Mover: Contract with Lake Zurich school came quick
The owner of a Park Ridge moving company testified that Gavin Elementary District 34 school board President Barbara Mende told him he was hired by the district to move school furniture just hours after he submitted an estimate.
The timing of the call Richard Johnson said he received from Mende could be crucial in her trial on official misconduct charges in Lake County circuit court.
Mende is accused of skirting state laws governing competitive bidding for government bodies involving contracts over $10,000.
Johnson, the owner of 5-Alarm Movers, testified in court Thursday he met with Mende and other Gavin Elementary District 37 officials the morning of Jan. 12.
The officials were looking for a company to move desks and other furniture from a school in Lake Zurich, where classes were held for Gavin Central students after Central was condemned.
Repairs to Gavin Central had been completed and school officials were now targeting the week of Jan. 16 to move the furniture so the school could reopen.
Johnson said he told Mende and the others the job would cost $13,000. He said Mende asked if he would give the district two estimates -- one to load furniture in Lake Zurich and a second to unload it at Gavin Central.
Johnson said he "split the bill in half" and before noon that same day faxed two estimates for $6,500 each to a number Mende provided.
He said it "was sometime after lunch" when Mende called and told him 5-Alarm was hired and asked for his insurance certificate.
Johnson's recollection contrasts the testimony of two District 37 board members. They testified it was late afternoon or early evening Jan. 12 when Mende called and asked them to approve hiring a mover on an emergency basis.
Diane Hanson and Constance Thorsen both testified Mende asked them to vote by telephone to hire the mover.
Both said they refused and cited concerns about bidding requirements and the restraints of the state Open Meetings Act.
District 37 attorney Robert Swain testified he discussed the bidding requirements with Mende, including the emergency exemption to competitive bidding.
He said he told Mende there was no legal definition of an emergency, but that even if the board decided to act under the emergency exemption, the votes of six of the seven board members would be needed for approval.
Without the votes of Hanson and Thorsen, Mende could not have assembled the required majority needed to hire 5-Alarm on Jan. 12.
Mende faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Testimony is expected to continue today.
She is also awaiting trial on charges of stealing more than $11,000 while working as the head of payroll for the Lake County Fairgrounds Association.