GOSHEN TOWNSHIP Company released from contract

The contractor said he never got a notice from commissioners authorizing him to start construction.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Months after going to the mat with Mahoning County commissioners over a sewage project in Goshen Township, a local contractor has walked away from the job.
A. David Sugar of Excavation Technologies, New Springfield, was awarded a contract in August to build a sewage collection system to serve residents in Damascus and surrounding Goshen Township. ETI had submitted the lowest bid.
The company was hired even though Sanitary Engineer Joseph Warino recommended that commissioners go with the second-lowest bidder, arguing that ETI does not have the manpower or equipment to get the work done on time.
Sugar sought and got a hearing with commissioners, at which he defended his company and said it could handle the job. Commissioners later hired him by a 2-1 vote.
Took other jobs: Sugar said he never received official notification that he'd been awarded the contract, however. When he didn't hear from commissioners, he scheduled other jobs to keep his crews busy, leaving him unable to do the Damascus work.
"I picked up other projects and had other commitments," he said.
Warino said commissioners never authorized Sugar to start the project because the county was in litigation with him over another project on which his company had been working.
"We wanted to make sure he got that one done before he started the Damascus job," Warino said.
By the time that was resolved, ETI was no longer available, Sugar said.
Warino said the county agreed to release ETI from its contract with no penalties.
Second-lowest bidder: Commissioners voted Thursday to award the contract to the second-lowest bidder, Granite Construction of North Lima. Its $492,000 bid was about $73,600 higher than ETI's. Construction should begin in early January, Warino said.
ETI and Granite were the only companies to bid on the collection system.
Warino said Conti Corp. of Lowellville has completed about one-third of construction of the 80,000-gallons-per-day sewage treatment plant, which also is part of the project. The plant cost is $1.1 million.
The entire project cost is being paid with grants.
The system will serve about 200 residents in the Damascus area. Columbiana County commissioners are helping fund the project since some of the residents to be served live in that county. Damascus sits on the border between the two counties.
bjackson@vindy.com