Amity officials misspent $1.4M Bond Money Slated for Toxic Mold Removal

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Amity officials misspent $1.4M

Weizel, Register Correspondent February 20, 2002

ORANGE - Amity school officials improperly spent more than $1.4 million on

litigation attorneys and will likely have to pay the money back to Orange,

Woodbridge and Bethany. The money was part of a $2.85 million bond approved

by voters in 1998 to fix toxic mold and fungi at Amity Regional High School,

said Tri-Town Investigative Committee Chairman Tim Riordan.

A report the committee will release in the next 10 days will show that

" inadequate controls existed over the handling of the bond funds, and as a

result the expenditures that were made were not in accordance with the

requirements of the bond issue, " Riordan said Tuesday.

The problem with the bond funds was revealed to Amity and town officials

last Friday by former First Selectman Sousa, whose law partner,

Stone, represents the Tri-Town Committee.

After a five-year legal battle over the high school remediation project in

which Amity spent nearly $2.5 million, the district received a $2.7 million

mediation settlement last month. District officials had accused contractors

of creating the mold problem.

At the time Amity officials said they would use the entire settlement to pay

off the bond debt, on which payment is due March 20.

Now the school board will consider returning $1.4 million of the settlement

money to the towns at a special meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

" Just when we think things can't possibly get any worse we sink even lower, "

said Amity School Board Vice Chairman Duplinsky.

School Board Chairman Lohne said the board will strongly consider

returning the money to the towns.

Officials now say that under the terms of the 1998 bond issue, the board is

obligated to pay " expenses " back before paying off the bond debt. The $1.4

million paid to litigation attorneys is considered an expense, and it was

taken out of Amity's budget, which is paid by the three towns.

Both Lohne and Duplinsky said former School Board Chairman Santo Galatioto

was among officials who had misled the board about how the bond funds were

being spent - and also that the debt on the bond had to be paid down before

the towns could be paid back.

Galatioto said Tuesday that if bond money was transferred to pay legal

bills, he was not aware of it.

Amity officials said most, if not all of the money, was paid to former Amity

litigation attorney Carole Briggs of Glastonbury, who was removed from

handling the district's lawsuits last year by a Superior Court judge who

determined she had violated rules of professional conduct.

Briggs and the school district have filed lawsuits against each other over

money owed. Briggs declined to comment Tuesday.

All three town first selectmen said they are shocked at the new revelations.

Taxpayers in the three towns approved a special tax levy in December to bail

out the regional district from a $2.3 million deficit.

©New Haven Register 2002