A Southbury architect says the Oxford Library Planning and Building Committee’s search for a firm hasn’t been an open or fair process, according to a complaint the architect has filed with the town’s Board of Ethics.
Members of the Board of Ethics are scheduled to discuss the complaint filed by Jay Carow at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 10).
Carow, the principal design architect at Carow Architects Plus, claims he did not get a fair shot at proposing design plans for a new library. He claims the committee ignored his requests to make a proposal for over two years.
“They’re using a process that eliminates some very good architects,” Carow said. “Not just me, but architects all over Connecticut. It’s very inconsiderate of the tax payers’ money.”
Carow also claims that Barry Schiff, the committee’s vice chairman, lied about the circumstances surrounding a meeting they had together.
Carow said that Schiff invited him to his house to talk about the project and then told members of the committee and library officials that Carow showed up uninvited.
Carow said he kept a voicemail from Schiff proving he was invited.
Schiff’s action damaged his reputation, Carow said. He said Oxford Library Director Dawn Higginson questioned him as to why he showed up to a committee’s members house uninvited.
“She was very blunt, saying she didn’t know how a professional could show up at a committee member’s door uninvited,” reads Carow’s complaint. “[She said] She thought she knew me, but now found that I was totally unethical and she and the committee would have nothing further to do with me.”
The complaint against the committee is merely an accusation at this point.
Both Higginson and Schiff did not return calls for comment Friday or Monday.
Oxford Town Counsel Kevin Condon and First Selectman George Temple declined to comment on the complaint as well.
Carow’s website says he possesses more than 30 years of professional experience and 12 years of architectural teaching experience. His website also says he’s served as an expert witness and offered expert testimony for over two decades regarding “slip, trip and fall accidents, design and construction practice, material or design defects, code non-compliance, construction defects and safety issues.”
The current Oxford library is a 3,000 square foot space in the bottom of Oxford Town Hall. Opened in 1978, the library was supposed to be there for only five years.
The antiquated library isn’t handicap-accessible and it lacks a section for children or young adults. New plans detail a site between 15,000 to 16,000 square feet.
