SOUTH DEERFIELD — Officials are seeking legal advice because they say Plymouth County-based design firm Raymond Design Associates Inc., the firm in charge of designing the elementary school roof project, “blackmailed” the town into agreeing to pay almost $20,000.
Interim Town Administrator Douglas Finn has told the Select Board the firm amended its contract with the town, and then threatened to discontinue work if the town didn’t agree.
Finn said the original contract allowed for 15 site visits costing more than $1,000 for each representative from the firm; the recent amendment added an additional 10 visits — and about $18,000 — to the final bill.
“If we didn’t sign the amendment, they would have basically stop working,” said Selectman Henry “Kip” Komosa, “if they stopped working, no paperwork would transpire.”
Select Board members signed the amendment last week during one of the meetings with the Raymond Design; however, Komosa said they told the design firm they felt they were being extorted, and were signing under duress.
Calls to Raymond Design for comment were not returned for this story.
Half the project is funded by the Mass. School Building Authority. It’s the town’s responsibility to make sure the bills are paid on time. A project manager and designer provide oversight, both of which were assigned by the state.
To get reimbursed, the town has to submit paperwork signed by a Raymond Design representative each month to the state. The town wouldn’t be reimbursed if the firm quit, presumably hanging up the project until another architect were brought on board.
“Like you, I feel like I have one hand twisted up behind my back,” Finn said during last Tuesday’s Select Board’s meeting, “but I’m not sure what else we can do.”
This isn’t the first time the town has run into difficulties with the project. Select Board Chairwoman Carolyn Ness said that a lot of time spent during meetings with Raymond Design, which the town pays for, has been wasted in the past.
“Each meeting costs the town about $8,000, and nothing is really accomplished. They talk about paperwork, and drawings,” Komosa said. “Meanwhile the contractor is outside getting the job done.”
Richard Calisewski, town building inspector, said there have been flaws in the designs and mistakes made that have needed correction.
“I feel like this is total blackmail,” Ness continued, “these are added-on meetings, and he is not doing his job. We’re having to hold his feet to the fire just to get him to sign paperwork.”
In the past, Finn said the firm has waited more than a week to sign paperwork that’s time-sensitive. Other times, paperwork was submitted to the town without a signature at all.
“He’s charging us for meetings to verify work that has been done, and then he sits on it for 10 days,” Ness said, adding that the Select Board plans to take up the dispute at the state level with the Attorney General’s Office.
“We’re going to challenge this,” Komosa said. “It all stems from their saying they need to spend more time than they anticipated. If they made a mistake, I don’t know why we need to pay for it.”
The project started early June, and is supposed to be completed later this month, ahead of schedule.