Thursday, February 08, 2018

State investigators examining discrepancies, lack of transparency in Neosho Junior High building project

Investigators with the Missouri State Auditor's office are examining financial documents and communications connected to the construction of the Neosho Junior High School building project.

While the state auditor has made no decision on whether to launch a full-scale audit of the R-5 School District, the documents and events that have taken place over the life of the building project reveal a disturbing pattern of district officials and elected board members trying to prevent the public from learning that they failed to keep a promise to bring the project in within the $24 million bond issue.

Documents obtained from the R-5 District through Sunshine Law requests made by area citizens and provided to and verified by the Turner Report indicate the following:

-Though the project included numerous change orders, none of them appear to have been brought before the R-5 Board of Education.


-Major decisions concerning the project were made by Board President Steven Douglas (pictured below) and former president Brett Day without consulting with their fellow board members.

-At a time when district officials were being told that the project was coming in $1 million to $1.5 million under budget and that there was a possibility that they could use bond money to pay it off, Associate Superintendent Trish Wilson and district accountant Rob Singh, discovered that former Assistant Superintendent Tim Crawley and Project Manager Eric McCune of the Sapp Design Associates architectural firm had made mistakes in their calculations, leaving the project more than a half million dollars in the hole.

-Singh and three other employees in the finance office are no longer working for the district, while the fifth member of that department, Wilson, is reportedly on administrative leave. The five had a combined total of 47 years of service to the district.

In an e-mail to Superintendent Dan Decker dated October 6, 2015, Crawley wrote about how the project was coming in under budget. "Hopefully, any savings can be applied to possible optional plans for added space. I think we owe it to the voters to make sure we stay within that budget and get the final product with all furnishings for the amount we specified."

'This is awesome," Decker replied.

And the picture looked even brighter when the R-5 Board of Education was told at its January 17, 2017 meeting that the project was $1 million to $1.5 million under budget.


Based on those figures, the furniture allowance was increased from $700,000 to $1 million, graphics from $30,000 to $100,000 without board approval and a STEM workshop okayed for $100,000.

Less than two months later, the bottom fell out.

Wilson and Singh's calculations showed the junior high project was $552,367.68 over budget.

Crawley panicked. In a March 9, 2017 e-mail, he wrote, "There is simply no way this can happen as it is money we do not have."

The mistake was attributed to the failure by Crawley and project manager McCune to not include the $1.6 million in alternate options that had been approved.



An e-mail shows a meeting was held March 13, 2017 in which Day, Douglas, Decker, McCune, Crawley and Wilson discussed the situation. Other board members were reportedly never told about the meeting or the shortfall.

McCune was scheduled to update the board March 20 and e-mailed Decker that day, "I think I am on the board agenda tonight and I wanted to discuss with you and see how we wanted (to) approach the discussion with the board and in public."

Decker's answer, if any, was apparently not made by e-mail and was not included in the documentation. McCune did not attend the board meeting and the board, with the exception of Day and Douglas, reportedly remained unaware of the situation.

An exchange of e-mails between Decker and Michael Sapp of Sapp Design Associates shows that Sapp replaced McCune as project manager with John McNabb, though McCune remained as an assistant since he had guided the project for its entire existence.


Another crisis situation occurred when Carver Elementary librarian Tamie Williams, who was in charge of putting together the junior high library, e-mailed Wilson with information about the money that would be needed, including $162,000 for a book collection, including e-books, $5,000 for supplies and $5,000 for two databases. Williams' information also showed ways in which she had saved the district money by managing to work out deals to be able to share other databases with the high school and by going through a painstaking bidding process.

Wilson passed along the e-mail to Decker, whose response made it clear that Day and Douglas were calling the shots.

"We need to have a discussion with Brett and Steven if he is there after the construction meeting. We need to pin them down on what they desire us to do."

In May 2017, Day (pictured left) and Douglas ordered Decker to remove Crawley from any budgeting work after they asked him questions that he was unable to answer.

Wilson was ordered to begin attending the project meetings

In the following months, documents indicate the new project manager from Sapp, McNabb, continued to produce change orders, which were paid, but none of which was board approved, and with no money left in the bond fund contingency account, the changes had to be funded with money from other district accounts.

For instance, fiber wiring that had been installed improperly was replaced at a cost of $25,000 taken from the technology budget.

An e-mail was sent July 28, 2017 saying that all further change orders would come from the district and not from the designated junior high account since it had been closed at the end of June.

During August other items that had been inadvertently left out of the project continued to pop up, including the landscaping on the courtyard, a piano for the music room, and athletic equipment. All had to be paid out of other district accounts.

In an October 10, 2017 e-mail Decker told Douglas the alternates that he had not been told about by Crawley and McCune had put the budget over. The alternates totaled $1,656,000.

At a November 2 R-5 Board work session Douglas claimed the project had come in under budget. Though the bond issue was for $24 million, Douglas said $28 million had been budgeted and the project had come in at $27 million.

That amount was what was paid to Sapp Design Architects and Branco, which handled the construction.

It did not include other costs. Those were spread into other district accounts, enabling board members and district officials to claim they had kept their promise and brought in the junior high project under budget.

(Next: District auditors, the removal of the finance department and what a $150,000 donation will get you.)

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Trish Wilson is on Administrative leave for finding mistakes in someone else's calculations?

Anonymous said...

Their own board policy - FEF - requires all changes orders over $10,000 to be approved by the board. They had $1.6 million without approval? Oops.

Anonymous said...

And yet the Neosho board hired Sapp to design the Goodman school after all of this was discovered.

Anonymous said...

yes it is sad that people who tried to report or stood against there wrong doings were put on or forced to leave. Sounds like we need new people in from the bottom up. Who would have thought that schools would be so under handed and such scammers and liars!

Anonymous said...

Trish is no longer there. And food service department got contracted out, even though they were making a profit, a profit that should have been used to buy better food or different options for the students. But bring in opaa and now the district can take that money out of the mouths of our students to cover up their mistake.

Anonymous said...

There is talk of no money for supplies next year and not replacing teachers

Anonymous said...

Oppa isn't doing as well in Neosho R-5 schools as they would have everyone believe either.

Anonymous said...

Now Neosho has contracted with Crawley to do consulting 2-3 days a week. Also the new Jr High has had major leak issues, if you talk to any of the building engineers/janitorial staff they will tell you. I do not think Branco was held accountable for any of the mistakes that cost additional time and money for repairs not to mention possible mold/mildew presence.

Anonymous said...

Sounds a lot like the crap that went on in Joplin!

Anonymous said...

It is important to realize that it is easy to take quotes out of context in order to string together what may seem like a course of events. It is also important to rememeber there are at least 3 disgruntled former employees who may have an axe to grind as well as local political figures who may have something to gain from a smear piece like this. Some of the "facts" in this article do not add up, dates of events, etc., are wrong or taken out of context. Don't be too quick to believe everything you read.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Mr. Turner His self understands what it is like to have his reputation smeared and his career damaged by one-sided arguments taken out of context. It's sad he is willing to do that to other people.

Anonymous said...

There are always cost over runs and change orders. The public knows and accepts this.

Anonymous said...

This is just one of many mishandled expenditures. Putting sports in front of education in building bleachers, parking lots, fancy fencing, new sports fields is not part of educating the mind. Doing away with certain structures of basic education is leading generations down what is know as "dumbing up America". This is not just Neosho R5, but elementary through high school making sports more important than educating the mind across America.
I think one of the next things that will have to be investigated is the OOPA food service company that talked it's way into serving by claiming to save money. Throwing away food daily by making too much because they are making a lot of food not tasteful to the children of all ages, food gone missing by box fulls, systematically reassigning existing long term staff to other schools or positions they cannot assume and therefore hiring there own staff at cheaper wages and seemingly fudging figures to school district employees to keep the position of service. There are other schools in other nearby states and districts that have already overruled the five year contracts with this food service company

Anonymous said...

The article really wasn't about cost overruns and change orders. Yes, the public does know and accept that change orders happen. What the public should not accept is not having the entire board of education review and approve those change orders or having people like Mr. Crawley in charge of a project and providing numbers that are a million and a half dollars off. Nor should the public accept the idea of all of the people in an entire department losing their jobs because they questioned unethical practices by the superintendent and the board members. If the fact that there were change orders and cost overruns is the only thing you got out of reading this, you missed the entire point.

Anonymous said...

Spot on. It's not the cost overruns that are the problem. It is the entire board not being informed and someone approving change orders without full board approval which means the change orders were never discussed in the open which means the public (and the press) were never going to find out. Change orders not approved by the entire board are not valid change orders. Combine that with public statements that the project was under budget (when the person saying knows better) and you wonder why trust is lost.

BTW-being under budget isn't the same as finding money to pay for it out of operating funds.

There are rooms still empty in the new school waiting for "partners" in the community to donate money to finish what were never completed...even after $28 million in spending.

Anonymous said...

The students of Neosho NEEDED additional facilities/building. As a patron, I was so grateful the bond issue passed and our schools/kids were supported. It is very aggravating individual board members and the Superintendent did not act ethically and were not transparent about the cost. How can the district build trust with the public when those who are elected do not act in a trustworthy manner? Why does the Superintendent allow 2 individual board members to make decisions, give directions to employees? Are the rest of the Neosho board members going to hold the Superintendent and fellow board members accountable for purposefully leaving them in the dark, making decisions without the following of policy?

Anonymous said...

Wait for it..... public relations spin! Spangler will have a spin that will make all the unethical, lies seem like a simple misunderstanding. "quotes out of context" "disgruntled employees" I'm confident she will her earn her $$$. Hey Neosho, maybe you should put character education back into the school starting with your school board and Superintendent!

Anonymous said...

Deplorable!

Anonymous said...

People of Neosho- This is what you are in for. Your school officials will speak disparagingly about a Joplin blogger who is spreading lies about the school district. People who work in the school, knowing that what Randy wrote is true will continue to check out the Turner Report to see if he has anything new. The Turner Report will be blocked on school district computers. A public relations blitz will overwhelm area media and we will not only hear that the junior high came in under budget, but we will hear about other good things that are going on and school officials will say that Randy does not write about those things because he is just trying to get clicks. In the end, if your experience mirrors the one we had in Joplin, the superintendent will be gone, the board will be changed and Randy will be proven accurate in everything he has written.I am told that Neosho has a p. r. woman who gets more than $60,000 a year from the taxpayers. That will not help. Joplin had one, too.

Anonymous said...

No one is questioning the beauty or utility of the new facilities. No one is questioning if building cost fluctuate. What is being challenged is the questionable integrity expressed by members of the board, school district, and developers as a whole. If we have to question your ethics and "leadership" that is probably a bad sign at best. Neosho deserves better. It needs to shed this climate and culture of fear and intimidation. Young professionals need to step up and demonstrate what has been lacking for some time. If you think the status quo is fine, great, do nothing a bury your head. But if you believe that good, ethical, and honorable exist and can lead, perhaps vote for a replacement candidate. You can't change a thing if you don't show up and try. Want more, do more, be more!

Anonymous said...

I am tired of the hometown boy mentality that controls the ridiculous small town politics here. I’d love to see these piece of trash board members flounder their way through surviving in a city where no one knows their last name. Clean house Neosho. Get rid of the board and members of central office that are responsible for this mishandling and funds!

Anonymous said...

The spin has started, just like Anon 10:46 a.m. predicted above....board pres has alternative facts posted to his FB.

Anonymous said...

I am just wanting a little more clarification and hoping Randy, you will look into this. If Dr. Wilson is on administrative leave then the district is still paying her. She has a multi year contract so they will have to pay for for the remainder of that contract since this is not her choice --- she has to make over $100,000 a year! This is adding up to quite a chunk of change. Then they are paying Dr. Cowley on top of this??? They must have plenty of money and therefore going over budget isn't a problem, correct??????

Anonymous said...

Oppa food service is scamming that entire school and its students by making everyone believe that they can save the school money and that their food is "fresh". They might indeed be cheaper but at what cost? Their employees are underpaid/overworked, they do not replace employees that were smart enough to run for hills therefore expecting their remaining employees to pick up the major slack that occurs. They cook, refrigerate, and recook food that was made days/weeks/months before, they attempt to use expired food products, they don't fix equipment that's needed to keep foods at safe temperatures, they threaten their employees with termination if they speak out about things that occur inside the kitchens and they fake numbers to receive more money from the school district and with all of this quality control goes right out the window and their kitchens become a revolving door for untrained, incompetent, and unscrupulous employees. Your children are receiving food that can potentially cause food poisoning and if you believe for one second that Oppa cares about the health and well being of the children in your school district you are sadly mistaken! They are there for the money and the money only. It makes complete sense that they would bring Oppa in to help cover for their discrepancies. There is a reason why our school district here in Seneca voted them out cause when you lay down with dogs you're gonna wake up with fleas. Speak up Neosho and do something before it's too late!

Anonymous said...

I think it's sad that the superintendent didn't oversee and make SURE the numbers were right. It is ultimately his job to run this district. Our district doesn't need a spokesperson to communicate to the community and staff. That money could better serve the students of this district. Mr. Decker should be the voice of the district. His salary has increased 9,000 since he began a few years ago, yet every facet of his job is covered by someone else and no one knows what is going on. Central Office needs an overhaul. We need to bring in all new administration. This is much bigger than the NJH situation.

Anonymous said...

Said it before, sounds just like Joplin’s issues with Huffy and ASSociates. No reason to pay for a “spin doctor” to try and cover the smell. I’m willing to bet those disgruntled employees actually knew what was going on and started rocking the boat. Thus, they are now out of the district. How many other funds and budgets were dipped into to cover for the extra money that was spent?

Anonymous said...

Anybody that doesn't agree with the adminisration is no longer an employee of the school district. This administration has made Neosho's district a toxic place to work. Now that facts are coming out the spin is a few disgruntled employees. Inept leadership from Decker for years. Doubt they'll be passing a bond issue anytime soon in Neosho.

Anonymous said...

No. I do not think that most know this nor do I think most find it acceptable. All overages should be made public immediately and discussed by those making decision yes but the public should be made aware after all it is our tax money.