School Board hopes new rules will reduce loss of equipment

Creating a more rigorous inventory system and having regular audits are among new procedures.

By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 12, 2002

TAMPA -- The School Board reviewed new procedures during a four-hour workshop Monday to address recent mismanagement and shoddy construction allegations and to get out from under a cloud of concerns raised by retired director of operations Doug Erwin.

Board members hope to tighten procedures in the district's construction and maintenance departments. Faced with a report showing $1.2-million in missing equipment, they also are implementing changes in their property control process to reduce the amount of equipment lost and stolen from school sites.

Administrators outlined detailed plans to increase the training for maintenance employees, perform regular internal audits of purchase orders, invoices and payroll records, and create a more rigorous inventory process. They also discussed methods to improve the maintenance of roofing and air conditioning systems.

Erwin, whose allegations led to discoveries of employee wrongdoing in the maintenance and grounds departments, has accused the district of wasting about $100-million in taxpayer dollars.

Board member Carolyn Bricklemyer asked school staff to keep board members apprised of their progress in implementing the changes.

"I am more interested in action," she said. "We need to express to the public, we know what's happening."

The district recently hired the auditing firm of Ernst and Young to review 1,300-pages of documents from Erwin that he said detailed the waste. The audit is not supposed to exceed $315,000.

On Monday, Andy Anderson of Ernst and Young assured the board he was assembling a team of experts to provide an independent review of the allegations. The firm will present its findings in a month and a half.

"Six weeks from today, we're all going to know," he said, prompting a round of applause from board members. "Any questions?"

Board member Carol Kurdell replied: "Just go for it."

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