FREEHOLD – An emergency contract has been authorized by the Borough Council for repairs on a storm drainage crossing in Freehold Borough.
On Aug. 2, council members authorized a $37,365 contract with Precise Construction Inc., Freehold Township, for emergency repairs to a storm drainage crossing at Court and Rhea streets. The contract was awarded following several heavy rain storms.
As stated in a resolution, representatives of Abbington Engineering, the borough’s engineer, issued a declaration of an emergency situation at the storm drainage crossing.
Business Administrator Stephen Gallo explained that due to a high volume of water from significant amounts of rain entering a nearby creek, there were issues with the storm drainage’s outfalls. He said dirt was taken away from Court Street, which led to Court Street becoming undermined.
Gallo said the repairs were scheduled to begin Aug. 3.
According to the resolution, quotes for the project were solicited from Lancha Construction Corp., Seacoast Construction and Precise Construction.
Precise Construction submitted a proposal to undertake the emergency repairs and Abbington Engineering recommended accepting the quote from Precise Construction.
In other business, council members authorized a $21,804 increase in a contract that had been awarded to Lancha Construction for a 2020 road improvement project at Frances Drive, Berkeley Place and Yard Avenue.
According to a resolution, the contract originally totaled $619,987. With the increase, the contract now totals $641,791.
The change order is the first approved by the governing body. It was authorized due to as-built quantities of certain materials, according to the resolution.
The resolution also states that Borough Engineer William Wentzien reported that the project had been satisfactorily completed and he recommended that a final payment of $125,071 be awarded to Lancha Construction.
The final payment originally totaled $127,623, but was reduced by $2,552 from a 2% retainage that brought the total to $125,017.
And, council members authorized a $35,000 increase in the contract amount for Rainone Coughlin Minchello, LLC, which serves as litigation counsel in affordable housing action.
The initial contract was in an amount not to exceed $45,000. The contract is now for an amount not to exceed $80,000, according to a resolution which cites the nature of the affordable housing litigation and the time necessary for increasing the contract amount.