Marblehead super addresses bid controversy

MARBLEHEAD – Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac said Thursday that he and other school officials acted within the state procurement laws in their dealings with Diamond Relocation of Wakefield, which bid $24,969 to store Marblehead Village School furniture and then billed the town for $42,000.Massachusetts Inspector General Gregory Sullivan’s letter outlining alleged “troubling” evidence in the transaction was actually requested by Dulac and Town Administrator Tony Sasso. “We hoped if the Inspector General wrote a letter saying we couldn’t legally pay Diamond’s bill, Diamond would not initiate a lawsuit,” Dulac said, “and it did help with that.”However, the IG’s probe has also raised questions about the procedures followed by the school facilities manager and Village School owners project manager, the former school business manager and Dulac.Some School Committee members believe that the IG letter may have fueled opposition to the Glover School project in last month’s debt exclusion override election.Diamond personnel told the IG that Dulac, the business manager and the school facilities manager agreed to have Groom Construction pay Diamond the additional money. Dulac said he discussed a proposal to have Diamond bring the furniture back eight months early, saving storage fees and have the town (legally) pay 25 percent above the original price quote, which could make up most of the difference. The IG later stated that the town cannot pay Diamond an additional 25 percent.Dulac has written to the IG denying that he ever discussed using Groom to pay Diamond and he has a Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents lawyer responding to their other questions.”In 25 years I have never had my integrity questioned until now,” Dulac said, “10 months before I’m scheduled to retire.”The schools’ lawyer, Attorney Pat Costello, negotiated with Diamond for two months and on May 10 Diamond returned the Village School furniture.Committee member Eurin Chun reminded Dulac that the former business manager was also a lawyer and Dulac had “every reason to rely heavily on him.””I should have vetted this before I did,” Dulac admitted, “but we had several bids going on at once? and sometimes a vendor will undercut themselves to get a contract and rely on a change order to make up the difference.”Committee member Dick Nohelty questioned whether Amy Drinker, the committee’s former representative to the Village School Building Oversight Committee, should have informed the School Committee of the problem when it arose instead of delaying.Committee member Kathy Leonardson pointed out that the town’s fail-safe mechanism worked this time and the schools need to have a similar mechanism.Dulac said he and new School Business Manager Brian Salzer will bring recommendations before the committee in mid-October.