MALONE -- A Syracuse demolition company will get $37,500 from the Village of Malone to settle a lawsuit over the once-planned demolition of the Hotel Flanagan.

Bianchi Demolition Services Inc. and the village agreed to the out-of-court settlement rather than go to trial, where the company was seeking $180,000, said Mayor Brent Stewart.

The money will come out of the general fund, along with $17,160 for the attorney fees for James Brooks, who represented the village in the case, Stewart said.

"Who knows what it would have been if it would have gone to court? It could have been any number," the mayor said. "This ends it."

SPECIAL MEETING

Stewart got the settlement proposal and called a special meeting of the Village Board for Thursday morning to discuss ending the nearly two-year-old lawsuit.

He and Trustees Dailon Patnode and Susan Hafter approved two separate budget transfers to pay the money. Trustees Todd Lepine and Lenora Richards were not available.

"This was not initiated by my administration," Stewart said. "This had been going on before I came into office and has been looming over the village for going on four years.

"I'm glad it's over."

Bianchi sued the village for breach of contract in June 2005, stating that it should have been paid the entire $459,000 it was awarded in October 2003 when it agreed to tear down either the entire five-story structure or the top three floors, depending on the board's wishes.

The work would be paid for using $360,000 promised by U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-Pierrepont Manor) and $140,000 left over from an unspent 1999 low-income-housing loan from the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development.

AGREEMENT

Bianchi had made its agreement with the administration of former Mayor Richard "Joe" Gokey and former Trustees Michael Maneely, Michael Hicks and Gordon Crossman, who is now the District 3 representative on the Franklin County Legislature, and current Trustee Richards.

Bianchi had agreed to safely remove existing asbestos, as well as multiple tons of debris and pigeon droppings that had accumulated while the hotel sat vacant for nearly six years following an unsolved arson fire in 1997.

With the proper work permits in hand, a Bianchi team began preliminary demolition work in September 2003 by erecting a chain-link fence around the rear of the property, cutting down two trees out front and having the electricity restored.