Shady doings at the Coppergate Motel

Nailed

Augustine came forward in the midst of a dispute with his employer after he stepped on a nail at the job site and went to the hospital only to learn that his employer did not carry workers’ compensation coverage, Keller said. Augustine also told police that McGowan had told him to remove the copper pipes, which were later sold to an Abeel Street scrap yard for less than $1,500, quietly.

“He told us that McGowan wanted him to throw the copper quietly and not make too much noise,” said Keller.

Armed with Augustine’s statement, a receipt from the scrap yard and statements from Sottile and Salzmann that McGowan was told to not take the copper, police took the case to Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright. McGowan was charged with felony grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

Realizing that the removal of the pipes had scattered asbestos into the air, Salzmann called in Classic Environmental to reassess the situation and come up with new bid. The new price tag came in $143,000 over the original $94,940 bid.

“Once (asbestos) goes airborne it just involves a lot more hands-on labor,” Salzmann told a meeting of the Common Council finance committee in explaining the skyrocketing cost of abatement.

With the Army scheduled to demolish the motel in mid-September, Sottile authorized the Classic Demolition to go ahead with the job, then drafted a request for the council to issue a bond to borrow money for the increased cleanup costs. By the time a special meeting of the Common Council Finance Committee convened on Sept. 6 to consider the bond, Classic Environmental had already wrapped up the abatement job and aldermen were presented with a grim choice. They could authorize the bond, take the money from the city’s fund balance — money that Sottile said he needs to push a tax increase in the 2012 budget below the state-mandated two percent cap — or stiff the asbestos contractor and incur a lawsuit. Ultimately, the council voted 7-2 to authorize the bond with Republican caucus members and mayoral candidates Andi Turco-Levin and Ron Polacco voting against the resolution.