Why picketers have been outside a High Street business in Hamilton in recent days

Hamilton motorists in recent days have been wondering about picketers standing in front of the newly remodeled offices of Vision Source, owned by a former Hamilton mayor, Dr. Tom Nye.

They said they are there because of a financial dispute between Jason Snyder, a former Hamilton Citizen of the Year of TAMZ Construction, and the ex-mayor. In an effort to resolve the dispute, current Mayor Pat Moeller said he held a meeting in his office, acting as a “facilitator” between two men he has known since each arrived in Hamilton. Moeller, a lawyer, said he emphasized at the meeting he was representing neither side. Charles Galvin is Nye’s attorney.

“We finished Mr. Nye’s building here back in December, and the final invoice is unpaid, and he’s refusing to pay,” said Snyder of TAMZ, which worked on the building at 640-644 High St. through Dec. 30.

TAMZ on Feb. 23 filed a lien for $119,014 against the building, owned by Nye’s Dayton Lane Properties LLC.

“Rather than go the legal route, we’re trying to get a little creative here,” with the pickets, Snyder said. “This was the final of five invoices. Tom paid the other four invoices within five to seven days. There was never any issue whatsoever.”

The last invoice brought the total bills to $589,000, Snyder said.

In a post on Facebook responding to the sidewalk protest, which continued Monday, Nye wrote on the Vision Source Facebook page: “Prior to commencement of our project, TAMZ Construction Inc. promised us that the ‘worst case scenario’ budget estimate for our project at 644 High Street was $400,000. It was upon this information that we agreed to move forward with them.”

But since January of 2020, “we have paid TAMZ over $500,000 — far in excess of the ‘worst case scenario’ amount that they initially promised,” the post added.

Meanwhile, at least 25 punch-list items “have not been completed by TAMZ as promised, or were done improperly and will need repair and/or further attention.”

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“We’re very disappointed in the whole situation,” Nye said. “We’re particularly disappointed that our repeated attempts to settle this issue have gone unresolved.”

Moeller emphasized he represented neither side.

“I just said to both of them, ‘I’m not representing either one of you,’” Moeller said. “I said that litigation is not a good way to go for anybody, and to sit down and work it out. And that remains ... my position in the whole thing.”

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