Residents Continue to Object to the Millions East Hampton School District Spent on Suit with Sandpebble

A four year old legal dispute with Sandpebble Builders and its continuing expenses continue to anger some residents of and provoked yet another acrimonious exchange at a board of education meeting on Tuesday night. The usual dissenters called for greater financial oversight, just as the board is in negotiations with the contractor and is contemplating a financial advisory committee.

More than four years ago the school board hired Sandpebble, an East Hampton based contractor, for an expansion project, but subsequently chose another company for the actual construction. Sandpebble filed a breach of contract lawsuit in December 2006, claiming damages of $3.73 million. With the case still unresolved as of this week, the district has paid the law firm of Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius a cumulative total of $2.2 million to represent its interests in the lawsuit over the past four years.

East Hampton resident Paul Fiondella, a long outspoken critic of the board,  told its members on Tuesday that he believed they had behaved incompetently with regard to the case from the very beginning and that "this is an instance of a need for a financial advisory committee." Citing the filing costs of the district's initial counter-suit against Sandpebble, Mr. Fiondella said that none of the board members would ever pay such an amount in personal litigation.

When Stephen Talmage, a board member, attempted to explain the payment, Fiondella replied "What it means, sir, is that you're a perfect idiot!"

After calling for order, board president James Amaden reassured Fiondella that the district is making a concerted effort to reach a settlement with Sandpebble. "An offer was being made in a meeting we had with Sandpebble and we are in the process of discussing that," Amaden said.

Fiondella pressed him for particulars of any tentative settlement, but Amaden stressed that the district and Sandpebble had agreed to keep the details of their current discussions confidential.

Fiondella's dissatisfaction with the confidentiality agreement prompted board member John Ryan, Sr. to tell him: "You're jeopardizing our case!"

A brief argument between the two men ended with Ryan sarcastically saying "Fine, Paul, I'm a bad board member," to which Fiondella responded "If I were you I'd resign!"

East Hampton resident Jim Moeller said that the four-year case and its mounting expenses led him to agree with Fiondella that some sort of financial advisory body for the district was probably necessary: "You really need outside help on this budgetary process."

Fiondella concluded his own remarks by asking the board, "Do you realize this has been a very expensive lawsuit, and that perhaps there might have been some other way to go about it?"

East Hampton School District Superintendent Dr. Raymond Gualtieri said on Wednesday that the district is considering creating a financial advisory board of the type Fiondella and Moeller suggested.

Regarding Fiondella's objections to the district's current legal arrangements, Gualtieri explained "It is what it is. You can not like the answer if you want."