Sandpebble Suit to Trial

Following more than eight years of legal back-and-forth, the East Hampton School District’s ongoing battle with Sandpebble Builders will finally get its day in court. During Wednesday night’s school board meeting, Richard Burns, the superintendent, announced that a trial is set to begin on May 4.

“It’s the earliest date available based on courts, witnesses, and attorneys’ schedules,” he said. The board had previously expected the trial to begin later this fall. “It’s out of our control. It is what it is.”

In 2006, Sandpebble Builders, a South?ampton firm owned by Victor Canseco, sued the district for $3.75 million. The district had entered into a construction contract with Sandpebble for major renovations of the district’s schools, but before the work began the school board dropped Sandpebble in favor of another builder. Sandpebble contended the district had terminated its contract wrongfully and the two sides have been deadlocked ever since. The project was initially estimated at $18 million, but costs eventually ballooned to upwards of $80 million.

Over the years, legal costs have continued to mount. In the fall of 2012, George Aman, then school board president, estimated the district had spent $2.8 million on the lawsuit. With the prospect of a jury trial in the spring, costs will continue to rise. Since 2006, Stephen Angel of the Riverhead firm Esseks, Hefter & Angel has represented Sandpebble. Numerous calls for comment to Mr. Angel went unreturned. Calls to Mr. Burns and Isabel Madison, the assistant superintendent for business, also were not returned. 

Earlier in the board meeting, Joseph Kehm, a member of Toski, Schaefer, and Co., an accounting firm that conducted a recent external audit, presented its findings, giving the district an “unqualified opinion,” the highest level a third-party auditor can make. Describing the district as “financially strong,” the firm issued three separate reports, with “exceptional news all the way down.”

Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent, noted at the meeting that Project Most, which runs an after-school program at John M. Marshall Elementary School, now has over 100 students enrolled. As a result, the district announced that it plans to hire an additional teacher to stay late and provide homework help at a maximum cost of $6,000 between now and the end of the school year. The added teacher will help lower class sizes and provide targeted instruction.

Also mentioned at the meeting is that the board, citing security concerns, is continuing to pressure the Suffolk County Board of Elections to change polling times and places so that they do not overlap with school hours or are in school facilities.

 During the sparsely attended meeting, no public comments were made. The first budget work session takes place in late January, but before the budget cycle begins several board members expressed an interest in hearing from community members about their ideas and priorities. The board will next meet on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., when an education forum will convene.