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04/16/2019 04:48 PMIn 2014, Westbrook embarked on the rocky path to repair the historic Lynn Road Bridge. In keeping with the ongoing difficulties, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting at which the three lowest bids were reviewed and voted on was disrupted by one bidder making accusations against another.
The good news: The project, finally, is ready to launch. The bridge is expected to close on or around “May 1 and re-open by Christmas, but probably before that,” said Scott Medeiros, the Woodard & Curran engineer overseeing the project.
The seven bids the town received were narrowed down by Woodard & Curran to the three lowest bidders, all of which were pre-qualified by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT). Those three companies were, from the lowest bidder to the highest, Xenelis Construction Co., of Westbrook, represented at the meeting by project manager Dwayne Xenelis; New England Road, of Clinton, represented by owner Alan Neri; and Old Colony Construction, of Westbrook, represented by an owner, Vincent Neri.
Based on its analysis, Woodard & Curran recommended that the contract be awarded to New England Road, emphasizing its extensive experience building bridges.
“They have a very robust history of constructing bridges,” Medeiros said. “The rationale was that after reviewing all the information, New England Road was a more qualified and responsive bidder,” even considering the additional cost of roughly $22,000 compared to low bidder Xenelis.
“That’s a small number, given the size and complexity of the project,” he said.
The BOS ultimately awarded the contract, for $1,218,045, to Xenelis.
Before the selectmen’s vote, First Selectmen Noel Bishop invited questions from the bidders. In an indication he was aware of friction among the companies, he warned them that “questions should not be one bidder against another but more to the point of the process.”
Vincent Neri, an owner of Old Colony Construction and a Westbrook resident, objected to what he perceived as Medeiros’s evaluation of New England Road as being more qualified to work on bridges than the other bidders.
“Old Colony has the highest qualification for bridges,” Neri said. “To say that one has more qualifications than the other—I don’t think that’s a true statement because DOT doesn’t qualify them that way.”
Neri then said that bidders for the Lynn Road Bridge project were required to answer a question regarding “legal proceedings related to construction projects and other public contracts, and I wanted to know if these were answered by all the bidders and if they were vetted out by the engineer or the reviewers.”
Medeiros responded that the question, number 13 on the bidding form, was answered by the all bidders.
“There was a lawsuit that was handed to us during our meeting with this particular bidder,” Medeiros said, referring to a copy of a legal judgment against New England Road provided to the review committee by representatives of Old Colony Construction.
“I don’t think this is the road the town wants to go down in terms of lawsuits between bidders,” he added.
Bishop said that the issue was reviewed by the town’s attorney, Michael Wells, who determined that the judgment had “no bearing or significance” on the Lynn Road Bridge project.
There was some discussion between Medeiros, Xenelis Construction Co. Project Manager Dwayne Xenelis , and Westbrook Public Works Director John Riggio about whether Xenelis was the best choice for the project. Riggio said that he had worked with Xenelis on a previous project and that it “went well, was on time, and done professionally.”
Riggio said that he also worked with New England Road on the Winthrop Bridge project in 2016. He stated that bridge projects are “more complex” and that he felt “more comfortable with New England Road.”
Upon questions from the BOS, Medeiros said that the Winthrop Bridge work “took longer than anticipated” but that overall, the project had only a few delays, that the “small change orders were very reasonable,” and that the project remained within the overall budget.
The discussion then took another strange turn. Vincent Neri said that, while he would be happy to get the contract, he understood that as Old Colony Construction was third-lowest bidder it was unlikely. He then urged the BOS to award the contract to Xenelis.
This was followed by a comment by Vincent Neri’s son, Vincent Neri, Sr.
“Personally, I think New England Road should be out of the running completely,” he said, stating that Xenelis and Old Colony Construction are Westbrook taxpayers and that New England Road faced five counts of fraud in federal bankruptcy court.
New England Road representative Alan Neri was asked for comment; he said that the federal bankruptcy case, which began in 1991, resulted from a dispute between his father (also Alan Neri), now deceased, and his uncle.
Bishop then asked whether someone was videotaping the proceedings, and asked the person to “refrain and erase that.”
Selectman John Hall made a motion to award the contract to Xenelis. Selectman Mary Labbadia seconded it and the BOS voted unanimously in favor.
Asked later, Hall said that his motion in favor of Xenelis was not influenced by what happened at the meeting.
“I know all of the bidders,” he said. “Xenelis was the low bid. I’m confident that they’re going to do a good job.”
Medeiros expressed confidence that Xenelis will do a good job and that the project will be completed within the range of cost expectations. DOT is on board to fund the project at 45.05 percent of the total actual cost, meaning their share will be roughly $787,000. Westbrook’s share was approved and appropriated years ago, said Medeiros.