Seven months after Town Hall employees moved back into Town Hall, contractor GVW and the town disagree over how much money is still owed for the renovation. GVW contends that the town owes the company $207,000, reported Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro at the Town Hall and Hildreth House Construction Committee’s Jan. 23 meeting. But the town’s position is that overcharges, late fees, and credits for work the town had to hire others to do put the final payment figure much lower, she said.
At numerous committee meetings after the project was substantially complete in late May, Sobalvarro reported that GVW continued to be unresponsive to items that remained on the “punch list,” unfinished work that needed to be addressed before the project could be considered complete. In November, GVW returned and fixed the majority of the items on the punch list inside the building. But by then, the town had hired independent contractors to fix things that couldn’t wait, such as the security system on the front door. The town expects to receive financial credit for that work.
The town also intends to charge $1,000 a day for every day the project went over the contractual end date of April 21. The project was considered substantially complete 32 days after the end date, and the temporary certificate of occupancy was issued 46 days after the end date. The town is also disputing some charges for work done on change orders, issued outside of the contract while the project was underway. And some work is still not complete, such as the paving next to the ramp, for which the town contends GVW is responsible because it removed too much material.
Project manager Vertex has asked the town to make a payment of $100,000 and to continue to negotiate with GVW over the remaining balance. Sobalvarro said the town agrees that it owes at least that amount. But committee member Pablo Carbonell objected to paying anything until negotiations are complete, noting that the prolonged negotiations continue to require the services of the project manager, for which the town has to pay, as well as Sobalvarro’s time. The committee said that it will meet again for further discussion once the architect approves GVW’s request for payment.
