Connecticut lawmakers to reconsider loosening school construction rules after scandal
Connecticut lawmakers will attempt to rescind a
recently-enacted change to contracting rules surrounding school construction
following pushback from Gov. Ned Lamont, legislative leaders said
Monday.
The governor and lawmakers are currently negotiating the agenda for a two-day session beginning June 26, which they mostly agree will focus on technical fixes to banking regulations and the assessment of local car taxes.Top of Form
Among the items being pushed by Lamont is the repeal of a
new law allowing construction managers on state-funded school construction
projects to bid and perform work on smaller subcontracts that they are supposed
to be overseeing.
The policy, known as “self-performance” was outlawed
by lawmakers and the Lamont administration in 2022, following the
revelation of a federal investigation into the state’s former school
construction chief, Konstantinos
Diamantis. The legislature then reversed course this year by once again
allowing self-performance in school construction as the result of a single line
added into a massive, $4.4 billion state bonding package.
The about-face drew condemnation from Lamont, who soon began
asking legislative leaders to reinstate the ban.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D- Hartford, initially resisted
such a move, arguing that members of both parties felt that the
self-performance policy could save the state money if done with proper
oversight. On Monday, however, he told CT Insider that the issue would make the
formal agenda, or call, of the session to be announced by Lamont later this
week.
The leader of the Senate, President Pro-Tempore Martin
Looney, D-New Haven, said that his caucus was broadly supportive of the ban on
self-performance and would vote to reinstate it.
“Obviously that’s up to the governor, but I would suspect
that it would be,” on the call, he added.
The effort to repeal the ban on self-performance work was
championed by state Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, the co-chair of the
Education Committee who argued that it would help blunt the rising costs of
school construction projects. Currey did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on Monday.
A spokeswoman for Lamont, Julia Bergman, said on Monday that
the governor’s office was still finalizing its list of items to add to the
agenda, but “would be happy to address the school construction fix during the
special session.”
In a
letter to lawmakers earlier this month, Lamont argued that
self-performance work lacks transparency and can lead to both higher costs and
self-dealing on the part of construction managers. He signed the bill
containing the change, he said, due to the “importance” of the larger bonding
package and its funding for capital improvement projects.
“However, I am of the strong belief that construction
managers should not ‘self-perform’ any subcontractor work in school
construction projects,” Lamont wrote. “I encourage the Legislature to
reinstate the language prohibiting self-performance in municipally administered
school construction projects to ensure a competitive and transparent market.”
Diamantis, the school construction official who had
originally advocated to allow self-performance work, was
arrested in May — about a week after lawmakers voted to pass the
bonding bill that included rescinded the ban on the policy — and charged
with extorting contractors and demanding bribes in exchange for work on school
construction projects. He pleaded not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.
Middletown strikes tentative $3 million deal to buy car detailing plot for parking, plaza project
MIDDLETOWN — The city has reached a tentative contract with
the owners of an auto detailing business to purchase
the land adjacent to the former arcade parking garage for $3 million,
a move that will open up the view of and connection to the Connecticut
riverfront.
Attention to Detail, at 195
Dekoven Drive, abuts the city-owned property at 60 Dingwall Drive and
222 Main St. The lot will comprise a portion of one side of the Village
at Riverside, a block-sized, multilevel housing and retail complex
that will include a public square.
The entire parking and plaza project will cost $26.4
million, according to city General Counsel Brig Smith, and is a partnership
between the city and Spectra
Construction & Development Corp.
Smith explained the elements of the plan at the June 11
Economic Development Commission meeting.
Mayor Ben Florsheim said at the meeting that the acquisition
of the plot is "essential" to riverfront redevelopment. Negotiations
have been underway for quite some time.
Parking, to make up for spaces lost when the multilevel
municipal parking lot was demolished in 2018, is a large component of
the plan. It will comprise Phase 1 of the project.
After the sale, the city would lease the site to ATD for a
nominal rent of $1. An 18-month lease with ADT will allow the business to find
a place to relocate. During that time, the city will start the architectural,
engineering and construction work, as well as other activities, Smith
said.
The city, which will place $50,000 in an escrow account,
will own the land where the apartment and retail structures will be built.
Economic Development Commission members approved the
resolution, which will next go to the Planning & Zoning Commission. The
Common Council gives the final acceptance.
Taking ownership of the ADT site will have several
advantages, Smith said.
"It allows us to do this broader, grander design where
we would have a building along the riverfront with all the residential pieces
we've been talking about: the plaza and the additional architectural
embellishments and highlights, " Smith explained.
He said $3 million is a fair price, considering the property
appraisal in 2022 was $2.67 million.
For the plaza and garage, the city will contribute $16.8
million from 21st Century Infrastructure Bond and $6.7 million in federal
earmarked funds. The developer will pay $3 million, Smith said.
That will leave the bond balance at $3.1 million, EDC
Director Christine Marques said at the meeting.
Following a parking study, VHB Environmental Director of
Connecticut Amy Vaillancourt said the goal is to create between 300 and 500
spaces. "Whether we're two floors or three floors — we're still
determining that,” she said.
"There will be a large public plaza where the arcade is
right now, and there will be a large underground parking facility there; public
plaza on top and residential pieces along either side," Smith explained.
As part of redevelopment, the Center Street
Pedestrian Bridge Plaza will carry walkers over Route 9 to Harbor Park
and the riverfront. Other components include a Union Street Gateway and Wangunk
Memorial, Riverbend Nature Park, Sowheag Wetland Park, and Riverbend Landing.
For more information, visit Return to the
Riverbend, Middletown's master plan for redevelopment, at middletownct.gov.
Norwich receives $4 million to clean up Capehart Mill. What's next for the blighted site?
The city can finally begin to make plans to remediate the blighted former Capehart Textile Mill, thanks to a $4 million state grant.
The mill, which has been the scene of numerous fires over
the years, will be developed into a new riverfront park. In addition, it has
been a location for homeless people to take shelter, and drug dealings to take
place.
“It is a safety hazard," said Kevin Brown, president
and executive director of the Norwich Community Development Corporation. “The
roofs have all caved in. There are charred timbers everywhere and the brick is
crumbling. And in some cases, the brick is crumbling into the Shetucket River,
which makes this a dual hazard. There’s the hazard of an unsafe location on the
ground and then there’s the hazard of this old mill crumbling into the water
and harming the safe and clean waterway.”
About the grant
The grant will be used to complete a remedial action plan
and asbestos work plan, abatement and demolition of buildings A and B, the
skywalk and 5th Street Bridge at the 6.05-acre site.
Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said the city needs to work out
a start date for the action plan. He expects the completion of the riverfront
park is a few years away.
“There’s a lot of steps ahead of us, but the point is we got
the initial grant now to begin that whole process,” Nystrom said.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced the approval of a $4 million grant
to remedy the site as part of a series of state grants he had approved. These
grants total $26.3 million and will be used to support the remediation and
redevelopment of 130 acres of contaminated land throughout Connecticut,
consisting of 22 properties located in 17 towns and cities.
The grants are being released through the Connecticut
Department of Economic and Community Development’s Brownfield Remediation and
Development Program.
According to Lamont’s office, the projects are expected to
create approximately 1,285 jobs and 373 units of housing, including 148
affordable units. Approximately, 58% of the overall funding is being awarded to
projects in distressed municipalities.
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“I would like to thank our friends at the Department of
Economic and Community Development for working together in tandem with our
administration to focus some of our state’s efforts on really bringing these
spaces back to life,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said in a press release. “This
is a transformative investment that turns otherwise unusable property into a
new space blossoming with opportunities for Connecticut businesses and
residents.”
Impact of the project
Nystrom said that the removal of the blighted mill will
increase property values in the area.
“We’re going to clean up the neighborhood by starting this
project,” he said. “We’re going to help elevate the value of properties around
it."
American Pavement Specialists Paves Way in New England, Beyond
CEG
Promoting the brand American Pavement Specialists has always
been a high priority for Bill Stanley, the company's owner. Thirty years ago,
when he started the company, the name American Pavement Specialists came about
partially as a result of the fact that the "A" in the American
Pavement Specialists name would put them at the top of the list of the Paving
Category in the Yellow Pages.
But that was 30 years ago, and the Yellow Pages have all but
disappeared. In the early 2000s, Stanley saw that the trends had shifted, and
it was time to put more emphasis on Web-based marketing.
"My vision was a website that would help customers
understand what we offer and what various aspects of their project would look
like," he said. "I envisioned a website that would have a ‘Paving'
tab and give a video of what paving looks like. The same idea with ‘Milling,'
‘Striping,' and any of the services that we offer.
"Unfortunately, Web development at that time was very
expensive and it was difficult to accomplish exactly what I was looking
for," he added. "It didn't really have a name at the time, but we
were one of the first companies to use social media to promote ourselves. There
was no Instagram, Tik Tok or YouTube, but what was out there was a site called
Facebook that was wildly popular with young people, and that's where our social
media presence started.
"We made up our own Facebook business page account and
we started by taking pictures of trucks, primarily because my kids were at an
age when they thought trucks were really cool and would get a lot of attention.
We then started to put pictures of projects that were completed or in the
process of being worked on. In no amount of time at all our Facebook became
wildly popular. The best part was it was free.
"Over time we loaded Facebook with pictures and videos
of everything we do. If we were quoting a milling job and the customer asked
about the milling process or what equipment we use, we could send them straight
to Facebook. When Instagram came along, we immediately got involved with
project pictures and in no time at all we had 10,000 followers. Instagram, with
its heavy emphasis on photographs, turned into an overnight sensation for us.
We currently have 143,000 followers on Instagram.
"YouTube has been another big success for us. We just
keep feeding it videos of our projects. The YouTube channel has been a big hit
within the industry. I am constantly amazed by how many of our fellow
contractors and people involved in paving equipment manufacturing are tracking
our posts on YouTube."
Stanley's sons have been involved in the business since a
very young age, and they take a lot of pride and an active role in the
company's Web marketing — they developed the idea of becoming social media
influencers within the paving industry. They also developed the phrase
"Raised on Blacktop."
The idea was to create a forum that promotes the asphalt and
paving industries as well as giving information on how paving contractors can
improve their businesses. Once again, it became nearly an overnight sensation,
Stanley said.
Today "Raised On Blacktop" has 75,000 Instagram
followers as well as several thousand followers on Facebook. In fact, the
"Raised on Blacktop" concept has become so popular it now has its own
apparel line. There is a daily stream of orders for branded hats, t-shirts and
hoodies. In 2023, they had hundreds of thousands in just t-shirt sales. Orders
come from across the world, including Paraguay, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
The company is even currently working on a deal to create
"Raised on Blacktop" work shoes.
According to Stanley, the Raised on Blacktop theme has
become so popular that companies like LeeBoy, Mauldin, John Deere, Bagela,
Wirtgen, Trout River Trailers, XBroom Sweepers and Shoulder Master sweepers
have released special "Raised on Blacktop" editions of their
equipment.
"They pay us to operate their equipment and then
promote it on our social media platforms," Stanley said. "As an
example, Mauldin released a Raised on Blacktop motor grader that includes the
Raised on Blacktop logo prominently displayed on the machine and a number of
upgrades to the machine that we worked with Mauldin to develop, including a
special lighting package, a more comfortable seat and a special paint job.
"Trout River Trailers worked closely with us to develop
an auger truck for an asphalt transfer trailer. It features an 8-foot auger for
unloading in specific spots, particularly in hard-to-reach areas, and the auger
is completely operated by a remote control to give very precise delivery and
allowing your worker to see exactly what is going on. The end result is
something that looks a little bit like a hybrid of an asphalt trailer and stone
slinger. "Trout River was amazing to work with. We had a concept of what
we wanted but did not have the capacity to create it and their engineers worked
very closely with us to create a new product to help us specifically meet some
of our needs."
XBroom, a sweeper company, also has gotten onboard with a
Raised on Blacktop special edition. Like the others, it features the Raised on
Blacktop logo and then some added features that aren't included in its standard
lineup.
"The LeeBoy special edition model is a LeeBoy 8520
paver, again with the Raised on Blacktop logo and some extra features that we
worked with LeeBoy on. For instance, we made a tool carrying kit that holds
shovels, rakes, etc. It has a special color scheme, additional LED lighting and
strobe lights for visibility. More than 250 machines have been sold thus far.
"This machine is so popular that LeeBoy has them on
backorder. LeeBoy was the first company to work with us on special edition
machines. We have a great history with LeeBoy; we've done business with them
since we opened our doors and I've probably bought 20 LeeBoy machines in the
past 25 years. We've stayed very loyal to the LeeBoy brand. They demonstrate a
huge commitment to the paving industry, and they are leaders in innovation.
Just about every year there are improvements to the machines that were close to
perfect to begin with.
"Raised on Blacktop is designed to accomplish that, but
also to help encourage a new generation of people coming into this industry and
make sure that they are well suited to do excellent work.
"We consider ourselves a premium contractor. We do
extremely good work and as a result we get paid a premium price. We are showing
other contractors how to achieve getting themselves into this premium
contractor position. It is to our advantage at American Pavement Specialists to
have as many paving contractors as possible doing premium work. The reason, if
everyone is doing premium work, the industry can maintain work at healthier
pricing levels because they're not competing with competitors that do inferior
work.
"I have been in this business for 45 years, where I
started with a pick and a shovel. We have a lot of experiences to share. We are
always looking for ways to do a better job and when we find them, we use Raised
on Blacktop and its social media presence to share that information.
"We try to instill in all of our followers the
importance of giving your employees as good a working environment as you can
possibly have, considering the extreme conditions we work in. For instance, we
have started ordering our asphalt rollers with a heated and air-conditioned
cab. It's critical these days to keep your employees as happy as possible. We
don't find ourselves in the polarizing position of not being able to find help.
"Through things like putting cabs on rollers, we make
our employees' working environment as pleasant as possible. The machines in our
fleet are new or like-new, which is a pleasure for an employee to operate.
After every job, we clean and service every piece that's been used so that our
employees have good and reliable equipment to go out and work with. American
Pavement Specialists has built a brand that people want to work for."
The service and maintenance of the equipment fleet does a
lot more than just keep employees happy. The equipment in the fleet is
typically worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Keeping machines in peak
working order is a part of the company's philosophy that pays off with
significantly longer life of the machines, which in turn pays big dividends.
Stanley's heavy emphasis on marketing his company, producing
excellent quality work and taking good care of his equipment has all paid off.
In Connecticut, Stanley said, he is known as the guy you want doing your job.
It's not unusual for potential customers to immediately say, "yes, I've
heard about you guys, you do really good work."
American Pavement Specialists is a marketing-driven company,
and it does far more than market its website and its social media platforms.
For example, at one time it sponsored a car in the NASCAR truck series that was
driven by Spencer Boyd. Another aspect of its marketing vision is having every
machine in the fleet carefully detailed with the company's logo, and then
making sure that every machine looks as shiny and clean as the day it was
purchased when it is delivered at the job site, further enhancing American
Pavement Specialists' image.
For more information, visit www.americanpavement.com.
Capitalizing On Recycled Asphalt
American Pavement Specialists is one of the leading paving
and milling contractors in the state of Connecticut and the company's owner,
Bill Stanley, is a well-known media influencer for the asphalt equipment
industry. The company recently purchased its third Bagela asphalt
recycler, following the purchase of two recycling machines in 2012.
The general purpose of the Bagela is to turn pavement waste
(ground millings, etc.) into a hot mix asphalt that can be produced year-round.
A significant percentage of the asphalt is used in the off season to repair
damaged areas such as potholes.
According to Stanley, "We purchased our first Bagela in
2012 and have worked closely ever since with Greg Harla, our representative
with Bagela. If you look at the typical paving contractor in the United States,
it's almost always family run. It might be brothers, it might be father and
son, but there is always that family connection.
"To a company like ours, relationship and support is
everything," he added. "When we started working with Greg, he was a
tremendous source of information on how to recycle and turn into cash asphalt
that we had previously been unable to find other applications for. But, more
than just his knowledge, he also supports our company. Greg has been
instrumental in promoting our Raised on Blacktop social media presence and
introducing it to other contractors and equipment manufacturers.
"But more than just lip service, he has also come to
the table with a special Raised on Asphalt Bagela recycler. That's the kind of
support that keeps us coming back to Bagela."
To accommodate the new Bagela recycler, American Pavement
Specialists has built a loading area so that the millings can be delivered and
stockpiled effortlessly. The machine has been raised off the ground to
accommodate better loading with mafia blocks and with a shed enclosure built
around the Bagela recycler so that approximately 20 tons of material can be
kept dry and the operator is given an opportunity to get out of the weather.
Because most of product being made is for winter road
repair, most of the production for the Bagela recycler is done in cold weather.
Most of that product is sold to customers, typically municipalities or
contractors focusing on municipal work. It's a great market for American
Pavement Specialists: cold patch repair has been determined to be ineffective
and costly. Filling holes with recycled hot asphalt has become the new normal
in winter repair work.
The product also is used by utility contractors who are
patching their road cuts. The asphalt plants are typically closed for the
winter so if contractors are producing hot recycled asphalt, they can
effectively capture that winter market.
The market for the recycling asphalt is not just limited to
road repair. If someone is looking for a basic paved pad or yard where the
quality of the finish is not critical, the Bagela recycler is producing an
affordable alternative to using virgin asphalt, Stanley said.
"We produce a product called Contractors Mix. In fact,
the recycling area of American Pavement Specialists yard was produced using
recycled asphalt. Another application that has created significant savings is
preserving for later use excess virgin asphalt from a project.
"It is not unusual to overestimate the amount of
asphalt to be used on a project, which has been a real problem. What do you do
with it? Once it cools, it's useless to you and you can't just stockpile hot
asphalt and use it the next day. We are stockpiling our excess asphalt,
reheating it and running it through the Bagela recycler, and we are able to use
the excess product on our next project.
"What's really surprising is how long a pile of hot
asphalt will maintain its temperature. A load that is left in our yard at the
end of the day will typically hold much of its temperature beneath the surface
of the crusted over pile, so it's really not a big jump to get the entire pile
back up to the required temperature when you start out the next day. It's just
like throwing the asphalt in a microwave and reheating it. It's just as good a
product as it was the day before.
"Essentially, I'm taking a 1 percent waste factor and
turning this into savings. Which at the end of the year becomes very
substantial for APS. An additional benefit is not having to extend your workday
into the evening because too much asphalt was delivered for that day's project.
If it's a multiple-day project, we would typically end up working into the
night to lay the extra load of asphalt, which does not make for a happy
employee. Now we can just resend that load back to our yard and heat it back up
the next morning. This also helps control unplanned overtime."
The Bagela recycler is a significant revenue enhancer for
American Pavement Specialists.
"Wintertime, we typically wouldn't have much else to do
besides maintain equipment. The Bagela recycler keeps the crew busy and
cashflow coming in, which is good for everybody."
Greg Harla of Bagela mentioned some benefits that he is
seeing by doing cross promotion with Raised on Blacktop.
"Bill and his family have used multiple videos of the
Bagela at work through their social media platform," he said. "We now
have potential customers come to us that don't need an education process
because they are already up to speed on what the Bagela does."
"It's an extremely reliable machine," Stanley
added from his experience of more than 12 years of using the Bagela product.
"It's built with a double jacket concept and the flame never touches the
material, so you don't ever have to worry about a burn factor. We've only had
one machine failure in the past 12 years, which we repaired, but it was an
issue with our own operation of the machine. It was not the fault of the
Bagela.
For more information, visit www.bagelausa.com.
Last phase of Aquarion's work on Greenwich Avenue will cause more noisy night work, officials warn
GREENWICH — Aquarion Water Company expects to wrap up
its water
main replacement project on Greenwich Avenue this month, but only
after another week of noisy night work.
"The contractor will be cutting the trench, milling and
then paving," Justin Xenelis, the project manager for Aquarion, said
Thursday during the Board of Selectmen meeting. "Those will be loud
operations in the night hours."
Aquarion and its contractors have been working
to replace 2,000 feet of old mains since February, usually starting at
10 p.m. Xenelis said Aquarion asked the Department of Public Works to adjust
their permit and let them do the final phase of noisy work during the day, but
Xenelis said that request was denied.
"We do apologize again, this is going to be more night
work," he said.
Renee Wallace, communications specialist at DPW, said the
department denied the request because doing the work during the day would be
too disruptive to parking and the flow of traffic on the Avenue.
Xenelis said the milling and paving is scheduled to start on
June 24 and is expected to take less than a week. He said the project should be
done by June 28.