Judge dismisses brush hauler’s suit against Cicero

By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

A two-and-a-half-year legal battle in the town of Cicero ended last week with Onondaga County Supreme Court Justice Deborah Karalunas ruling that the town was within its rights to deny a brush removal contract to Ian Hunter’s Last Chance Recycling.

At the Nov. 13 Cicero Town Board meeting, Supervisor Mark Venesky said the town spent more than $40,000 in legal fees fighting Hunter in court.

Hunter initially filed an Article 78 proceeding against the town in 2017 after Cicero awarded a brush removal contract to Onsite Development even though Last Chance Recycling provided the lowest bid. An Article 78 proceeding “seeks to challenge actions of administrative agencies and other government bodies,” according to the New York State Unified Court System.

Karalunas dismissed Hunter’s first suit in the fall of 2017 but granted Last Chance’s petition in January 2019 to have Onsite’s contract annulled. Hunter filed a third Article 78 suit in June 2019. In a decision issued Nov. 12, Karalunas said Last Chance’s bid was “non-responsive and properly rejected.”

The court found that Hunter only provided three of five driver abstracts from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, did not provide two letters of recommendation prior to the bid opening, and did not provide a list of vehicles “inspected, registered and ready for use at the time the bid was opened.”

NYS law requires municipalities to give low bidders 48 hours to explain bid deficiencies before awarding a contract to someone other than the lowest bidder. Karalunas’ decision said the town of Cicero “erred in not offering [Last Chance] an opportunity to ‘explain’ its bid variance,” but agreed with Cicero that Hunter was unable to fulfill the requirements laid out in the brush removal bid specifications.

“Petitioner’s variances from the bid specifications were not ‘minor irregularities’ or ‘paper deficiencies,’ they were intentional and material, and provided an unfair financial advantage to petitioner,” reads Karalunas’ decision. “The Town Respondents’ decision to reject Last Chance’s non-responsive bid was supported by a rational basis, honest and lawful.”

Venesky spoke out against Hunter, who was not present at the Nov. 13 meeting.

“This man said that we committed perjury, that we lied, that there was bid-rigging. Some people actually ran for this board claiming the same things. It’s a lie. It’s BS, and the judge declares it so,” Venesky said.

In an affidavit dated Aug. 2, Venesky said Hunter only provided one letter of recommendation, from the Clay town supervisor, after the bids were opened. Cicero had requested two letters of recommendation.

“When prior bids listed municipalities that Last Chance had done work for, but did not include letters of reference, I called the municipalities of Clay, DeWitt and Manlius, for which Petitioner had done work in the past, to ask whether they would provide a recommendation for Petitioner. Each of the Supervisors I spoke with at the time stated they would not provide Petitioner with a recommendation,” Venesky’s affidavit reads.

Hunter filed an affidavit in response on Oct. 9, claiming that Venesky’s account that none of the town supervisors he contacted would recommend Last Chance was a “false representation.”

Hunter also provided the court with an email from DeWitt Town Supervisor Ed Michalenko dated Aug. 29. In the email, Michalenko said he had read Venesky’s affidavit.

“Contrary to what he stated, I was never contacted by him and was never asked by anyone to comment on Last Chance Recycling Inc. or its Vice President, Ian Hunter, the Operating Officer of that company,” Michalenko wrote. “I know Ian Hunter, and during my past service as Town Councilor and presently as Supervisor for a total of 20 years, we have had no issues or complaints with their 25-acre composting and wood recycling operations.”

Venesky said Hunter tried to intimidate the town board by having his grandson film meetings “and trying to get people to explode.” Shawn Hunter Horan’s YouTube channel, “The People of Cicero NY,” last posted a recording of the June 26 town board meeting on July 3.

Last Chance Recycling’s most recent Article 78 petition can be viewed online at nycourts.gov. Click on “e-Filing” and navigate to “Court of Claims” under “Login.” Select “Search as a guest” and enter 005199/2019 as the case number.