Comments on: MDUSD Board Accused of Violating Brown Act

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:43:22 +0000

HFO: No, Rolen never responded, so it’s still unclear when the board authorized him to submit his grand jury responses on their behalf.
I saw Board President Cheryl Hansen tonight at the CBOC meeting and asked her to set aside some time tomorrow morning to talk to me about Rolen’s job performance.
Regarding Cooksey, she told me that only PERB-certified union reps can leaflet on district property. Local One is PERB-certified and the Teamsters aren’t, she said.
She also said she heard from PERB that the Teamsters have amended their complaint. I still need to verify that information.
Also, Hansen told me that the Poway analysis she received from Trustee Linda Mayo was far from “thorough” or “definitive.” She said it was one sentence.
Hopefully, the board will agree to release that “definitive” analysis, over-riding Rolen’s decision to withhold it, claiming attorney-client privilege.

By: Hell Freezing Over

Hell Freezing Over — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:34:37 +0000

TH – did Rolen ever reply to you follow up email ?

Theresa Harrington Says:
December 12th, 2012 at 9:12 am
I apologize for not posting this sooner. But, last Thursday, Rolen responded to the following questions about the Grand Jury response by email:

“In response to your to questions:
Question:Who authorized you to file this on the Board’s behalf? The Board
Question: Did the Board review it and approve it? Yes”

I have sent a follow-up email asking when the board reviewed and approved the Grand Jury response and why it was not publicly noticed for board discussion.

By: g

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 21:26:14 +0000

Yes, Pedersen is a charmer, and a bit slick. It’s too soon to run a chronology for the Taber contracts, but let’s look at the CVCHS and MDHS Chem Buildings activities of 2012.

June 25, 2012 Pedersen came to the board to request an OK to sign many-many “summer contracts – saying they couldn’t wait till the board’s next regular meeting Aug. 20.

AUG 20, he came to the board, miraculously ‘ready’ for “ratification” of the Lease/Leasebacks with Meehleis Modular. Per usual, although these were “ratification” of agreed upon contracts, none of the documents presented at that time were signed, notarized OR dated. As I recall, not all of the attachments were posted for public view—although they are posted now.

Back to the future: FEB 27, 2012 A Preliminary Service Agreement for $32,900. with Meehleis Modulars, the soon-to-be lease contractor to basically be his own “project manager.” But, Pedersen would have the board believe that knowing he had the job, and acting under time constraints to do as much work as possible during school downtime, even with already contracted architects, Meehleis simply could not be ready in four months, nor could Pedersen have any contracts ready for approval prior to July board downtime. Four months.

How charming is he? “Working backwards”: OCT 8, 2012 Pedersen came to the board to approve a new outside legal firm exclusive to Measure C – Mr Henderson, from Orgach, Huff and Suarez. (this now makes SEVEN outside legal firms under contract at very high hourly rates, plus we were talked into letting Rolen hire a second “inside” counselor “because they thought they would save at least 50% over what personnel matters were costing by using outside council.” (think declining enrollment here)

But wait! –Hendersen’s contract was backdated to begin JULY 1, 2012–Why? Never mind Rolen’s letter of engagement says 2011, and never mind that the board didn’t notice or mention the glaring date discrepancies.

Hendersen was working (sans contract) for months before the board approved hiring him. Remember – I said Pedersen is a charmer. It is obvious that getting a contract for him and approval by the board was an Afterthought.

His Engagement letter and Service Agreement are signed by Rolen and dated SEPT 25, 2012–two weeks before it was presented to the board on Oct 8… Fine.

But Remember? … Henderson’s completed work product, very detailed Lease/Leaseback Meehleis contracts, were approved by the board WAY back on AUG 20! That is why you Backdate contracts! Slick, huh!

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:30:40 +0000

Regarding Friday’s meeting, I hope to post the videos later today. I had hoped the district would have posted the audio from the meetings by now.
In a nutshell, Hansen said the board will likely publicly discuss the cure and correct letters Jan. 14. And Pedersen gave a very detailed presentation about the lease-leaseback that persuaded the board that Taber was the best firm for the job.
Please remember that the meeting took place on the Friday evening before Christmas. I do not get paid to work weekends and I am on vacation Monday and Wednesday, with a holiday on Christmas Day.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 15:57:45 +0000

Any idea when we are going to get a report on the Friday night “cure and correct” information given to the Board [including reports out of closed session] and the discussions on the $17 million Taber construction ? Was hoping the videos would be posted soon, too.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 18:45:37 +0000

@#154 I just don’t see those resumes as qualifying a person to be head of Human Resources for a 5,000 employee company.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 05:15:21 +0000

Yes, I videotaped the comments. Also, there will be an audio recording posted. Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to do a live blog, but will try to post more tomorrow.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:49:58 +0000

Theresa, was there any discussion regarding the Taber contract?

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:41:58 +0000

Board unanimously approved Taber contracts.

By: Theresa Harrington

Theresa Harrington — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:28:23 +0000

Closed session is going seriously overtime. I was unable to get to the first closed session, but heard that Ernie DeTrinidad and Wendy Lack spoke. DeTrinidad reportedly asked for more information about the cure and correct process and Lack read a cure and correct letter from Alicia Minyen, which I will post shortly.