The Passaic County Board of Freeholders agreed Tuesday to settle a dispute with the company that worked on the Sheriff's Department's Y2K readiness, paying about $49,000 more than the $125,000 called for in the original contract.

The county has already paid the company, Supreme Security Systems of Union, about $164,000 for bringing alarm and monitoring equipment in county buildings up to standards for the turn of the millennium.

Supreme was asking for an additional $27,000 but agreed to settle for a final payment of $10,000, according to the resolution unanimously approved by the freeholders.

Passaic County Counsel William J. Pascrell III said the county benefited from the settlement because it will pay only a third of what the company sought. The company's president, Robert Bitton, declined to comment Tuesday.

The company asked for seven change orders -- approving payments beyond the original terms of the deal -- after it got the contract two years ago, according to the resolution. The county objected to four of the orders, prompting Supreme to sue last year.

The company said in the lawsuit that it began working on security systems in the jail, courthouse, and administration building on Dec. 30, 1999, and was told to finish by the end of the next day. The lawsuit says the company agreed to do so, but warned that it would have to charge extra for overtime and replacement of certain equipment.

The lawsuit says Supreme completed the work by the deadline and submitted the additional bills.

A lawyer for the county denied most of the company's claims in court documents. The county said the work done by Supreme was defective and required costly fixes.

The Board of Freeholders awarded the contract to Supreme on Dec. 10, 1999, at the Sheriff's Department's recommendation, Pascrell said. He said that work began earlier than Dec. 30.

Pascrell said that the contractors discovered additional work would be necessary during the final hours of 1999, and nearly decided to give up. He said he persuaded the company to continue the work so that it would be done by Dec. 31, agreeing that it would cost more than $125,000.

"They were going to walk off the job," Pascrell said. "My fear was that if we don't get the job done, the gates of the jail are going to swing open at midnight."

Pascrell said some of the additional bills were justified but others weren't.

"They did do a considerable amount of extra work," Pascrell said.

The county and contractor will be required to submit written explanations of the payments to the state, under a regulation that applies to any change orders exceeding 20 percent of a contract. The change orders in this case will amount to an increase of about 39 percent over the original price.

Also Tuesday, the freeholders agreed to pay $67,500 to the engineering firm ETM Associates of Highland Park to prepare a plan for upgrading three county parks: the Garret Mountain Reservation in West Paterson, Goffle Brook Park in Hawthorne, and Weasel Brook Park in Clifton.

Freeholder Lois Cuccinello said the parks and playgrounds have suffered from neglect for several years.

The Bergen Record

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