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Date: 2/8/2023
LUDLOW – A Ludlow resident has been fighting for approximately four years, stating that the town was owed approximately $1 million of credit based on the construction process of Harris Brook Elementary School.
His battle came to an end last month when town officials declared contractors’ methods valid and his concerns unfounded.
On Jan. 3, George Costa met with the Board of Selectmen to voice some concerns over the construction of Harris Brook Elementary School that was finished in 2021.
Costa said that he has been a licensed civil engineer for the last 27 years and a vice chair on the School Building Committee since 2016.
Costa believed there was almost $2 million of value owed to the town after the contractor for Harris Brook Elementary School performed alternate work at a reduced cost and the town is owed a credit less than the value of the two items.
“I believe he did do some work but not in accordance with the contract.” Costas added.
Costa explained that since 2019 he has been talking with the contractors, architects and School Building Committee regarding about perceived problems with he saw during the construction process.
Before the construction of Harris Brook Elementary School, there were two items that concerned Costa: the excavation support system or steel sheeting and the massive excavation of unsuitable soils determined by the design engineer.
According to Costa, he said that he had one contractor ask him if steel sheeting was a part of the project because the current contractor was instructing sub-contractors to not include steel sheeting in their price even though it was in the contract.
Steel sheet piling is used as soil retention and support for excavation. You can use steel sheets that interlock to create a barrier to hold soil back.
“The steel sheeting was shown on the drawings and in the contract documents, but the photos showed that they were not there, and the contractor decided to do something different. He removed the steel sheeting which in my estimations is valued between $1 to $1.4 million and the town was never credited,” Costa said.
He added, “The contractor at the time was instructed to carry of budget of 25,000 cubic yards of excavation in his price and clarified in an addendum of what to do with that soil. It stated that the soil was to be disposed of and not used on site because new soil was coming in at a premium cost. The contractor excavated the soil and used a significant quantity of the old soil back into the excavation.”
Costa claimed the work for the soil is estimated at around $850,000 and both items he was concerned about go against the bid documents.
Costa estimated the process that the contractor used to cost around $250,000 and claimed he used the extra money for other line items.
Costa continued to explain that he read the newspaper in January 2020 and saw that Ludlow and the school department were short on money and forced to lay off 10 school members.
“That upset me because I believe the town gave away $1 to $2 million and we don’t have enough for our teachers,” Costa said.
Over summer 2022, Costa noticed the Building Committee agreed to pay $80,000 to the contractor for drainage enhancement to correct the flooding in the parking lot at Harris Brook Elementary school.
Costa also claimed when he arrived five minutes late to a December 2022 meeting at which pavement improvemnts were going to be discussed, he found the doors were locked.
“It was a topic that I have been trying to resolve and protect the town. The meeting that was going to discuss a matter I have been trying to fix, I could not get into. That is why I sent my complaint to the Board of Selectmen and wanted to go public with my concerns,” Costa added.
STV/DPM is the owner’s project manager (OPM) for this project and then-Superintendent Todd Gazda told Costas in an October 2020 meeting that he was wrong thinking the town deserved a credit because the architect approved the work.
Mount Vernon Group Architects (MVG) also assisted with overseeing and designing the construction of Harris Brook Elementary School.
At the Jan. 26 School Building Committee meeting, MVG and contractor David Fontaine from the Fontaine Brothers Inc. came in to discuss those comments Costas made against their companies.
Frank Tedesco from MVG said, “Steel sheeting is a temporary measure during construction and not a permanent thing. The contractor is 100 percent responsible for that and means and methods apply here. We just needed to hold the soil back during construction and then we take it out.”
Tedesco added his company received two separate prices from independent cost estimators who said the sheeting would cost around $235,000.
“We and the town received a great benefit of getting the low responsible bidder with the Fontaine Brothers, saving the town about $6 million of what was originally appropriated for the project which is incredible. We try to bring the project in for high quality and under budget,” Tedesco said.
Tedesco then asked Costa why he thinks his company was trying to trick the town out of money.
Tedesco said, “It has gone before the inspector general by your effort, in front of the attorney general office by your effort, the town solicitor and just about everybody else who could have looked at it and everyone said there is no issue.”
Building Committee Chair Michael Kelliher added the town will also not go any further with the matter and said, “We are done.”
Kelliher added, “Ultimately there are no more avenues to take this. The town is not suing anyone over this. The professional estimators, who have a lot of experience, estimated this process at around $240,000 which is a far cry from the $2 million you [Costa] have been putting out there. The committee has never seen a problem with this process and that is why we have not gone anywhere with it since your original complaint.”
Costa further explained his concerns again with the group and the conversation began to become heated based on the tone of Costa and Tedesco who kept cutting one another off.
Fontaine added, “The documents did call out for sheeting. When you are bidding in earth work projects you listen to the geo-technical report. When you look specifically at the temporary excavation of the report, this is a temporary excavation and something we needed to stabilize incase the system we installed failed. The guidelines also say that the contractor is solely responsible for designing and constructing stable temporary excavations.”
Fontaine added, “I believe we are correct regarding the construction legal matter and the comments we were accused of were not appropriate. You must give bidders alternate options on how to do the process and saying that steel sheeting is the only process is flawed.”
Tedesco continued to question Costa’s knowledge of contracting and added, “You insult people with all the language and when it comes back at you, you start crying.”
The hour long argument ended with Kelliher stating that Town Administrator Marc Strange met with town counsel and they reviewed all the information and decided they did not need to pursue it further.
Costa said he was pleased to hear this news.