Peabody school renovations incomplete

PEABODY-There are several maintenance items left unfinished at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, but none that are of great concern, said School Business Manager Mike Musto.CTA Construction of Boston was the general contractor assigned to the $3.5 million renovation job at the high school back in 2007. After completing a large portion of the project, $42,916 in repairs remains.?We have given them sufficient time,” said Musto, noting that the school department first notified the company about the incomplete projects in September. “We put them on notice that these were items that needed to be completed, and they haven?t completed them.”So now, the School Building Committee must decide whether they will hire another contractor willing to finish where CTA left off, or have the school?s maintenance department take on some, but not all, of the tasks. If the committee did decide to move on to another company, the school won?t be out the roughly $43,000, said Musto.?If you?re smart, you hold back the last payment in case something like this happens,” he said. “We held back 5 percent of the total bill.”He said the school won?t pay that portion until when or if CTA finishes the project. If they don?t, that amount will be deducted from the total bill.Although the remaining projects, which range from repairing damaged floor tiles to fixing broken electrical outlets, might seem like a large undertaking, they only amount to roughly 1 percent of the entire punch list, which was originally 19 pages long.?This is very minimal,” said School Committee member Dave McGeney, who credited the small percentage to what he believes what good oversight.?It is a pretty good punch list,” Mayor Michael Bonfanti agreed. “We expect to get most of it resolved.”Musto said he has received no definitive explanation for why CTA has appeared to walk away from the work, but he says that practice isn?t uncommon in construction.?We?re in the process of trying to do this with another contractor,” he said. “But this is a process, you can?t just hire someone to do it.”