Area firm still awaiting payment for 2005 work on new courthouse

The federal government expects to spend $62 million for the new federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, but a Sikeston, Mo., cleaning company still hasn't seen a dime for $2,600 of work it did nearly two years ago at the job site.

The General Services Administration and staff members for U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson said they will investigate the matter.

"We don't think any payment or performance issues should be taken lightly when it comes to federal construction work," said Charlie Cook, spokesman with the agency's regional office in Kansas City.

Emerson chief of staff Lloyd Smith said large construction projects like the courthouse project involve numerous subcontractors. But Smith said all contractors should be paid what they are owed. He said Emerson's office will make every effort to get the cleaning company its money.

Tony Smee, vice president and general manager of ServiceMaster Professional Cleaning Services in Sikeston, said he doubts his company will ever be paid for cleaning a mechanical and air-conditioning room in the new courthouse in December 2005 in advance of a federal inspection.

But Cook said ServiceMaster could seek payment from the performance bond posted by PCL of Denver, the general contractor on the courthouse project. Such claims are handled administratively through the GSA as outlined in federal law, he said.

Smee said his company handled the cleanup work under a contract with Construction Cleaners USA, which was hired as a subcontractor by PCL.

Smee said he reached John Radford, who operated Construction Cleaners, in Canada in March 2006 by cell phone. Smee said Radford promised to pay ServiceMaster but never did. "That was the last time I talked to him," he said.

He said his experience demonstrates a need for more oversight of subcontractors on jobs like the courthouse project.

"I just never expected that someone who would be approved as a contractor for a federal project would be such a shady character," he said. "He either intentionally set out to defraud us or he got in financial trouble and couldn't pay the bills."

A Southeast Missourian reporter tried to contact Radford by telephone Friday. Radford couldn't be reached immediately. He later called and left a voice-mail message on a reporter's phone promising to pay ServiceMaster.

In a brief message, he said Construction Cleaners had gone "belly up" and that he was in the process of getting bills paid.

Smee said he initially didn't get a response from either Radford or officials with PCL.

Frustrated by the situation, Smee said he wrote a letter to Emerson on March 15 of this year seeking help in collecting payment. But Smith, Emerson's chief of staff, said Friday that he and other Emerson staffers never received the letter.

Smee said he finally was able to reach a PCL official in the company's Denver headquarters March 19. The official later e-mailed him, explaining that PCL paid Construction Cleaners and that any pay dispute was between the subcontractor and ServiceMaster.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123