DENNISVILLE – Dennis Township’s Committee met July 19 and immediately went to work sorting out a controversy that arose because of ambiguous language in specifications eliciting bids to contract for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant improvements for several municipal buildings.
The related resolution was originally listed for committee’s consideration to award this contract under a Department of Community Affairs Small Cities Block Grant.
According to municipal Solicitor Jeffrey April, several contractors submitted bids and the lowest responsible bid was from Maxwell Inc. of around $380,000.
However, another bidder, MJJ protested any award of the contract to Maxwell stating that the company had not adhered to requirements that they list sub-contractors who would perform “structural steel” and “ornamental iron” work.
Representatives of both companies attended the meeting and made the case for their positions.
“There was no indication or place in the bid specifications to show that we would not be using sub-contractors for this work. If we changed the actual document to so indicate we would be altering the document and be disqualified as has happened to me on a couple of previous occasions,” explained the Maxwell representative.
“Furthermore, the work really does not require a sub-contractor since any structural steel is already embedded in the pre-formed base. In addition, the railings which could be considered ‘ornamental iron’ is bought pre-made and only needs to be attached. In fact, we were just successful as of today with an identical project in Mt. Laurel, and there was no need or space on the document to indicate any sub-contractor info for this type of work,” he added.
In rebuttal, MJJ’s representative noted, “We have complied with both the bid specifications as well as state law for contractors. We’re expected to abide by both and regardless of the dollar amount of the work sub-contractors should be listed as required and are needed for both welding the structural steel to the base and finishing the ornamental iron work.”
April advised, “In truth, both Maxell and MJJ are correct; and the only fair thing is to re-bid the job.”
Committee agreed and directed Ray Roberts, township engineer, to prepare as soon as possible specifications for advertising in the print edition of the July 27 Herald, and bid documents ready for pick-up the following day, July 28.
Bidders will have four weeks to submit bids.
On the consent agenda was an item to cancel this year’s Dennis “National Night Out,” an annual event which is organized throughout the U.S. “to promote police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer,” per its website.
Zeth Matalucci, concerned citizen and Republican candidate for township committee, said, “We are all really disappointed, and believe that with more community notice and engagement we wouldn’t have to see this action taken. We’re afraid if we don’t do the event this year, we will lose momentum for any chance to do National Night Out in the future.” He was accompanied by fellow GOP candidate Melanie Smith.
Matalucci said, “Attendance and volunteer turn-out are really declining; we need to take a step back and see how best to organize this event. Maybe August is not the right time, perhaps another date as is done in Texas with National Night Out taking place in October.
“We’ll have to look at the calendar and see how we can better position the event, so it’s not in competition with anything else,” he added.
Committee member Lisa Salimbene said she had already been talking to others in the community about how to proceed and was thinking of perhaps a winter “polar” event or something that engaged the community.
During the public comment portion, a resident said he had “good news and bad news. Waste Management is doing a fantastic job, they are really careful with the cans and trash pick-up is done perfectly. On the other hand, Route 610 where I live is still a race track; there is absolutely no enforcement of speed limits, and I ask you to get the State Police to start catching these speeders.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
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