Firm disputes contractor's claim that he is owed $2M: Work on the U.S. 82 widening project was completed a year late, Bowie County commissioners are told

NEW BOSTON, Texas-A contractor in the U.S. Highway 82 widening project claims to be owed $2 million, but the project ran about a year behind, an official said Monday.
John Goodwin, with the Tyler, Texas-based Lockner Engineering firm, told Bowie County commissioners that his firm met Dec. 8 with the contractor of the $27 million project to arrive at a settlement on any remaining payments the contractor is owed.
However, Goodwin said that the contractor will need to present evidence that he is owed the money since it took one year longer to complete the project than initially scheduled.
"His case for getting a $2 million settlement is very weak," Goodwin told commissioners. "We need to see his justification for asking for the $2 million because he was about a year late in completing the project."
He made the comments after the Commissioners Court meeting.
Goodwin said the Texas Department of Transportation has now assumed full maintenance responsibility for the project.
In other business, commissioners reapplied for participation in the Texas State Indigent Defense Formula Grant program to continue receiving defense funding for indigent, local criminal defendants.