Lare Blames Remington & Vernick for Fines, Overruns, Lawsuits

VILLAS — Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare, at Lower Township Council’s Mon., June 21 meeting, blasted former township-contracted engineers Remington and Vernick.
Council approved settlement payment of a $20,000 fine to the state Department of Environmental Protection that began as a $72,000 fine. Lare said that fine was the result of Remington and Vernick’s “negligence in obtaining the proper permits to legally reconstruct the outfall pipes along the Delaware Bay.”
“Not only were we fined $72,000 but we are being sued for $1 million by the initial contractor of the project,” he said.
The lack of permits delayed construction one year while a new engineering firm, Hatch Mott MacDonald, obtained the proper approvals, said Lare.
No spokesperson for Remington and Vernick was available for comment by this edition’s deadline.
He said for almost two years, Remington and Vernick worked on a COAH affordable housing plan for the township that was stalled over a request of additional funds. Lare said the township had paid Remington and Vernick over $20,000.
The township was exposed to a Builder’s Remedy Lawsuit and Conifer Realty LLC construction of low-income housing for seniors on Bayshore Road in North Cape May was delayed until the COAH plan was complete, he said.
As a result, Township Council relieved Remington and Vernick of duties and hired a new planning firm. Within weeks, the plan was completed and submitted to the state, which allowed Conifer to apply for funding, and provided the township protection from the Builder’s Remedy lawsuit, said Lare.
The cost of the new COAH plan to taxpayers was about $13,000.
The township must start over on a state mandated Rural Sustainability Plan because the plan submitted by Remington and Vernick on behalf of the township “was plagiarized and lacked sufficient and pertinent information for state acceptance,” said Lare.
He said the cost to taxpayers was $22,000 paid to Remington and Vernick plus additional cost to start the plan over.
A handicapped accessible program for Township Hall had four change orders with escalating costs while a fire suppression in the construction office plan went out to bid with no respondents “because the plans depicted the building as police station,” said Lare.
As a result, Remington and Vernick wanted additional funds to draw the correct plans, he said.
“And who would forget the granddaddy of them all, Freeman Douglass Park also known as Bennett’s Crossing, a beautiful park it is,” said Lare.
He said the project started out with a budget just over $1 million and “when Remington and Vernick was finished, it exceeded $3 million.”
Lare said there was enough blame to go around for the excess costs, including DEP, “but nobody can deny the ineptitude of Remington and Vernick’s performance.”
“Remember the sod being torn up and removed not once, not twice but three times?” asked Lare.
He said the drainage hasn’t worked properly since its inception and has just been repaired “hopefully for the final time by our public works staff.” Lare said there were also problems with a grass infield on the baseball field and grass on the football, which suffers from a poor mix of soil and fertilizer applications under the supervision of Remington and Vernick.
Lare said council received an engineering report from Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) “much to (his) outrage,” that Remington and Vernick stands to profit from future water and sewer expansion projects.
Lare said before MUA considers any reduction in its workforce, “look first at your engineering firm, they have already cost the residents of this township enough.”