Thousands of dollars in illegal payments were apparently given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district in recent years, state Rep. Mike Reynolds, member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said today.
“It is my understanding that as much as $242,000 in illegal payments for unused sick leave has been given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district,” said Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. “That is an enormous sum of money diverted from the classroom.”
Reynolds said he has received information showing Broken Arrow school employees were paid for unused sick leave from 2000 to 2003 in violation of state law. That information was later independently confirmed by a school employee.
Reynolds said the information he received indicates that, among others, Interim Superintendent Gary Gerber and current school board candidate Cheryl Kelly are among those who allegedly received the improper payments.
“It is very disturbing to learn that school leaders may have personally benefited from this illegal activity,” Reynolds said. “The school board must publicly address this issue.”
The Owasso City Council rejected a proposal Tuesday night for a Tulsa Transit express route from Owasso to downtown Tulsa.
The move comes after a summer survey in which 75 percent of respondents said they would support the line, which could have started in March.
When the city surveyed residents three years ago, only 15 percent responded positively to the plan.
But Vice Mayor D.J. Gall pointed out that only 887 people — of 9,500 surveys solicited within the city’s fenceline — responded to the questionnaire this summer. He added that the constituents he spoke to were unaware of the cost of the service.
The proposed service, which Collinsville also was considering, would have been the Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority’s second express line, after one that serves Broken Arrow.
The cost of the new single-bus line, which would have made weekday round trips from the local community center, at 301 S. Cedar Street, to the Cherokee Industrial Park and downtown Tulsa, was projected to be $30,015 annually. The city, which was to use Community Development Block Grant funds to pay for the service, had included that amount in the 2009 fiscal year budget.
Voting against the commuter service were Gall, Mayor Steve Cataudella and Councilor Doug Bonebrake. Councilors Wayne Guevara and Jon Sinex missed the meeting because of family and personal emergency medical issues, City Manager Rodney Ray said.
Speaking of the commuter line and citing the massive deficit of the federal government, Gall said he didn’t “think it is a wise use of taxpayer money.”
Respondents to Owasso’s mail and Internet survey had cited savings on gasoline and helping the environment as reasons for using mass transit.
Bus fare would have been $1.50 for a one-way trip, and commuters facing emergencies would have been covered under Tulsa Transit’s guaranteed ride-home program.
All three people who spoke during the council meeting’s public comment portion gave the proposal a thumbs-down.
D.J. Alexander said he was against subsidizing commuters and was for “keeping dollars in Owasso.”
Other residents fretted about possible low ridership and the city’s ability to keep up with costs that could increase.
Cataudella said the plan deserved a shot, adding that it is up to the council to provide opportunities for residents. He said the percentage of positive survey responses had sent the municipality a message and that gas prices likely will go back up.
However, he voted against the commuter line.
Although Bonebrake called the service a “noble” cause, he worried about rising costs over time and what he perceived as a lack of a mandate from city residents, given the low percentage who responded to the survey.
“There is a value to it, but how much can you invest?” he asked.
The Broken Arrow School Board unanimously authorized a special audit Monday to look into Air Assurance invoices as well as the district’s competitive-bidding practices, contracts signed by suspended Superintendent Jim Sisney, and the district’s athletic funds.
Business practices between the school district and Air Assurance, which had provided heating and air-conditioning services for the district, were questioned by Sisney this summer.
They are at the heart of a defamation lawsuit he filed against Mike and Narissa Rampey, owners of the company; Douglas Hudkins, a Broken Arrow optometrist; school board members Maryanne Flippo, Sharon Whelpley and Shari Wilkins; and attorney Doug Mann.
Sisney claims in the lawsuit that the defendants defamed him by accusing him of wrongdoing after he brought accounting irregularities to the board’s attention.
The lawsuit says the district has paid Air Assurance — a major contributor to the schools — $3.1 million since July 2002.
Sisney’s lawsuit also alleges that Air Assurance performed work at Hudkins’ office that was billed to Broken Arrow Public Schools.
Sisney says in the lawsuit that he felt pressured by certain board members to apologize to the Rampeys for inquiring into their business practices.
According to the lawsuit, Sisney was told in mid-August that Hudkins was openly accusing the superintendent of stealing from the district and blaming it on the Rampeys.
The school board voted 3-2 last week to suspend Sisney and send him written notification of the reasons for his possible termination. Neither that letter nor the reasons for the actions have been made public.
The three board members who are defendants in the lawsuit voted for Sisney’s suspension.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board voted 3-2 to remove two agenda items dealing with legal representation.
One item was a request that Mann recuse himself and that his law firm, Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold, appoint another attorney to represent the district. The other was a discussion of fees to the firm. Both measures had been put on the agenda by board member Stephanie Updike.
Thousands of dollars in illegal payments were apparently given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district in recent years, state Rep. Mike Reynolds, member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said today.
