FRANKLIN BUILDING: Union rep scolds city for avoiding prevailing wages; councilors admit possible error

Members of the Watertown City Council admit that if given more information, they might not have passed a resolution that sidestepped a federal law that would have forced the Franklin Building developer to pay prevailing wage rates.

Dale R. Stehlin, a field representative for Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers Local 2, told the City Council earlier this week that the union is displeased with the action the city took at its April 6 meeting.

"I live on Pratt (Street) and I know of at least five union members, all living within five blocks," he said. "That just gives you an idea of the number of people living in the city of Watertown. If you'd like, we could get them all here, but I don't think that's necessary."

The council approved a resolution that allows Neighbors of Watertown, the nonprofit agency coordinating the Franklin Building renovation, to bypass the Davis-Bacon Act, a law that requires employers to pay the local prevailing wages to construction workers on federally financed projects.

"I'm deeply concerned and disturbed at your lack of consideration given to these workers," Mr. Stehlin said. "It's more troubling that public servants would conspire to contrive a plan that would circumvent a law protecting citizens' wages."

During the conversation with Mr. Stehlin, council members said they should have asked for more information before acting on the resolution.

"We try to do the right thing; sometimes we don't get it right," Councilman Joseph M. Butler Jr. said. "I'm concerned maybe we didn't get it right this time around. From a curiosity standpoint, I'm interested in how we arrived at this cost savings number given. That's what is bothering me."

At the time the resolution was passed, Neighbors Executive Director Gary C. Beasley said the move would save the agency anywhere from $500,000 to $800,000 in additional labor costs.

At the meeting, Mr. Stehlin said he disagrees with Mr. Beasley's claim that paying prevailing wages would increase the price of labor by that much.

"We know construction and we strongly disagree that $800,000 could be saved by doing away with Davis-Bacon," Mr. Stehlin said. "I'd be very interested in how hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved."

Mr. Beasley has said he has not calculated the actual cost savings by paying the market wage rate.

Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham said he may have been too starry-eyed when supporting the resolution.

"There are only a limited number of people who would get involved in this type of job. I would suspect the council and everybody involved were happy to see the project move forward," he said. "We concluded, in the overall scheme of things, that at the time it was the best way to do it. Maybe we made the wrong call, but it's hard to say."

Neighbors has obtained about $7.8 million from a variety of federal, state and private sources for the project, including $375,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Renewal, to renovate the former YWCA building into a combination of bottom-floor commercial spaces and upper-floor apartments. The project is expected to be completed by June 2010.

"Our development team has no desire to dictate low wages on this job," Mr. Beasley said Wednesday afternoon. "The contractors price the work based on delivering a quality project."

Mr. Beasley said that work being done on the plumbing, electrical system and elevator is being performed by union employees.

"These people are being paid union wages," he said. "Neighbors' projects develop a tremendous amount of skilled jobs for this area."

At the April 6 meeting, the council shifted the federal funds from a "construction" line item to another for "housing rehabilitation, architectural services and other soft costs," to dodge the law.