Halesite flood mitigation bids due

The state Department of Transportation is one step closer to addressing the perpetual rain-related flooding on Route 110 in Halesite. Three weeks from Thursday, the agency plans to open bids submitted by contractors to begin the long-stalled renovation project.

Eileen Peters, regional spokeswoman for the DOT, said bids will be opened March 24 for the flood mitigation project between Prime Avenue / Madison Street and Young's Hill Road in Halesite. The project is expected to cost about $18.9 million.

"Once the apparent lowest qualified bidder is identified, it goes through a whole review process," Peters said, "and then within 45 days they officially award the project and we move forward."

She said expected start and end dates will not be known until the project is awarded.

Frustrated and flood-weary residents and business owners in the area were relieved late in 2009 when it was announced the project was to begin last summer, but those hopes were quickly washed away. Peters said delays in producing a state budget last spring meant no funds were available for the project, forcing DOT officials to extend the deadline for the contractor to submit paperwork. But in July, DOT officials discovered that the winning contractor could not post a performance and payment bond guaranteeing its finances. The DOT then canceled all agreements with the contractor and terminated the bid process.

Anthony Labriola, owner of A.L.A.C. Contracting of West Babylon, the second-lowest bidder, filed a request for an injunction in State Supreme Court in Nassau alleging the bid process was mismanaged.

"They were supposed to award the job to us as soon as the first bidder was determined to be nonresponsive," Labriola said.

Peters said, "Our intention has always been to move this project forward and that's exactly what we have been doing since the beginning and what we continue to do now."

A Nassau State Supreme Court judge lifted the injunction in January, allowing the bid process to continue.

Labriola's attorney, Steven Cohn of Carle Place, said he filed a "motion to reargue" in mid-February in State Supreme Court in Nassau County.

"We feel the court was in error in lifting the injunction," Cohn said. "As of right now we are going to move to stop them."