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Orem residents uneasy about vendor for school district feasibility study

By Genelle Pugmire - | Apr 7, 2022

Courtesy Orem City

This undated photo shows an aerial view of Orem.

Orem is doing a feasibility study to determine the desirability for its own district and it has some residents angry.

There are a host of concerns for residents, first being with the vendor selection process — and a possible conflict of interest with the owner of the company hired to do the study.

Discovery Education Consultants, LLC was selected by Orem’s Director of Legislative Counsel Jesse L. Riddle. In announcing the selected company via press release it was noted that, “this very qualified team of professionals has many years of experience in school district administration, educational management, curriculums and finance.”

It did not mention it has done feasibility studies on splitting districts. It also didn’t mention the company was created in February, with the official name being registered with the State of Utah on Feb. 7 of this year.

On Monday the city announced that Discovery Education Consultants would be the vendor and be paid a sum of $30,000.

Besides more than 200 comments concerning the new district and the vetting process, one individual has filed a complaint with the State Auditor’s office against Orem’s procurement officer Trevor Bell and his boss, City Manager Jamie Davidson. Bell is responsible for procuring the contract vendor and Davidson is his superior. Neither man seemingly had involvement in the process, as it was assigned to the office of legislative council and was not put through a full Request for Proposal.

The complaint, submitted by Jonathan Bejarano, a resident of Highland, also notes that, “Concerns that the vendor selection criteria of ‘No conflicts of interest’ was not followed as an elected city council member, Terry D. Peterson is friends with F. LaVar Christensen, a member of the Discovery Education Consultants Team.”

A call was placed to Peterson on one of his two phone lines he owns but the call was not returned.

“The process to solicit bids for a consultant to do an Orem School District feasibility study was not in violation of our purchasing policy, as it relates to the procurement of professional services (see Orem City Code 2-7-6),” said Steven Downs, deputy city manager.

Bejarano submitted a Government Records Access and Management Act request to the city asking for the names of those on the vetting committee. The response was, “Jesse L. Riddle is the name. I vetted and chose the Company, as directed by the City Council and in compliance with Utah Law. I did not employ a ‘scoring card.'”

In the Agreement for Consulting Services it notes that the consultant shall work with the Director of the Office of Legislative Counsel — Riddle.

From the GRAMA request, it appears the selection was vetted only by Riddle and no one on the council, attorney’s office or city management were involved.

In a letter to Mayor Dave Young and the City Council, Orem resident Cissy Rasmussen notes her concerns on the issue.

“The choice of Discovery Education Consultants and Dr. Paul McCarty will not meet your goals of unbiased and independent. Though I believe that facts are facts regardless of who shares them, in this case, the conflicts of interest are so compelling that this study cannot be taken seriously. To be blunt, it will reflect badly on you. It will damage public trust that you truly want a reliable, unbiased study,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen then sets forth her issues with the contractor noting that, “many people have been sending me resources that they find troubling.”

Rasmussen said that the most “egregious bias” is the fact that McCarty leads a group that wants to split the Canyons District to create a Draper district. She adds there is “no evidence that he (McCarty) has any experience with doing this type of study.”

Draper’s City Council has no interest in splitting with the Canyons District at this time and is not interested in the notion.

Orem would be one of the first contracts for the newly created Discovery Education Consultants, if not the first.

Rasmussen shared an email she received from Draper resident Chad Iverson that says, “Paul McCarty is not an expert. He has never conducted a feasibility study in his life. He doesn’t have the financial expertise needed to conduct this study. He sat in my living room in January and told me he felt it was his ‘calling’ to drive a secession from Canyons School District. … If you are looking for an unbiased, third party, to assess whether Orem should secede from the ASD (Alpine School District), it certainly isn’t him.”

“Although this is one person’s opinion, I find it valuable because it shows again that Dr. McCarty is deeply involved in splitting school districts,” Rasmussen added. She asked the city, “Please redo the RFP process and choose a more qualified, less biased contractor. That will give all of us the best results for making decisions.”

Rasmussen shared information on two Facebook pages, City of Orem Government and More4Orem. Comments, likes and shares were prolific with a variety of comments discussing the need for the study, expressing a desire to break from ASD, questioning the vendor’s hiring process and more.

It appears for the moment that, following a feasibility study, residents have the opportunity to speak out on the study and potentially will have a chance to vote on it this November.

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