Deadline Passes, But Progress On FHS Evident

By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
Today (Friday) was the deadline the town set for TLT Construction to finish House A so the school department could begin its move into the newly renovated section of Falmouth High School.
Despite significant progress toward that goal, that deadline has not been met, and the town is sending a letter to TLT Construction Corporation, the general contractor for the project, notifying it that it is in breach of contract.
Last month, Christopher C. Cormier, executive vice president of TLT, said that August 8 date was arbitrary and not a date in his contract. His company has maintained that work would be completed by August 22.
At yesterday’s Falmouth High School Building Committee meeting, member John K. Scanlan said the letter would be the first step the town makes before it would notify the bonding company.
Afterward, in a phone interview, Mr. Scanlan said the letter will ask TLT to supply a recovery schedule as to how it will finish House A. The town had previously asked TLT for such a schedule to meet the August 8 deadline, but has yet to receive it.
Mr. Scanlan also refuted TLT’s later deadline, saying that “we never agreed to the August 22 date.”
No specific action will be taken by the town, Mr. Scanlan said, until it sees whether TLT is decertified by the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management. On July 2, the state agency notified TLT that it was planning to decertify TLT because the construction firm had allegedly committed fraud when bidding on the Hyannis Youth and Community Center last year.
TLT responded by filing a motion in Suffolk Superior Court to prevent decertification and to add DCAM’s name as a defendant in a lawsuit it has filed against the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.
The attorney general’s office determined in November that TLT violated public bidding laws by failing to disclose a list of lawsuits it had against them when it bid on the Hyannis project. TLT is disputing this finding as well in its lawsuit.
The court ruling regarding TLT’s decertification, which is expected to be announced Tuesday, will determine what the town’s next response is to the construction firm, said Mr. Scanlan.
“We have to see how they respond to the letter on the breach of contract and how everything plays out with decertification and if that impacts the town,” he said.
With these uncertainties, project officials were confident yesterday that House A will be ready for the start of school. Already, Gary E. Ainslie of DiNisco Design Partnership in Boston said some equipment has been moved into storage areas of House A.
Mr. Scanlan anticipated that additional furniture will be moved on Monday and the temporary library could begin to be set up. “Most of phase one is complete, but the total defined area is not complete as we speak,” he said. “We want that done by the time the kids arrive and so we have enough time to deal with the inspectors.”
Architect Kenneth H. DiNisco of DiNisco Design said work in the auditorium, which was behind schedule, appears to be catching up. He said carpeting is currently being installed and next week the stage floor would follow. Once those are in place and dust is removed, he said, the seating, which is on-site, will complete the work there.
Overall, he said, there has been adequate progress and the project is moving forward. “We are planning the move in detail for the third week of August in coordination with the inspection services,” he said.
As phase one concludes, Mr. Scanlan said, the town and TLT will enter mediation as a way to solve disputes with previous change orders as well as negotiate a contract for the remainder of the project, with a fixed price and schedule. The town and TLT have yet to begin this process, as they are still deciding upon a third party to oversee these talks.
If these discussions extend beyond the completion of phase one, David A. Fredd of Tamarack Road, East Falmouth, wondered how that would impact the project finish date of January 2009. Despite demanding TLT finish by a set deadline, Mr. Fredd said, TLT has “sandbagged everything and brought this project to a crawl.”
He was worried that his daughter, who just finished her freshman year at the high school, will never see the project completed. He asked if there will be any work that will commence once phase one is finished.
Mr. Scanlan said that, while they are in the midst of mediation, TLT will oversee the demolition work in House B and House C that will commence that last phase of the project.