Contractor accusing city of gross mismanagement
October 1, 2006

A sub-contractor working on Waterdown Memorial Park says his company's viability is jeopardized because of project mismanagement and the failure of the city to pay its bills. In a request to speak sent to the city's corporate administration committee, Chris Wonnacott of PCN Construction Group Inc accuses the city manager of holding the company ransom.

“We believe this project has been mismanaged, and in 20 years of construction experience dealing with all levels of governmental projects, never has a project gone so sideways without the owner willing to meet with the affected parties,” says the letter presented earlier this month to the committee.

The company claims it has repeatedly tried to meet concerning problems with the project but city staff have refused to hold such a meeting. They also say the city owes them money.

“[O]ur last payment was arbitrarily and maliciously scaled back at the hand of the City Manager without any contractual validity”, says the letter. “We have been forced to lien the project for in excess of $300,000 for non-payment of our account by the City of Hamilton to the general contractor”.

Councillors declined to hear the PCN delegation on the advice of their legal staff. “The request for delegation which comes before you is from a sub-contractor who has registered a lien on the site, which is the first step in a legal proceeding,” said city solicitor Peter Barkwell.

“There are already court actions on other liens in this matter, and this particular sub-contractor will be starting a court action to preserve their lien probably before the next committee meeting commences so our advice to you, as is often the case, that this is essentially a litigant and we would prefer that the committee not hear directly from litigants but leave those matters in the hands of legal services.”

The seven hectare park at the corner on Parkside Drive re-opened last month after undergoing a million dollar upgrade that included a spray pad and new pathways and washroom facilities. A copy of the PCN submission is posted on the CATCH website.