Failure to pay subcontractors halts work at three major Palm Beach County intersections

Improvements at three heavily traveled south county intersections have been indefinitely delayed because of the failure of a contractor to pay subcontractors.

Work at Clint Moore and Jog roads, Hypoluxo and Jog roads and Gateway Boulevard and Military Trail has been halted for several months because of the non-payment to subcontractors, according to county officials. The subcontractors have walked off the jobs, County Engineer David Ricks told county commissioners recently.

At Ricks' request, county commissioners authorized future invoices to be sent directly to the surety company for payment. Ricks said that way, the county can be assured the subcontractors will be paid.

“These projects are at a standstill,” Ricks said. "By working through the surety, we can get them back on track.”

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County road construction projects: What are surety bonds and how do they work?

Surety bonds are, in effect an insurance policy. They are written for construction projects to ensure that work is completed should the general contractor fail to honor the contract, according to the National Association of Surety Producers. If the contract is not honored, the surety company is obligated to find another contractor to complete the work or compensate the project owner for the financial loss incurred.

Efforts to contact the contractor involved in the Palm Beach County work, Municipal Contractors Inc. of West Palm Beach, were unsuccessful. Deputy County Engineer Joanne Keller said the county did not receive “a good response” when it inquired about the non-payment issue.

What work needs to be completed at the three intersections?

Meanwhile, at issue is $3.2 million worth of needed improvements at the three intersections. The work involves installing new asphalt, curbs, vehicle detection systems and mast arms to hold traffic signals. Keller said the county is hopeful that work will resume shortly but she noted that it is not clear how quickly that will occur. She added that completion dates are also not available at this time.

The original contract called for the work to be finished in February 2022 for Clint Moore and Jog (west of Boca Raton), November 2022 for Hypoluxo and Jog (west of Lake Worth Beach) and December 2022 for Gateway and Military (west of Boynton Beach). The three intersections are in unincorporated areas of the county.

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It is rare that the county has to resort to working through a surety company to ensure completion of roadwork. “It is not something that we want to see happen," Keller said, acknowledging that the engineer’s office has received a number of complaints about the delays.

Jimerson Birr, a Jacksonville attorney who specializes in construction law, said it is unusual for a public entity to become involved in a payment dispute between the general contractor and the subcontractors. County officials said they did so to get the workers back on the job. Birr said the consequences of subcontractors not getting paid are significant as you have a company and its workers losing out on income they depend upon and in the case of a public job, significant delays in a needed project being completed.

County Commissioner Maria Sachs called on Ricks to work with the county attorney to make sure that the contractors do their jobs properly.

“Maybe we need to blacklist these companies,” Sachs said. “We are the ones responsible for the safety of our roads. There are plenty of general contractors around. Somebody does not want to do business in a professional way. We don’t need to do business with them.”

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Payment issue brings three county intersection projects to a halt