Major deficiencies, delays frustrate Princeton officials.
By: David Weinstein
Paphian Enterprises, the general contractor for Princeton Township’s new municipal complex at Witherspoon Street and Valley Road, has been declared in default of its $6.2 million contract and will be removed from the job, according to Township Administrator James Pascale.
In a hand-delivered letter to the Ocean Township-based company earlier this week, Mr. Pascale said, "the Township has the right to terminate … and intends to do so."
Township officials said Paphian has failed to meet a large number of contractual obligations, and continually exhibited major deficiencies in its work on the project, which began early last year.
Mr. Pascale and Township Engineer Bob Kiser said the township is happy with the remaining contractors, and Mr. Kiser said the construction contractor, Bovis Construction of Princeton, will "step in to coordinate the work" done by those companies, a major shortcoming of Paphian.
The township’s bonding company will decide in two to three weeks whether to bring in its own general contractor. In the meantime, Mr. Kiser said, work will continue, including efforts to enclose the building to protect it during the winter months.
Mr. Pascale and Mayor Phyllis Marchand expressed hope Thursday that the continuation of the project – and, ultimately, the time frame for its completion – will not be affected.
"We don’t know if this will push it (completion) back," Mr. Pascale acknowledged. "I think it will be done in the first quarter of 2001."
Mr. Kiser said he hopes for an opening before the spring.
In the past, township officials had indicated the new building would be ready for occupancy by the end of this year.
While the letter delivered to the contractor indicates the township’s intent to terminate the contract on Tuesday, seven days after the letter was delivered, the Ocean Township company has until that date to "bring its performance of time, and level of work" up to par, according to Edmond Konin, the lawyer representing the township on this matter.
Mr. Pascale, though, said this is quite unlikely.
Following the termination, Mr. Pascale said, the township will work closely with Travelers Insurance, the company that issued the township’s bond for the $11.8 million building project. Mr. Kiser said Travelers will pick up any additional costs related to the general contractor’s failures.
A Paphian consultant, William Kingsley, said late Thursday that his company would not comment on the contract situation over the telephone, but invited The Packet to the company’s offices, where he said he would discuss Paphian’s side of the story.
Both Mr. Pascale and Mr. Konin said Thursday that the termination notice was issued with the complete backing of the Township Committee.
Committeeman Bill Enslin declined to comment, saying the matter is likely to enter litigation.
According to Mr. Pascale, there have been long deliberations over the matter.
"We’ve had concerns for some time," Mr. Pascale said. "We reached the point we had no other alternative" than to issue the termination notice.
He said the township kept a lid on the myriad problems to avoid an unnecessary public furor.
Both Mr. Pascale and the mayor said the building, as it now stands, is of the highest quality.
But, Mr. Pascale said, "Getting to that point has been the problem. Whenever a quality problem surfaced, we had to take it down and redo it, more times than we’d like to admit.
"We do not take lightly issuing this termination, but we failed in many attempts to get Paphian to properly discharge and undertake this project," he said.
Mayor Marchand said she wants the public to know that the building is in good shape, and that "we will move ahead. Everything that is done is done very well. It’s just that it was taking an extraordinary amount of time. We didn’t want to see this delayed through the winter months."
Six "major deficiencies" were outlined in an attachment delivered with the Oct. 17 letter to Paphian.
They are: timely prosecution of work, project schedule, manning of project, submittals, quality control and protection of building and materials.
Mr. Pascale said none of the project milestones has been met. He said the project has not been manned with skilled workers, the work done has not been properly sequenced by Paphian and the company regularly "skipped steps" during construction, only to have to go back and do it correctly.
Mr. Pascale said there were many quality-control issues. For example, he said, "Brickwork on the whole southern section was improperly completed and had to be taken down."
In addition, he said, masonry work was not protected, and gun lockers for the police department, were not properly stored and, as a result, rusted.
"They have to be replaced," Mr. Pascale said.
Mr. Kiser said the township has become aware that other projects in which Paphian is involved, including a project for The College of New Jersey in Ewing, are well behind schedule and that the firm has drawn complaints from the school.