TCDS is currently about 40% finished with work at El Rodeo Elementary School. (rendering courtesy of BHUSD)
The Beverly Hills Unified School District’s Facilities and Construction Committee may have violated the Brown Act last week, when two committee members discussed a district contract via e-mail prior to its meeting on Nov. 17.
In an e-mail forwarded to the Beverly Press/Park Labrea News, committee co-chair Theresa Kaplan on Nov. 16 sent her questions and concerns regarding a proposed contract renewal with the district’s bond manager, Team Concept Development Services, to fellow committee members.
“As promised in an earlier email, below are my questions and observations regarding the proposed agreement between the district and TCDS,” she wrote.
Committee member Donna Tryfman thanked Kaplan for the analysis and offered her observations as well. In addition to the other three committee members – Jake Manaster, Ori Blumenfeld and chair Howard Goldstein – the e-mails were addressed to BHUSD Board of Education President Rachelle Marcus, Vice President Mary Wells and Superintendent of Schools Michael Bregy, among others.
According to the Brown Act, “a majority of the members of a legislative body shall not, outside a meeting authorized by this chapter, use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate or take action on any item of business that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body.”
During the meeting, Goldstein offered a reminder that the committee is governed by the Brown Act and suggested that members review its requirements to prevent another “hiccup.” Blumenfeld also criticized the correspondence.
“The e-mails that were flying around were absolutely a violation of the Brown Act, and I’d rather just not comment any further on this item,” Blumenfeld said.
Tryfman argued that the e-mails were not a violation of state law.
“In terms of the Brown Act, I did submit notes that I took on the contract and I distributed it to the members of this committee and to other committees, and I don’t believe that it called for deliberation or any discussion,” she said. “I don’t think that there was any sort of violation of the Brown Act, but thank you very much. It’s always good to be reminded of it.”
Kaplan also defended the notes she shared prior to the meeting.
“I’ll be candid with everyone. I felt accused both yesterday and again just a few minutes ago [as if I was] somehow knowingly, deliberately trying to violate the law, which I was not doing,” she said.
Whether the committee should be discussing the contract renewal at all has been a matter of debate. The board of education was scheduled to consider the five-year agreement during its Oct. 26 meeting, but Wells requested that the item be pulled from the agenda for further analysis – by the board and its committees.
The five-year renewal would continue bond management services that will complete construction projects, including an athletic complex at Beverly Hills High School, and the modernization of El Rodeo Elementary School.
“This is a complicated contract, and the scope of work that we have ahead of us for the next five years is not clearly defined for us as a district,” Wells said during that meeting.
Board member Noah Margo disagreed and said it was the board’s duty to review the contract.
“I don’t think that this needs to be pulled at this time, and it is not our committees’ purview to review every contract that comes in front of the board,” he said. “If we did, everything is financial – that means we would be giving every contract to the finance committee to review. That’s not a practice we have or support. And the construction committee was not formed to review contracts on our behalf either. That’s our job.”
The board agreed to table the item, which was reviewed again on Nov. 9. Margo motioned to approve the agreement, saying that both the district and TCDS should benefit from it in the end.
“I did look into the hourly rate increase and the fee,” he said. “The hourly rate increase is lower than the rest our district has received in the last three years. The fee is lower than the going rate for companies doing this work.”
Wells again requested that the contract be tabled and suggested that district committees review it.
“Like I stated previously, there’s no urgency for this contract to be approved at this time – since we have an existing contract that still has nine months on it,” she said. “Given that this is an estimated contract that can be worth $50 million, I feel like this contract deserves and requires more due diligence and thoughtful consideration.”
Margo noted that the board approved a $6 million construction agreement with ProWest Constructors for work at El Rodeo Elementary School at its last meeting without any suggestion that the committees review it.
However, he withdrew his motion to approve the renewal and moved to table it to a future meeting.
“I don’t need to see the item being defeated tonight or being at a stalemate,” Margo added.
The board’s Facilities and Construction Committee discussed the TCDS proposal on Nov. 17, with members split on whether the committee should intervene in the contract renewal process.
Goldstein and Blumenfeld argued that providing a recommendation to the board regarding the specifics of the contract would be akin to offering legal advice. Tryfman said the contract was within the committee’s purview, especially since it involved the district’s master plan.
Kaplan suggested that the board look into hiring independent counsel, and the rest of the committee agreed, except Manaster, who had left the meeting.
5 Comments
Manaster left the meeting? Coward. Isn’t he running for Treasurer? Who appointed him? So interesting the Beverly Press is concerned with a “possible” Brown Act violation but could care less that Blake, and TCDS in general, is unlicensed and in charge of 3/4 of a billion dollars!
This apparent Brown Act violation really ought to be looked into by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Thank you Mr. Goldstein for recognizing the Brown Act’s importance. Your fellow committee members should take their legal obligations more seriously. As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant. This whole mess traces back to Terry Tao apparently being involved in negotiating the initial contract between the school board and TCDS. Taxpayers and bond holders need to be kept informed.
Mr. Simmons doesn’t realize that Mr. Godlstein, an attorney, actually voted for the first contract between TCDS, BHUSD, and Tao, and when he had the chance to actually discuss and shine a spotlight, or sunlight, on the terrible terms, he did not. Nothing propitious to see here.
Ms Gold raises a good point in that Mr. Goldstein could have raised many of the current issues pertaining to the TCDS contract and Tao’s apparent dual and conflicted legal representation when Goldstein was on the school board. I’ll give Mr. Goldstein credit though for not trying to hide discussions occuring offline when the public has a right to know what is currently happening.
Mr. Simmons, thank you for continuing the dialogue. I don’t think there can be hiding of anything if it’s in Email form. I suppose we could just ask for the emails. I would like to see them for sure. Just because Mr. Goldstein or Mr. Blumenfeld characterizes an email as a “discussion,” simply does not make it so. Both gentlemen have histories of mischaracterizing issues to engender support for a false contention. I don’t think anyone was hiding anything. From Ms. Kaplan’s statements it appears those were merely her observations on the contract and she read them into the record. Ms. Tryfman also stated that and was ready to read hers into the record as well but was cut off, so I’m not sure who is hiding what here. Mr. Goldstein has contributed in the past, but Mr. Blumenfeld is shallow on all fronts and contributes nothing. Mr. Manaster, if one watches past board meetings, has quite the temper filled with palpable ire. He ran away from any meaningful discussion altogether by just leaving the meeting without telling anyone. One should expect more from/for Beverly Hills.