The complaint named the procurement officer, Trevor Bell, and City Manager Jamie Davidson. Bell is responsible for selecting 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 Highland resident Jonathan Bejarano, 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.”

The letter from the Auditor’s office said:

“We have reviewed the concerns cited in your various emails. We determined Orem City’s procurement for the feasibility study appears to fall within the parameters of their procurement ordinance 2-7-6(A) which allows exceptions to the bidding requirements. Therefore, we do not believe a violation of Orem’s procurement ordinance occurred in this case. The State Auditor encourages government entities to utilize a competitive procurement process to the greatest extent possible, even when not required by code, ordinance, or policy, in order to provide taxpayers with a competitive and transparent process.”

The Office of the State Auditor provides taxpayers and government officials with an independent assessment of financial operation, statutory compliance and performance management for state and local government, according to their website.

The release of the letter is of little consequence as the feasibility study is on its way and is to have a draft completed around June 15.

“The City of Orem’s adopted ordinance allows for the city to enter into agreements for professional services without going through a competitive sealed bid process,” said Steven Downs, deputy mayor. “Having said that, the city still did its due diligence by reaching out to multiple companies asking for them to consider bidding on this study. Of the six companies, Zions Bank, Tanner & Company, Squire & Company, Merrill Lynch, Lewis Young Robertson and Burningham, and Discovery Educational Consultants, two companies made proposals. Both proposals were given serious consideration.”

For some citizens — who shared their opinions through Facebook, open mic time at council meetings and more — answers to their questions seemingly are incomplete or nonexistent.

For instance, there was a concern about the vendors applying and the vetting committee that was involved with the selection process.

After Government Records Access and Management Act requests from the Daily Herald, the city provided a full answer regarding the committee.

The first GRAMA response, submitted back to the city recorder from Jesse L. Riddle, Orem’s Legislative Council said, “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.'”

However, the second request shows that the vendor was vetted by Riddle, Reed Park, Keith Grover, Jennifer Young and Riddle’s former business partner who’s name was redacted. Park is legal counsel for Nebo School District, Young is a charter school teacher and Grover is a Utah Senator representing west Orem, Lindon and part of Pleasant Grove.

One of the most prominent concerns focused specifically on Discovery Education Consultants.

Discovery Education Consultants had its name officially registered with the state on Feb. 7. Four days later, according to the vendor contract, the City of Orem sent Discovery Education Consultants a solicitation, asking to respond by submitting a proposal to do the feasibility study. That proposal was received at the city on the March 2 deadline.

The information on Discovery Education Consultants indicates that the company’s founders bring together nearly 100 years of experience. Paul McCarty is the key figure in the company.

In an email to Orem Mayor Dave Young, and the city council, on March 1, Riddle noted that both vendors selected to be vetted, “have been involved in school district split studies.”

However, an official split study does not appear to be possible with Discovery Educational Consultants as Orem is their first contract.

McCarty did lead a group of individuals in Draper that were seeking to break away from the Canyons School District earlier this year, in hopes of forming a Draper School District.

Draper City Council and Draper Mayor Troy K. Walker issued a statement on McCarty’s group. It was the second time the Draper officials have put out a statement on the group and the issue of splitting from Canyons District.

“For several months a group of Draper residents has been pursuing the creation of a new school district that would be exclusively within the Draper city boundaries and which would require a separation from the Canyons School District,” reads the statement. “Although the mayor and council have met with this group at their request, neither Draper City nor its elected officials have been involved with the conception of this proposal, nor with the attempt to move the process forward. At this time, the Mayor and Council do not support a split from the Canyons School District.”

McCarty and his group have not formally presented before the Draper Council, according to Linda Peterson, the city’s director of communications.

“I was the first one they contacted,” Walker told the Daily Herald. “They showed me the concept of a school district split and I told them they would have to show overwhelming community support for it.”

Walker met with McCarty for a second time just before Christmas. He also encouraged them to talk to council members. He noted the group was wanting the issue on the ballot later this year.

Even after seeing what Walker and council members said was a pretty simplistic presentation, he told them, “There is just no interest. We think Canyons does a phenomenal job.”

Speaking of McCarty’s group, Walker said, “It’s a solution looking for a problem.” He added that his city has not, and does not, endorse Discovery Education Consultants.