Page 14 Roohan Does Not Own Van Dam Continued from Page 10 to get some perspective on the whole thing. Can you start with the history of the Van Dam complex from where you got involved? Who owns the building presently? Roohan—All last year, it’s my understanding, Skidmore was working with the people next door and had visions that the building next door (next to Moore Hall) would be renovated on a lease basis for four or five years. Last spring those negotiations broke down. Sarkozi—Can I interrupt you, you don’t own the Van Dam building? Roohan—I don’t own that building. I have nothing to do with the building except being a volunteer worker. Sarkozi—Marcel told me this afternoon that you had.... Roohan—I don’t know Dave Marcel. I know who he is. He lives across the street from me. I’m really t-ed off at him, and when I see him I’ll tell him. For Dave Marcel to say that is just like the other idiots in the city of Saratoga who think I own the old Skidmore campus. I don’t own it. Ed. Note: From our conversation it seems that John Roohan does not personally own the building but he does sit on the board of a non-profit corporation that does. Thomas Roohan is an employee of John Roohan Realty. Morin—Who is the official landlord there? Roohan—This corporation. We have hired Tom Roohan on a contract basis to represent us as a person (for two years)— you can’t call us a corporation. This office did it, and I did it before he was in the business with me. I said, to do a contracting job of that size and magnitude and to spend that amount of time on it, I just don’t have the chance to spend that kind of time on it anymore, and we passed it on. And this corporation has hired Tom to be our representative. Sarkozi— O.K. Let’s go from the point President Palamountain or someone from Skidmore College approached you to look at the building. Roohan—We got the architectural rendering. Actually, they didn’t approach us, we were trying to sell this building for the school system because we were not realizing the income from that building we wanted. So, we tried to sell it. In fact, one parent from your school became aware of it and began negotiating with us. At that time he said “well, we should use the upstairs,” and he had eight apartments sketched out in the rough preliminary state, and that’s when the prime rate started going cuckoo. We were not willing to sell it to take a second position. In other words, the bank takes first mortgage, we take a second mortgage and we own the property. We don’t like that, :o we were unable to finance it. Sarkozi—That’s when you started building; the college then signed the lease with the corporation. When? April— May? Roohan—It was later. When do they have room drawing? May or April. They were drawing and we hadn’t gotten all our apples in line at that late date. And they were drawing on those rooms. We didn’t even have the final drawing from the architect at that time. Morin—Until well beyond room drawing? Roohan—Well, room drawing was so early, we didn’t have any time. It meant I couldn’t then go to a contractor to get a price for sheet rockers, electrical, carpentry, prices, kitchens, anything at the time to put together the packet. So we made a commitment to do it and like I said there was almost a $30,000 overrun, because we made a commitment. I went to a lot of expense, not for you, but for me. And I don't want you to think I’m doing it for you. I didn’t do it for you, I did it for Saratoga Central Catholic,because there’s no other second choice of education in Saratoga County. There are 150,000 students and just one private school in the whole damn county. I think that’s awful, there’s no choice. I’m not saying you should be a Catholic, because there should be a choice of education. That’s why I was working for it. Sarkozi—Did Skidmore pay you to develop the lease and to keep it for five years? Roohan—Nothing. They didn’t pay me anything. Sarkozi—And you began to contract the work to all the plumbers, everything. You had a September 1 deadline; is that correct? Roohan—That’s correct. Sarkozi— And the building was supposed to be totally finished by September 1? Roohan—That’s correct. Sarkozi—And you had promises from your contractors that it would be finished? Roohan—That’s correct. One of the problems was that we had arrangements for an elevator to be built outside to bring materials up. The second week in June— no elevator. Everything in that building was carried up—refrigerators, doors, sheet rock. That put us behind too. Sarkozi—I think I was there on the second. When did you have that opening? Roohan—I don’t know whether our date was the first or the second, close enough—when did your school start? Mike—The building wasn’t finished the first week of September, was it? Roohan—Were you living there? Sarkozi—When I lived there, I— Roohan—Were you living there? Sarkozi—I was living on campus, but I was waiting for you to finish. Roohan- When did you move there? Sarkozi—The eighth, tenth. Roohan—Well, then that was the date we were supposed to have it ready. I use two dates, as a contractor, knowing I get a different date from these workers because of the fact that I’ve been in this business long enough to know that the grass doesn’t always get planted the day people move in, and so I wanted a week or two leeway. This was not a great inconvenience to Skidmore, the fact that my contractors’ date of September first was running a week behind. Sarkozi—When I moved in during the second week of September did you consider the building complete? Roohan—No, did you see any workman in the building after that point? Sarkozi—I didn’t see any windows. Roohan—The windows were ordered in July. The first part of July, we had three window suppliers. The supplier promised us a four-week delivery, they took eight weeks. Those are facts I could not control. Have you ever worked on construction? Sarkozi—No, but— Roohan—If it was my building, I’d tell you to move the hell out. But you’re damn lucky it isn’t. But I had a responsibility. I completed my thing, IVe walked away from it. But I don’t like that kind of nonsense on page one of any paper when I’m innocent without a hearing from any grand jury. Sarkozi— Can I explain our position? Roohan—Sure, I know your position. It’s colder than hell up there. Sarkozi—Let’s backtrack for a second. You signed a lease with Skidmore College. I signed a contract with Skidmore College for a room that was supposed to be furnished— Roohan—You got the finest, I don’t know what floor you’re on, but you go around and visit a lot of friends and let me tell you, out of the 2,000 kids in residence in Saratoga Springs, 1800 of them don’t live as good as that floor. I know, I rent apartments in this city. I know the housing they have at Skidmore. 1800 of them kids don’t live as good as they do on that fourth floor. And there’s thousands of dollars worth of extra money, maybe not in the divan, or a purple chair, or some damn thing, but there was thousands of dollars of extra money to make that special. It was not made as a junk bin. Sarkozi—Mr. Roohan, if I could finish, when I leased the room I expected that there would be windows in the window frames. Roohan—I didn’t think you leased the room, I thought that was part of your job. I didn’t think you paid for your room. Aren’t you the prefect of discipline or the house counselor? Sarkozi—No, I am only the editor of the newspaper. I have nothing to do with the resident staff. Roohan—You were there before the resident staff was there, if I remember, nosing around. We moved furniture around in that building for you. Sarkozi—The question is, I contracted a room that was supposed to have heat in it. Roohan—Does it say that in the lease? Sarkozi—My rooming contract says— Roohan—It doesn’t say anything about windows or heat, I’m sure. Sarkozi—It doesn’t say it, but— Roohan—It doesn’t say that, but— We’re just talking semantics. There were supposed to be windows, and there was supposed to be heat, and you were supposed to have a warning system that came in today, right? It was ordered ten weeks ago, right? Twelve! Do you know about American Distribution? Do you know about the prime, and what it’s doing to inventories? There isn’t any! Sarkozi—But you said— Roohan—They don’t make it until they have an order. Sarkozi—We can understand that— Tom Roohan—The heat went on last Thursday or Friday. Each time I drove by there were 5 skylight windows open on the fourth floor, and when I went up there last night, you were barefoot, no one had coats or mittens on, no one was so uncomfortable... Morin—Did you happen to notice that all of their ovens were turned on, and all the burners on the stoves? Rom Roohan—In apartments 1 and 2, the ovens weren’t on... Editor’s Note: Roohan then goes on to speak generally about the energy crisis, and how it was criminal to leave windows open now in the U.S. Roohan—Do you read about Balance of Payments? Sarkozi—That isn’t the question- Roohan—It is the question—a good part of it. I’m saying to you that we didn’t get the windows because the windows didn’t -didn’t deliver! Parts of the heating system were not delivered because they were not available. Morin—We understand that. The students are just looking for somebody to repay them for what they feel was lost. Somebody has to be held accountable. Roohan—For wanting better accommodation than they have? Morin—No. You haven’t provided the basics. Roohan—I got one phone call from a girl. I said, “No, I don’t have a contract with you.” Morin—Okay—why do you complain that there was something written about you on the front page if you wouldn’t talk to her? Roohan- Who is she? Who does she represent besides Laurie. Sarkozi—Laurie Tracy was representing the Skidmore News. She is not a Van Dam resident. Roohan—She didn’t say who she was. She was just complaining her side, or that she’d like to address something representing 40 or 50 students. I said to myself, Who have we got here? (no. 1) I don’t know you, and (no. 2), I don’t have a lease with you. Sarkozi—That’s right—the students have a lease with Skidmore. Roohan—I think you’re here because my son asked you here—I was teed off and I wanted to speak with you—you’re taking liberties with the Freedom of the Press without understanding all the facts. John Roohan does not own that damn building, okay? I am sorry about heat! I am sorry about windows! I am really sorry that cars are parked where they’re not supposed to be. Sarkozi—I understand that there is a law in Saratoga that specifies the heating requirement. Roohan—Get a lawyer. Sarkozi—We have one—Richard Mullaney. Morin—The students are looking for an avenue of retribution—we thought we would talk to you about one. Roohan—Then hire Mr. Mullaney and sue the corporation (Spa Complex Inc.). I’m telling you—no one was freezing. There were no ice cubes in the halls, and it wasn’t as if you couldn’t pour water—you were as inconvenienced as a summer camp without heat. Sarkozi—I would like to address some of the other problems— Roohan—You are not Mr. Hastings— I’ve told you what my position is. Morin—What there seems to be is a discrepancy between what the Housing Office on campus has stated to the students as far as what the building would be when they moved in, and what your office agreed to finish. There lies most of the problem. Roohan—Were the students told they’d have washers and dryers? Morin—They were told they’d have similar living situations as any other dorm students — unfortunately, Skidmore has exquisite dorms. Therefore, the students felt they could receive the same type of living quarters. They did not receive it, and thus, they feel like they’ve been cheated. They are looking for someone to make up the difference. Roohan—They’re looking for someone to point the finger at! You already did that, “Boy Editor.” You used your positions on the paper to air your views... Morin—Let me remind you that the article did question who was responsible—the headline specified “Was it Skidmore College or John Roohan, Inc.?” Roohan—I read the article—it made me sick after working for so many hours to benefit two groups and to get that thrown in my face made me sick—especially since no one from the paper contacted me. No one called my 24 hr. answering service. What can the college do about it— nothing, only God could do something about it, and He isn’t here! Ed. Note: Mr. Roohan went on to explain the logistics of the series of contractual delays which occurred over the matters of production; unfortunately the furnace parts never arrived on time. No company is holding onto inventories because of high interest rates. Also, according to our writers, the Roohan office was called and the individual did identify himself as a Skidmore News reporter. Roohan—There is no answer for the Skidmore students except “Is there going to be any monetary compensation for the inconvenience?” Morin—If you were a student would you be seeking reimbursement? Roohan—If I were a student that wanted a monetary reimbursement, I would sit down and see what the monetary value was. Then I would approach that group that was representing that nebulous organization and say, “Sir, I feel that we have been treated unjustly and x amount of compensation should be repaid as a logical compromise for this situation.” I’m not saying that we would pay a cent, but that would be the logical way to approach it.