Sunday, April 01, 2007

GEOTHERMAL CONTRACT NOT SIGNED BY CONTRACTORS FOR LIBRARY...TAXPAYERS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ABSORB COSTS OF DELAYS

The taxpayers of Greenburgh should not have to absorb the costs of delays for the library construction project. The bid projects for the five construction areas of the library project went out last fall. The Town Board awarded the contracts in mid December. The contractor who received the award for geothermal (one of the five contracts) still has not signed the contract.
Changes in the contract have been made since the contract was awarded. No permits are now required by the state. I have explained the changes to subscribers of the e list (www.greenburghny.com).
I have asked our outside contracts attorney for an opinion as to whether the bidder is bound by any time limit to execute the contract or be removed which could mean that the next lowest bidder would be chosen. I have also asked if the entire well contract must be offered for rebidding to all interested parties.
I feel that the responsibility for causing these changes lies with the architect and TRITON and that any delays and costs regarding the construction of the library should not be charged against the project but to those parties who bear the responsibility.
I also have expressed concern publicly that our construction team should not have sent out the bid package before they finalized their plans and that it was premature to send any contracts out for bidding until such time as they knew that the primary supply component of the HVAC system (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) had at least passed the required hurdle.
The Town Board has a legal responsibility to oversee the construction of the project. It's important that the architect, contractors, construction team recognize the fact that their work will be monitored.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Juettner should pay. She is the liasion from the town board to the library, a postion she never should be in as she lives in a village.

Anonymous said...

Juettner should pay. She is liasion from the town board to the library, a position she never should be in as she lives in a village.

Anonymous said...

of course we SHOULDN'T have to pay but legally we have to pay. Obviously whoever caused this situation on the government's side should be fired or never be elected again. You have to think of all the possibilities before a contract is signed.

Anonymous said...

Supporters of the library expansion project should be furious that that the supervisor persists with these highly inflammatory and highly misleading pronouncements.

He warns ominously that taxpayers should not have to absorb costs of delays but he nowhere says that the delay in signing the geothermal contract will result in any delays of the project, much less how much additional cost there will be.

And for good reason -- based on what we've been told so far, there's been no delay in construction over this because construction's already begun and the geothermal wells aren't scheduled to be drilled for another several months.

So not only is this not a cause for delay; it's not a reason for there to be any additional costs.

So what's all the fuss?

Or for re-election purposes, is Feiner just continuing his pre-referendum campaign to do everything and anything possible to trash the project and scare the public?

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong (or right) but wasn't the project supposed to commence construction Spring a year ago.

And part of the reason that everyone is so concerned about delays is rising costs of raw materials etc.

If the project didn't begin when it was supposed to and if raw materials rose in cost in that year, is there not some pain on the bottom line as the result? Does some of the cost-cutting result from being behind schedule by a year?

The next parroting of the "party line" is that "the wells aren't scheduled to be drilled for another
several months". First they aren't scheduled for anything because currently there is no one contracted to drill them. Second, before someone is contracted to drill them, the driller must know what is to be drilled. Third before the driller is told, the Library team must agree on the method they are choosing and to my understanding they have discussed but not yet decided. Fourth, even though approvals may not be necessary, NYC and NYS must still be notified.

Meanwhile, the two different drilling proposals at two different locations with two different systems being considered, the implementation of one over the other is likely to have some effect upon the general construction, electrical and plumbing contracts, possibly to the extent of creating change orders. How far along in the project should these areas get before the drilling outcome is known may determine the severity of these change orders. And there is still a reasonable concern that none of these drilling proposals will be chosen. Remember that up until mid November, the public had no reason to assume anything to the contrary -- after all wasn't the drilling contract for the deep wells put out for bid and accepted by the Town?

So saying that this part of the project doesn't matter for months is the kind of misinformation that this project and its sponsors live for.

And that is why anonymous blogger who needs to affirm that hokum writes: "based on what we've been told so far, there's been no delay in construction so far because construction's already begun..."

No construction has begun. Interior demolition yes, town hall demolition no, excavating no, pouring concrete no...The contracts we are told were "binding" when the awards were made mid December. The little work that has been done three months later tells me that everyone is really waiting to see how the drilling contracts are going. Talk is cheap; let's actually see something substantial happen before we say that construction's underway.

And based on what has already occurred, the public has every right to be scared. Feiner is not needed to flag these concerns.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Feiner's announcement was prompted by speculation on the part of Samis. Trouble is, when you parce what they're saying, it's evident that neither one knows what he's talking about.

All Samis offers is suspicion, speculation and, because it's Samis, nasty innuendo. All part of that vast library-loving conspiracy out there.

Feiner likewise offers no hard information about anything. He speculates about a delay, but doesn't explain why that would be so; he then speculates about the resulting costs.

Feiner's speculation on top of speculation is downright irresponsible coming from the town's highest elected official.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Defender of the Faith,

Speculation, Suspicion, Nasty Innuendo...

Since you are so well-positioned to tell us the truth, why hasn't the driller signed the contract which was awarded mid December?

Since you know that the drilling menu has changed, or has it, then why isn't the project being re-bid?

When events haven't happened yet and people talk about the possibilities, that is called speculation and what's the crime?

When people view these possibilites against a track-record which already is spotty, this is 2007 not 2006, then suspicion is also not a crime.

When people speculate about the future and try to anticipate the outcome, this is called planning, also not a crime.

When people just bounce off changing conditions because they can't put the puzzle pieces together, this is called reaction.

Planning versus reaction. In construction, one approach is more costly that the other. Which
one do you think is the more costly?

If you haven't caught on, your comments are the catalyst to my responses. So far you have written here and elsewhere a large number of complaints, criticisms, and defenses -- all without a single fact to support your stone throwing. In turn, each of your comments has incited a more than needed response which the result that if your are the defender of the Library project, then the project must really be in trouble.
You avoid the project and just attack me and Feiner just because we take the opposite of "where seldom is heard a discouraging word" but I provide facts about past events, because some things haven't occurred yet - speculation and you treat both categories as one and offer nothing back.

If you can't add to the discussion or even support your claims, or identify yourself, why don't you spend some time at Grassroots for if you are happier singing home on the range?

And when you parSe what we say, you are checking our grammar, not our content.

Anonymous said...

Samis is all bluster.

The point is not that speculation and innuendo are crimes. The point is that speculation and innuendo are no substitute for facts -- and Samis is reporting in his usual hysterical fashion without facts to back him up.

But it doesn't matter. Even when the facts are layed out, as they have been repeatedly, he calls them lies, zeroes in an another supposed outrage, and continues his tirade.

None of this would have anything to do with Feiner were it not for the fact that Feiner, who really should know better, echoes Samis in these posts without doing the work as supervisor to determine whether there's any factual basis for his fear-mongering.

Anonymous said...

When has anonymous ever responded with a fact to argue against me?
When has anonymous ever responded with a fact to support an allegation?
Some people can read.

And they read hysterical, tirade, outrage, fear mongering.
In short, the old Grassroots touch.

Anonymous said...

Wish the town council would do their job, check to see that our taxes are spent efficiently.