July 13, 2011: Not "Man of the Century," or even "Man of the Year," but anyone in the know would agree that Bronxville resident John Priesing would be the front-runner for Bronxville's "Man of the Decade" award.

That's because for almost a decade, starting in 2002 when he first became a member of the Bronxville School Board, and long after stepping down from that position, John worked behind the scenes to handle a series of lawsuits against the Bronxville school district. Also helping him were Bronxville residents Richard Dresdale and Rick Rugani, but John was the most prominent.

The suits could have cost the Bronxville taxpayers large sums of money had they not ended in the school's favor, as they finally did on June 16 of this year, when the Bronxville Board of Education approved a comprehensive and final settlement of all outstanding claims and legal action. (The lawyers are now in the process of executing the terms of the settlement and hope to have it completed shortly.)

In looking back at the almost decade-long ordeal, Richard Dresdale said of John's contribution, "His continued efforts since 2008 to help the school district reach closure on the litigation were critical to the successful outcome of the matter."

The suits pertained to the addition of 35 new classrooms to the Bronxville School at an initial estimated cost of $22,250,000, an amount approved by taxpayers in a May 2000 referendum. Two supplemental bond issues were needed before the project was completed, adding another $8,823,775. In total, the project cost $33,614,347, including "delay claims" paid to contractors and net new funds to be paid by the school district.

Initiated during a downturn in the economy, the first company contracted to build the new "C" wing (Clover) failed to perform up to standards, causing the school board to transfer the project to another company, N. Picco and Son. It turned out to be a jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Picco, it soon became clear, was not going to perform up to standards, either. Eventually the board kicked Picco off the job for, among other reasons, failing to man the job properly, not working up to the standards of the architects, and falling substantially behind schedule.

Enter John Priesing and Richard Dresdale, who partnered on the Construction Management Committee for the board when construction became stalled and saw the project to completion over a two-year period. "I consider John a very close friend," added Dresdale, "and am thankful we had the opportunity to work closely together."

Shortly after the "C" wing was completed in 2004, however, lawsuits and claims against the school began. For starters, four contractors (electricians, plumbers, heating, and roofing) sued the school for "delay claims" (added costs caused by the project going "overtime"). The contractors asked for a collective total of $5 million. Eventually they would settle for $1.9 million.

But that was just the beginning. When the school board "defaulted" against Picco in 2003, board members, including John Priesing, felt there was only a 50-50 chance that Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, the insurer for Picco, would take over and finish the project. "Liberty had the choice to honor the bond, or not," John recalled. "It was the scariest period in the whole ten years," he added. "Fortunately, Liberty did honor it. Otherwise it would have cost the school district millions of dollars in new contracts, as the school would have had to finish the construction with new contractors."

After the "C" wing was finally completed, Liberty and Picco sued the school district for damages--Picco in state court (NY), and Liberty in federal court. The two legal actions sought a total of about $15 million from the school district.

"For a long time," recalled John, "we thought Liberty didn't want to settle, although we were always ready to talk. We were many millions apart, however," noted John, "which didn't help. ... But we were very grateful to the school board for sticking with us and being supportive of the collective thinking of our group [Priesing, Dresdale, and Rugani]."

Long story short, for the next seven years, John (and Dresdale and Rugani) dealt with lawyers from Picco, Liberty Mutual, and Travelers and Zurich insurance companies (insurance carriers for the school district). The meetings, according to John, took place in person or by phone "on average two times a month," a situation frequently leaving his wife, Madryn, alone in their home in Kiawah while John flew up to New York to meet with lawyers.

From the Bronxville taxpayers' point of view, the most noteworthy aspect of the settlement is that no additional monies had to be raised by the school district to satisfy the settlement. The relatively small amount of $510,051, which the school was required to pay out, was covered by an existing construction account and insurance reserve established by the board of education in 2006.

Reflecting on the advantageous settlement, John is quick to point out that "the best decision we ever made [Dresdale and John] was to recommend to the school board to change the lawyer representing the school to Vincent D'Orio. He proved to be outstanding."

While there were a number of people involved in the outcome, to be sure, the special diligence, persistence, and considerable negotiating skills that won the day make John the front runner. The fortunate result was that an additional bond issue was not required to pay the cost of settling the suits.

For this reason, John has justly earned our nomination for "Man of the Decade" award for his decade of service (without charge) to the Village of Bronxville. No remuneration comes with this award, but a sincere "thank you" to him, Richard Dresdale and Rick Rugani along the way would be totally appropriate.

Pictured here: John Priesing, Bronxville's "Man of the Decade."

Photo by A. Warner