Subcontractors Suffer

Despite securing millions of dollars to develop two housing complexes in the city of Watertown, Norstar Development USA allegedly has not been paying subcontractors on the projects.
Two local contractors say they were left in near financial ruin after working on Summit Woods and Starwood Apartments, while nine other companies have filed mechanic's liens with the Jefferson County clerk's office. Those liens have been placed because the contractors claim Norstar has not paid them $177,000 for work they've completed.
Norstar has been awarded more than $27.6 million in grants and loans from both private and public entities to fund the 200-unit Summit Woods project along outer Washington Street, originally advertised as a $25 million project. With funding in place for the housing projects, the contractor originally overseeing Norstar's construction sites is now wondering why he's waiting for more than $500,000 in back payments for work he says is complete.
James L. Hull, owner of Hull Contracting Corp., said he sold his equipment and is nearly bankrupt. He operated as Summit Woods' main contractor and was assigned to delegate duties among more specialized subcontractors. He was fired by Norstar in November.
On Monday, Linda Goodman, director of project development for Norstar, acknowledged there was conflict concerning contractors, but declined to comment further.
"We are in a dispute over the work they did for us," she said. "I cannot talk to you about this because monies are still owed."
Mr. Hull said Norstar's unwillingness to pay has shrunk his business and forced him to lay off employees.
"They pretty much put me out of business," Mr. Hull said. "They took me right out of the picture. My dump trucks, there's payments on excavators, you've gotta sell the equipment to pay off the companies that did the work."
A $9,585 lien placed by Anderson Equipment Co. against Hull Contracting was satisfied in April because Mr. Hull said he was able to sell enough equipment to pay the Buffalo company for the rentals it provided.
A large "for sale" sign sits outside the County Route 20 property in Theresa from which the company once operated.
Instead of employing about 30 people and operating a fleet of more than a dozen pieces of machinery, Mr. Hull is working with one friend and has two dump trucks, an excavator and other smaller pieces of equipment.
"It's been pretty iffy this year," he said. "A lot of people have been asking, 'What's the matter, can't keep a business going?' When you've been burned out of a half-million dollars, it's hard."
The contractor was hired to manage construction of Starwood Apartments, a 91-unit complex on Starbuck Avenue.
Norstar was late on a few payments, but with a larger contract being waved at him to manage the construction of Summit Woods, Mr. Hull said, he jumped at the offer.
Problems began shortly after the Summit Woods groundbreaking in 2007.
Mr. Hull said Norstar was aware that extensive blasting was needed to remove rock from the site.
Following a few months of excavation, Norstar was faced with a $300,000 bill, Mr. Hull said.
"They just went off the deep end," he said. "They told me, 'We can't afford to blast on the job anymore.' I knew there was $4 million to $5 million worth of blasting and they knew that, too."
After pulling the blasting company from the site, subcontractors attempted other methods.
"They finally told me to bring them back," Mr. Hull said. "I said, 'What do you mean? You just can't jerk people around like that.'"
North Country Explosives, Hammond, has placed a lien in the county clerk's office for $47,350.
Mr. Hull said that once other subcontractors didn't get paid and he was fired, the project site was shut down from November until February.
Things went better at the Starwood project.
"There's 3,000 feet of drains, sewer and water in the ground and we built all the foundations over near the Air Brake," Mr. Hull said. "If I didn't do that project to their liking, then why would they have hired me for Washington Street?"
Mr. Hull said he's filed a $500,000 lien against Norstar in Erie County. Norstar has filed a $950,000 suit against him for work not completed.
Norstar has since hired another contractor to manage the project.
"Believe you me, I don't think they're going to pay me," Mr. Hull said.
Robert G. Lamoreaux III was hired to roof the buildings at Starwood apartments. The Dexter resident said he was forced to file for bankruptcy after Norstar was repeatedly late on invoices he submitted.
The project was scheduled to end in December 2005 but dragged into February, he said. The $150,000 he was contracted to earn for the work actually cost him $60,000.
"The project came out looking all right because there were really competent contractors," Mr. Lamoreaux said. "It's a crime what they've done to them."
Mr. Lamoreaux said a box filled with paperwork from Norstar is at his house that includes renegotiated contracts, change orders and threatening letters from the developer.
Norstar asked that he extend the length of his insurance policy for the contract, at a cost of $3,000, and didn't pay him for three months of invoices, he said.
The breaking point, Mr. Lamoreaux said, was when he asked for a $27,000 invoice to be paid by Norstar the week before Christmas, and he was told that couldn't happen because management was on vacation.
"I just lost it," he said.
Mr. Lamoreaux defended Hull Contracting's work on the project.
"I watched them jerk Hull around every which way," he said. "They'd tell him to move a pile of dirt here, then there, then move it back to the original spot."
Both of Norstar's complexes are part of a larger picture seen by local, state and military officials as the panacea to the housing shortage that plagues Jefferson County. Starwood Apartments was the first project to offer apartments to low- and medium-income tenants following the announcement of Fort Drum's expansion.
Municipalities have spent thousands of dollars appeasing neighbors who are unhappy with the abutting developments and to run sewer and water infrastructure to Norstar properties.
It appears Norstar also has tapped the resources of a Watertown agency familiar with securing funding for housing rehabilitation.
Neighbors of Watertown Inc. has formed a nonprofit agency, Summit Wood Development Fund Corp., to broker deals with funding sources for Norstar.
Neighbors Executive Director Gary C. Beasley said Friday that the nonprofit agency owns a portion of the property Norstar is developing at Summit Woods and Starwood Apartments.
"At the point in time when the investors want to leave the property," he said, "Neighbors will have the first right of refusal on the property."
The nonprofit corporation and Hull Contracting were listed on the mechanic's liens placed with the Jefferson County clerk's office.
Mr. Beasley said that Neighbors acts as a "silent partner" and is not involved in disbursing funds to contractors. The agency also has no way of paying contractors who have placed liens.
"It's not anything that's against Neighbors of Watertown," he said. "It's up to the developer to settle any of those claims. We have no financial role in paying those bills in any way."
Both contractors identified Norstar as withholding funds, and not Mr. Beasley or Neighbors.
Summit Wood Housing Development Fund Corp. has signed off on loans totaling at least $26.7 million for the Summit Woods project, according to Jefferson County clerk's records.
In April 2007, Norstar accepted a $3.7 million loan from the Development Authority of the North Country.
That money mandates that a trust fund be set up to pay for "costs that include labor and materials."
"The borrower agrees to use the money received from lender first to pay those costs before using it for any other purpose," according to documents filed at the Jefferson County clerk's office.
Summit Woods' largest benefactor is Community Preservation Corp., New York City, which lent $20 million in April 2007.
CPC acts as the main lender of the Marcy Building, which Neighbors of Watertown Inc. owns through its for-profit subsidiary, Marcy Limited Partnership.
The state also pitched in $1.5 million in housing tax credits last year.
Neighbors has acted in the same capacity for the Starwood Apartments project, Mr. Beasley said.
Starwood Housing Development Fund Corp. secured a $10.5 million loan from CPC in March 2006.
Mr. Beasley said Neighbors is negotiating with Norstar for the upcoming Creekwood project on outer Mill Street. Norstar has proposed to construct 200 units and has received funding for the first 98 apartments. The remainder is still in the planning stage.

LaBouf Has Last Service At Public Square Church

The Rev. Timothy R. LaBouf is moving on, to southern pastures and a new beginning. The First Baptist Church's senior pastor announced earlier this month, with few details, that he is moving to Texas with his wife and children.
That message was subtly vague for a reason.
"It has all come together pretty quickly," the Rev. Mr. LaBouf said. "We really believe God is in this. I've talked with my wife about this and we're looking for a bit of privacy with this move."
The pastor held back tears during his last service at the Public Square church Sunday.
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf confirmed that he has taken an executive pastor position in a "pretty good-sized" church in west Texas in a community near Fort Worth and Dallas.
"We continue to feel this is a good fit," he said. "Basically, how it looks at this point, I'm going to be assisting the senior pastor and staff in their church. It's really a bittersweet time for all of us."
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf, who held a City Council seat beginning in 2004, used his time sitting at the City Hall dais to build bridges among community members.
"I wanted to try hard to better my community because Watertown is my hometown," he said. "Because of my involvement with politics, I was introduced to people where I could make a difference in their lives spiritually."
The pastor is considering joining politics in his new town.
"It's wait and see right now," he said. "I want to settle in and further the ministry first."
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf said he didn't want to be known for the spotlight put on the community when the church's Diaconate Board ousted Mary F. Lambert from teaching Sunday school under the premise that a woman shouldn't teach men at church.
"I know individuals were upset that they were put in the limelight because of what was done," he said. "I'll be the first to admit I didn't do everything right and made mistakes."
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf said he wanted the issue to remain private to protect others. Mrs. Lambert did not return a message left at her home Friday.
"I wish that it could have been done in a more loving way," the pastor said. "We were trying to protect innocent people who were being attacked. The full story, someday, will be able to be told."
Mrs. Lambert spent a portion of campaign season last year making appearances at events to support Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham, who fended off a challenge by the Rev. Mr. LaBouf.
"As believers, we stand before God one day and I want him to know that I did everything I could to uphold his word," he said.
With the pastor's departure, the Public Square church will have to adapt.
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf's mix of scripturally fundamental beliefs and progressive tactics to keep sermons and the church relevant have changed the demographics of the congregation.
"There is a large population of military people, but we have local people as well," he said.
The church had fewer than 40 members in 2004 when the Rev. Mr. LaBouf was hired as the senior pastor. That ballooned to about 150 in 2006, and has since settled at 80 members, he said Thursday.
About 60 to 70 people were at the 90-minute service Sunday.
The church's Diaconate Board is selecting a replacement, and a deacon will seek out candidates. Michael E. Burt, Chaumont, is an elder at the church. He will invite other pastors to attend Sunday service.
"I'm here to help do my part to help pastor Tim," Mr. Burt said. "We'll continue to have service every Sunday and we'll keep moving on."
The Chaumont man led a significant amount of Sunday's service while playing guitar before the Rev. Mr. LaBouf's sermons.
"I respect him a great deal, just the way he puts the message of God out there every Sunday," Mr. Burt said.
The Rev. Mr. LaBouf said he feels confident the church will be in good hands when he leaves. The bills are paid, the children's programs continue to thrive and an energy audit was performed this summer that is expected to cut utility costs.
"We feel like we're leaving at a really good time," he said. "Our church council has the dedication for the church to continue."
Earl L. Hoover, of Watertown, attended Sunday's service. Mr. Hoover said he supported the Rev. Mr. LaBouf's move.
"New York is losing, and Texas is gaining a great man of God," he said. "Honesty is his greatest asset."
Projects the Rev. Mr. LaBouf began will be maintained. The Sozo Teen Center will remain in the church's basement. The program has a maintenance agreement with the church until November. It then will be up to the Diaconate Board whether it wants to renew the contract.
"My hope and prayer is that it continues on," the Rev. Mr. LaBouf said. "I know many people view the relationship in a positive light."
The Bible study held Wednesdays at Starbucks on Arsenal Street will continue as well. That will now be led by Mr. Burt.
The clock that tops the tower will continue to be maintained by a local machinist.
Church members are renovating an area of the church that will be used to temporarily house guest pastors or other visitors.
"We just have a great group of people at the church that are ready to take over," the pastor said.
Mayor Graham attended the first few minutes of the pastor's last service and spoke with him beforehand.
"We've always been friends," the Rev. Mr. LaBouf said. "We might not have always agreed in the political arena, but we were still colleagues."
Following the service, the pastor pulled out a token from his meeting with the mayor: an honorary city coin.
"This will be the first thing that goes on my desk when I get settled," he said.

'Woods' Controversy Goes On: Neighbors Unsettled By Development, Loss Of Scenery

The methodical whir of drills and industrial nail guns punctuated the neighborhood calm last week along Iroquois Avenue West. The 200-unit housing project being built within sight of the dead-end road continues to draw ire from residents who do not want a walking trail from Summit Woods to their neighborhood.
"I don't like it," Pamela B. Quimby said. "We've lost enough of our woods already."
Mrs. Quimby has owned the last house at the end of the street for 25 years. Instead of gazing at a thicket through her front window, she now stares at the skeletons of unsided homes.
"I can see four of them," she said. "It was solid woods there."
Those buildings are expected to become the largest apartment complex built in the town and city of Watertown since Fort Drum announced its expansion in 2004.
"We are impacted the most by the development, which we didn't want in the first place," Mrs. Quimby said.
The city has considered building a walking trail from Summit Woods to Iroquois Avenue West to provide children a safe route to school. That proposal was turned down by the City Council in March and was brought up again when staff surveyed residents to find their opinion on the trail last month.
Of the 100 households polled, 48 wanted a trail to connect to Iroquois Avenue West, 43 were against it and nine were undecided. A majority of the households close to the trail's opening were against the proposal.
On Monday, the council harped to staff that a survey of south-side residents concerning a walking trail was not needed.
"The previous council said they didn't want a walkway, this council discussed it in February, we didn't want a walkway, and I thought that the sidewalk would be done this summer because we talked about it during budget time," Councilman Peter L. Clough said. "Why are we spending time, money and resources on a walkway when we could be contacting 10 property owners?"
The property owners he's referring to live along the west side of Washington Street between Summit Woods and the Watertown City School District campus. The city expects to build a sidewalk that extends the length of Washington Street that will allow students to pass safely to school.
That sidewalk is scheduled to be installed this spring.
"They still have to cross the street either way," Mrs. Quimby said. "Why do they need to come down here to do it?"
The city will position an officer at Washington Street and the entrance to Summit Woods to act as a crossing guard once the complex begins accepting tenants this fall.
"Staff feels that providing a walkway in this area is important," City Manager Mary M. Corriveau said. "We think it's going to happen even if we don't want it. Wouldn't it be better to have it as a developed walkway that is lit and maintained versus something that is not?"
"So what you're saying is it didn't matter what City Council said," Mr. Clough replied. "Staff decided that's what they wanted and that's what's going to be done."
The internal conflict within City Hall boiled over to the school district when District Superintendent Terry N. Fralick wrote a letter to Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham and the City Council on Aug. 25 outlining his concerns about the lack of a safe trail from the housing complex to the Washington Street schools.
The mayor said he called Mr. Fralick following the Sept. 2 council meeting to let him know that a sidewalk will be built and a crossing guard will be available.
"For right now, let's just deal with the short term, accommodate with a crossing guard if necessary and move ahead with the sidewalk," the mayor said. "Let's not relive the history of this, and I'm sure Mrs. Corriveau and staff are aware we don't want a path through there."
"I agree with you, Mr. Mayor," Mr. Clough said. "My point is if something like this is going to happen in the future, then council should be aware of it. If you're going to go against council's wishes, then we should be made aware of it so we're not receiving calls from neighbors saying, 'Why is this happening?' when we don't have an answer for them."

Moe.down Man Found Dead

TURIN — A man found unresponsive at the moe.down concert early Saturday and later pronounced dead at a Lowville hospital has been identified as David F. Laribee.
The 37-year-old Utica man was lying in the expansive camping area at 12:40 a.m. Saturday when fellow concertgoers became concerned and called for medics, according to the Lewis County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff L. Michael Tabolt said Mr. Laribee suffered a "sudden death," and an autopsy performed Saturday by Dr. Samuel A. Livingstone, Jefferson County medical examiner, was inconclusive. Toxicology results are pending.
"Foul play does not appear to be a factor, however, until the investigation is complete and circumstances reviewed, the investigation will remain active and open," the Sheriff's Department release states.
Deputies said they were having trouble finding the "true identity" of Mr. Laribee, whose last known address was San Francisco. He was not carrying any identification at the concert.
The man was attending the three-day moe.down festival held annually on Labor Day weekend at the Snow Ridge Ski Area, along Route 26.
This is the ninth year the ski resort has hosted the concert for the Buffalo-based jam band that formed in the early 1990s. While music and drugs (and subsequent arrests) flow aplenty, this is the first death associated with the festival.
"We always have some minor scrapes and cuts that we can take care of right here," said moe. promoter Jon Topper. "Every year, you go into the concert and hope that nothing bad is going to happen."
Mr. Topper said there are always medical personnel at the concert, including a doctor who stays at the venue.
The promoter had not heard the final ticket count Saturday afternoon, but said roughly 8,000 people were expected to be in attendance.
"Probably 95 percent of them are camping," he said.
With 7,600 people staying overnight in the parking lot, the temporary tent city more than doubles the population of the nearby village of Lowville.
Later Saturday morning, there still was an air of uninhibited partying around the tents. People sat by their tents drinking alcohol, others played games and a girl walked around selling vegetarian burritos.
With pancake batter in hand and a beer nearby, Peter M. Ulrich, Broomfield, Colo., said he flew in Thursday for the concert, which he attends regularly.
"We borrowed a cooler from a friend and flew in with everything else," he said. "I like it here; it's small, the atmosphere is nice and everyone's friendly."
Mr. Ulrich said people largely were still getting settled in Friday.
"It becomes its own little tent city for a little while," he said.
He was unaware that someone was taken from the venue in an ambulance.
Moe. will play its last of six sets to close out the concert tonight. Also playing today are the Presidents of the USA, Levon Helm, Lynch, Cornmeal, the Bridge and the Macpodz.
In other concert news, deputies arrested Steven A. Yanus, 22, Fairport, and charged him with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after they allegedly found him with 6 grams of ecstasy powder and 12 strips of LSD.
He was arraigned in Turin Town Court and sent to Lewis County jail, Lowville, on $5,000 bail. His arrest is not in connection with Mr. Laribee's death.