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April 6, 2010
May 1 ballot to include 5 mill tax
April 8, 2010The Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority held a special board meeting Thursday to discuss possible action relative to Senator Circle renovation performed by First Millennium Construction, LLC.
Last month, the board disqualified First Millennium’s low bid for the second phase of Senator Circle’s renovations after it was deemed the company was non-responsive and non-responsible in its renovation of the first phase.
“Because of their performance on the first project, the board disqualified them from being eligible to perform work on the second project,” said HTHA advising attorney Jimmy Dagate. “Now that people are starting to occupy the units, they’re starting to notice that there are some deficiencies, which in a construction project may not be that unusual. But it’s the fact that we’ve had so many numbers of these deficiencies throughout the course of the project. That seems to be unusual.”
At last month’s meeting, the board appointed the next lowest bidder, Olympic Commercial & Residential Construction, to complete the second phase.
Since being disqualified on the second phase, First Millennium has applied for final payment at a sum of $28,113 on the first phase.
First Millennium will complete the first phase as written in the contract, but the board is afraid there may still be some outstanding renovations that would need to be finished due to what the board calls “non-responsible” contracting.
At Thursday’s meeting, the board unanimously passed two measures pertaining to the remainder of Senator Circle’s first phase renovation.
The board agreed to notify a bonding company it may be needed to finish the project if First Millennium’s work is unsatisfactory.
“The bond company decides if they want to hire someone to finish the project or if the board does it and [the board] gets reimbursed,” said Dagate. “[The board] will have to specifically articulate what items [it] wants them to come in and address.”
For this reason, the board asked Senator Circle architect Curtis Marcello to create a list of current deficiencies at the housing complex.
Marcello agreed to do so, and when he provides the list, the board will discuss and determine the most cost efficient way to complete the project.
Dagate added First Millennium has been responding to the board’s requests to fix construction problems. Therefore, the bond company may not be needed if the repairs are first-rate.
The second measure the board passed unanimously this past week was to make no final payment on the project until a recommendation from Marcello is made to the board.
Marcello will review the components of the $28,113 figure to make sure it is correct before he gives the board his stamp of approval.
