PASCACK VALLEY—Amid critiques of the Township of Washington’s new two-story emergency services building, which is taking shape on Washington Avenue, one councilman said roofing problems at the project were not unique in the Pascack Valley.
According to Township of Washington Councilman Michael DeSena, speaking confidently at the meeting of the mayor and council on Aug. 9, the Borough of Montvale is preparing to “tear the roof off” its own firehouse, which was completed three years ago.
Both projects were designed by Robbie Conley Architects. The township’s more than $6 million ESB, which will accommodate the town’s volunteer fire and ambulance corps, is being built by Tekcon Construction Inc. of Somerset, which has been dinged over its supervision at the site.
Asked the next day about DeSena’s statement, Montvale Fire Chief Geoffrey Gibbons told Pascack Press, “We don’t know if it is a problem yet. Once we get that leak repaired and the borough engineer takes a look at it we’ll know more.”
Gibbons said firefighters noticed the leak up to two months ago after a rain, before workers were seen unsupervised installing roofing materials at the township’s ESB during a hard rain that led to hail.
He said the leak is of a common type, “in a valley where the front comes out of the main roof,” and that it was discovered in the engine room.
He said he reached out to the Pennsylvania-based contractor who installed the roof and was told it would cost $500 plus 58 cents per mile for the company to come out to take a look.
Instead, Gibbons opted for the company that had recently worked on the senior center, and filed a purchase order for $3,500.
“He identified where the leak is but until he actually takes it up to do the repair we won’t know how extensive it is,” Gibbons said.
He added, “My borough engineer [Andrew Hipolit of Maser Consulting] is going to have somebody here when they do the repair. I was kind of hoping it would have been done already but I’m still waiting for the roofer to come back.”
Conley, a veteran firefighter and a former mayor of Woodbury Heights, told Pascack Press on Aug. 10 that he reached out to former Montvale fire chief Clint Miller last week to offer his help to the department.
“It’s a warranty issue and a maintenance issue, not really something we would normally get involved in,” he said.
Montvale’s governing body resolved on March 26, 2019 to settle with its general contractor, Saddle River-based Unimak, in connection with the firehouse project, which suffered a string of change orders and extensions, leading to a $350,000 lawsuit by Unimak against the town.
The unanimous resolution said settling (at $194,000) had avoided litigation. All sides maintained they were in the right.
The project, at 35 West Grand Ave., was substantially completed May 23, 2018 and enjoyed a family day dedication and grand opening that Oct. 6, complete with cotton candy and the kilt-clad Rockland and Bergen pipe bands.
Montvale’s former firehouse, dedicated in 1955, was in serious need of repair since at least 2008.
Township ESB getting its new roof, again
Following a review in 2018, Conley presented findings to the township calling out deficiencies in the current firehouse, at 656 Washington Ave., which was erected in 1951 for $60,000 and upgraded in the 1960s.
A committee of the administration, emergency service workers, Conley, and others hashed out a replacement building that was subsequently approved, 4-1.
Former councilman Michael Ullman cast the sole no vote, saying the project — important as it was and the volunteers deserving as they are — struck him nevertheless as too large, inefficient, and expensive, with the strong likelihood that costs would rise once the building was delivered “as a mere shell.”
The building is on track for occupancy in late December or early January.
Residents at the township’s Aug. 9 meeting were prepared to hear from Conley but his appearance was cancelled in light of Business Administrator Robert Tovo also not appearing, over a personal matter.
Conley told Pascack Press on Aug. 10 he had not been approached about rescheduling. On the clerk’s table at the meeting were his memos related to firehouse inspections and repairs — including findings pertaining to roofing materials and wood trusses, and the building’s height, lighting, and water runoff — that were intended to answer questions the governing body and residents posed in July.
The documents said proposed task lighting at the apron will be controlled manually by fire and ambulance crews as needed.
The building’s height — it rises strikingly tall next to its predecessor, which will be razed, and to the homes next to it — was found to be within the spec of the plans.
On Aug. 4 Conley wrote the administration to say “The elevation of the highest roof peak [is] 135.5. The peak elevation minus the elevation of the Fire Department floor elevation of 91 yields a building height of 44.5 feet.”
He said due to two underground recharge units for the building roof drains, runoff at the project will be approximately 10% less than the runoff prior to construction.
He said the roof trusses have been approved as installed by a third-party inspector and the construction code official. “The initial inspection found one or two of the trusses needed to be modified… and then they did that repair to the approval of the third party inspector. And that’s not something that is out of the ordinary.”
Conley said he had personally inspected the roof “because they installed the roof shingles in the middle of a rainstorm on top of roof sheathing that we never had an opportunity to review and approve after we had sent [Tekcon] a letter and told them that we weren’t happy with what was up there.”
He said, “The roof ended up being installed, in the middle of a rainstorm, before we had a chance to review it, which was not acceptable, so we told them to take the roof off. After they took the roof off I wanted to go up on the roof sheathing and see if there were any that were damaged and needed to be replaced prior to them putting a new roof on.”
He added, “The whole roof was completed. The whole thing had to be taken off … all at the expense of the contractor. I don’t know if Tekcon’s paying for it, the subcontractor… I just know it’s not the town.”
He said, “The only real concern that we had is the roof and that is being taken care of… My understanding is they started reshingling yesterday and they’re going to keep going until they’re done, weather permitting.”
Asked why he had emerged as the public face of the firehouse construction woes rather than Tekcon, which as yet has not returned our invitation for an interview, he explained that he was the project administrator — the buyer’s agent.
Asked why there was no town clerk of the works assigned, he said, “Typically on a project like this the general contractor is the one who oversees his job to deliver the project completed and on time and completed properly and on time. So all of that onus falls on the general contractor. It’s in the contract.”
We wondered about his views on the builder’s performance and responsiveness. He said, “Local public contract law says low bidder gets the job. So Tekcon was the low bidder on this project. So they are the contractor that we are administering the contract for.”