Connecticut town fires demolition contractor after dispute

The town of New Milford, Connecticut, has reportedly fired the demolition contractor hired to take down the former Century Brass mill site following a dispute over who was responsible for paying to clean up 1,500 tons of contaminated steel at the property, according to a report in the Danbury News Times‎.

The article says the contractor, Standard Demolition Services of Trumbull, Connecticut, has left the premises of the 320,000 square-foot building, which was scheduled to be demolished Feb. 1.

The town’s mayor was quoted in the article. He said at a recent town meeting that Standard Demolition Services’ position was that the town was responsible for polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) remediation of the steel, while it is the position of the town that the contractor was hired to handle the cleanup.

Approval of a cleanup plan was to be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the demolition firm EPA had not approved its plan for the site. EPA required the steel beams in the mill be brought to a decontaminated state before being moved off site.

Now town officials are waiting to see what the insurance company that holds the contractor’s performance bond says before they can seek a new company to complete the demolition project. The article says there is also a possibility the demolition firm could claim it was wrongfully terminated.

Standard Demolition Services was awarded a $2.7 million contract for the job.

Steel beams inside the mill reportedly run vertically and horizontally from the concrete slab flooring to the 40-foot ceiling.