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Contractor tells Wildwood Crest commission final payment for beach patrol work remains unresolved
Summary
A contractor for the borough’s beach patrol project said her company’s final payment application has not been approved and requested a detailed breakdown of change orders and credits; borough officials said staff will review the paperwork and advised formal submission for closed-session consideration if appropriate.
Veronica Grama, identifying herself as a representative of Straga Brothers (the contractor for the borough beach patrol project), told the Wildwood Crest Borough Commission that her company’s final payment application has not been approved and asked for a detailed breakdown of change orders and credits.
Grama said Straga provided a change-order request in June to relocate electrical service due to a conflict with an Americans with Disabilities access ramp, and submitted a final accounting of credits on Oct. 8 and Nov. 15. She said the design team later provided three quotes from Anzelone/Anzalone (dated July 26) and that two of those quotes were being back-charged to Straga without unit or labor breakdowns. She added that the borough previously passed Resolution 24-244 authorizing an emergency electrical contract for repairs at the beach patrol building and said Straga’s final payment has been delayed.
Quote (Grama): “We are here because our final payment application was not approved to make this meeting. We’ve been trying to close out this project before the year is over so it’s not dragged into another calendar year.”
In response, the chair noted this is a contractual closeout and that the borough has paid a substantial portion of the project to date; he said borough staff need to review Straga’s submissions and that some disputes may require formal processes. The chair invited Straga to submit its documentation for formal review and suggested, if commissioners so direct, consideration in closed session to address the contract dispute.
Transcript detail shows the contractor asked repeatedly for a line-item breakdown of the quoted electrical work and questioned why the borough paid an outside contractor for work Straga believes was part of its contract. Borough officials said they would review the material and respond through the appropriate channels; no final resolution or payment timetable was announced at the meeting.
Next steps noted in the meeting included the contractor providing formal documentation to the borough for review and the possibility that the governing body could take up the matter in closed session or pursue the normal contract-dispute channels.
