Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

BTI-Keith-Crumb-library-Booth

Full Text:

Library Contractor Still Pressing For Payments From The Town

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Keith Crumb, the contractor who began work on the $4.1 million Cyrenius Booth

Library project and was later fired due to a lack of progress, has let the

town know they haven't heard the last from him.

The builder claims he is still owed $300,000 that was never paid for work that

his company, Building Technologies, Inc (BTI) of Prospect, completed on the

library. Mr Crumb hopes he and the town can come up with some sort of a

settlement in the coming weeks. If not, the issue will most likely end up in

court.

"We'll be talking to the town. Whether we go ahead with a lawsuit will all

depend on how they react," he said Monday.

There have not been any lawsuits filed against the town by BTI to date. The

company is being represented by Ed Marcus of New Haven.

Lawsuits, if they ever get filed, may actually seek more than just payment for

services rendered. According to Mr Crumb, it may also seek damages for alleged

wrongful termination of contract and inflammatory remarks made by town

officials.

"There was some defamation. Some things were said," Mr Crumb noted.

Mr Crumb and BTI were fired last November after a unanimous vote by the Board

of Selectmen led at that time by Bob Cascella. Mr Crumb vowed at the time he

would eventually even the score in court.

"There will be several lawsuits filed," he said just moments after Mr

Cascella, Jim Mooney and Gary Fetzer voted him out.

The library project was five months overdue when the town finally decided to

fire BTI last year. Mr Crumb said much of the delay was due to the surprise

discovery of asbestos and lead in the walls of the existing building. It was a

situation Mr Crumb did not anticipate and had no control over. Cleanup efforts

stalled progress on the renovation work. BTI ended up being fined by US

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for continuing to work in

the health-risk areas.

For nearly three months last fall, the project remained at 95 percent complete

as BTI reportedly failed to get its sub-contractors on site. Mr Crumb claimed

most of them refused to show up because the town was not paying them.

Mr Crumb posted a performance bond when he began the project and First

Selectman Herb Rosenthal said the bonding company has since been writing

checks to the sub-contractors.

As for Mr Crumb, the first selectman said he hopes the town can work things

out without going to court.

"I don't know what's going to happen. We are going to try to settle the whole

thing up," Mr Rosenthal noted.

These days, Mr Crumb says he is still busy, but he is staying away from large

municipal projects, especially like the one in Newtown.

"I had so many different people to answer to," he said. "There was the first

selectman, the building committee, the library board. I needed a break from

that fiasco in Newtown."