District official’s authority in school construction is curbed

The Los Angeles Unified School District has limited the authority of one of its senior-level construction managers to supervise consultants that he supplies to the district through his side firm after a Times article exposed the practice.

According to a memorandum sent Monday evening to school board members from Guy Mehula, the district’s chief facilities executive, a higher-ranking manager will review timecards for consultants hired from TBI Associates when they are signed by Bassam Raslan, one of the company’s owners and a district regional director of construction.

The school district is awaiting the results of an investigation by its inspector general before deciding whether to take action against Raslan or one of his consultants, Stephen Cole, who records show billed for dozens of days when he was absent from his principal jobsite: an addition at Mount Washington Elementary School.

Raslan did not return telephone calls Tuesday. A district spokeswoman said Cole has been hospitalized for the last week, suffering from high blood pressure.

Raslan signed Cole’s timecards over a three-month period and billed the district more than $88,000 in fees, despite allegations by Cole’s direct supervisor that Cole was padding his hours.

Raslan also signed the timecards of four other TBI-supplied staffers in a five-month period. Records show that nine of TBI’s 25 contractors to the district work under Raslan.

“In order to avoid any appearance of impropriety while the inspector general investigation is underway, we are immediately updating district timecard procedures to add a second level of review by the director of construction in the instances where an owner is signing their employees’ timecards,” Mehula said. “After the inspector general review of this process, we will add additional checks and balances if necessary.”

Board of Education member David Tokofsky, whose district includes Mount Washington, said he was stunned by Monday’s article in The Times because he had repeatedly asked Mehula and others at the top of the $20-billion school building program whether such conflicts existed. He said he was assured that they did not.

“I have asked numerous times over the years whether it is possible that somebody in a top position on a project could be supervising in any way somebody from their own company, and I have been constantly reassured that that should not be happening, that that is not OK,” Tokofsky said. “I’m absolutely looking for an answer from the superintendent’s team and the facilities division.”

Schools Supt. David L. Brewer declined repeated requests to discuss the matter. Board President Marlene Canter declined to comment, saying through a spokesman that she was confident that district officials would handle the situation properly.

Mehula said Tuesday that other managers typically sign TBI employees’ timecards because even those under Raslan report directly to intermediate managers.

He said Raslan would sign their timecards only in unusual situations when the direct supervisor was unavailable.

Connie Rice, who chairs the district’s bond oversight committee, said Tuesday that she also has directed her staff to investigate the timecard issue.

“I’m trying to figure out whether it’s an appearance of a conflict or a lack of a clear protocol that would give you early warnings about serious things,” she said. “What you want to do is you want to make sure that whatever timecard-signing procedure you have gives you early warning about fraud.

“That’s what you’re really trying to avoid,” she added, “that nobody takes the money and runs off to Tahiti.”

Leon Joseph, Cole’s former direct supervisor -- who no longer works on district projects -- said he had refused to sign Cole’s timecards because he thought they were fraudulent. Cole took the cards one step up the hierarchy to Raslan, Joseph’s supervisor. Joseph said that when he reported his concerns about padded hours to Raslan, he was told to continue signing the timecards.

The district relies on consultants such as Cole to supervise the school construction program, which is funded by a series of bond issues approved by voters beginning in 1997. District officials say the arrangement allows them to attract better workers and to expand or shrink the staff as needed.

The district pays the firms hourly fees for the consultants’ work, and the companies in turn pay the workers, records show. The fees paid by the district include estimated costs of overhead and a profit.

Because of the district’s goal of 25% small-business participation, large, well-established firms typically use small, local subcontractors such as TBI to bolster their bids, records show.

Raslan started his company in 2002 with two other consultants who at the time worked for larger firms doing low-level project management. They made their wives shareholders to allow them to call it a women’s business enterprise, which they thought would give them an advantage, according to statements by two company founders in court records related to dueling lawsuits filed in 2005.

Mehula has said he was not concerned about possible conflicts created by Raslan supervising TBI employees.

evelyn.larrubia@latimes.com