Thursday, February 1, 2001 Older Editions

Safety center project: Deadline missed, but town officials 'happy'

By Rebecca Piro

As of today, Thursday, workers for Mello Construction have not yet finished pouring the foundations for the public safety center project, despite their promise to the town that foundations would be completed by Feb. 1.

But town officials, who never spelled out the consequences to the written warning they sent Mello weeks ago when the project fell two months behind schedule, say they are satisfied with the work to date.

In response to the town's written complaint, Mello imposed a deadline on itself, promising, among other things, to have the foundations complete by Feb. 1. The contractor has not lived up to that promise; however, Plant and Facilities Director Joe Piantedosi says the contractor has made improvements.

"I am happy to see the progress that's been made," Piantedosi says. "The Feb. 1 date was predicated on the schedule of things they said they would have done. But the most important thing was their efforts to getting the project done overall on the schedule."

That "overall" schedule stretches over two years, and the town is held by contract to give Mello that entire time to complete the project, says Piantedosi. Mello's progress over the past couple of weeks - consisting of preparations for the foundations - has left the project six weeks behind schedule, an improvement from the two-month lag last reported to the Townsman.

Selectmen Chairman Brian Major did not have an update on the project's status Tuesday afternoon. However, he says it's more important that Mello has shown significant progress, than that it failed to meet a deadline.

"When we were talking about the lack of the work on site back in November and December, we wanted to make sure we were moving forward in a solid manner," Major says. "If Joe (Piantedosi) feels comfortable about the amount of work done, then I feel good about that."

But a deadline not adhered to demands serious attention, argues Stephen Joyce, director of the Prevailing Wage Enforcement Department at the Carpenters' Labor Management Program. The privately-funded group serves as a reference source to town officials who are considering contractors for projects. According to the department's research, Joyce says that several projects Mello is currently working on or has just finished - a temporary police station in Taunton; the Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical High School also in Taunton; and the Jenkins Elementary School in Scituate - are or were behind schedule. Taunton's police chief confirmed problems at both the police station and the tech high school, and the Scituate business and finance manager confirmed delays on the elementary school that will force it to open a year later than planned.

Not meeting its promised schedules is one good reason for a town to end a contract with the company, Joyce says. "If they're not meeting their schedules, that's when the community can step in (and) actually hire someone else, because of the lack of performance."

However, company President Carlos Mello says that unknown factors can arise in almost any construction project, in which case a delay is inevitable, and the contractor blameless.

"Every project has its own unique situation," Mello says. The Bristol-Plymouth High School project, for example, demanded $500,000 of changes to the original design, which delayed completion for eight days, he says.

Piantedosi and Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski have both said that the town is not considering ending the contract with Mello. "We basically asked them to get the project back on schedule," Piantedosi says. "They have made a lot of effort over the past couple of weeks. There has been some good progress. If they continue the same way they have been in the last two weeks, they will get the project back on schedule."

"Six weeks is not too far (off)," says Mello. "I think we can make up a couple more weeks. Maybe we can't, if there are... unanticipated situations down the road. But there is good progress right now."