Foothills Sentry March 2024

Page 9 Foothills Sentry MARCH 2024 7540 E. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92869 (714) 639-9792 MEAT&DELI, PRODUCE, BAKERY, FRESH FISH, GIFT BASKETS, WINE MON-SAT: 8am - 9pmSUN: 8am - 8pm www.Pac ‹ϐ‹ cRanchMarket.com $ OFF Excluding alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. With coupon only. May not be combined with any other offer or discount. Limit one coupon per customer. Valid only at P ƒ…‹ϐ‹… Ranch Market. When You Spend $25 or More * EXPIRES: / /2 5 OC’s Premier ProduceMarket Best Lodging Value in Orange County Always delighted to serve you. The NewOrange Grove Inn Comfortable, relaxing & affordable. Everything you need in OC. 1671 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 Reservations #714-474-2400 www.ogioc.com OUSD board majority awards preliminary contract for Villa Park High pool despite board minority concerns Young Women of the Month named by TAWC Kimberly Velazquez of Tus- tin High School and Kiara Eng of Foothill were named Young Women of the Month for Febru- ary by the Tustin Area Woman’s Club. Kimberly Velazquez has spent most of her high school career on the Tustin Dance Team as a member of the performance and competition teams. The team’s KLS KRS URXWLQH ZRQ ¿ UVW SODFH DW QDWLRQDOV IRU WKH ¿ UVW WLPH VLQFH 2020. Velazquez is also a market- ing intern with CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County, work- ing with a subsidiary company known as OC Fellows. Her in- volvement in this area has in- spired her to pursue a business economics major at the Univer- sity of California or California State University. Kiara Eng is currently an Inter- national Baccalaureate candidate. She has been on the Principal’s High Honor Roll all four years of high school, and received the AP Scholar Award. Eng is the histo- rian for the FHS National Honor Society and a member of the Cal- ifornia Scholarship Federation. She founded, and is president, of the Neuroscience Club. She is a three-year varsity volleyball player and is currently the team captain. She helped her team win two league championships. Kiara plans to major in psychology or neuroscience in college. Keila Medina of Beckman High School and Nina Ryan of Legacy Magnet Academy were also recognized. Central Dems to evaluate primary results The Central Orange County Democratic Club will discuss two important issues at its Wednes- day, March 27 meeting. Topics include an evaluation of the March primary results, their implications and the road to vic- tory in November. A report on the rise of fascism in OC from elect- eds and citizens who are address- ing these issues will follow. Doors open, snacks and chats at 6:30 p.m., and general meeting at 7 p.m. An RSVP via Mobilize or the club website, CentralOC- Dems.com, is required to attend. Central OC Dems includes Tus- tin, Tustin Hills, Orange and Villa Park, though all in OC are wel- come. Meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of the month at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,1221 Wass St. in Tustin, which is not D൶ OLDWHG ZLWK WKH RUJDQL]DWLRQ By Tina Richards A preconstruction and lease leaseback (LLB) service agree- ment for a 50m pool at Villa Park High School project was DSSURYHG E\ WKH 2UDQJH 8QL¿ HG Board majority, Feb. 8. The $45,000 contract autho- rizes the preconstruction phase of the project and initiates a lease leaseback delivery method, which many school districts now employ to build new facilities. This delivery method allows the pool designer selected by OUSD to partner with a general contrac- tor to develop construction docu- ments and plans together. Once plans are approved by the district, the contractor submits them to the state architect, the agency that must approve school construction projects, and works directly with that regulator to ensure require- ments are met. That collaboration reduces the number of change or- ders on projects and establishes a guaranteed maximum price be- fore construction begins. The guaranteed maximum price for the Villa Park pool con- struction is $13 million. The esti- mated cost of the overall project is $18 million. Under the LLB, the district leases the project site to the contractor for $1. The dis- trict then subleases it from the contractor for 5% of the guar- anteed maximum price. In this case, the sublease principal pay- ment is included as part of the budgeted $13 million. The sub- lease commenced on Feb. 9 and will continue for up to six months following project completion. Construction to come later It was made clear during board deliberations on the contract that the work is preliminary only, that actual construction of the pool would not begin without further board direction once the design is approved. It was noted that four companies responded to the re- quest for proposals and of those, WKUHH ZHUH FRQVLGHUHG ¿ QDOLVWV 1H൵ &RQVWUXFWLRQ ZDV XOWLPDWHO\ VHOHFWHG EHFDXVH LW R൵ HUHG WKH “best combination of price and TXDOL¿ FDWLRQV ´ The details of the contract and WKH VHOHFWLRQ RI 1H൵ ZHUH SUH sented to the board by Douglas Yeoman, an attorney with Parker DQG &RYHUW WKH ¿ UP UHSUHVHQWLQJ the district on that matter. John Ortega motioned to ap- prove the contract award and Rick Ledesma seconded. Several of their colleagues, however, had concerns. During the board meet- LQJ LW ZDV UHYHDOHG WKDW 1H൵ Construction had been implicated in a fraud case in Riverside Coun- ty. In that case, Ted Rozzi, an as- sistant superintendent of the Co- rona Norco School District, was charged with embezzling some $2 million via checks issued by 1H൵ &RQVWUXFWLRQ It could look bad A 2019 investigation conduct- ed by the state Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team )&0$7 IRXQG WKDW 1H൵ KDG written 38 checks payable to Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Union and Citibank credit card accounts that turned out to be Rozzi’s. The checks were issued at Rozzi’s request, sometimes in the form of emails. While he indi- cated which school construction projects the checks should refer- ence, the FCMAT report found little documentation to support the payments. The questionable checks were drafted from January 2011 to September 2014. Ted Rozzi pled guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to two years in prison. During his SOHDGLQJ KH LQVLVWHG WKDW 1H൵ Construction had no knowledge of the fraud, that the company ZDV ³DQ LQQRFHQW E\VWDQGHU ´ 7KH Riverside County District Attor- ney subsequently dismissed the criminal charges against the com- pany and its principal Ed Mierau. “’I’m concerned about the re- port of contractor involvement in IUDXG ´ .ULV (ULFNVRQ VDLG ³:K\ are we working with a company suspected of fraud? Something funny happened. It’s important to DW OHDVW WDON DERXW LW ´ ³:K\ GLGQ¶W \RX WHOO XV"´ $Q drea Yamasaki asked Attorney Yeoman, who had represented the Corona Norco School District during the fraud investigation. Yeoman replied that he said noth- ing about it because it happened some time ago, there was no le- JDO EDVLV WR H[FOXGH 1H൵ &RQ struction, and he had no concerns about it. ³<RX VKRXOG KDYH WROG XV ´ Yamasaki responded. “It’s some- WKLQJ ZH VKRXOG KDYH NQRZQ ´ Both Ortega and Ledesma stressed that the criminal charges DJDLQVW 1H൵ KDG EHHQ GURSSHG and there was no reason to talk about it. Nothing to see here ³7KHUH¶V D GL൵ HUHQFH EHWZHHQ criminal charges being dropped and being implicated. Criminal charges require a higher standard RI SURRI ´ (ULFNVRQ DGYLVHG ³,W doesn't mean nothing happened." Neither Ortega nor Ledesma wanted to talk about it, with both QRWLQJ WKDW 1H൵ DJUHHG WR D JXDU anteed maximum price -- which is what the district was after. 1H൵ ZDV DSSURYHG ZLWK D IRXU (Ortega, Ledesma, Angie Rum- sey, Madison Miner) to three (Erickson, Yamasaki, Ana Page) vote. At that same meeting, the board agreed, 7-0, to order a Myrtha pool for the Villa Park project. While a Myrtha pool initially costs a little more than a concrete structure, maintenance is cheaper DQG WKHUHIRUH PRUH FRVW H൵ HF tive in the long run. A down pay- ment of 20% of the $1.1 million cost is due in March. The district opted to purchase the pool, rather than pay the markup if a contractor placed the order. The pool is fabricated in Italy and takes about 150 days to build. It should be ready by August, about the same time the preliminary construction phase is completed. Orange Art Association features technique demos The Orange Art Association will feature Laguna-based artist Elizabeth McGhee demonstrat- ing work with color pencils at its Monday, March 11 meeting. Davy Lieu, a former Disney il- lustrator and author/illustrator, will demonstrate his craft on Mon- day, April 8. TheArt Association meets at the Community of Christ Church, 395 So. Tustin Avenue. Monthly com- petitions begin at 7 p.m., and the artist demonstrations at 7:30 p.m. OAA welcomes new members. Yearly dues are $35. For further information, call Pat at (714) 538- 8069. Kimberly Velazquez Kiara Eng