ICCSD Board Votes No on McComas Lacina; District Hires Contractor Anyway

Captions: 1. Chris Liebig, Iowa City Community School District board director and UI law professor, who pointed out the obvious discrimination in firing a female staff for insubordination and not a male staff for insubordination. 2. ICCSD Supt. Steve Murley, turning around to look at the big crowd supporting Stephanie Van Housen, the homeless liaison and whistleblower who was fired for insubordination at the pictured hearing. 3. Stephanie Van Housen, former homeless liaison for the ICCSD, who has vowed to sue the district for firing her for blowing the whistle on illegal practices involving special education students. 4. Lori Roetlin, board director, who articulated so well what is wrong with the lack of communication between district administration and the school board regarding infrastructure projects and the lack of cooperation between the board and the administration. 5. Phil Hemingway (with wife Anita), board director and owner/manager of Phil's Repair Service off of Scott Boulevard near Fareway Supermarket.

At the July 25, 2017 Iowa City Community School District board meeting, the board was divided 50-50 on whether to allow the district to hire McComas Lacina, a local contractor, to assist in-house staff at the district’s physical plant, to assist with converting Penn Elementary School’s gymnasium in North Liberty into two classrooms. Hence, the motion failed. Therefore, the district couldn’t hire McComas Lacina to help with the Penn project.

At the August 15, 2017 board meeting, board director Lori Roetlin asked, “Is McComas Lacina at Penn doing work right now?”

District physical plant director Duane Van Hemert replied, “They’re doing a little demolition work for us. We have one gentleman acting as a supervisor [from McComas Lacina, presumably].”

Lori: “Are these workers [from McComas Lacina] going to be paid?”

Duane: “I would hope they’d be paid. They’re at risk, technically [because the board voted not to allow them to work as a contractor on the Penn project]. I’d hope the district would pay them.”

Lori: “Do you have a ballpark estimate on what the total cost is going to be?”

Duane: “I’d have to get McComas Lacina’s invoice. I don’t have it with me. Payment would come from the general fund. I could get it for you in the next day or so.”

Lori said that she felt that the board has been put in a very difficult position, now that McComas Lacina was hired without the board’s approval, the project is halfway done, the gym at Penn is not usable, and school is starting soon.

Lori: “I found the decision-making process on this agenda item very, very frustrating. We have contractor work being done that was not approved by the board. Also, this project did not go through the Facilities Master Plan.

“I voted no because of the process. I didn’t know the project was started, much less halfway done. The addition of four classrooms did not have full vetting.

“This Penn expansion could have been discussed, including the question of whether the community supports the Penn expansion. Emails I’ve received from the community indicate that the Penn community doesn’t want the expansion. The Penn expansion should have been discussed in January. It hasn’t been discussed at one board work session or one listening post. It was not discussed in the Facilities Master Plan.

“I will vote affirmatively, but I’m very, very frustrated by this process. In future, I’d like to be informed and the district should be informed. We’re in a tight spot now.”

Duane: “We didn’t know in January or in May that this work needed to be done. We do a lot of projects that we don’t bring to the board. We did the Twain classroom last summer and Alexander. We have a lot of last-minute projects. The kids are coming and I got to get ‘er done. I’m just the facilities guy. I’ve got to get the space ready. I’ll do what I have to do to get things done. [Emphasis mine.]

Phil Hemingway, board director: “I have a problem voting on things we don’t know the cost of. For us to do our fiduciary duty, we need to know what things cost. If you [Duane] knew in May, don’t hesitate to tell us it’s in the pipeline. I have a problem when a community member tells me that a contractor we voted not to work with is working at Penn. Does what we vote on have any merit at all? We’re forced into a decision on this now, after the fact. We need better communication!”

Duane: “We do a good job of bringing projects to you. [Emphasis is mine. He just stated the opposite earlier (above).] There are times when your own craftsmen aren’t enough. We need back-up craftsmen to get ‘er done. This is truly a last-minute thing.”

Brian Kirschling, board director: “What is the cost? Is it over $100,000? [If it is, that would be in violation of] Superintendent direction 3d4.”

Duane: “The cost is not over $100,000 in my estimation.”

Kirschling: “Then we followed our own policy.”

Brian Kirschling’s assessment that the district followed its own policy is a bit premature, of course, since the total cost isn’t known. No one knows for sure until McComas Lacina’s costs are added up and the cost of materials are added to the total.

Any project that costs over $100,000 should be put out for bid if outside contractors are used. To give out a no-bid contract for a project costing in excess of $100,000 violates state law.

Chris Liebig tried to discuss Duane Van Hemert’s insubordination. He said, “It does seem a little strange that work continued after the contractor motion failed.”

Duane: “We proceeded very slowly and judiciously to do what had to be done. We still needed to create the space.”

Supt. Steve Murley hastened to defend Duane by saying that he asked the building inspector [unnamed] to inspect the space and instructed physical plant staff to do what had to be done.

Phil: “The motion failed. Why it failed is irrelevant. As a board, we made a decision whether or not you think it was right or not. Then you went ahead and hired McComas Lacina anyway.”

Duane: “I went ahead and did it anyway.”

Chris Liebig: “Stephanie Van Housen [former district homeless liaison, a whistleblower] was fired for insubordination. Duane Van Hemert was insubordinate. Why is one staff member treated differently than the other? What’s the principle here?”

Chris Lynch interrupted Chris Liebig’s comments to call for a vote. Kim Colvin, board secretary, quickly called for a vote. All board members voted to approve McComas-Lacina’s participation in the Penn project after the fact except for Phil Hemingway.

In fairness to the board directors who voted against allowing McComas Lacina to work on the Penn project on July 25th, 2017 and reluctantly accepted the fait accompli of McComas Lacina’s unapproved work as an unapproved contractor at the board meeting August 15th, 2017, it’s important to note that once Duane Van Hemert, the physical plant director, disregarded the board’s decision to not hire McComas Lacina for the Penn project and the superintendent supported his insubordination, the board was put in a headlock with school starting so soon and the Penn classrooms still not finished.

Lori, Phil, and Chris Liebig clearly articulated the problems with poor communication by district administration, including the physical plant director, and the entire process of building infrastructure within the district. As Phil said in the meeting, in every machine shop is a sign that says, “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”