Bus Companies Sue Two School Districts
Two school bus companies, which lost potential business when the Wainscott and Sag Harbor School Districts signed a transportation agreement in April, have brought suit against the districts.
The McCoy Bus Company, which had transported Wainscott’s students since September 2009, and Montauk Student Transport, which bused them previously, claim Wainscott should have put a contract out for bidding and that the districts needed a public vote and state approval to enter into such an agreement. They also claim the pricing does not meet negotiating standards for public contracts.
The Article 78 proceeding asks the court to invalidate the five-year contract the districts signed and to stop Wainscott from paying Sag Harbor. It is before Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge Joseph Farneti. The parties appeared in court this week, but the next court date has not been set.
McCoy had a formal agreement as the operator of a contract that Wainscott, which educates students from kindergarten through third grade, initially signed with Montauk Student Transport. It had been renewed on a year-to-year basis. The agreement with Sag Harbor covers transportation to classes in Sag Harbor, the East Hampton School District, in private schools, or in Board of Cooperative Educational Services programs. Wainscott is to pay Sag Harbor $247,500 during the 2016-17 school year.
Last year, Wainscott paid McCoy about $300,000, the school superintendent, Stuart Rachlin, said in an email. But in the complaint, McCoy said it would have bused Wainscott’s students this year for about $211,600, less than the district agreed to pay Sag Harbor. The complaint notes that one less bus route will be needed this year, because the Child Development Center of the Hamptons has closed.
“Therefore, this agreement improperly uses Sag Harbor taxpayer money, and makes the Wainscott district taxpayers pay in excess of $28,463.63 more than they would if the Wainscott district competitively bid the transportation services,” the complaint reads.
The Wainscott School District has hired Raymond Keenan, a Shirley attorney, while Sag Harbor has hired David Arntsen of the Smithtown firm Devitt Spellman Barrett. The districts share the Nesconset firm of Thomas M. Volz as general counsel, but have agreed to hire separate attorneys in this case.
“We believe that this suit is completely without merit,” David Eagan, the Wainscott School Board president, said Monday. “We don’t expect this suit to have any real impact at all. We look forward to working cooperatively with Sag Harbor.”
Mr. Eagan contends that Wainscott’s contract with Sag Harbor is a shared service between two public entities that did not require bidding. He called the complaint about pricing invalid, saying Wainscott and Sag Harbor used an “equitable allocation method, which is specifically provided for in the statute of the general municipal law.”
Mr. Keenan could not be reached, and Mr. Arntsen declined to comment. Katy Graves, Sag Harbor’s superintendent, also declined to comment, saying the district will bus Wainscott’s students when school begins in September.
McCoy and Montauk Student Transport are being represented by Patrick McCormick of the Ronkonkoma firm Campolo, Middleton & Associates. Mr. McCormick could not be reached for comment.