Board debates $5.16 million emergency repair proposal for 100 East Hartsdale Avenue

A letter attributed to Frank Morabito, commissioner of public works, and read at the July 14 work session reported an in-place emergency-repair proposal for 100 East Hartsdale Avenue with an estimated cost of $5,160,000 and described scope items including retaining-wall work, vibration monitoring, manhole installation and a six-month construction period.

A board member reading the letter said the in-place repair is "about $20,000,000 less" than a full sewer reroute and listed project components (pile retaining-wall pricing and bracing, spoils removal, drilling support, vibration monitoring, surveying, traffic and pedestrian maintenance and six-month project supervision). The letter named Murano (appearing in the transcript as Murano/Marrano/Marrano Brothers) as the contractor and said preparatory work has begun.

The chair said the board needs to ensure the town does not "waste money," asked for a full accounting of consultant costs to date and urged the town attorney to pursue remedies if consultants or prior attorneys failed to protect the town. "We should be getting an estimate—how much did we spend on this," the chair said, asking for a review of consultant costs.

The town attorney advised against asking a state controller's legal counsel to answer questions on the spot in open session and recommended providing documents for review first. Several board members said they would like written guidance or an opinion from the state controller's office on whether the work falls within emergency-contract authority.

Board members also debated rebidding versus proceeding under the emergency, on-call contract. Supporters said immediate repairs are necessary to avoid further damage and to complete work before the start of the school year; critics said the contract appears open-ended without a clear maximum and that procurement rules and past audits warrant careful review.

The board asked the town attorney to prepare the requested analysis and to report back; the procurement committee will provide a summary of its review and the board will consider a resolution next week that would detail the contract cap and authorizations.

Next steps: the town attorney will continue work on written guidance and the procurement committee will summarize its findings for next week's meeting, where the board expects to consider a resolution specifying allowable spending under the contract.