Commissioner questions same company getting two sewer projects in two months

Commissioner questions same company getting two sewer projects in two months

Staff report

WARREN

A Trumbull County commissioner expressed concern Tuesday about awarding another $2.2 million construction contract to Youngstown company that also received a $5.9 million contract in November.

Commissioner Paul Heltzel asked Rex Fee, executive director of the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office, if he had any concerns about Marucci and Gaffney of Hogue Street receiving a second sewer construction project in two months, and Fee said a bonding company is insuring them for the project, so that’s an indication that the company will be able to handle it.

A bonding company won’t write a performance bond for a company with a bad track record, Fee said.

A performance bond is a guarantee that a project will be completed, even if the company awarded the contract refuses or is unable to complete the job, Fee explained.

In his experience, when a company has several projects going on at the same time, they typically “pull extra workers from the union hall” to secure the manpower needed, Fee added.

Marucci & Gaffney is on today’s agenda to be awarded a contract for the fourth phase of the Little Squaw Creek Interceptor sanitary sewer project along state Route 193 in Vienna Township.

The company was the lowest and best bidder to construct the sewer line north from near Squaw Creek Country Club to about 600 feet north of the intersection with Warren Sharon Road. The line also will extend east along Warren Sharon Road a short distance to serve Mathews High School and several businesses.

The second-lowest bidder is Mike Pusateri Excavating of East Liverpool at $2.3 million, third-lowest is Chivers Construction of Fairview, Pa. at $3.5 million; and fourth lowest is Utility Contracting of Youngstown at $3.7 million.

Marucci & Gaffney was awarded a $5.9 million contract Nov. 13 to extend 2,000 feet of sewers from a treatment plant in Kinsman Township to 343 homes and businesses within a half-mile of Kinsman Center and the Farmdale area.

The project is expected to take about a year. The Squaw Creek project is likely to begin this summer.

In other action, the commissioners are being asked to approve the purchase of three washing machines and three dryers for the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office at a cost of $43,168. The sheriff supervises the jail.

The washers have a capacity of 65 pounds, and the dryers have a capacity of 75 pounds, and the equipment runs “twenty-four-seven,” the county’s maintenance director, Al DeVengencie, said. The current machines were purchased in 1996.