In the rush to get Hamilton’s Pan Am Games stadium completed, subcontractors on the project say they haven’t been paid in full.

The subcontractors say the general contracting consortium Ontario Sports Solutions owes them more than $2 million in unpaid overtime and services rendered. They say they had no choice but to register liens against the property.

A property lien is a legal claim seeking money upon its sale.

It’s just the latest controversy surrounding the stadium, which has been dogged by delays. It was supposed to be completed by the end of June last year, yet the stadium, which will host the 2015 Pan Am Games soccer competition (running July 11-26), is reported to be only about 99 per cent completed now.

At least one subcontractor, Brascon Stainless Steel Fabricators Inc., is blaming senior consortium partner French-owned Bouygues Building Canada Inc. for the financial standoff.

“A much larger entity is taking advantage of the sub trades, in our opinion,” said Scott MacKenzie of Brascon, which says it is owed $133,000.

Samuel Gandossi, ‎projects director at Bouygues, directed all questions about the dispute to Infrastructure Ontario, the government agency that awarded contracts to Ontario Sports Solutions for building the Hamilton stadium, the $56-million Milton velodrome and the $45.5-million athletics stadium at York University.

“I am not willing to share any of this story,” Gandossi told the Star. “These are issues that deal with the life of a project. That’s what it’s going to be.”

Under what is known as alternative financing procurement, Ontario Sports Solutions was required to design, finance and build all three projects, including the Hamilton stadium. And only when completed is the consortium paid in full.

While there are four liens against the stadium, Infrastructure Ontario insists taxpayers’ investment is protected because of a lien bond taken out by the general contractor, Ontario Sports Solutions. But that bond does not guarantee money to the sub trades, which face going to court to make their cases.

The $145-million football and soccer stadium is expected to be handed over to the City of Hamilton in April. The city in turn will hand over the keys to Tim Hortons Field to TO2015 for the duration of the summer Pan Am Games, taking place from July 10-26.

Hamilton kicked in $54.3 million toward the cost of the stadium, the province $22.3 million, and Ottawa $69.1 million.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, since late December, land registry documents show construction liens totalling more than $2 million have been filed against the Balsam Ave. N. stadium property by subcontractors Clifford Masonry, Reimar Construction, Brascon Stainless Steel Fabricators, and Lancaster Group. Clifford has the largest claim at more than $1 million.

Sean Martin, director of operations for Reimar, said the company is owed $160,000 for overtime when the push was on to complete the stadium in time for the Ticats to play their annual Labour Day Classic.

“We got signed commitments (from the general contractor) on a daily basis that the overtime was extra to our contract,” he said, adding the company is disappointed that it put in the extra effort and is not being paid. Reimar was responsible for the concrete foundations and concrete for the stadium steps.

Kenaidan Contracting Ltd. of Mississauga, another Ontario Sports Solutions partner, declined to talk to the Star about the liens and directed questions to Infrastructure Ontario.

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A spokesperson for Infrastructure Ontario said protecting the taxpayer is what matters and added it is the general contractor’s responsibility to ensure their subcontractors are paid.

“Our project agreements include a requirement for the contractor to place a bond against any liens — effectively insurance against liens. As a result, liens on projects also don’t impact the building occupancy permitting process or substantial completion. It is each project contractor’s responsibility to ensure their subcontractors are paid,” Alan Findlay told the Star.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government could bring in prompt payment legislation to cover situations like this.

“Overall — not this specific project — the problem with prompt payment and the release of funds has come up over and over again,” Horwath said.

Brascon’s MacKenzie said the subcontractors got involved in the Hamilton project because of its previous dealing with Kenaidan.

“None of us knew who these other people were ... I had never heard of them before. But it’s because of this relationship with Kenaidan ... that we all got started,” he said.

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