Thursday, February 22, 2007

LIBRARY CLOSED PREMATURELY BECAUSE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LIBRARY STILL HAS NOT BEGUN...CONTRACTS HAVE NOT BEEN SIGNED BY TWO CONTRACTORS

For over a year I have called on the Town Board to hire a full time library project manager to oversee construction of the 20 million dollar library project. The Town Board has rejected my request saying that a project manager was not needed.
In December the Town Board approved bids so that the construction of the library could start. THe library closed its building in early January. A ground breaking ceremony was held a few weeks ago.
Has construction started? NO
Has the main bidder executed the contract that was awarded to him? No
Has the bidder for geothermal executed the contract that was awarded to the company? No
Is there a reading room at the small satellite library at Town Hall? No
Have library patrons been inconvenienced with a smaller library satellite library? YES
Why has it taken over two months for the 2 bidders who were awarded the contracts to sign the contracts? Shouldn't the reasons for the delay be made public?
WHy didn't the town apply for geothermal permits before bidding out portion of the project?
Is the construction manager/architect being held responsible for additional costs?
Will the town continue to pay TRITON (our construction manager) additional monthly fees because the start of the construction and completition is taking longer than expected. This project was originally scheduled to start during the summer of 2006, not the spring of 2007. TRITON is actually being rewarded financially for the delays.
If the project will come in over the 20 million dollars what additional reductions are being considered to bring the project costs down?
Are there other problems that have not been disclosed as of yet?
Doesn't the public have the right to know?
I will ask that the library construction project be discussed at our Town Board meeting next Wednesday night at 7:15 PM at Greenburgh Town Hall. This is not about the library (the voters voted for a library expansion and the wishes of the public must be honored)-- it's about a construction project that I feel needs a full time project manager for oversight purposes. I fear that without a full time project managaer that there will be additional delays, problems and unnecessary costs.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Ludicrous, preposterous. I'm angry.

Anonymous said...

who is paying the electricity bill? All the lights have been on all night for weeks.

Anonymous said...

Paul,if your famous know it all board listened to some of the more knowledgable people who spoke at town hall meetings, we could have used the same building with better planning. No, some people wanted a state of the art building,that cannot seem to get off the ground ,if the two contractors will not sign the bid,will the board check to see if the work beneath the building could be done ,and if the existing building could be used with a good interior planner.

Anonymous said...

Why are we paying our council members a salary if they are not doing their job?

Anonymous said...

I don't think a full-time project manager is needed, but I do agree that the supervisor's questions are valid. Since the DPW director is the official overseer of the project, I'd expect him to respond to the concerns, as well as to be held ultimately accountable.

Anonymous said...

The members of the town council are accountable. The commissioner of public works answers to them. He should not be made a scapegoat, the fallguy.

Anonymous said...

I'm not at all stating that the DPW Director be a "scapegoat-fallguy." Just that he's officially the project's central coordinator, so he should be accountable to directly respond to concerns.

Anonymous said...

I bet if we had another vote on the Library expansion, it would not pass. It's a shame only 4,000
people voted in the last vote,but that's what the Library Board wanted. I know, if it did'nt pass by the 66 votes, The Town would have had another vote until it passed, just like the School Districts do with their budgets.

Anonymous said...

Who in the library group did not get a hand out,you know what they say MONEY TALKS AND BS WALKS.

Anonymous said...

What makes me crazy is the fact that Central 7 high school is the worst in the county and were building libraries.
We have more important issues we needed to address, like our school system!!!