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PUBLIC WORKS: FISH BAY ROAD PAYMENT IN PROCESS

Oct. 10, 2002 – While Majestic Construction Co. doesn't have much to say about the Public Works Department's failure to pay it for paving part of the Fish Bay Road, a sign at the junction of Route 104 tells all. The company is threatening to rip up the road if the government doesn't fork over the money.
"If you did a job wouldn't you expect to get paid," Fish Bay resident Beverly Biziewski said.
A Majestic employee, who did not want to be identified, said Public Works owes the company more than $300,000 for 5,280 square yards of concrete used to pave the road.
The employee said the paperwork to make the payment appears to be in the pipeline, but no date's been set for sending the check.
The first request was sent July 27, with subsequent duplicate requests sent since then.
Deputy Public Works Commissioner Ira Wade said the delay came because Public Works made a clerical error. It was corrected and the paperwork is moving through the system, he said.
Wade said he's had several calls from Fish Bay residents urging that the problem be solved so they don't have to give up their newly-paved road.
Biziewski wondered how Majestic could operate without getting paid. "They have to pay their men," she said.
The dead-end Fish Bay Road is partially paved in other areas, including part of the public road. However, the Fish Bay Homeowners Association funded those paving projects.
Before this section of the road was paved, it created dust storms and suffered from major ruts and potholes.
Wade said the road was always on the list of roads to be paved. "I can't tell you why or how it moved up the list so fast," he said.
He said the section of Fish Bay Road that runs from Route 108 to where the road flattens out adjacent to Fish Bay has always been a local road. The Fish Bay Estate Road continues beyond that point.
Wade said Public Works has help maintaining its portion from Fish Bay resident Jim Sturgis, who heads Majestic projects on St. John.
The road does not have a federal road number, so it is not eligible for Federal Highway Administration funding.
Wade said paving projects are in the works for Cactus Hill in Cruz Bay. The roads in that area were patched after a sewer project in 1994 and remain in bad repair.
He said work is also slated for about a mile of Bordeaux Road that runs from Spice Hill. The section between Spice Hill and the intersection of Centerline Road at the Bordeaux overlook is already paved.
Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood did not return a phone call requesting comment.

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