WESTFIELD – Principals of an out-of-town paving company which was the focus of complaints about transient pavers last May have returned to the city, despite the earnest advice of police the last time they were here, and may have chosen the wrong resident to approach when they asked a retired police officer if he would like them to work on his driveway.
At the beginning of the paving season last May, Police Capt. Michael McCabe warned residents of a classic paving scam in which contractors from other communities approach residents claiming to have “extra” asphalt left over from a job in their neighborhood and offers a cut-rate deal on a driveway job to avoid wasting the asphalt.
McCabe explained that, once a resident has made a verbal agreement, he may find that the contractor exceeds the agreed scope of the job and later presents a bill for much more than what the resident thought he was going to pay.
He said that the pavers may have been in the area legitimately to perform contracted work but a violation occurs when the contractors solicit additional work, unless they have secured a city license to do so.
In the recent instance, the resident the pavers allegedly solicited on Tuesday was a retired career police officer in two nearby communities who recently resigned from a position with the city’s auxiliary police force.
He called city police and Officers Steven Carrington and Charles Kielbasa responded to investigate.
Carrington reports that he found that the crew had not secured a peddler’s license from the city and a city ordinance violation citation was issued.
Carrington also inspected the men’s truck and trailer and issued citations for a number of vehicular infractions.
Det. Sgt. Stephen K. Dickinson reviewed Carrington’s report and said that he had personally dealt with the persons named in May when they allegedly solicited local residents then.
He said that, at the time, he had strongly discouraged them from soliciting residents in the city and said that, if he encounters them again, will find another way to deliver the same message to them.
