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Water work frustrating Fredonia

Fredonia’s water treatment plant project is said to be “99.5% done,” but the contractor still wants to extend the work until December.

Trustees EvaDawn Bashaw and James Lynden expressed displeasure at a Board of Trustees workshop about the request from Kandey Co. Inc. The West Seneca contractor has already received a couple of extensions.

“The last extension only had gone until July, and (the company) wants one until December… so they don’t have to pay any penalties associated with going over the contract deadline,” said Lynden, who has been critical of Kandey’s work on this project in the past.

“I just can’t see why would extend it. The project is 99.5% done,” Bashaw said.

“And when they spoke to us, they originally said that they would be completed by the last extension deadline, and they went well beyond it,” Lynden replied. “I mean, ‘I don’t know why we would be approving something until December’ is correct. Unless they anticipate more problems, because it’s not 100% done yet.”

Mayor Douglas Essek said water treatment plant head operator Chris Surma should discuss the situation with Charlie Roberts, one of the village’s attorneys. Essek said he would like to see a recommendation from Surma as to whether an extension is really needed.

“I don’t think we should extend it, period,” Bashaw said. Just get the work done, and… we’ll make a deal with them about fines. Because they get fined for every day they’re over.”

“We won’t pay anything until we settle on a price, and how much they owe us and how much we owe them,” Lynden said.

Trustee Roger Britz noted he has been working with Roberts on a dispute that caused some issues with the project this summer: project engineer Ramboll allegedly misdesigned a steel ring for a water clarifier. Ramboll representatives denied wrongdoing during a June meeting of the trustees. The design problem led to delays in Kandey’s work.

Bashaw said any correspondence to Kandey should include Surma’s concerns about the project work. Surma did not attend the meeting Tuesday and was unavailable for comment.

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