WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. February 8, 2007: As first reported last night by WPCNR, the school district has lost a lawsuit in U.S. District Court,  filed by the Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, seeking payment as part of its assuming responsibilities of the Trataros Construction Company, original contractor for the $28 Million White Plains High School renovation completed in 2003.

According to Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors speaking to WPCNR this morning, the district is subject to a court order directing the district to pay $2 Million to the Travelers Casualty and Surety Company. Mr. Connors indicated this afternoon that there is no further payment the district would face other than this payment, saying "The only payment we have here is the court order. There is nothing else out there to my knowledge."

Connors also said there was $800,000 in funds left  in the high school project, for the district to draw on to pay the court order sum,  but that he did not know what the exact amount the district would have to pay "until our lawyers advise us." 

Asked if $2 million was the maximum possible amount the district faced stemming from the oft-delayed high school construction, Connors said, “our attorneys are reviewing it to see what the actual cost is.”  Asked if the reported $6 Million other contractors had sued the district for in 2004, were still owed money from the project, Connors said “Some of that is part of this order,” (the $2 Million court order), but he emphatically said, "there is nothing else out there."

WPCNR asked Mr. Connors this morning  if the district was going to appeal the ruling. Connors said the district was to meet with their attorneys to see what its options were, had not ruled out an appeal, and to review the $2 Million payment, mentioning there were some “offsets,” but did not explain.

WPCNR has asked a follow up question to Mr. Connors this afternoon,  whether the $28 Million project, completed in 2003, considering this court order and the district claim of $7 Million from the Travelers Casualty being thrown out means the actual cost of the high school project was $37 Million, and was not "under budget" as glowingly reported by the district at its conclusion. Mr. Connors said he could not answer that question because he did not know what I was referring, but he would give a final total.

No full disclosure

The Court Order is a surprise because the existence of the suit and detailed circumstances and disputed dollar amounts of this on going legal action involving the school district with Travelers Casualty, and other contractors was not disclosed publicly by the Board of Education at any public meeting since the completion of the high school project.

The suit was not disclosed or addressed publicly by the board when Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson was under consideration as the artchitect to conduct the District facilities review and estimates for facility improvements. The school district used KG & D estimates as the basis for developing the scope of its $69.6 Million capital project.

The existence of  the court order the district faces was not disclosed to the Annual Budget Committee which met for the first time Tuesday evening to review the proposed $174.5 Million budget.

 Mr. Connors is at the Strategic Plan Core Committee meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel through Friday.