THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701180389
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 79 lines
The head of the general contracting company fired for failing to build a new Currituck County high school on time said Friday he wants to stay on the job.
``Do we want to finish this project? Absolutely!'' said Domenic Macaione, president and chief executive of Trafalgar House Construction Inc. of Tampa, Fla.
``We have never failed to finish a project - ever,'' Macaione said in a telephone interview. ``We certainly don't want to make Currituck High School the first one.''
The Currituck County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday night to terminate their contract with Trafalgar House while the project is still under construction.
County officials already have interest from other firms to fill in as a temporary general contractor until a New York bonding company decides how it will guarantee completion of the $16 million facility, now about three-fourths complete.
Currituck officials have given several reasons for the termination, which takes effect next week. Among the items were failure to complete the project on time or as specified.
Macaione said his company wants to negotiate to get the job back.
``We are fully prepared to meet with the county and school board's leadership to work out an amicable, cost-effective and efficient method of completing the school, so that it can be occupied for the '97-98 school year,'' Macaione said.
The new school in Barco, next to the existing high school, was scheduled to open for students in August or September. Delays have pushed back that date.
Currituck officials met with Trafalgar House senior management for four or five hours before Wednesday night's closed session and subsequent vote in an open meeting.
At that time the two groups discussed a plan of action to accelerate the project.
``And as a result, we left the meeting feeling we had reached an understanding on how completion of that project could occur,'' the president said.
``Needless to say, we were shocked that four hours later we received a notice of termination.''
County Manager Bill Richardson said after the vote that the joint decision to fire Trafalgar House had not been an easy one and was considered ``a last resort.''
On Thursday, Trafalgar House officials forwarded a detailed proposal for Currituck County officials to consider.
Macaione said it includes ``a very strong commitment on the part of Trafalgar House to do everything within our power to complete our portion of the work.''
Macaione also said that he believed the general contractor, which recently became a subsidiary of the multinational Kvaerner Construction, was being singled out as ``the bad guy.''
There are, he said, six members of a team working on the project: the school board and the commissioners, who jointly own the facility; the architect, C. Michael Ross of HBA Architecture and Interior Design of Virginia Beach; separate contractors for plumbing, electrical and mechanical work; and Trafalgar House.
``We could have the best intentions in the world, but if it's not followed up by other members of the team in a unified effort, then there's not much we can do,'' Macaione said.
He said the company is financially sound. ``It's not a question of if we have the resources to do our work. What we need is some cooperation from other members of this six-member team.''
Only Trafalgar House, and not the other contractors and subcontractors, was terminated.
In addition to the three other main contractors, there are five subcontractors.
Only one subcontractor, Basnight Construction Co. of Manteo, has been able to complete its work on time and to specifications, school officials said.
Although Macaione declined to discuss specifics, he did say that corrective work on the project ``was nowhere near'' the half-million dollars county officials recently reported.
All nonconforming work is corrected in a timely fashion and at no cost to the county, he said.
KEYWORDS: CURRITUCK COUNTY SCHOOLS