Re “The Day City Hall Fired the Bilodeau Era Contractor”
If the Westside construction company charged with building Fire Station No. 3 in Fox Hills did not show sufficient persistence or speed, in City Hall’s opinion, in putting up the structure, it is displaying the virtue of perspicacity this summer in seeking to recover denied funds from the contract.
Grittily, FEI Enterprises has taken the city to arbitration, hoping to collect the estimated $400,000 the company says it is owed from the $5 million agreement after it was fired.
Nearly two months after the arbitration hearings figured to finish, a verdict still is being awaited.
But in this project, nobody is accustomed to being on time.
What started out as a one-year project ultimately required 3½ years to complete, and that is the condensed version of why the construction company was not allowed to see it through.
City Hall, namely Public Works Director Charles Herbertson, dismissed FEI about two years along.
The main reason anyone outside of the Fire Dept. remembers the case is that Paul Bilodeau, the consultant Mr. Herbertson hired to oversee the project, was mystifyingly murdered two years ago last January.
That matter, too, awaits a denouement.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Bilodeau’s accused killer, Myron DeShun Grant, is due back in court for what may be the final pre-trial hearing.
