By IN reporter Sean Boone
When Dooley-Mack was awarded as the contractor for the Saenger Theatre’s renovation project, Robertson-Curtis Inc. was under the impression it was going to be working as a painting sub-contractor.
The company was told they held the lowest bid for the work, but ultimately lost out to the Eugenio Painting Company–a group based right outside of Detroit.
“After Dooley Mack got to town we had a meeting,” says Wayne Cotton of Robertson-Curtis. “We didn’t hear back from them after that. We started making calls trying to see where we stood with the contract and we never heard another word from them.”
Cotton says they first learned the contractor had gone with someone else after visiting a local paint supplier in town and hearing it from the owner.
“You would expect someone to call you to talk to you about it,” he says. “Even when you don’t get a bid you generally get a call about it.”
Had Robertson-Curtis had received the bid, 8-12 locals would have worked on the job at somewhere close to $16 dollars an hour.
The Painters and Allied Traders Union reported that Eugenio was receiving $24 per hour on the job.
“It’s all something we are vested in (the community),” says Cotton. “How could they come out of town and pay that kind of rates and do a job like that?
“I don’t understand it.”