School board says field has yet-to-be fixed drainage, developer says there is no problem.
By: Melissa Hayes
MONROE The school board was expecting to terminate a contract with the builder responsible for a synthetic athletic field at the high school because of yet-to-be fixed drainage problems.
However, the developer, LandTek Group Inc. says there is no drainage problem, and the school district still owes them money for the project.
On April 8, the Board of Education sent a seven-day notice to LandTek Group saying that if it did not fix the drainage problem, as well as several other minor issues, it would terminate its contract.
A decision was expected after The Cranbury Press’ late-afternoon deadline.
School board attorney Bertram Busch said it is his understanding that the synthetic field retains water after it rains and LandTek had proposed to use a chemical to correct the problem, but the board would not allow it.
Mr. Busch said the only solution the board sees is rolling back the synthetic material in several places and removing the "rubber in-fill" to access stones below it.
He said it was his understanding that the stone was not to the specifications under the contract and had to be removed.
Mr. Busch said there were a few other minor items that needed to be addressed but the drainage problem is the main reason for wanting to cancel the contract.
In addition to the drainage problem, LandTek also was asked to repair things that were disturbed during construction, such as seeding where grass was destroyed.
School board President Joe Homoki said the district has made several attempts to contact LandTek about the drainage problems.
"We made a lot of efforts to reach out to them and obviously were unsuccessful and that’s why we went ahead with the resolution," he said. "There is a whole series of items that were not finished as per contract."
However, a representative from LandTek says there is no drainage problem and the project will be complete as per the contract by early next week when portable bleachers are delivered to the school.
Bob DeThomasis, a project manager at LandTek, said they have been corresponding with the school district and the problem isn’t the field, but the fact that they haven’t been paid for their work.
"We have people working down there now," he said Wednesday. "We have made every attempt to help them finish this project. They owe us half a million dollars since last fall."
Mr. DeThomasis also said the group never recommended using a chemical for drainage purposes.
"What they’re talking about is a fabric softener for use on the field," he said.
Mr. DeThomasis said the reference was a comment made in passing to Facilities Director Jerry Tague about a substance that could be used on the field as it ages.
Under the contract, Mr. DeThomasis said, the field was supposed to drain within an hour after it had rained. He said the school board did not provide any information to prove the field was not taking longer than that to drain.
Project Manager James Leeks was at the field Wednesday morning.
"We’re in really, kind of an ugly situation here. The school has been using the fields and they haven’t paid us for it," he said.
"It’s a beautiful field and there’s nothing wrong with it," he said. "There is no drainage issue whatsoever."
Mr. Leeks said he was issued a punch list of items that the school board said had to be completed before they paid the contractors, which is why he was there Wednesday.
He said the list included seeding areas that had been disturbed during construction, installing bleachers, which will arrive early next week, and a few other minor installations and restorations of things that were disturbed during construction.
Mr. Leeks said he met with Mr. Tague and he agreed to fix the items.
"I’m doing work that I’m not supposed to do," he said. "I’m cleaning up their parking lot and trying to do what I can to be a good contractor and a fair contractor."
Mr. Leeks said he has visited the field within an hour of a rainfall and did not see any drainage problems.
He also said that he met with Superintendent Ralph Ferrie, Business Administrator Wayne Holliday and Mr. Tague April 7 to go over the items and discuss payment.
Mr. Leeks said in mid-March that lawyers for each party got together and said that LandTek would be paid $300,000 by today (Friday).
"We’ve been in business since 1979 and I’m having a hard time with this. I don’t understand why they do not pay their bills," he said.
Both project managers said they were worried about the company’s reputation and said this is the first time they’ve had a problem like this with a client.
Mr. Leeks said he was meeting with William Makula of DMA architects who designed the field to get a signed letter of completion.
Dr. Ferrie said he would not go into detail on the matter because it is a legal issue.

