According to Wisconsin DOT project engineer Adam
Kopp, Mann Brothers, Inc. of Elkhorn stopped work for the winter break in mid
December on the $6 million Fitchburg US 14 interchange project, and never came
back to work when the spring highway building season opened. Heavy equipment on
the job site is neatly lined up in rows, and the project subcontractors and
material suppliers have not been paid. Hudson Insurance, the performance and
payment bond surety on the project, is in negotiations with WISDOT over payment
to subs and suppliers, and the hiring of a general contractor to complete the
project.
Mann is also in default on county road projects on
Routes A, J and ES in Walworth County. Walworth County Purchasing Manager Peggy
Watson said her projects are stalled and the County is “having the bond company
work through the issues.” Neither Walworth County nor WISDOT has yet determined
whether to have Mann continue as general with financing from the bonding
company, or to mobilize a replacement general contractor at the bonding company’s
expense.
Mann Brothers was founded in Elkhorn in 1920 when
Lawrence Mann and his sons trapped and sold 85 wild mink, and used the proceeds
as down payments on a Caterpillar bulldozer and a ton and a half dump truck. In
1932 ownership passed to the second generation, and then to the third
generation in 1982 under the leadership of Richard Mann. Fourth generation
owner David Mann has overseen rapid expansion of the company, apparently
stretching corporate finances to the point where the downturn in the construction
economy has taken its toll on the company’s ability to pay subs and suppliers.
