Court sides with boro on contract for library work

BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK - A state Superior Court judge has found the borough acted properly when it awarded the contract for renovation work to the Red Bank Public Library.

After the borough awarded a $1.2 million contract to Santorini Construction, losing bidder Monmouth Construction filed suit against the borough last month, claiming that it, not Santorini, was the lowest bidder for the project to improve the library building.

Borough Attorney Thomas Hall said Monday that although Monmouth Construction has filed an appeal of the decision rendered by state Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer, there is nothing legally binding the borough from proceeding with the project at this time.

"Monmouth Construction has requested a stay," Hall said, "but there's been no approval for that stay yet."

Lehrer announced his judgment on April 28, dismissing the case with prejudice, according to Hall.

A spokeswoman in the judge's office confirmed the ruling.

The contract was awarded by resolution of the Borough Council on Feb. 27 to Santorini in the amount of $1,202,000.

Monmouth Construction claimed that it, not Santorini, was the lowest responsible bidder, since the specifications the borough had originally drawn up put Monmouth's bid about $10,000 less than Santorini's original bid.

Hall said previously that Santorini had a lower bid after two alternate improvements were removed from the specs, a move that the borough is legally permitted to make.

The borough had the project specifications drawn up by Kaplan, Gaunt, DeSantis, of Maple Avenue, and they included 10 alternate improvements in addition to those the borough was mandated to perform to make the library compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

After consideration, according to Hall, two of the alternates, specifically replacing exterior windows on the north wall of the first floor and adding a folding partition in the meeting room on the lower level, were removed from the project plan.

After the two alternates were removed, Santorini's bid was lower than Monmouth's by $338.

The brief filed by Hall on behalf of the borough, stated that there were additional reasons why Monmouth Construction may not have received the contract, even if it was the lowest bidder.

"The borough's investigation of all bidders' references," according to the brief, "revealed that Monmouth Construction's corporate predecessors' work on prior municipal construction projects was substandard and resulted in significant problems for the municipalities involved."

The brief stated that if the borough determined Monmouth Construction had submitted the lowest bid, a hearing before borough Administrator Stanley Sickels would have taken place on the topic of the company's responsibility.

Project Architect Ned Gaunt reviewed Monmouth Construction's references as part of his responsibilities.

"Mr. Gaunt's review of Monmouth's references," according to the brief, "revealed significant problems in several other municipal construction projects, similar to the instant project, in which Monmouth, or its corporate predecessors, were the general contractors."

The awarding of the contract for improvements to the library comes almost four years after a settlement was reached with the U.S. Department of Justice as the result of a complaint filed against the borough citing lack of access to certain borough facilities, including the library.

Sickels said previously that among the items found to be noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by the Department of Justice were the restroom facilities, which are not currently large enough to be wheelchair accessible, the aisles between the bookstacks are not wide enough for wheelchair access, and the three-story facility has no wheelchair accessibility except to the ground floor.

The children's section is located in the basement of the structure and is not wheelchair accessible.

Sickels said the addition of an elevator will be covered, at least in part, by a $60,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, but the rest of the project will be funded by the borough.

The library building at 84 W. Front St. was donated to the borough for use as a library by the Eisner family in 1937, and the borough constructed an addition in the 1960s.