PLANTATION, Fla. – A handful of Plantation homeowners who are upset with a waterline renovation project aimed at replacing their aging water pipes called Christina after they claim the company the city contracted to do the work and restore their driveways didn't bring them back to original condition.
Frustrated at the amount of money they would pay out of pocket to fix and bring them back to original condition they asked for Christina's help.
After the "Call Christina" ream reached out to the city with their concerns, city officials said they identified a "punch list" of "deficiencies" to be corrected at two of the three homes. City staff told Local 10 News that they submitted those punch list items to the contractor.
"One,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 --I don't know if I have all these. These are different," Mary Oliver said while referring to the pavers in the apron of her driveway.
"I don't know how a whole corner goes missing," Sherrie Brown added.
"I think about this one here. It's not mine," Luders Jean Phillippe said.
Disappointment is the feeling Oliver, Phillip and Brown feel, after they claim the city of Plantation's water main rehabilitation project left their driveways with mismatched pavers.
"And this is what I get left with -- mismatch bricks," Brown said.
"I had no idea it would look like this," Oliver said.
Oliver even visited the mayor in person to express her dissatisfaction.
"The mayor insists that those are my pavers that were returned to my driveway, but they are not," she said. " I have about 15 pavers that are not mine."
While the $2.7 million water line project in Plantation Gardens cut through the paved driveways of some Local 10 News viewers, it spared others like that of Dale Carls.
"It's very difficult once you tear up a section of pavers to get them back the way they belong. I was very concerned," Carls said.
The city received a bid and later accepted a proposal from Caribe Utilities of Florida in October 2013.
The city's contract with Caribe said in part: "All house driveways from the existing sidewalk to the street pavement shall be fully restored."
But that's not what happened according to the homeowners.
"That's completely different then what I had before," Brown said as she surveyed her completed driveway.
The contract also said the pavers "shall be properly installed on a compacted sand bed in accordance with the manufactures directions."
Also in the contract: "The CONTRACTOR shall carefully stack the pavers near the house at a location acceptable to the homeowner."
"I received the letter, but nowhere did it say they would be digging up your pavers and removing them," Brown said.
The contract also said that, "The contractor shall carefully stack the pavers near the house at a location acceptable to the homeowner."
"I want to say it was gone for a long time. I want to say months," Brown said.
Local 10 News requested project plans from the city, which was denied. In a letter to Local 10 News, city attorney Quentin Morgan cited 911 security issues.
In an email to Local 10 News, the mayor also cited provision 4 in the building permit for one homeowner's paver driveway: Mary Oliver.
The provision said, "Property owner shall be responsible and the City of Plantation shall not be responsible for damage done during installation, repair, replacements or maintenance of utilities in a dedicated utility easement."
The mayor's email also states all work was performed in the right-of-way owned by the city and not on private property. In the city's opinion Oliver's "expectations are clearly outside the scope of what was required under contract." The mayor added they have gone "above and beyond what could be reasonably expected."
Local 10 News caught up with the Mayor Diane Bendekovic on her way to a city council meeting to talk about the issue on June 11.
"The city has done over and above. I think we have satisfied everything we should be doing at this time for Mrs. Oliver," Bendekovic said. "There will possibly be maybe two people complaining out of how many hundreds?"
"The city of Plantation prides themselves in completing the work and doing it in a proficient, efficient (way), and really the pictures that we have before and after, are quite different than the situation you're giving," Bendekovic said.
The city provided Local 10 News with "before and after photos" of Oliver's property after our request on Aug. 10.
The time/date stamp on the "before photos" of Oliver's home are Sept. 4, 2014. The "after" photo was dated April 2, 2015. The city only provided after photos of the other two homes dated Aug. 10, 2015 -- the day the request was made.
In any event, the contract said "paver driveways shall match existing materials and shall be subject to OWNER/Homeowner approval prior to construction commencement."
A requirement the homeowners Local 10 News spoke with claim never happened.
"It starts here and it goes all the way to here. So everything in that corner does not belong to me," Brown said.
"I worked very hard to have that driveway done. There are a lot of pavers that are not mine. It's really upsetting," Jean Philippe said.
Real estate attorney Ray Robinson reviewed the city's contract with Caribe Utilities of Florida, read the city's response to Local 10 News' questions and heard what the homeowners had to say.
WEB EXTRA: Real estate attorney Ray Robinson on Plantation pavers dispute
"The city had a contract with the contractor that based upon, what I had seen, requires the contractor to meet certain specifications. And according to the homeowner's complaints, the contractor has not done that. I don't see why the city has not taken a more active role in getting that done," Robinson said.
In an emailed statement the contractor, Caribe Utilities of Florida, said: "Caribe is a City of Plantation Contractor working in the right of way/public area. All our work is done under the City supervision and approval. Any concern needs to be addressed to the City of Plantation authorities and they will contact us for any additional activity to be performed. We are actively finalizing this project and all City requirements has been satisfactory completed. Please contact City of Plantation for any citizen concern, Caribe as a City Contractor, is not allow to interact with the homeowners without a City representative presence."
"The areas that I understand were affected here are not that large. So it seems like to me we are not talking about a whole lot of money. And when you're thinking about it, you got to do the right thing then -- that's what the city and the contractor ought to do," Robinson said.
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