HOPE – The Hope Town Manager says he’s happy with 90% of the seal coating and crack sealing that took place this summer on community streets.
But it’s the other 10% that prompted Jason Eckart to ask the Hope Town Council to withhold most of the payment to a Seymour contractor.
Last December, All-Star Paving Inc. of Seymour was hired to seal coat 22-sections of streets after crack sealing this summer. That means applying a protective coating to provide an extra layer of protection from the elements after an adhesive sealant is placed into cracks for the same purpose.
All-Star surprised town leaders with their bid of $86,082. Project consultants estimaed the cost at between $130,000 to $135,000.
The problem is that the seal coating is not sticking to the crack sealing, project consultant Tony Akles told the Hope Town Council.
“The problem is that the crack seal was installed a little too thick,” Eckart said. “So when a car drives over it, the crack seal is real rubbery. When a vehicle pushes down on it, the seal flexes and pops.”
The town council agreed to pay All-Star $28,821 of the contract, but withhold slightly over $33,000 until the contractor takes action to fix the problem. Those funds come from a state matching fund, and does not include the 25% match the town of Hope agreed to pay.
Eckart believes the likely solution will be the removal of the seal coating and grinding down the crack seals before re-coating the street.
While Akles said he did not receiving a positive response from the contractor, Eckart says he believes All-Star is simply trying to determine the best solution.
“Overall, I think Tony and I are happy with All-Star’s performance,” Eckart said. “It’s just a technical difficulty they are having. They’ve assured me they will get it fixed.”
