Town Approves Payment of Delinquent Bill After Discussion with Contractor

The July meeting of the Town Council brought resolution to a long-standing delinquent bill, which was approved for payment at Monday night’s meeting.

The bill, the remaining half due for replacement of faulty siding on the Town Hall building, was for work completed in 2017 by BBG Construction. Owner Jared Brown was available for discussion at the meeting and explained the situation, which had many at fault.

The building was originally sided with CertainTeed fiber cement siding, which was faulty, and the company currently has class-action lawsuits against them. Brown was the original contractor, who used the CertainTeed siding as specced by the building architect. He completed the repairs, using metal siding instead as requested by the Town, and showed the former Town Clerk how to file the claim with CertainTeed.

However, the claim was not filed immediately, which resulted in Brown also not being paid. After many communications with the Town Clerk, Brown proceeded to accrue finance charges to the Town’s bill, which was over $8,000.

“I was treated in a manner I didn’t feel proper,” Brown said, in reference to the former Town Clerk. “I’ve never cut and run, and it was my bad that there was no contract [just a verbal agreement] but I tried to get it taken care of.

Eventually half of the settlement with CertainTeed came in, though the town is still waiting on the remainder as of Monday, nearly four years later.

“I’m willing to work with you all. I HAD a good working relationship with the town. I’m from here...how it was handled is what has gotten in my craw,” Brown said.

After discussion with town attorney Ed Guza, it was decided the bill had been handled improperly, as Brown had also been treated poorly.

“Three years is far too long. He was treated badly by the former clerk - it was very abusive communication if you read the emails. The lawyer fees would be far more expensive if BBG decided to sue us, than just paying him,” Councilwoman Pat Petersen said. Councilman Shawn Hoagland also pointed out that CertainTeed paying for a portion of the claim shows that they assume responsibility for the faulty product, and the fault lies with them and not the architect who specced the product or the contractor who installed it.

“Reality is - the claim was filed, work was done, now he’s requesting payment for work that was done over three years ago,” Hoagland said.

Brown agreed to forgo the finance charges and take the payment at the net worth.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• The council voted against hiring a shared grant writer, as requested by Jefferson County.

Councilman Roy McBride voiced his concern with how Whitehall is treated, in comparison to Boulder.

“We have a good relationship with those we work with now [Triple Tree Engineering] for grant writing. Why would I want to share with the county anything but the back door of Boulder? It would just cause more heart ache than needed,” McBride said. He also alluded that Whitehall is the unwanted child of the county, in comparison to Boulder.

• Pothole will be filled with a velocity patcher borrowed from the County in two weeks.

• Mayor Janacaro-Hensleigh reminded all that watering schedules are based on even-odd days and the property address.

• Kory Klapan noted that, with the new garbage disposal service, only holidays that fall on weekdays are observed by the company. Some confusion on the Fourth of July holiday was had, as it fell on a Sunday. Garbage was picked up on Monday per usual, but many were not prepared, as the holiday was observed on Monday.