By:Anthony Rifilato with Jonann Brady
A number of subcontractors working on the Baldwin Public Library construction project have expressed dissatisfaction with the project's general contractors and have taken action after they said they have not been paid.
At a library board meeting last week, library board President Kevin Kamen read a statement in which he said that the library has received liens from a number of subcontractors who have asserted that they were not fully paid for labor and materials under their respective contracts.
As a result, work on the $5.53 million project is slightly behind schedule, though the library said that it still expects the project to be completed in the spring.
So far, the expansion of the library has gone smoothly -- until this issue arose over the past several months.
"The subcontractors have sometimes had problems getting paid," said Barbara Hopkins before the meeting. "There's a number of factors involved, some are legitimate, some are not. There's so much more to it."
Once a lien, in this case a Public Improvement Lien, is filed by the subcontractor, the contractor has to either pay the subcontractor or secure a Surety Bond, which would discharge the lien.
The library is demanding that the general contractor rectify the problem or have the liens discharged. The board did not name the general contractor who was the target of the liens, though a source close to the project said the company in question is Van-Tag Contracting of Farmingdale.
The board has been advised not to discuss the matter publicly, because it is a legal issue, though Kamen did say in his statement that by law, the library is required "to withhold from the general construction contractor's contract fund, one and one half times the amount of all liens which are not discharged by either payment or a separate surety bond."
One of the subcontractors who filed a lien, JMC Contracting, said it is owed $100,000 by Van-Tag for steel work it did on the library from May to August of 2003. "We haven't gotten a dime since last summer," said a JMC employee who asked to remain anonymous. "We haven't gotten a reason."
For its part, Van-Tag said that it has resolved several of the liens against it and that one is in the process of being cleared up. Van-Tag owner Carmine Tufano explained that the company has not been paid by the library since October, and said that Van-Tag is owed $343,000.
"The subcontractors have been getting paid," said Tufano, who was not available for further comment at press time.
Though Tufano maintains that the liens have been resolved and there is no longer a need for the library to withhold the money Van-Tag is owed, there is some indication that the project site at the library has grown tense. In her written report to the library board, which was available to the public at the meeting, Hopkins wrote that "following certain legal difficulties and some very heated job meetings this month [December], Van-Tag appointed a new site supervisor."
Hopkins was unable to elaborate, only to say that the project will be completed this spring. An employee of JMC said they didn't recall any heated job meetings they had attended and that, for the most part, work on the project has been efficient. "The job went absolutely flawless," the employee said. "When it came time to getting paid, that's when we got screwed."
The Herald has learned that two of the liens have been discharged, though it is unclear whether any legal action has been taken by the subcontractors. JMC said that its lien is still pending and that "everything is in limbo."
