Presentation to the Ogdensburg City Council by Pat Biggs:

(reads from CWA CDBG Handbook)
The staff from C. W. Augustine, Inc. will inspect the work in progress at appropriate times; however, the homeowners bear the final responsibility for ensuring that the contractor’s work meets generally accepted standards. You should understand that it is your responsibility to carry out your housing rehabilitation plan. This will include contacting and communicating with the contractor involved. Always keep in mind that this is your house, and your project. We are here to assist you to the best of our ability, however, we cannot be on site at all times, so your involvement is crucial to the process.

The most important thing to remember is that you are the one who will live with the contractor’s work. Pick the contractor that you think is the best for your situation. The contract for doing the work is between you and the contractor.  (ends reading from handbook)

It seems to me that Augustine gets all the money, but takes none of the responsibility.

A number of us want to review the paperwork for the O’Neill/Augustine work projects done for the City.  O’Neill has stated in meetings here that an engineer was on one of these projects, we want to see his or her report; we want to see copies of appraisals; we want to see records for building materials purchased.  If O’Neill has said a contractor has been told to return to the site a number of times to re-do work, we want to see the timesheets proving O’Neill’s claims.  We want to see receipts for asbestos abatement, lead abatement, and demolition.

Jim O’Neill’s answer to the City Council on many important questions has been, “I’d have to go back to the file.”  Well, we want to see that file.  We want to see O’Neill’s inspection reports as work progressed.  If others such as Ron Williams were reviewing the work in progress, we want to know dates and review all of his reports.

We’re sorry for the inconvience to the City.  We’re not trying to make your jobs harder, we’re just trying to see whether O’Neill did his job properly.

We will make FOIL requests as time permits, and again, we’re sorry for the inconvenience to the City.  We are on your side in this.

Everyone here, from the wealthiest person in this room, to the poorest person in this room, wants and needs to have a home where they can feel comfortable and safe.  Whoever you are, if you have a home that offers you comfort and safety, you have a dream home.  If we let our society decompose to the point where comfort, safety and health are for some, but not for others, what does that say about us?

For years, we have maintained that municipal entities should keep the grant-application process in-house, so to speak.  The reason for this is that there are built-in checks and balances that do not exist if the grant application and administration process is sub-contracted.  Ogdensburg has its best advantage sitting right here in this room, right now: Ogdensburg citizens, who are interested in, and have an interest in, the housing situation in the city.  An in-house program is subject to the Freedom of Information Laws, while outside entities are not.  And the Freedom of Information Laws will help THESE people keep an eye on the honesty and integrity of a project.  They will work for the city for free.  YOU might not like being under a magnifying glass, but perhaps it is best for everyone if you are.

I’d like to illustrate what happens when outside entities, whether not-for-profits or corporations such as C.W. Augustine, enter the picture.  Recently, the newspaper had a quote from Frederick J. Hanss, Potsdam Director of Planning and Development: referring to C. W. Augustine, Hanss said, “We have no problems with them. . . we’ve been satisfied.”

I have some more quotes from Fred Hanss, from Depositions taken on April 11, 2005.  Remember, Depositions are sworn statements.  Fred Hanss was asked by Henry Leader: “To your knowledge, does the entire staff of C.W. Augustine have engineering backgrounds?”  Under oath, Fred Hanss answered, “I don’t believe so, no.”

Yet not long before this, in Potsdam’s grant application for funds to rehabilitate their Market Street Building, Fred Hanss, as the Executive Director of the St. Lawrence County Housing Council, had submitted C.W. Augustine’s resume as a part of their grant application, affirming, along with the Village of Potsdam, that all parts of the grant application were true to the best of their knowledge.  The grant application included this statement from C.W. Augustine: “Staff all have engineering backgrounds.”

So, first Hanss, with the Village of Potsdam in tow, swore to the “fact” that O’Neill’s staff had engineering backgrounds.  Then, shortly thereafter, in sworn testimony, Hanss admitted that he didn’t believe that C.W. Augustine’s staff had engineering backgrounds.

The truth is that, not only did C.W.Augustine’s staff NOT have engineering backgrounds, there wasn’t any staff!  C.W. Augustine, Inc., had only one employee: Jim O’Neill!

From Jim O’Neill’s deposition (Dated  Sept. 19th, 2001), he has a high school education, and could not recall any of his employment history from the mid-1970s to the 1990s.  When pressed by Robert Leader to supply an answer as to how he supported himself during that time period, O’Neill mentioned being a dairy farmer, then getting into tractor repair, growing a large garden, and shooting deer.

We suspect that the city has a resume from O’Neill that tells a different story about his employment history.

It’s my opinion that James O’Neill/C.W. Augustine committed fraud in statements made in the Village of Potsdam grant application for funds to rehab the Market Street Building.  Fred Hanss, as Executive Director of the Housing Council, in my opinion, did the same.  Together, they made the Village of Potsdam an unwitting participant in their deception.

In the past fourteen years, C.W. Augustine has caused absolute misery for low income people, through North Country Affordable Housing, Snowbelt Housing, for whom his wife is the Executive Director, and the St. Lawrence County Housing Council/North Country Housing Council, who can’t even decide what their name actually is.  Behind them all, O’Neill’s C.W. Augustine covers the whole North Country.

I’m asking the City of Ogdensburg not to just DUMP homes on the market that could be dangerous to the occupants. I’m asking the City to hire an independent (meaning, not paid through C.W. Augustine, but paid directly by the City) INDEPENDENT architect or engineer to examine each O’Neill/Augustine project for safety and integrity in all systems: plumbing, heating, electrical, structural.  I’m asking  the City to do its duty by its residents.

This MESS is not the fault of the City.  The state and federal governments have looked the other way so long and so hard its a wonder their necks aren’t broken.  This is not the fault of the City, but instituting the solution to this problem has fallen to you.

Please don’t make the city responsible for the sale of potential deathtraps. James O’Neill/C.W. Augustine has been in charge of this grant program, and the City Attorney should take steps to ensure that he bears full responsibility for his work.

Intended Presentation to the Ogdensburg City Council by Fred Biggs:

Last meeting I attended no one seemed to know whom they were dealing with C.W. Augustine, James O’Neill, Mr. Augustine so I am here tonight to show you on the council whom you are really dealing with. All of the documents I have here are tonight are either sworn under oath documents in our court cases against James O’Neill and or received via FOIL requests over the past 14 years…. You all may think the Biggs’ have an axe to grind and you can just sluff this off to that ….but I am here to tell you all that we would not be here tonight if not for seeing O’Neill get another victim and another victim. We cannot rest until James O’Neill cannot put another innocent person where he put us…..in the nightmare..a housing nightmare….Ask Mr L—–… we know he is right about everything he said at your last meeting, we know because that is exactly what O’Neill did to us….he blames everybody for his errors, he blames everyone else, and always has an excuse …it has to stop.
I am going to take you through just a small potion of the evidence we have uncovered that will show any reasonable person that O’Neill is NOT to be trusted and certainly should garner no ones vote of confidence from this council …you must not only remove him and go in another direction with better oversight but should investigate his dealings with the city in light of what I show you here tonight ……
With these documents I am going to paint a picture of the guy who wants your vote of confidence.  In O’Neill’s sworn testimony, in 167 pages of sworn testimony he said
“I Don’t Recall” 196 times….by contrast in my sworn testimony in 202 pages I said “I Don’t recall” a total of 58 times, My wife (who has a much better memory than I do) said “I Don’t recall only 28 times in 153 pages of testimony …what does that tell you …..think about that for a second or two, 196 times in 167 pages O’Neill says “I don’t recall” …..that would only happen that much if someone were trying to cover up the facts and wasn’t sure of what he said three minutes ago, so the easy way out is “I don’t recall” …..How many times did he not have an answer for you in these meetings only saying I have to check the file,  I don’t expect to ever see a real file from O’Neill. ….. In his sworn testimony he was asked “What did you do between the early 1970’s and the early 1990’s? , his answer (see attachment page 1 )was “Grew a big garden, Shot Deer and sold drugs,” …he said that under oath …..no one would say that, I don’t believe you on the council would, nor anyone else who was not thumbing his nose at the whole process …..what kind of person are you dealing with here? …I know that answer, and  I am trying to help you answer that question for yourselves, with information you can weigh on your own. Then he
misrepresented about when his “Construction management Services” business started….
And still claims on the BBB web site (see attachment page 8 & 9) that he started his Construction Management Services in 1973 ….he had a sign out in front of our house in 1998 that said “homebuilding excellence and value since 1972” ..
And under oath (see attachment page 2 & 3) he said it started in the early 1990’s ….and his d/b/a certificates confirm that he started CMS …in 1991. (see attachment pages 10 & 11).
His resume (the one we obtained that was submitted in CDBG applications) says
all staff have engineering backgrounds (see attachment page 5)…..apparently staff is Ron Williams whom Mr. L—– said was CW Augustine’s home inspector …..has no NYS license for home inspection and by his own testimony has a degree in Theology. (see attachment page 6). Mr. Williams according to testimony (see attachment page 6B) was also in on intimidating a main witness in our case …I have the proof and you are all welcome to see it….O’Neill, in our case told the Architect that he had put Certainteed windows in our home….he even sent spec sheets (see attachment page 12) to the architect in our case …..only problem is that when we called Certainteed to claim warranty on the failed windows they said no problem …just look at the window lock hardware and take a picture of our logo and send it to us ….when I went to the windows to get that picture …the window hardware had no such marking…Certainteed said sorry they are not our windows! 50 % or better of the knock off windows O’Neill put in have failed seals, who are you dealing with here really?
We have our Contract, what we and O’Neill agreed to and the jury confirmed was our contract …..I have here page 1 of that original contact (see attachment page 13) and I have what O’Neill submitted to the court (see attachment page 14) …..only problem is he added the word “rough” to his copy….in order to dupe the court into believing that this was only an estimate!
Then we have his FIRST final bill, it was dated January 24 1998 for $ 16,882.00 (see attachment page 15) …I told him he should check his numbers, and after I questioned his numbers and started to get a clue about the construction problems he left us with, he said since your going to act like this, you now owe me $ $ 28,149.82, keep in mind O’Neill was off the job well prior to even his first final bill, so, you question his bill he nearly doubles it….(see attachment page 16)
That leads me to how the $ 100K could have been spent on 500 square feet …..
He can always pad man hours and over bill for the work performed and who is looking…ONLY HIM….. What if, like in our case O’Neill padded a bill by saying he had to reframe a window (that would take any carpenter about 2 hours) and charging 27.5 hours labor, (see attachment page 17) not only that, but the window in question was already framed and ready to go ….so by just the stroke of a pen he padded his bill 25.5 man hours! Add that up over an entire rehab project and you can see where $ 100,000  was spent on a 500 square foot building.
Then there is the testimony of his secretary who stated that he needed a counter claim against us because it was not looking any good for him in our case (see attachment page 18)…..so he had her fabricate false charges against us ….went so far as to brake glass in her driveway and tell her to call that in to the Sheriff ..that the Biggs did that…..she refused so he called it in himself (see attachment page 22-23-24)…..she said she saw his car parked out in front of her apartment, at 10pm at night not ours! (see Attachment page 18, bottom of page)
She also said he pulled our license plate off of a photo with a magnifying glass and took pictures of her neighbors van (was just like ours) …and said here’s the Biggs license plate number ….call the police and tell them you saw the Biggs car parked outside your house! (see attachment page 19) …who are you dealing with here really?
In our case we found that O’Neill traded off of Architect Brooks Washburn’s name, he charged the Town of Rossie $ 1200 with Brooks Washburn AIA services included …..and Mr.O’Neill was paid in full, only problem was that Brooks Washburn never provided the promised services (see attachment page 25)…so O’Neill used Brooks Washburn’s name to make money for himself! Who are you dealing with here really?
Another sample of O’Neill’s deceptive tactics….
In our case, O’Neill was counter suing us for not only $10 million in punitive damages (thinking that would make us back down) …but also a million dollars for hurting his reputation (see attachment page 30)….so, what does he do but prepare documents that he believed would mislead the court into believing that he lost $ 72,042.39 year over year in 1999 vs 1998  (see attachment page 31)….only problem was he included a copy of his corporation tax return from December 31, 1998 which showed he only made a profit of $ 12,037 (see attachment page 33)and then a profit & loss statement that  shows that his net profits actually increased to $ 20,548.39 from 1998 though 1999! (see attachment page 31).
Not only that, but his gross sales from 1996 to 1998 increased by more than $ 100K (see attachment pages 32 & 33)…all the while he was claiming to the court he wanted a million dollars for us hurting his reputation.
The council should make a law that building inspections must be made by the City Code enforcement office …and not wait for the homeowner to call ….the contractor should be required to call for the inspections on each phase. Additionally the Council might consider a resolution to require that the code enforcement officer be a licensed professional engineer, that is the only way to really protect the people.
In our case, O’Neill though required by law, never gave us a formal written contract, so we  proved and a jury confirmed that we had a contract with him, not his Corporation. In another case James A. O’Neill was being sued for shoddy construction, so he immediately requested that the case be dismissed because (see attachment page 27) they were suing the wrong party …they were suing him individually not his Corporation……he lost….point is he claims all over the place to be an expert in contract documents, (see attachment pages 5 & 8, 28, 29 & 34) but in his own dealings he did not provide one ……because he does not want to be held responsible ….sounds just like everything I have heard him say to City Council ….I was not here then, this program was handed to me…I’ll have to check the file on that ….Yeah right.
I am sure if I had his resume he submitted you (if he did) it would claim all of his expertise in engineering, code compliance, adherence to workmanlike standards, providing rehab plans and specifications (sounds like engineering work and that is illegal for him to do) with associated costs, etc.  So now that you know what an expert James O’Neill is in code compliance and adherence to workmanlike practices and standards lets see what the summary conclusion of the Architect’s  report on our home says ( FB read the council ……RA3168) (see attachment page 38)
Mr. O’Neill,  expert in every aspect of housing from contract agreements to “Boots on the Ground Theologists” making his inspections …..and yet what did our building code officer say in our case (see attachment page 35, 36 & 37)…O’Neill never called for an inspection on our project ….not once… Council needs to get rid of C.W. Augustine, Inc and James A. O’Neill and look at
Making him responsible for the work he has performed and pursue legal action to obtain that when O’Neill claims he did not do it.