Details of Alleged Bid Tampering by School District Highlight Audit Committee Meeting

BRADENTON – The question of whether millions of dollars in Manatee School District bond funds had been mishandled, and the revelation of emails from top district officials that suggested possible bid rigging of construction projects were presented in a report to the district's volunteer audit committee on Wednesday.

The matter involves reported activities launched by members of a past school district administration; Teitelbaum advised that those members include then-Superintendent Dr. Roger Dearing; then-CFO (and future Superintendent) Tim McGonegal; several other top administration officials, as well as current school board chair Bob Gause.

Wednesday's presented report on the subject stems from construction projects that the district authorized a 2008 bidding process for during the Dearing administration, and how that process may have been rigged or steered by former school administration officials to favor at least one particular company.

Teitelbaum advised the committee that Dearing had directed McGonegal to order district administration to throw out an initial bidding process for a construction project that had Sarasota construction firm Balfour Beatty ranked at the top, in order to give preference to another firm, WG Mills.

Steven Oscher of the Tampa forensic accounting firm Oscher Consulting, which had written an initial report concerning the matter for the district in May of last year, advised committee members that $3.9 million in sales tax-funded bonds had not been accounted for while the district was contracting construction projects in 2008.

There were three named construction projects in the original documentation. Oscher confirmed to committee chair Joe Blitzko that a fourth project, a renovation of Myakka Elementary, was not included in the original bond or in any of the original documents.

Teitelbaum said that a full investigation by Florida's Attorney General was necessary for the purpose of "maintaining transparency and regaining public trust," and noted that the sales tax which currently helps funds the district needs to pass again in 2017 through public approval.

Referencing a recent school board meeting in which it was asked why he had involved the FBI in looking into the matter, Teitelbaum said, "How could I not have? Again, I am under fiduciary and legal duty to represent this district." The staff attorney also repeated that the district had not initiated contact with the FBI regarding the matter; instead, he said, the FBI contacted the district.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's recent review of the matter did not end up prompting an investigation by the Feds, who said that the matter was not within the scope of their responsibilities.