District 97’s new buildings and grounds director said he has never seen a scheme like the one perpetrated on District 97 by its former B&G chief, Jerry Malatesta, who’s accused, along with two contractors, of stealing more than $700,000 from the district.
Norman Lane was hired last week by the Dist. 97 Board of Education to oversee the troubled department. The school board also hired Therese O’Neil as the district’s new assistant superintendent for finance and operations.
Lane formerly worked for Aramark, a facilities management company that oversees the buildings and grounds departments in school districts, including Naperville and Wheaton.
In his 13 years in management, Lane said he’s never worked at a school district that didn’t have a bid process for maintenance projects and where invoices weren’t approved by more than one person.
He currently oversees the buildings and grounds department at Madison School District 159. Lane said any maintenance project typically goes out for bid. As Dist. 97’s B&G director, Malatesta would place work orders and also sign off on contractors. He’s been accused of writing phony invoices to two contractors-Mech-Tech Inc. and Advance Hydronics Inc., as well as to Dove Mechanical Inc., a defunct company owned by one of the contractors. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office alleges that none of the contractors did any of the work they were paid for. Malatesta, who authorized the payments, later pocketed the money with the contractors, authorities said.
Lane explained that most school districts use a bid process. At his former district, an RFP (request for proposal) or RFQ (request for qualifications) is publicized. Contractors pick up a bid packet at the district office. All bids are sealed, and the lowest usually is awarded the project.
Lane wouldn’t comment on what took place in Dist. 97, but said he’d talk with administration about having more checks and balances. In the alleged fraud scheme, Malatesta would write invoices for replacement, removal or installation of parts at the schools or district offices. Lane stressed that such work should be signed by the business office through a purchase order.
“Every place I’ve worked at has had that process,” he said. “Anytime you’re dealing with the public money, it has to be a public process.”
O’Neil, formerly the business manager at Matteson Elementary School, Dist. 159, said purchase orders there are matched with invoices, and nothing is paid for until approved by the business office.
Malatesta had signed invoices as high as $6,000 in some cases. O’Neil said any purchase request for more than $500 in Dist. 159 receives a final review from the superintendent.
Trust, yet verify
Sources at Dist. 97, speaking on and off the record, said administration believed that Malatesta was running the office properly. But O’Neil, who wouldn’t address what occurred under Malatesta, noted that trust can only go so far.
“We want to make sure there are controls in place at Dist. 97, but I can’t comment on what took place because I don’t know the process,” she said. “Trust does come into play. You have to have trust in your administration, but you also have to have controls in place. If someone is really trying to circumvent the process, they’ll find a way.”
O’Neil and Lane both said they were unaware of Malatesta’s alleged wrongdoing when they applied to the district.