Jones: Swampscott Police station ‘almost complete’

SWAMPSCOTT – Police Station Building Committee Chairman Patrick Jones asserts that TLT Construction Corporation?s work on the Humphrey Street Police Station may have been the cause of its delayed completion – along with a burst sewer pipe.The station was originally to be completed March 20, but Jones reported this week the station wouldn?t be ready until the end of May.In a meeting March 13, committee member Phil Merkle blamed the delay on a burst sewer pipe that “cost us three months” and “TLT Construction?s apparent inability to provide us with a satisfactory schedule.”During a committee update at Town Meeting on Monday, Jones said, “The town has been brought into litigation ? with TLT and its subcontractors.”Jones added that it was “still a ways out before we know the true extent of what will happen” with TLT, and that “the committee had responded promptly and forcefully per our contract with TLT.”Jones reported that despite the delay, the project was still within its $6 million budget, approved at the 2011 Town Meeting. He presented a slideshow of photographs of the “almost complete” building?s current condition.?I know it looks far from being completed, but trust me, this stuff goes up quick,” he said about the remaining work on the building. He said as of Town Meeting, the project was 89 percent completed.Jones reported that during the years of construction, there were no injuries on site, so even though the project was behind schedule, there had been no “rushing through or sacrificing the quality of the building and construction.”As a last thought, Jones said, “I hope to be opening it soon for the officers who deserve it and for the town. Hopefully, we will all be proud of it.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].