using companies that are from Rockland to facilitate Rockland-based jobs makes sense. I bet that local companies that have dealt with Main Street knew that ledge was there. What this article fails to mention is whether or not said work was completed on time, how past budget it went, and whether or not the son of the boss of this co. fell into the hole his crew dug.
*seem