Library expansion project gets stopped again
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - Work on the Northborough Free Library expansion project has been stopped yet again by the company that was the low bidder but was not chosen by the town after a review of its work.

Barr Inc., of Putnam, Conn., has appealed the July 11 federal court ruling by Judge Dennis Saylor IV, a ruling in which Saylor refused to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent the town from entering into a contract with Souliere and Zepka Construction Co., of Adams, and to keep Souliere and Zepka from working on the project.

Barr filed the injunction after its $5.566 million bid on the project - the lowest received - was not chosen, the town opting instead to accept Souliere and Zepka's bid, which at $5.778 million was $213,000 higher.

According to documents submitted by attorney Michael P. Sams of Kennedy and Sams, Barr's appeal maintains the town used "flawed legal standards, improperly and incompletely evaluating Barr" and that the town "never performed the numerical evaluation process the statutory and regulatory processes require."

In addition, Barr's appeal contends the town's conclusions "were illegal, based on the information unions submitted outside the statutory process."

In the appeal Barr asks the court declare it to be the lowest and eligible bidder.

At the July 11 hearing, Sams told Saylor that Northborough acted illegally by looking at information beyond what was on file with the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management.

The town's lawyer, Richard Holland of the Boston law firm of Kopelman and Paige, disputed Barr's claim, saying the town could look at any information it wanted to.

Saylor denied Barr's motion for a preliminary injunction and set a Sept. 25 scheduling conference for the case. Since then, Barr has appealed Saylor's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, located in Boston.

Barr's appeal of the decision was scheduled to be heard Aug. 2.

Assistant Town Administrator John Coderre said Barr's appeal is very limited.

"Basically all they can appeal is that the court clearly erred in assessing the facts of the case, misapprehended the applicable legal principles or otherwise is shown to have abused its discretion," Corderre said. "The basis on which the litigation continues to keep being narrowed down. It's frustrating that it's taking this long, because we're ready to go, but that's the legal process."

Corderre, who has handled the library project for the town, said he is very confi- dent that the town has made the proper decision not to go with the low bidder - Barr - in this instance.

"I call it the Town Meeting test," Coderre said. "Would I be comfortable and confident standing up at Town Meeting explaining why we did what we did regarding the awarding of this contract? And the answer is an unequivocal yes, and I believe the court ruling is going to, eventually, prove that we have come to the conclusion … in a thorough and proper manner."