PORTAGE | The Board of Examiners voted not to revoke or suspend general contractor Simco Builders license Monday night, but board members had wanted to.

The city code governing contractors, they said, isn't adequate and didn't provide sufficient grounds to pull the license of company owner Shawn Simmons after a complaint was filed against him by resident Glenn Nicholson.

"The way it is written, we can't do it. We know it isn't right. You need to watch yourself. We will be watching you and others," board President Bob Machovyak told Simmons after a more than two-hour hearing on the complaint.

"Contractors like you we don't want to see in Portage," added member Liz Modesto, who chastised Simmons for not paying subcontractors on the job and for allowing liens to be filed against Nicholson's property because of the nonpayments. She also told him he'd be closely watched in the future.

The board also vowed to tighten up regulations, including putting in language that would allow them to revoke contractors' licenses for nonpayment of subcontractors.

Nicholson hired Simmons last year to put a second-story addition on his Chestnut Street home. He paid him $54,000 of the original $62,000 contract. Nicholson said Simmons wanted more money and Nicholson stopped him from finishing the project after Nicholson received notice that a third lien on his property would be filed by an unpaid subcontractor.

Simmons said "extras" requested by Nicholson drove up the cost and told board members he had put $72,000 into the project. He admitted he had not paid electrical, drywall, insulation and heating and air conditioning contractors for the Nicholson project. Simmons filed a lien against Nicholson for more than $14,000.

None of the changes on the project were ever put in writing and Nicholson denied agreeing to some of them or being aware of the additional costs. Simmons also said he underbid parts of the project, including the electrical work.

"You are here because you underbid the job and you never paid your subs," board member Glen Fingar said.

Code gives the board 10 reasons to suspend or revoke a contractor's license. Board members concentrated on two of the reasons -- gross incompetence/gross negligence and diverting funds with the intention to defraud. However, they said, they didn't feel they could completely prove either under the code.