Marblehead super to report on school bid ‘inequities’

MARBLEHEAD – Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac will kick off Thursday’s retreat meeting with a discussion of the $14,000-plus discrepancy between an accepted bid and submitted bills that led to the replacement of the former town school business manager Jonathan Goldfield.An April 12 letter from Massachusetts Inspector General Gregory Sullivan to Town Administrator Tony Sasso sheds further light on the abrupt exit of Goldfield, after a two-day, closed-door meeting between Dulac, Goldfield and their lawyers on what Dulac called "procedural inequities" in purchase orders for the Marblehead Village School project. The inequities involved an 18-month Dec. 24, 2008 contract for moving, relocation and storage of Village School furniture. Diamond Relocation Inc. of Wakefield sent the town a total quote of $24,969 for the contract, but as of Dec. 15, 2009 Diamond had billed the town for $38,911.Estimating the cost below $25,000, a category the state describes as "small purchases," meant that Goldfield could seek three quotes for the job and choose the lowest responsible one.Sullivan noted that Diamond’s quote offered 200 square feet of storage space, a low figure. "There is a question about good faith in (that) determination," he wrote.He also noted that Diamond claims that school personnel discussed having the general contractor, Groom Construction, pay the additional storage costs to Diamond and then bill the town for the money. Sullivan advised the town to have the claim fully vetted with legal counsel to see if any legal action should be taken.