HomeMy Public PortalAboutLTC 025-2020 - Letter dated February 3, 2020 Mr. Albert J. Slap, President Coastal Risk AssessmentBAL HARBOUR
- VILLAGE -
OFFICE OF THE VILLAGE MANAGER LETTER TO COUNCIL
NO. 025-2020
TO:
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, Village Manager
DATE: February 14, 2020
SUBJECT: Letter dated February 3, 2020 from Mr. Albert J. Slap, President, Coastal
Risk Assessment
Mayor Gabriel Groisman and Members of the Village Council
ary
The purpose of this Letter to Council (LTC) is to provide you with further information
concerning the letter the Village and each of you received. The letter is attached for your
reference, alleges a breach of contract by Coastal Systems, Inc. in their sub -contract with
Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, of Boca Raton, FL. Coastal Systems (CSI) was recently
retained to conduct the ongoing Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
grant funded Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability Study. It should be noted
that the Village has not entered into any agreement with Coastal Risk Assessment.
On February 11, 2020, I received the attached e mail message from Mr. R. Harvey Sasso,
P.E. President of Coastal Systems International, Inc. in reference to the letter received from
Mr. Slap. In his message, Mr. Sasso states that he is attempting to resolve this issue
internally and it will not negatively impact the submittal of the report related to our
agreement.
If further communications are received for either party in the matter, I will advise.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact John
Oldenburg directly.
JMG/JAO
John Oldenburg
From: R H. Sasso <rhsasso@coastalsystemsint.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3:17 PM
To: Jorge Gonzalez
Cc: John Oldenburg
Subject: FW: Coastal Risk Claim Against CSI and Harvey Sasso
[NOTICE: This message originated outside of the Village of Bal Harbour -- DO NOT CLICK on (inks
or open attachments unless you are sure the content is safe.]
Dear Jorge,
I apologize that the Village has been introduced into these communications with our proposed sub -consultant,
Albert Slap - President of Coastal Risk Consulting (CRC). Mr. Slap is attempting to involve the Village in what
should be an'in-house' negotiation between Coastal Systems International, Inc. (as the Village's Prime
Consultant) and their sub -consultant.
In our original August 2019 Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability Study RFQ submittal to the
Village, we represented that Mr. Slap's company was expected to provide a database of property information for
each individual property within the Village, including property size, use, building area, valuation, as well as
surrounding LiDAR ground elevations. CRC was also expected to provide flood risk data for each parcel.
Subsequently, we came to learn that their software configuration was not able to provide this information in a
timely manner, and given the schedule of the Project, we have had to compile this information at our cost.
We have not yet executed any agreement with CRC. We are currently exploring opportunities for an alternative
scope of work towards resolving this issue with Mr. Slap, but in no way will our negotiations with this sub -
consultant affect our commitment for the timely submittal of our final report to the Village.
We are making substantial progress on the Project and look forward to meeting with you at the next Workshop.
Should you have any questions or require any further clarification on the above, I am available to discuss.
Best Regards,
Harvey
R. Harvey Sasso, P.E.
President
rhsasso@coastalsystemsint.com
COASTAL
SYSTEMS
, AF10\il
Coastal Systems International, Inc.
464 South Dixie Highway
Coral Gables, Florida 33146, USA
1
t 305-669-6236
f 305-661-1914
www.CoastalSystemslnt.com
From: albertslap@coastalriskconsulting.com [mailto:albertslap@coastalriskconsulting.com]
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2020 5:57 PM
To: R H. Sasso; mchester@mitchellchester.com
Subject: FW: Coastal Risk Claim Against CSI and Harvey Sasso
From: albertslap@coastalriskconsulting.com <albertslap@coastalriskconsulting.com>
Sent: Monday, February 3, 2020 5:56 PM
To: 'mayor@balharbourfl.gov' <mayor@balharbourfl.gov>; 'manager@balharbourfl.gov' <manager@balharbourfl.gov>
Cc: 'ssalver@balharbourfl.gov' <ssalver@balharbourfl.gov>; 'jfreimark@balharbourfl.gov'
<jfreimark@balharbourfl.gov>;'dalbaum@balharbourfl.gov' <dalbaum@balharbourfl.gov>;
'mchester@mitchellchester.com' <mchester@mitchellchester.com>; 'bsklar@balharbourfl.gov'
<bsklar@balharbourfl.gov>; 'rajiv.krishnan@coastalriskconsulting.com' <rajiv.krishnan@coastalriskconsulting.com>;
'Leonard Berry'<Ieonardberry@coastalriskconsulting.com>;'Julie Wagner'<juliewagner@coastalriskconsulting.com>
Subject: Coastal Risk Claim Against CSI and Harvey Sasso
Dear Mayor Groisman and Village Manager Gonzalez:
Attached please find a claim letter by my Company, Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, against Harvey Sasso and Coastal
Systems International. This regards a contractual dispute that regrettably involves the Village. Please refer to the
attached letter of today's date and three exhibits. Those exhibits are: (1) the Bal Harbour Village
Coastal Engineering and Professional Consulting Services to Conduct a Coastal Inundation and Economic Vulnerability
Study RFQ No. 2019-02: (2) a proposed contract addendum from Coastal Risk requested by Harvey Sasso; and, (3) the
demand letter to Sasso and Coastal Systems from our lawyer, Mitchell Chester, Esq.
We request an opportunity to speak with you on the phone regarding this matter to determine if the breach of contract
by Sasso and Coastal Systems can be cured and the project completed as was contemplated in the Florida DEP-funded,
Vulnerability Assessment proposal.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. My personal cell phone number is 970-710-9553.
Kind regards,
Albert J. Slap, President
Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC
Office: 844 -Sea -Rise (732-7473)
www.floodscores.com
Coastal Risk is a geospatial modeling and data analytics technology company.
Coastal Risk's technology empowers individuals, businesses and governments
in the US and globally to accelerate resilience.
•A1
R.Al. Mk'
2
COA TAL RISK CONSULTING
www.coastalriskconsulting.com
844 -SEA -RISE (732-7473)
February 3, 2020
Cc: Gabriel Groisman, Seth Salver, Jeffrey Freimark, Buzzy Sklar, David Albaum
Jorge Gonzalez, Village Manager
Village of Bal Harbour
655 -96TH STREET
BAL HARBOUR, FLORIDA 33154
Dear Village Manager Gonzalez:
The purpose of this letter is to bring to your prompt attention a breach of contract by Coastal
Systems, Inc. in their sub -contract with my Company, Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC, of Boca
Raton, FL. As you are aware, Coastal Systems (CSI) competed to perform a Vulnerability
Assessment for the Village of Bal Harbour under a Florida DEP grant by including in the proposed
Scope of Work obligations of Coastal Risk Consulting (CRC). A copy of that Proposal is attached
as Exhibit 1.
CSI was selected as the prime contractor by the Village based on its proposal, which included
CRC, and work on the project has begun. The president of CSI, Harvey Sasso, requested that CRC
attend the first Village public workshop under the contract, which has held 011 January 7, 2020. The
undersigned and another CRC employee attended and participated in the workshop.
Mr. Sasso has communicated verbally to the undersigned that, because CSI would "lose money on
the job with the Village" under this contract, that it was removing CRC from its position as a sub-
contractor and would not assign to us the tasks that were specified to us in the Scope of Work. In
fact, CSI has prevented CRC from doing any work on the contract. Mr. Sasso's perception that CSI
would "lose money" on this contract, whether true or not, is not a legal justification for breaching
its contract with CRC.
When Coastal Risk objected to this unlawful treatment by CSI, Mr. Sasso requested that CRC
prepare and provide to him an additional Scope of Work of what it would do for CSI under its
agreement with the Village for $15,000 or 20% of the contract price. Twenty percent was the
percentage of the total work assigned to CRC in the proposal to the Village (Ex. 1). CRC did
2385 Executive Center Drive, Suite 100, Boca Raton, FL 33421
844 -SEA -RISE (732-7473)
provide to Mr. Sasso such a proposal on January 16, 2020. A copy of that letter proposal is
attached as Exhibit 2. Since that time, CRC has had no response to its proposal from CSI.
As you may also know, Coastal Risk is the prime contractor for the same sort of Vulnerability
Assessment for your neighboring municipality, Bay Harbor Islands. Performing vulnerability
assessments for local governments in Florida is a significant part of our business. We have done
them for the Village of Key Biscayne and the Village of Miami Shores. So, in addition to, harming
our contractual and financial interests in the sub -contract with the Village of Bal Harbour, CSI is
harming our reputational interests by preventing us from performing our sub -contract and
providing the Village with our high -quality analyses. If we did not perform assigned work for a
client, this would harm our reputation, unless we were being prevented from doing so by a prime
contractor, which is the case, here.
Additionally, because of CSI' s active breach of contract and injury to CRC's reputational interests,
CRC sent to CSI a letter from its legal counsel, Mitchell Chester, Esq., dated January 29, 2020. A
copy of that letter is attached as Exhibit 3. We have not had any response from CSI and, so, we are
writing to the Village to put it on notice of the breach of contract by its contractor CSI and to seek
intervention by the Village in order that Coastal Risk can perform under its sub -contract. CRC
stands ready and able to perform the work under the sub -contract and, the only reason that we are
not is that CSI and Mr. Sasso are actively preventing us from doing so.
We would be glad to meet with you and your staff to discuss this matter, either with or without Mr.
Sasso's participation. As you can see from the attached proposal to Mr. Sasso (Exhibit 2), the
materials that CRC would produce for the Village under the sub -contract are exactly what is
needed for this Vulnerability Assessment and to provide important information and analyses to the
residents and businesses in Bal Harbour, so that they can better understand the sea level rise and
climate change risks and challenges that are facing them.
Please let us know how you would like to proceed. It is our intention to file a breach of contract
claim in court against CSI, if this matter cannot be amicably resolved promptly. As to whether the
Village must be added as a third -party, we will consult with our attorney, and advise you in
advance. We are regretful that this has occurred. In our rather brief life as a startup in South Florida
(est. 2014), until now, we have made no claims against any of our contractors, sub -contractors or
clients and, no claims have been filed against us. We look forward to hearing back from you. My
personal cell number is 970-710-9553. I am visiting my elderly mother in Philadelphia this week,
but, am available by phone to discuss next steps.
Kind regards,
4t9 5'
Albert J. S1
Presid
ent
dent
2385 Executive Center Drive, Suite 100, Boca Raton, FL 33421
844 -SEA -RISE (732-7473)