The South Brunswick Township Council is suing two contractors because it believes work done on Ridge Road near the Monmouth Junction Post Office and at Rowland Park on Rowland Road. According to the township, JPC Group has failed to finish some paving on a $400,000 road reconstruction project on Ridge and Northstar Enterprises has failed to complete electrical work and landscaping at the park (part of a $6 million contract).
So they are suing with the intention of either getting money so the township can finish the project or to force the contractors back onto the sites.
Some on the council were unhappy with CME Associates for the company’s oversight of the projects — and it appears they may bear some of the blame. The council and Township Manager Matt Watkins also have to shoulder some blame. (Perhaps someone could have ordered the engineer to ride the contractors like a basketball coach rides a player with an attitude problem?)
But the bigger issue is that a law designed to protect the public from cronyism in the award of contracts — by requiring them to award contracts to the lowest bidder — may be forcing governments to hire subpar contractors and leaving them without much recourse should the work be shoddy or not up to standards.
“We have to pay them within 20 days,” Mr. Watkins said. “If you’re renovating your home and the contractor doesn’t finish the job, you don’t pay him. Then they come back and finish the job. We have to pay them.”
He said that, to get the work done, the township has to enter into litigation. He said the problem is not only happening in South Brunswick, but throughout the state.
If he’s correct — I’ve heard this sime complaint in other communities — then it would seem an easy problem to fix. First, we could allow towns to show specific cause so they can turn down low bids (perhaps a registry of complaints by towns filed with the state, a state rating system or some other mechanism can be created that would remove repeat offenders from the public-contracting pool). And we could allow towns to pay off contract work the way homeowners do, a portion at a time until the work is complete and OK’d by inspection.
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Hank Kalet 