New London may be forced to pay several million dollars in demolition and remediation work for a new high school project because local officials allegedly heeded the directions of Konstantinos Diamantis, the former leader of Connecticut’s school construction program. Officials with the Department of Administrative Services, which houses the state’s school construction office, recently informed the city that it will not pay for any of the roughly $4 million in demolition or abatement work at the New London High School because that contract was never put out to bid, as state law requires. According to Diamantis, the only reason New London officials are pointing the finger at him now is because they don’t want to get stuck covering the cost of the demolition and abatement contract for their new high school. Conley said she and her colleagues in the legislature are simply trying to correct an issue that was created by the state. Officials at DAS said they are required to follow state law when it comes to reimbursements for school construction projects. That means the agency’s can’t reimburse New London for those costs unless the legislature approves special exemption for the New London project. Conley said she expects the General Assembly to pass that legislation this year.
https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230127/state-says-it-wont-pay-new-london-for-school-demolition-work/