HATFIELD — An incomplete $5.4 million water and sewer extension project on Routes 5 and 10, and problems identified with what has already been built, are prompting the Select Board to threaten withholding final payments to the general contractor should corrections not be done.
With both Mike Ohl, an engineer from Comprehensive Environmental Inc. and Department of Public Works Director Marlo Warner outlining a series of issues with the work done over the past five years, members of the Select Board said there needs to be a clear set of expectations for fixes required by Geeleher Enterprises, Inc. of Southampton.
“If it can’t be agreed upon or met, the gloves are coming off,” Select Board member Luke Longstreeth said at a Dec. 16 meeting. “It’s not OK the way the town of Hatfield is being treated.”
“I think you said it a lot nicer than I would have,” said Select Board Chairman Edmund Jaworski.
“The accountability on this has been nonexistent throughout the contract,” said Select Board member Greg Gagnon.
The project is to extend water and sewer service along Routes 5 and 10 in an area that is zoned industrial and light industrial and is a main commercial section of the town, although there are also a number of residences there, too. The sewer service is being extended along the state highway from Linseed Road to Rocks Road, and the water service continued for 1,200 feet along the same road, south of Rocks Road.
“If it can’t be agreed upon or met, the gloves are coming off.”
Luke Longstreeth,
Hatfield Select Board member
Ohl said a video of the interior of the new sewer pipes showed extensive construction debris, such as dirt and rocks, as well as areas of significant water ponding.
“It raised a lot of questions in terms of cleaning and what was the cause of the ponding of the water,” Ohl said.
The contractor did flushing of all debris before Thanksgiving and videos taken inside the pipes afterward show the they are now clean, though there is still ponding in some areas. Some of the ponding, he said, is substantial, to a depth of 3 inches, which will create a long-term maintenance issue for the town.
Ohl said $500,000 is still left to pay the contractor and if sagging in the pipes remains, some of the segments may have to be dug up and relaid.
“Excavation is going to be the only way to relay a sagging pipe,” Longstreeth said.
Other issues identified included the way manholes were built and installed and gaskets that got cut out.
Warner said there needs to be an acceptable full project before the project is considered complete.
“We obviously don’t want sewer backing up into homes and realizing it’s too late when we get the phone call,” Warner said.
State officials, though, who have provided significant funding through a MassWorks Infrastructure grant, celebrated the near completion of the project in October 2024
With the project not complete, Longstreeth said the continued delays are a problem for homeowners who had been told they would be able to tie into the sewer three years ago. That delay is now having consequences.
“To be quite frank, the people on Route 5 have had to now incur multiple septic tank pumpings, as well as potential failed leachfields,” Longstreeth said.
There are areas on the road that are starting to sink, as well, causing problems for drivers heading both north and south on the state highway. “It’s absolutely deplorable,” Longstreeth said.
Jaworski said the Select Board needs a matrix showing how the issues will be addressed and when fixes will happen.
Longstreeth said any more missed deadlines are grounds to pull the security bond.