> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.citizenjournal.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Lawrence appeals board to hear contractor's challenge to license revocation and five-year ban - URL: https://www.citizenjournal.us/lawrence-appeals-board-to-hear-contractors-challenge-to-license-revocation-and-five-year-ban/ - Published: 2026-09-16T19:00:22.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-16T19:00:22.000Z - Description: City claims that contractor performed unpermitted work, lied on work history forms - Author: Matthew Petillo - Tags: Lawrence, dnn, #news Sign up for our free newsletter and never miss a story. [Sign up free](https://subscribe.citizenjournal.us/?ref=citizenjournal.us) A Lawrence contractor barred from holding a city license for five years will ask an appeals board [Thursday, Sept. 17](https://lawrenceks.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Id=6243&ref=citizenjournal.us), to overturn a revocation that the city made effective immediately, citing risk to homeowners. According to the published agenda, both regular items on the Building Code Board of Appeals agenda concern one company. Assistant Planning and Development Services Director and Code Official Brian Jimenez revoked VBC Construction LLC's contractor license on July 14, effective immediately, under City Code Sec. 5-1719\. Under that section, a licensee or qualifying party whose license is revoked cannot apply for or be issued a Lawrence contractor license for five years — in this case until July 2031 for owner Sean Cesare. The revocation notice lists two grounds. The city says it received credible information, including text messages, that Cesare solicited Alex Hall to provide false professional work history — employment at Hall's BW P&L Holdings in Canton, Ohio — to support the work-experience affidavit on his license application. VBC's 2023 application lists "BW P&L LLC" of 2229 9th St. SW, Canton, Ohio, as a supervising-employee job totaling two years and four months and ending in July 2023, one of three work-history entries sworn before a notary. The notice also says time-stamped photographs indicate Cesare performed contracting work at 3148 Campfire Dr. around April 2026, with no permit obtained and while his license was on probation. The notice says the property owner confirmed that 50% of the contract price was paid directly to Cesare and the remaining 50% to an associated person. To prevail, the licensee must prove it is more probably true than not true that the notice was issued in error or that the penalty is excessive, inappropriate or unreasonable. The license was already on 12-month probation, imposed Feb. 4 and set to run through Feb. 4, 2027, over permit abandonment at 904 Highland Drive, false statements about who performed the finish electrical work at 110 Fall Ridge Lane, and Cesare's decision to call police on city Building Inspector Patrick O'Brien after a guardrail failed inspection. The probation notice says the Highland Drive home was sold in spring 2025 with numerous open inspections, leaving the new homeowner with an uninspected, non-code-compliant structure, and that the buyer hired a different general contractor in December 2025\. A city inspection record shows the final building inspection and the curb and gutter, drive approach and insulation re-inspections were never requested. VBC appealed the probation on Feb. 18 through attorney Terence E. Leibold, denying abandonment and disputing the guardrail and electrical findings, and the city filed a response March 2\. Leibold's letter said Cesare repeatedly sought inspections but was rebuffed or delayed by city staff, and that the homeowner chose, rather than was forced, to hire a replacement contractor. The notice also says the city asked to meet about the revocation on June 22 and that Cesare responded June 25 seeking an immediate meeting. It also says a July 2 meeting was canceled June 30 by new counsel Brennan P. Fagan of Fagan & Emert, and that as of the July 14 notice, no request to reschedule had been received. In the appeal, Fagan said that VBC was a victim in this series of events. "The City has accepted Mr. Hall’s version of these events in error. Mr. Hall can be persuasive, and he is nothing if not diligent in perfecting his stories," Fagan said. "VBC does not intend to blame the City for believing Mr. Hall, Mr. Cesare did, too. But the record needs to be set straight." A request for comment sent to Hall was not immediately returned. The board is set to meet at 3 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., in the Planning and Development Services offices on the ground floor. *This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our* [*AI policy*](https://www.citizenjournal.us/ai-policy/)*.* --- --- Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below: [Contact Us](https://www.citizenjournal.us/contact/) ---