Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

FITCHBURG More than $17 million is on the line for Great Wolf Resorts Inc., as the New England Regional Council of Carpenters' application to revoke state and local tax relief approved last spring for the company's latest resort in Fitchburg takes another step forward.

At the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council's meeting Sept. 24 at Worcester City Hall, the EACC agreed to create a special panel to review the carpenters union's request, which was brought after allegations surfaced that some contractors hired by Great Wolf to renovate and expand the former Holiday Inn and CoCo Key Water Park off Route 31 were paid in cash and did not carry workers' compensation insurance.

Great Wolf, based in Madison, Wisconsin, owns and operates a dozen family resorts in the U.S. and Canada under the Great Wolf Lodge brand that feature specialty restaurants, arcades, spas, fitness rooms and children's activity areas in addition to water parks at each resort. The Fitchburg resort opened in June.

In March, the EACC approved Great Wolf's application for a 20-year tax increment financing deal with Fitchburg granting the company a personal property tax exemption totaling $16,464,000 and another $680,000 in state investment tax credits.

In April, the carpenters' council sent a letter to Greg Bialecki, secretary of the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, asking his office to rescind approval of that 20-year TIF after violations were discovered at Great Wolf three months earlier.

The Department of Industrial Accidents had issued eight stop-work orders to eight contractors working on the project for not having Massachusetts workers' compensation insurance, according to DIA documents.

The stop-work orders automatically place the contractors on the DIA's debarment list, the carpenters' council said, and allegedly make the company ineligible for TIF approval.

In Great Wolf's application for the TIF, the company agreed it would not knowingly hire subcontractors or other third parties that did not have workers' compensation insurance, and the company affirmed it had not hired subcontractors within the past five years that had been debarred by a government agency.

Great Wolf did not inform the EACC of the stop-work orders before the council's meeting to approve the TIF, the carpenters' council alleges.

The company also stated in its application that it would rely on local subcontractors for much of the construction work, but instead used multiple contractors from Wisconsin, where Great Wolf is headquartered, that employed out-of-state residents, the carpenters' council alleges. It says those workers were misclassified as independent contractors.

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Labor issues bedevil Great Wolf Resorts in Fitchburg

MISSION VALLEY Michael Shames, the longtime Utility Consumers Action Network director who left amid a federal probe of his charity business practices, has been recalled from his homeowners association board.

The decision to remove Shames and two other members of the Fashion Hills HOA board closes an acrimonious year for residents of the 226-unit community just north of Fashion Valley Mall.

In a record turnout, homeowners voted to remove Shames 112 to 15. Residents said Shames was instrumental in awarding a flawed painting contract and perpetuating other problems within the neighborhood.

He was creating a lot of the difficulties, Chris Morgan, a Fashion Hills homeowner who supported the recall, said about Shames. We couldnt continue to operate that way.

Shames declined to discuss the recall. In an emailed statement, he said he left the board months ago and had no involvement with the group since.

I never attended another board meeting after July and was not involved in any activities after that meeting, Shames wrote.

Last year the HOA awarded a $184,000 painting contract to a company owned by Robert Borrego, who also serves as the associations property manager.

Some residents complained that there was a conflict of interest, as the property manager should supervise the painting contractor. They also noted that Borrego was not a licensed painting contractor. But Shames said he was an attorney and there was no problem with the arrangement.

U-T San Diego reported the dispute last October. Earlier this year, the Contractors State Licensing Board cited Borrego for contracting outside of his classification. He has appealed that violation.

Borrego did not return calls from the U-T on Friday. One of the first actions taken by new homeowners board members was to give Borrego a notice to terminate his property-manager contract.

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HOA recall removes Shames

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