The Rockwood School District is comprised of 3.6 million square feet of school buildings located on 683 acres of grounds and athletic fields, spread out over a 150 square mile district, serving approximately 22,000 current students. All of this property has had its construction, maintenance, repair, renovation and upkeep overseen by the same company since all of those students were born.
Rockwood hired Glenn Construction Company to oversee construction resulting from all eight bond issues passed since 1995, often without seeking competitive bids from other companies. Rockwood residents have taken notice and are trying to get 5,000 signatures on a petition for the state auditor’s office. This is in response to the long relationship Glenn Construction, the district and Rockwood School Board President Steve Smith.
Eileen Tyrrell, founder and spokesperson for Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions, was one of the key architects of the initiative to get the state auditor involved. Concern for the district’s financial health surfaced after it became known that Steve Smith, Rockwood School Board President, has been Glenn Construction’s Project Coordinator since 2004.
“The relationship between Rockwood, Glenn Construction and Steve Smith appeared to me as a blatant conflict of interest,” Tyrrell said. “We were concerned about the lack of discussion concerning Smith’s role with Glenn and the company’s relationship with Rockwood as a whole,” Tyrrell said. “The topic was not brought up at any of the meetings I attended.”
According to a statement published by Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions, the audit is to assure that the district is in compliance with all state regulations and laws as they apply to public school district operations.
Serving his third non-consecutive stint on the board, Smith openly acknowledges the presence of a conflict of interest and claims he has followed all necessary legal proceedings for dealing with the situation.
“The law provides that I abstain from any discussions and votes regarding Glenn Construction,” Smith said. “I have been doing exactly that. I do not influence any other board members’ decisions.”
Smith claims his role with Glenn was discussed at meetings, and that he stays out entirely from the whole process of selecting project coordinators and writing contracts.
Rockwood took up Glenn for the first time in a 1991 bond issue, which ended up funneling $221,000 over three years to Glenn Construction.
Smith was serving his first of three stints on the board.
Glenn Construction split fees with another company in a 1995 bond issue. Following that, Glenn was tapped as Rockwood’s sole project manager in 1998. Only three times since then in 2000, 2009 and 2011 has Rockwood asked for competitive bids.
Glenn won out every time, with the exception of 2011. The bond issue that was going to be put on the ballot in 2012 was canceled due to budgetary concerns.
Superintendent Bruce Borchers views the district’s relationship with Glenn as positive and worth keeping up.
“Glenn has provided outstanding services to Rockwood,” Dr. Borchers said. “Our facilities consistently receive high marks from our community.”
The buildings have been so highly commended that Glenn has been given an office in Rockwood ever since they’ve been managing bond issues. The company cites this space as their office when seeking business elsewhere.
This space was allocated as a way to save money for the district, Dr. Borchers explained.
Glenn has continued to receive business from Rockwood, despite an increasing fee rate of 4.6 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2008, where the fee now stands.
Dr. Borchers has expressed his willingness to comply with a state audit, after having received positive ratings from annual independent audits.
“Rockwood has always received good ratings from audits done in the past, and would have nothing to hide if the state were to get involved,” Dr. Borchers said.
