NARROWSBURG — What was expected to be a simple exchange and formalization of documents Thursday unexpectedly fell apart at the very last minute.

The potential purchaser of the closed Narrowsburg School, Joan Buto, had approached rival purchasers Brendan and Kathleen Weiden last month to buy out her sales contract with the Sullivan West Central School District, which has long been trying to sell the nearly 90-year-old building and associated acreage.

The deal would have made the Weidens the official suitors of the school - at Buto's bid price of $751,000 - and ended Buto's involvement, including her plans to convert the facility into a drug and alcohol treatment center, in favor of the Weidens' multi-use community center concept.

SW's board signed off on the idea September 4, which then gave Buto and the Weidens five business days to close the deal (after which the Weidens would have had 120 days to conduct their own due diligence before deciding whether to purchase the campus).

But at this past Thursday's closing, Buto literally walked out of the room, upset with the Weidens' absence.

“The assignment date was set, and I asked if we needed to attend,” Buto related in a statement sent to the Demo­crat yesterday. “My attorney contacted Jason Scott (Weidens' attorney) via e-mail asking if the parties needed to be present at the assignment. He replied, ‘Yes.'”

Buto supplied copies of the emails Scott and her attorney, Kirk Orseck, traded.

“Do we still require a closing with the parties present?” Orseck asked the day before the closing.

“Yes,” replied Scott a short while later. “I will see you tomorrow at 1 at our office in Sullivan. The entire process should take 10 mins and your client will have bank checks for $96K in hand. I imagine it will go OK. We are all looking forward to getting this part completed.”

As a result, Buto and her brother Robert, who runs a drug treatment facility in Florida, took off time from work to attend, with Robert flying up from Florida.

The Weidens were at work in New York City that Thursday and did not need to attend, as all the paperwork, including certified checks, were signed and at the ready, said Scott.

“I had the original documents and bank checks [both with the Weidens' signatures],” Scott told the Democrat. “Our clients were ready and willing to proceed.”

The closing documents did not stipulate the presence of either party, according to Scott, and he maintains he clearly told Orseck - by phone, prior to the above-referenced email - that he would be the only person in attendance on the Weidens' side.

Nevertheless, the Weidens expressed a willingness to rectify any misunderstanding.

“My clients reached out to Joan Buto directly to apologize for any confusion,” said Larry Wolinsky, who is also representing the Weidens. “... She wrote back and said she's having ‘second thoughts'.”

Stung by sometimes virulent, hostile criticism from those opposed to her plans, Buto felt this was a slap in the face - “another example of how we never were afforded the same respect that was granted the Weidens,” she wrote.

So her attorney followed up with a proposed change in terms (one she said she knew would be rejected): instead of reassigning the sales contract, Buto would buy the school for $751,000, then sell it to the Weidens for $1.5 million.

Wolinsky indicated his clients refused.

“I advised them [Buto and her legal team] we'd be taking this matter to court to enforce the agreement,” Wolinsky said.

Paperwork to that end began yesterday, according to Scott, after Buto did not respond to an ultimatum to consummate the deal by noon Monday.

And a pending lawsuit against the district by the Weidens and neighbors of the Narrowsburg campus - arguing SW's sale agreement with Buto was improperly executed - will continue, as its dismissal was dependent on the successful completion of the reassignment agreement.

Wolinsky speculated that Buto was already upset about a press conference being held that same Thursday by NORSU (Narrowsburg Organized for Responsible School Usage), a group that has aggressively decried Buto and her plan for the school.

Wolinsky said Buto might have mistakenly thought the Weidens were at that press conference instead of being at the closing.

Nevertheless, the situation caught him by surprise.

“It was one of the more bizarre cases I've been associated with,” he acknowledged. “This came out of left field.”

Buto argued that it came from feeling “slighted and embarrassed.”

“We are no longer willing to assign the sale of the school or sell it,” she stated. “Evidently, God has made His decision. We are keeping the school.

“Currently, the use for the school is on hold.”

Meanwhile, Sullivan West officials still hope the matter can be resolved amicably and the school sold.

“We're just waiting for it [the reassignment agreement] to be completed,” said SW Supt. Nancy Hackett, who confirmed yesterday that she'd not had any conversations with Buto or the Weidens since Thursday's aborted closing.

SIDEBAR

Statement from Joan and Robert Buto

Just want to share some thoughts. My brother and I never had the intention of ruining anybody's town. We wanted to help people who had addiction problems in a county that has the second highest addiction rate in the State of New York. No malice was ever intended. Our family was publicly trashed and we were depicted as criminals, which is so far from the truth.

There is a saying, “Let go. Let God.” We put our faith in Him, to let whatever was going to happen, happen. We and the Weidens negotiated back and forth through our attorneys, and we only asked that our expenses be reimbursed, but as usual it was misrepresented by the media that we sold out for $20,000. This was not true, but we still left it in God's hands. We made no comments.

Celebration parties and press conferences were held prior to any signed agreements. Again, we made no comment.

The assignment date was set, and I asked if we needed to attend. My attorney contacted Jason Scott (Weidens' attorney) via e-mail asking if the parties needed to be present at the assignment. He replied, “Yes.”

This was very difficult to make happen at such late notice, because I, like the Weidens, work in NYC, so I lost a day at work. My brother, who lives in Florida, also flew up. While we had many reasons for not wanting to assign the purchase of the school to begin with, the Weidens' failure to attend the closing was the last straw. Another example of how we never were afforded the same respect that was granted the Weidens.

In regard to the $1.5 million (which included the cost of the school), we knew they wouldn't accept the offer, which admittedly we made because we felt slighted and now embarrassed.

We are no longer willing to assign the sale of the school or sell it. Evidently, God has made His decision. We are keeping the school.

Currently, the use for the school is on hold.