Losing bidder challenges award of library contract
Construction co. says it should get $1.2M contact

GLORIA STRAVELLI With the children's department at the Red Bank Public Library down a flight of stairs, and no elevator to access it, the library is not ADA compliant.

BY LAYLI WHYTE

Staff Writer

The award of a contract for improvements to the Red Bank Public Library is being challenged by a construction company that claims it was the lowest bidder.

The $1.2 million contract was awarded by resolution of the Borough Council on Feb. 27 to Santorini Construction, Neptune.

Monmouth Construction is claiming that it, not Santorini, was the lowest responsible bidder.

According to a suit filed in state Superior Court in Freehold, Monmouth Construction claims the specifications the borough originally drew up for the library renovation put Monmouth's bid about $10,000 less than Santorini's original bid.

According to Raymond Springberg, attorney for Monmouth Construction, the suit was filed against the borough and Santorini Construction in early March, shortly after the contract was awarded.

Assistant Borough Attorney Thomas Hall said that Santorini had a lower bid after two alternate improvements were removed from the specifications, a move he said the borough is legally permitted to do.

"Case law says that we can pick whatever alternates we choose," he said last week, adding that the depositions of Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels and Project Architect Edmund Gaunt Jr. will show that the borough had good reasons for picking the alternates it did.

The borough had the project specifications made up by Gaunt, of the firm Kaplan Gaunt DeSantis, 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, and, although a small difference, Santorini's bid is lower, according to Hall.

"It wouldn't matter if it was a penny," said Hall.

Springberg, whose office is in Holmdel, said that Monmouth Construction is seeking to be awarded the contract for the work on the library.

The brief filed by Hall on behalf of the borough with Judge Alexander D. Lehrer in Superior Court, states that there were additional reasons why Monmouth Construction may not have received the contract, even if it had been the lowest bidder.

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

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

Gaunt reviewed Monmouth Construction's references as part of his responsibilities as project architect.

"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."

Hall said that the borough acted in the best interests of the taxpayers.

"The borough did what any homeowner would do," he said, "which is check references for a contractor. You ask people about their experiences before you hire someone."

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 has said previously that among the items found to be noncompliant with the ADA were the restroom facilities, which are not currently large enough to be wheelchair accessible, the isles between the stacks are not wide enough for wheelchair accessibility, 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 has no wheelchair accessibility.

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

"We hope to keep the library functioning during construction," said Sickels, who previously said that the borough hoped to have begun the project by this summer.

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.