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Thursday, October 7, 1999

CCISD meals -- business or social?
Adherence to Open Meetings Act questioned
By Jonathan Osborne, Darren Barbee and James A. Suydam
Caller-Times

District Attorney Carlos Valdez is questioning whether $15,425.90 on Corpus Christi Independent School District Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra's credit card account, explained as meals with board members, was for business or pleasure.
   "If they are not discussing business, why are we paying for entertainment?" Valdez said. "And if they are discussing business, that's in violation of the Open Meetings Act."
   Saavedra, one of four CCISD officials with a district credit card, has dined 144 times with board members since 1993 at such restaurants as Water Street Seafood Co. and Two George's and spent almost $107.12per meal, according to a Caller-Times examination of district American Express records.
   During the same period, Saavedra charged another $5,149.59 for meals with staff members.
   Records show that Saavedra charged $760.17 so far this year for meals designated as meals with board members.
   "We've been paying for entertaining these people for a long time, because that's the way it's always been done," Valdez said. "The board is ultimately responsible for policy questions and oversight. They're the ones who run the show. They're the elected officials who are supposed to be overseeing all the spending."
   The Corpus Christi City Council, from Nov. 10, 1998, to June 29, 1999, spent $1,223.74 for nine meals served at council meetings and workshops. By comparison, from Nov 9, 1998, to June 30, 1999, Saavedra spent $2,983.85 for 22 meals with staffers or board members.
   The city spent about $1,000 on chips, dips, cookies and sodas for meetings.
   "I usually go to the grocery store and get about $30 to $35 worth of stuff like that before each council meeting to keep for them in the back," said City Secretary Armando Chapa. "But we don't do the social thing, going and taking them all out to eat afterwards. . . . You can get in trouble that way."
   They 'have a life'
   Saavedra has said the credit card statements and receipts do not reflect how many people were at each meal and that if several people were present he would not normally list every person.
   School Board member Manuel Flores said the board met often for dinner after meetings. Flores said the dinners weren't a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
   "We have a chance to do some bonding with the board and talk," Flores said. "At times, we discuss individual issues, but of course we never do vote . . . but the hard part about it is that sometimes we actually do have a quorum of people there."
   According to the Texas Open Meetings Act, a quorum of a governmental body may not meet among itself or with another person and discuss public business or public policies the group oversees.
   The act does not prohibit the gathering of a quorum at a social function unrelated to the public business, if formal action is not taken and any discussion of public business is incidental to the social function, according to the law.
   School attorney J.W. Gary said that since he's instructed the board members not to conduct business when they join for meals, he's confident that the meetings don't break the Texas Open Meetings law."They are instructed when they go to those, that they are purely social, that they are not to be involved with any deliberation, or discussion or comment on anything that has anything to do with business," Gary said. "I don't attend the meetings, I mean, I gather it's for the purpose of feeding them."
   Gary said it's not uncommon for a quorum of the school board members to meet at social functions and not discuss business.
   "You may not believe it, reading everything in the paper, but these people do have a life other than being school board members," Gary said. "They can discuss all sorts of things."
   Topless bar and car washes
   On Monday, Valdez invited the FBI to assist the city in its investigation of the district following the discovery of charges, which he calls questionable, on district credit cards, including more than $5,200 at a local topless bar by a former assistant superintendent.
   Other charges Valdez is questioning include $15,402 for car maintenance on Saavedra's American Express card for items including gasoline, car washes, car detailing, tires and mechanical repairs, according to a Caller-Times examination of district records. Saavedra has maintained at least three vehicles since 1993, including a 1989 Chevrolet Suburban, a 1992 Chevrolet truck and a 1996 Honda.
   Saavedra's contract includes a provision that gives him $650 per month in a vehicle allowance in addition to costs of maintaining and operating his vehicle.
   Saavedra has said he would not comment further until the investigation is complete.
   Ricardo Rodriguez, the district's interim assistant superintendent of Business and Administration, said the district has no specific policy regarding credit card usage and reimbursement.
   Social business functions
   Flores likened the post-meeting dinners to times that board members are together at conventions or workshops. "It's a social function," he said. "But there is some board working on cohesiveness, getting to know each other better in a social setting. We're not taking votes on things, but it's still district business or board business."
   As an example, Flores cited an occasion in which he asked Jim Smith, a former assistant superintendent, about the status of a study on the school district's facilities.
   "It wasn't a discussion that all of us were participating in," Flores said.
   CCISD trustee Dr. Rene Vela, who was elected in 1998, said that everyone on the board gets invited to go out to eat at district expense after late meetings.
   "Ever since we came on the board, that's how it was done," Vela said.
   Trustee Dorothy Adkins said she did not frequently dine with other board members or the superintendent, especially at breakfast or lunch.
   "We are surprised over the number of meals that were on that American Express Card," Adkins said. "Your real legal question is, 'Should the superintendent be eating all the meals, even if it's with staff, on the American Express card?' "
   'Necessity of eating'
   Trustee Pinky Brauer said that when she first joined the school board in 1992, it was standard practice for trustees and the superintendent to go out for dinner after meetings and for the superintendent to pay for it on his district credit card. In the past year, she said, the women on the board rarely joined other trustees for meals after meetings.
   "We don't care to do it as much anymore." Brauer said.
   Board members Bill Hamrick, Vicki Rothschild and Frank Reyes could not be reached for comment.
   Chris Adler, a trustee from 1988 to 1996, said trustees sometimes ate at district expense but never discussed school business with a quorum present. Those kinds of meals took place probably once every few months, she said.
   "It was rare," Adler said. "We probably just came from a six-hour board meeting, just stopped and got a bite to eat. I can't tell you it was a social event. . . . It was just a necessity of eating dinner at 10 at night, when everyone had gone to bed.
   "For the hundreds and hundreds of hours we put in, it was little money. We would be in (a meeting) from 4 or 5 o'clock to maybe 11 or 12 o'clock, and we'd stop to get something to eat. I don't think it was excessive at all," Adler said.
   Audit and allegations
   Valdez's request for FBI assistance follows the conclusion of an audit of CCISD by the Texas Education Agency.
   The audit of the board follows allegations of felony theft and misdemeanor official misconduct against board President Frank Reyes and misdemeanor official misconduct allegations against Flores.
   The allegations stem from a complaint that former board member Ed Hecht filed with the County Attorney's Office, claiming that Reyes and Flores violated state law by not reimbursing the district for airline tickets purchased for their family members.



Staff writers Guy Lawrence and Dan Parker contributed to this story. Staff writer Jonathan Osborne can be reached at 886-3716 or by e-mail at osbornej@caller.com. Staff writer Darren Barbee can be reached at 886-3764 or by e-mail at barbeed@caller.com. Staff Writer James A. Suydam can be reached at 886-3618 or by e-mail at suydamj@caller.com.

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