But WHOA, today the (News Journal)'s Andrew Staub really did his homework and sheds some light on Leonard Sophrin ~ State lawmaker in dispute over payment for home renovations
The dispute began Sept. 11, when SC&A filed a lien in Superior Court against the Potters’ home in the Brandywine Hills neighborhood of Wilmington. The contractor alleged they owed $61,823.74 related to $215,000 in renovations that began in June 2011, about nine months after a storm toppled a tree onto the Potters’ home.
The Potters filed an Oct. 15 counter-claim that outlined 129 complaints against SC&A. Chief among the concerns, they alleged defects with the framing and installation of a clay roof created “unstable” conditions. The contractor never finished work, did not secure proper permits, left surplus materials at the home, improperly installed insulation and “knowingly concealed the defects and condition of the roof construction,” the Potters contended in court filings. “From its inception and through its entirety, the project was fraught with inconsistent project management, inept supervision, lack of planning and coordination of activities, and poor workmanship,” their counter-claim stated, indicating an anticipated two-month project stretched on for almost a year.
Key to the Potters’ argument was the opinion of their architect, Leonard Sophrin, who was hired as Mayor Dennis P. Williams’ director of policy in January when the new administration took office. He contended in a Sept. 21 report his clients shouldn’t pay SC&A because “defective work” required the roof be rebuilt. “Therefore it is not prudent for the owner to offer any further payment at this time,” Sophrin wrote, saying previously issued certificates of payment should be nullified. The contractor’s work, Sophrin found, included such aesthetic and structural deficiencies that SC&A should refund the Potters’ $118,481.75 in payments and pay $269,100 to rebuild the roof. All told, the Potters requested $387,581.75, plus interest, costs and legal fees.........Attorneys involved in the case did not return phone calls, nor did Jones-Potter and Sophrin. City spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge called the case a “private matter” that does not affect their service to the city.Staub could have added that Williams also hired Leonard Sophrin's son, David, as Jones-Potter's administrative assistant.
My comment rescue ~
This is bringing more scrutiny down on the Mayor's allowing the Potters' ways to disgrace the office. It is important to connect the dots. Who is doing favors for whom? [Also, a search online shows that SCA has built some of the finest buildings in the state]
- - November 2012.- Leonard Sophrin will serve as Transition Administrator to organize and facilitate the transition process. Sophrin is a Wilmington architect with experience on prior Mayoral transition teams. “Sophrin brings a deep knowledge of Wilmington’s history and transition experience to help craft my blueprint for the city,” said Williams.
[When Williams hired Sophrin and his and Potters' sons, the blatant nepotism was widely discussed HERE, HERE and HERE]
- - Currently, the Mayor's staff roster, shows that Sophrin's son works for Jones-Potter:
Velda Jones-Potter
Chief Strategy Advisor
David Sophrin
Administrative Assistant to the Chief Strategy Advisor
- - Connecting the dots......back in 2009, then Markell-appointed State Treasurer Jones-Potter also gave Nick Adams a job, picking him up from State Auditor Tom Wagner's staff. She made Adams Deputy Treasurer and he worked on her failed 2010 primary campaign against Flowers.
What people don't widely know is that Nick Adams' father was the principal at Dover HS and the very same person who signed off on then Rep. Nancy Wagner's "illegal" double dipping, a practice which Tom Wagner abetted.
And that Nick Adams is the very same now-Wilmington Trust employee who started the ruckus over Chip Flowers' Markell-Blevins-Schwartzkopf-Cash Management Policy Board problem.
YEESH.
~*~
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