Façade Work Resumes 'For Now' At Westfield's Roosevelt School

WESTFIELD, NJ — Work on the Roosevelt Intermediate School facade renovations will resume "for now" following a court ruling.

Brendan Galligan, Chair of the Building & Facilities Committee, gave the Westfield Board of Education an update on the construction at the Oct. 15 meeting.

"There has been an ongoing dispute between our lead contractor and one of their subcontractors and it's resulted in a whole bunch of legal filings back and forth. And unfortunately, the district is caught in the middle of it and it's holding up the project," said Galligan.

On Oct. 11, Galligan said the Superior Court dismissed the first round of filings "allowing the project to proceed for now."

The subcontractor — Gravity Construction Corp., Jamaica, N.Y. who put up scaffolding for the facade renovations at Roosevelt Intermediate School — continues to be under investigation by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL). The NJDOL issued a "stop work" order in July 2023.

Violations included failure to pay prevailing wage; unpaid wages/late payment; failure to register; failing to properly classify employees; improper classification of a construction worker, according to the NJDOL.

Galligan emphasized that the district is not a party to the DOL investigation in any way.

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