AIA Bulletin

The two non-voting Republican legislative members of the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) raised vocal objections during Thursday’s meeting after the commission approved a response to an inspector general’s report that accused OSFC. Director Richard Murray of a “pro-union” bias.

Inspector General Tom Charles issued a report earlier in the month saying that Murray and union officials pushed labor agreements on local school districts.  In response, the commission, made up of Office of Budget and Management Director Pari Sabety, Department of Administrative Services Director Hugh Quill, and State Superintendent Deborah Delisle, who had a designee attend the meeting on her behalf, approved a resolution that restated much of the defense given by Sabety on the day the report was released.

The resolution stated that it was ultimately up to school districts whether to use union-friendly project labor agreements (PLA), that the OSFC director should remain neutral on whether districts should adopt a PLA and should not use coercion or threats of retaliation against a district, but that the director can also educate districts on the benefits of a PLA. The resolution also noted that under previous administrations, districts were forbidden from using PLAs under threat of not receiving state funding.

The OSFC also responded to other recommendations of the inspector general’s report dealing with project standards,

proposing an advisory board between the architects and construction managers, the creation of a Bidder Information Center, and a pledge to continue to look for other opportunities for improvement.

Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester) and Rep. Kris Jordan (R-Powell) strongly objected to the first part of the resolution. They accused the voting members of the commission of glossing over the strong allegations that Murray, an appointee of Gov.

Ted Strickland, was present as a union representative berated school officials with profanities and racial slurs over the use of union labor.

Jordan said that based on conversations he has had with superintendents and newspaper reports, “I think this deserves a

lot more than a simple resolution, passed by several of the Strickland administration’s department heads dismissing it and saying all problems are behind us and taken care of, because, they’re not.”

Cates said the commission should at least delay adopting the resolution and hold hearings on the inspector general’s report. Sabety, who chairs the commission, said the panel is not an investigatory body. She noted that school district representatives have appeared at previous meetings to voice their concerns, and Murray responded to those concerns at the time.

“We believe that much of what is in the inspector general’s report is open to debate between many people perceiving what was going on,” she said. Referring to the allegation involving the union official, Sabety said the governor and members of the commission disavow that behavior and believe it is inappropriate. “That is stated right here in the resolution itself.”

Sabety said she believes the resolution is an appropriate administrative response to the inspector general’s report. Quill said that he thinks the administration is being responsive to the issue of neutrality.

Cates also suggested during the commission meeting that if the OSFC does not want to take testimony from individuals on the allegations in the inspector general’s report, there are “investigatory bodies” that may do it instead.

After the vote, Cates said that it will ultimately be the decision of Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) on whether the Senate will hold hearings on the report. But he also indicated what he thought on the subject, saying “If the

School Facilities Commission wants to whitewash the allegations, then maybe we’ll get to the bottom of it ourselves.”

“They very clearly are doing the business of the Strickland administration to protect itself,” Cates said. “I feel sorry for the three voting members because they are being told what to do, out of control from the governor’s office, and unfortunately the Strickland administration has chosen to sweep this under the rug here and has no interest in the truth.”

PLAs also played into another discussion during the OSFC meeting as the commission voted to reject the bids for the new schools for the deaf and blind because bids came in at least 40 percent over what had been estimated for the cost.

In his report to the commission, Murray said there were anecdotal comments that contractors did not bid because they knew their bid would exceed the architectural estimate by 10 percent, which would lead to a ejection by the commission. Others inflated their price, Murray said.

He said in response, OSFC officials had a meeting with the construction manager and architect to figure out if there could be additional cost savings. He said the architect is expected to come back within two weeks and the process of bidding the projects will begin again. He said “value added engineering” could yield savings of $5 million to $7 million.

Jordan suggested that the PLA on the project be removed.”I think all options are on the table,” Murray said in response. He said that the project manager indicated fewer subcontractors were interested in the project because of a PLA.

Jordan also commented that it would be much more prudent to remove the PLA, which he said eliminates competition and gives favor to political donors to the governor. Sabety responded that Jordan’s allegations were out of line for the discussion.

Earlier in the day, Jordan announced that he is introducing legislation that would reform the appointment process for the OSFC director. It would establish a gubernatorial appointment process with advise and consent powers given to the Ohio Senate.

“In light of the inspector general’s findings, I believe it is critical that we tackle the core problems within the commission to prevent further wastefulness, conflict and corruption,” Jordan said. “Through this legislation, lawmakers will have essential tools for examining the qualifications and backgrounds of candidates, highlighting any potential conflict of interest.” The bill is similar to Cates’ SB175.

In other actions, the commission approved funds for the Lake Local School District in Wood County to help rebuild a high school destroyed by tornadoes in early June. The commission approved $4.8 million from its emergency assistance fund.

The assistance had been announced on Wednesday by Strickland, Murray and Delisle. (See The Hannah Report, 8/25/10.)

Sabety asked Lake Superintendent Jim Witt how long before the district receives settlement figures from the insurance

companies. He said he hopes to hear more within the next month.

Commission exec has duty to help schools get best possible deal on projects

Thursday, August 19, 2010  02:56 AM

Whether state law frowns on favoring union contractors or is silent on the issue, to engage in such a bias when spending public dollars is a bad policy that cheats Ohioans.

The purpose of the Ohio School Facilities Commission is to set standards for and monitor the construction and remodeling of billions of dollars worth of school buildings, paid for by a combination of state bond money and local tax dollars. The commission is charged with getting the best deal for taxpayers, not implementing any governor’s labor-relations philosophy. School-construction contracts certainly should not be used to shower unprecedented largess on the current governor’s favorite special interest.

Richard Murray, whom Gov. Ted Strickland appointed as executive director of the commission, is unabashed by the Ohio inspector general’s report that says he has made plain his preference for union labor when working with local school districts trying to build new schools.

Murray, who was employed for 12 years as Ohio director of a union-advocacy group and who remains a member of Local 423 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, says he doesn’t have to be neutral — that such a requirement “is simply nowhere in law or in rule or in policy of this agency.”

It is, however, the only ethical approach to take when holding the purse strings to about $3 million per day in public spending. Murray is supposed to help local school officials, who aren’t construction experts, make the best deals for their districts. That means soliciting bids and choosing the contractors who can do the work needed for the best price, regardless of whether their employees pay union dues.

The inspector general’s report shows, however, that Murray has pushed districts to sign project-labor agreements, which typically shut out nonunion shops and, consequently, drive up the cost of projects. Such agreements require any workers on the project to be dues-paying union members, if only for the duration of the project.

Nonunion companies often decline to bid rather than comply; fewer companies bidding mean less competition and higher costs.

What were local school-board members and superintendents supposed to think when the union delegation visiting them to lobby for union labor included Murray, the guy who controls the funds? It’s obvious how officials of Scioto County’s Clay Local School District felt, after union bully Gary Coleman, angry that the district was using a nonunion contractor on part of a project, screamed profanities at them in what was supposed to be a business meeting. All that time, Murray sat by silently.

Clay officials eventually signed a project-labor agreement, but they complained to Strickland about Coleman’s and Murray’s behavior.

Murray said later he wasn’t proud of the incident.

He should feel just as bad that his support for unions, rather than for school districts and taxpayers, drives up the cost of projects — even when nobody screams profanities.

Friday, August 20, 2010  02:51 AM

BY BILL BUSH

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The architecture firm that designed improvements for the state deaf and blind schools said the Ohio School Facilities Commission signed off on cost estimates four times, then decided to add a union-only construction clause that probably drove the cost of bids way past the budgeted amount.

The cost impact of the pro-union “project labor agreement” wasn’t included in any of the estimates that were sent out for bids, according to a statement from Andrew Maletz, vice president of SHP Leading Design.

The only way to know how much the agreement added to the cost would be to get rid of it, said Rachel Miller, a public-relations consultant for the firm. “It is a suggestion,” she said.

State and union officials have said that the design might explain why the bids came back $11.4million over the $28million general-construction budget.

SHP responded that the commission and its construction manager, Bovis Lend Lease, reviewed the design and agreed that all estimates were good.

The school facilities commission “plays a significant role in the cost estimate,” Maletz’s statement said. “They are involved from the very beginning and throughout each of the four design phases. Each phase does not move forward without the OSFC’s review and approval.”

Commission spokesman Rick Savors acknowledged that the labor agreement “came in late on this particular project.”

The arrangement apparently limited the number of subcontracting bids, but whether that increased the cost hasn’t been determined, Savors said. He said everything is on the table to get costs down.

As far as the commission having partial responsibility for estimating construction costs, “that’s absolutely true,” Savors said. “We don’t believe that any one member is more or less responsible.”

Savors said in July that the commission didn’t think the project labor agreement was to blame because it “is going to be built into the estimate anyway,” and high bids typically stemmed from the building’s design or materials.

A union official who signed the agreement blamed SHP’s design for the high cost last week, but several contractors said that the labor agreement “had a significant impact on their bids,” according to the SHP statement.

“We had one bid package (for kitchen equipment) in this project that was exempt from the (agreement), and it was the only package to come in under budget and had twice the number of bidders than any other bid package,” SHP said.

bbush@dispatch.com

Powell lawmaker says some bidding seems to be rigged

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010  02:52 AM

BY CATHERINE CANDISKY

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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state lawmaker says that taxpayers are paying inflated costs for furniture and other products in new and renovated schools because contracts are written to eliminate competition.

Rep. Kris Jordan yesterday urged Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the allegations, apparently involving work in four school districts.

“I do not want cronyism to become the norm by which the state conducts its business,” the Powell Republican wrote in a letter to Charles.

He said bid specifications for furnishings and office furniture are being written “backward” by architects and design professionals to exclude certain vendors from seeking the work.

Officials with the Ohio School Facilities Commission promptly denied any efforts to circumvent competitive bidding or favor vendors.

“The bottom line is, no. We don’t allow ‘backward’ contracts,” said commission spokesman Rick Savors.

The allegations came just nine days after Charles issued a report finding that Commission Director Richard C. Murray abused his position to push school construction work to organized labor.

They also mirror a review by The Dispatch in 2002 that uncovered thousands of unbid purchases over five years in violation of the commission’s own policy requiring at least three alternatives for products and services in school-facilities projects.

Charles said he will review Jordan’s request for an investigation to determine whether another one is warranted.

Jordan, one of four non-voting members of the seven-person commission, did not return a message left at his legislative office yesterday.

In his letter to Charles, Jordan said the concerns had been brought to Murray’s attention but, “months later,” no explanation had been given. He said the questionable bids involved work in the Hubbard, Elyria, Akron and Liberty Union school districts.

Savors said the allegations came up last spring, prompting the commission to issue a memorandum reminding construction managers, architects and others involved in school facilities projects that “a minimum of three manufacturers must be specified, and at no time is it acceptable to specify labor.”

In the May 21 memo, Mike Mendenhall, the commission’s chief of quality construction, wrote, “I would like to stress that any effort to circumvent the competitive selection process may result in the loss of OSFC co-funding, the termination of current contract or denial of future contracts.”

Savors said that bids returned with only one bidder are pulled for review, including those referred to by Jordan. All met commission requirements except the Akron proposal, which is being rebid, Savors said.

“We are taking every reasonable step possible to address” the issues , he said.

ccandisky@dispatch.com

 Rep. Kris Jordan (D-Delaware) sent a letter this week to Inspector General Thomas Charles, urging him to follow up on his recent investigation of the Ohio School Facilities Commission with another look at the commission’s furniture procurement practices.

 Charles recently completed an investigation of commission Executive Director Richard Murray’s relationship with unions, in it accusing Murray of harboring a pro-union bias. 

 Jordan said he was suspicious that some designers and architects might be using what he referred to as “spec-in backward,” which entails establishing furniture specifications that make it impossible for all but one vendor to win the contract, thus eliminating competition. He said he has concerns about bids in the Hubbard, Elyria, Akron and Liberty Union school districts.

 “In light of your recent report, Richard Murray’s refusal to resign and Gov. Strickland’s refusal to remove him, I believe this issue should be examined in greater detail to ensure there are no other questionable practices by the commission or its director,” Jordan wrote. “I do not want cronyism to become the norm by which the state conducts its business.”

School facilities chief says no rule requires neutrality

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010  02:51 AM

BY BILL BUSH AND RANDY LUDLOW

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Richard Murray, director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, said he hasn’t crossed any lines.

DispatchPolitics

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• The Daily Briefing
  The Dispatch’s public affairs team sates the appetites of political junkies with bite-sized portions of the news and what’s behind it.
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The director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission acknowledged yesterday that he’s not neutral when it comes to supporting unions – and said he’s not supposed to be, not by law nor by agency policy.

Richard Murray also said he never crossed any lines when dealing with local school-district officials and certainly never twisted any arms to get them to contract with union labor.

Murray, a former union official who was Gov. Ted Strickland’s pick to lead the agency that spends almost $3 million on schools across the state, said that the Ohio inspector general was incorrect in a report released last week that said Murray should be neutral.

Murray said he and his bosses on the commission, appointees who directly work for the Strickland administration, disagree.

“To this we say the (inspector general) is wrong: This sense of neutrality, this sense that with respect to union matters I must always be neutral, is simply nowhere in law or in rule or in policy of this agency.”

When told what Murray had said, commission Chairman J. Pari Sabety said in a written statement: “I agree that the commission’s neutrality with regard to local district decisions should be made more clear, so I have asked the OSFC legal counsel to draft clarifying language.”

The commission has prevailing wage and union-only “project labor agreement” policies that allow districts the option of paying union wages and hiring only union workers, Murray said. The agency officially supports the unions with these policies, “and to suggest that I must be neutral as I go out and explain those policies and explain why the commission’s policies include these matters, these options for school boards, is simply wrong.”

“Well, there you have it – finally an honest answer from Richard Murray,” said Bryan Williams, a lobbyist for the nonunion Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio. “He doesn’t get it. Richard Murray is a soldier in a larger army.”

The inspector general recommended that the commission “take action to ensure the executive director demonstrates neutrality regarding school districts’ selection of contractors, regardless of prevailing wage or PLA matters.” The report says Murray agreed that he was supposed to be neutral.

“The issue is, can you execute the duties of the OSFC properly while you have such a huge bias, and a bias that includes wanting to get paid by your former union employer while you’re on the payroll of the state?” Williams said.

The report said that Murray had asked for an advisory opinion on whether he could work as a paid consultant for Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, an organization dedicated to landing jobs for union construction firms that employed Murray for 13 years before Strickland tapped him to head the OSFC last September.

“They did not anticipate anywhere close to a 40-hour week, but they said can you come back and perform some of these transition functions, and we would pay you,” Murray said yesterday about the trust wanting to hire him while he was acting director of the OSFC. “And I said, well, the only way that could be done would be to engage in a contract. I’m a public employee. I have an ethical obligation not to accept employment outside of my public duties.”

“He’s in over his head as a manager as it is,” Williams said. “He shouldn’t have wanted to accept any other distraction except church on Sunday.”

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010  02:51 AM 

BY BILL BUSH

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

DispatchPolitics

• DispatchPolitics.com
  Complete coverage of Ohio politics
• The Daily Briefing
  The Dispatch’s public affairs team sates the appetites of political junkies with bite-sized portions of the news and what’s behind it.
• Buckeye Forum
  Veteran political reporters examine Ohio politics in this weekly podcast.

Today’s political news

• Powder-filled letters are back
• Obama signs border bill but wants more
• Obama defends mosque planned for ground zero
• Congress has power to curb ACORN funding
• Calif. congresswoman rebuts ethics allegations
• Tax-haters’ repeal effort won’t make the ballot
• Official says his union bias is allowed
• Group to fight closed-meetings bid
• Candidates talk redistricting
• Blind, deaf schools project to be cut back
• Costs of algae problem mounting

The proposed redesign of the Ohio schools for the deaf and blind will be substantially scaled back to save money, and a provision for union-only labor might be jettisoned now that state officials have discovered that it likely added to the price.

“I think all options have to be on the table,” Richard Murray, director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, said yesterday.

The commission will spend four to six weeks trying to determine how to repackage the North Side project to fit its $28million general-construction budget. The project was originally scheduled for completion in 2009, but the latest delay – caused last month when construction bids came in 41 percent above estimates – means the revamped campus is unlikely to be done by the end of the 2011-12 school year.

After a commission spokesman initially said that the “project labor agreement” that Murray instituted played no role in the bid overruns, Murray said yesterday that interviews with prime contractors now refute that: Subcontractors stayed away from the project, and their lack of participation likely drove up the price.

“The PLA may be contributing to this,” he said.

The lowest bids for work at the two schools, which are separated by a ravine at Morse Road and N. High Street, were $11.4million over the state’s $28 million estimate to construct the buildings, the major expense in the total $37.1million project. The residential buildings were almost 50 percent over estimates, Murray said.

Prime contractors probably withheld their best quotes because they were getting few subcontracting bids and knew their estimates were far above those of architect SHP Leading Design, Murray said. State law requires bids to be thrown out if all are more than 10 percent over budget, so contractors did not want to tip their hand in this round.

The fact that residential structures were involved in a public-school project requiring prevailing union wages probably also added to costs, Murray said.

“This is a prevailing-wage job site, by state law – not our choice,” Murray said. “Nobody, except Ohio State University and the university campuses, builds residential structures with prevailing wage.”

Murray said it wasn’t the “finest moment in estimation.” SHP already has identified about $2.8 million in cost reductions, he said.

The union official that co-signed the project labor agreement blamed SHP for much of the overruns.

The design called for 97 types of door handles in the blind school, so children could learn how to recognize and open different ones, said Pasquale “Pat” Manzi, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council.

“If you turn the architect loose, you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Manzi said.

SHP project manager Josh Predovich referred all questions to the commission.

Carl Schultz, Columbus, has been appointed to the Ohio Board of Building Standards.  Schultz is the vice president for Advanced Engineering Consultants. He has over 20 years of experience designing mechanical systems for institutional and commercial facilities and is a registered professional engineer in 13 states. Schultz is a member of the American Society of Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. He received a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1988.

The Board of Building Standards formulates and adopts standards and regulations governing the erection, construction,repair, alteration and maintenance of all classes of buildings

At the Controlling Board meeting scheduled for Monday, members will be reviewing a request for nearly $24 million in funding for nine Ohio school construction projects approved by the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) last month.

The school districts approved for funding at OSFC’s July 22 meeting include Arcadia Local, Chippewa Local, Defiance City, Fort Recovery, Madison Local, Southeastern Local, Three Rivers, Toronto City and Warren Local.

The OSFC approved funding for facility renovation and construction projects in nine school districts across Ohio on July 22. The projects represent nearly $345 million in work, to be financed by a combination of state and local funding.

Erik Roush, chief of external and legislative affairs for OSFC, said Friday that the projects up for funding Monday were not included in a recent inspector general investigation of OSFC. The report from that investigation, released this week, accused OSFC Executive Director Richard Murray of having a pro-union bias. 

“To the best of my knowledge, none of the districts contained in this Controlling Board request were interviewed by the Inspector General or logged complaints against Director Murray or the Ohio School Facilities Commission to the Inspector General’s office,” Roush said.

A significant portion of the state funding for the projects will come from the proceeds from the $4.1 billion in tobacco securitization financing initiated by Gov. Ted Strickland and approved by the General Assembly in 2008. The funding awards are contingent upon Controlling Board approval. The districts must acquire their local share of the project budget within a one-year time frame before the state funding can be released.

At the time of their approval, Murray called the projects “a crucial step in addressing the facilities needs within these districts.” He added, “These school construction projects will have a significant economic impact on local communities as today’s commission action translates into as many as 3,520 job opportunities for Ohioworkers.”   

Under the commission’s Green Schools Initiative, adopted in 2007, all of the buildings will be designed using the energy efficient and environmentally-conscious LEED for Schools rating system developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council.

 The right-to-work Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio (ABC) had plenty to say about the inspector general’s critical report on the Ohio School Facilities Commission 

August 5. Union organizers, on the other hand, were apparently in no mood to discuss the findings against onetime union negotiator Richard Murray, the OSFC director now caught up in the larger political dispute between labor organizers and open-shop advocates.

 Former state Rep. Bryan Williams, director of government affairs for ABC, continued his attack on Murray’s administration, likening the director’s ongoing union ties to “possible criminal behavior.” “Based on these documented findings, Richard Murray should resign or be terminated so the OSFC can return to performing its important work in a fair and legal manner,” Williams said.

 His statement said “where there is coercion, there is corruption,” pointing to member dues and other remuneration the unions would benefit from as part of the project labor agreement (PLA) Murray negotiated for the new Ohio School for the Deaf and School for the Blind. Williams also noted the director’s request to work as a union consultant while leading OSFC.

 “Mr. Murray’s effort to be paid by a former union employer while on the state payroll and his concurrent establishment of a PLA that would steer money to this former employer – of which he boasted continued membership – is an abuse of office at least and criminal at worst,” he said.

 Williams renewed his recent call for OSFC to re-bid the School for the Deaf/School for the Blind project. 

 In a separate call from reporters to Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET) – Murray’s former employer – LECET Director John Hughes declined to comment.

 A call to regional director Robert Richardson of Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), with which the IG says Murray has maintained close ties, was not returned.

 In a separate statement, Communications Director Keith Dailey in the governor’s office drew attention to an article published Friday by the Mansfield News Journal, which found unlike complaints lodged against Murray by several Scioto County school districts, “Richland County schools didn’t feel pressured by unions.”

The Strickland administration responded quickly to another damning report from the Ohio Inspector General’s Office (IG), rejecting outright the IG’s finding that the Ohio School Facilities Commission, and specifically Director Richard Murray, had abused commission “neutrality” in promoting union interests over non-union contractors on school projects.

Inspector General Thomas Charles accuses Murray of “pro-union biases” and direct conflicts of interest in the 40-page report, while state Budget Director Pari Sabety, chair of OSFC, charges Charles with a dearth of evidence in support of his claims.

The report has now prompted Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) to call for Murray’s resignation.

It is the second investigatory finding against a top Strickland appointee in three months. Both originated in Charles’ office. His previous report on the Ohio Department of Public Safety and State Highway Patrol led the Ohio Senate to reject the appointment of former Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor. Charles had accused the administration of bullying the highway patrol in a cancelled investigation of the now-suspended inmate worker program at the governor’s residence. He now accuses Strickland-appointee Richard Murray, OSFC’s executive director since Mike Shoemaker was fired in a hail of union criticism, of bullying school districts to accept union contracts.

“Not only was Murray inappropriately making plain his preference for union construction, he literally mobilized union labor against non-union contractors,” Charles says, noting the new director summarily fired OSFC’s chief legal counsel – “who was unpopular with organized labor” – upon entering office and “boasted about it at union meetings.”

Charles goes on to discuss the widely reported incident involving former Shawnee State University trustee Gary Coleman, an organizer for Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), and Clay Local School District – a meeting attended by Murray.

“The union representative berated school officials with profanities and racial slurs for 15 minutes while Murray sat silently by his side,” the IG states. “Murray … said he made himself available at these meetings to answer questions and did not take sides. Regardless of whether Murray always remained neutral at the meetings – and the evidence suggests he did not – Murray’s mere presence at union arm-twisting sessions spoke volumes.”

Charles goes to great pains to establish that Murray not only professed ongoing union membership with LIUNA and attended numerous labor gatherings, he also sought consultant work with his former employer, the union affiliate Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET), after accepting the job as OSFC director.

“Murray sought an Ohio Ethics Commission advisory opinion about whether he could work as a paid consultant for LECET,” the IG says. “Murray withdrew the request before the Ohio Ethics Commission could issue a determination, but for Murray to even consider such an arrangement was an astonishing indication of his divided loyalties.”

Charles says those purported loyalties eventually reached the level of a formal and legally actionable conflict of interest. He refers to another widely reported construction project involving the new Ohio School for the Deaf and School for the Blind.

“For Murray, adopting a project labor agreement (PLA) was more than a controversial policy decision; it posed what we believe to be an appearance of impropriety….” Charles states. “Murray belongs to Local 423, one of the unions engaged in the PLA. Local 423 will receive union dues from employees on the project; and, under the terms of the PLA Murray signed, Murray’s former employer, LECET, also will be paid for each hour of employee work. Separately, LECET’s partner organization, the Ohio Laborers’ District Council, also will receive a portion of each union employee’s wages.”

Charles estimates the value of the School for the Blind/School for the Deaf PLA to union interests at $145,000.

In view of these charges, he makes the following recommendations:

– The commission should take action to ensure the executive director demonstrates neutrality regarding school districts’ selection of contractors, regardless of union affiliation and prevailing wage or PLA matters.

– The OSFC should standardize its evaluation of bids, and its oversight of contractor performance.

– To evaluate further the prime contractor’s quality of work, OSFC should develop an evaluation form to document problems that occurred after occupancy.

In total, says Charles, a string of incidents since Murray arrived at OSFC reveal his disregard for a history of neutrality – a characterization of OSFC’s position on labor issues which Sabety rejects.

“The main premise of this report is that the Ohio School Facilities Commission and the executive director have an obligation to act neutrally with regard to prevailing wage and project labor agreement decisions of local school districts,” she says. “But for the first 10 years of the commission’s existence under previous gubernatorial administrations, the commission was not neutral. Despite state law permitting prevailing wage and project labor agreements on all public building projects, including school facilities, previous administrations had a policy that outright prohibited the adoption of such quality bidding practices.”

To correct that alleged bias, Sabety says the Strickland administration has instead adopted the policy of deferring to local control in the selection of school contractors.

“The OSFC passed a resolution allowing local school districts to pursue quality bidder requirements and project labor agreements where they deem it appropriate and where it can provide the highest quality construction for Ohio’s schoolchildren and the best value for Ohio’s taxpayers,” she says.

Sabety then backtracks somewhat by insisting Murray and OSFC have indeed acted with neutrality.

“The proof that the School Facilities Commission has remained neutral with regard to local district decisions is that the total number of local school districts that have adopted project labor agreements or incorporated prevailing wage provisions ‘amount to a fraction of OSFC projects,’ according to the IG report,” she states.

As for Murray’s own conduct, Sabety rebuffs the claim that the director had “behaved unprofessionally” in his role.

“He has not. The inspector general report provides no evidence of a school district that chose to use contractors because of pressure from the school facilities commission, or because of a perception of preference from the executive director.”

Harris responded with the following call for Murray’s ouster:

“Intimidation, contract steering and good old boy politics do not build school buildings and have no place in state government. I am concerned that the changes that have occurred at the Ohio School Facilities Commission over the past year under the direction of Richard Murray have tarnished the reputation of one of the state’s most successful programs.”

Harris says equally qualified union and non-union contractors should be on “equal footing” before OSFC.

“Based on the inspector general’s report, it is clear that under the leadership of Director Murray, the priority has been placed on the governor’s political supporters at the expense of our schools and Ohio taxpayers. If we have any hope of restoring confidence in this program and in the commission, Director Murray should step down. If he refuses, the governor should let him go.”

The full report on OSFC can be found at http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2010082.pdf.

According to a fact sheet distributed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, some small businesses that provide health care coverage support for employees could be eligible for tax credits to help subsidize the cost of health care coverage. Those businesses who qualify for the credit can begin in 2010 and can claim the credit for up to six years. The credit is worth up to 35 percent of the cost of the business’ insurance premium for 2010 through 2013, with eligibility for up to 50 percent beginning in 2014.

There are four qualifying factors to determine eligibility for the tax credit:

1. Businesses must have less than the equivalent of 25 full-time workers (10 or fewer employees for maximum allowable credit)
2. Average salary must be less than $25,000 per year for maximum credit, up to $50,000 per year for partial credit 
3. Businesses must offer health care coverage to employees
4. Businesses must cover at least 50 percent of the cost of employee health insurance to receive the maximum tax credit

While government fact sheets promote that up to four million small businesses may be eligible for the tax credit, they do not estimate how many are eligible for the maximum credit, nor even how many will actually qualify. PIA recommends consulting your tax professional to help determine your eligibility and qualifying tax credit.

Sources for more information:

For general information and guidelines, view the IRS Small Business Health Care Tax Credit information page.
For more detailed information on eligibility requirements and partial credit, view the IRS Small Business Health Care Tax Credit: Frequently Asked Questions page.