Runcie, Aide May Have Missing School Trucks

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

The two missing Ford Explorers that the school system lost may have been found – in the driveways of Superintendent Robert Runcie and his right hand aide, Maurice Woods.

The transportation department botched the paperwork when they gave the vehicles to Runcie and Woods, thus auditor could not find them, according to several high-placed source involved in the system.

The two four-door Ford Explorers XLT 4X2 trucks were among the almost $1 million in equipment that the transportation department could not account for during a routine audit last year. The audit was made public last week and Browardbeat.com’s post on it is here.

“All I know is that both have white Ford Explorers (from the system),” said a high school system source.

 The auditors priced the trucks at $20,857 apiece.

A second source said that when Runcie was asked if the truck he drives was one of the missing Explorers, he conceded that “it could be.”

Runcie and Woods, who’s formal title is the system’s chief strategy and operations officer, could not be reached for comment.

 



15 Responses to “Runcie, Aide May Have Missing School Trucks”

  1. Ghost of McLovin says:

    Runcie got thrown “under the bus” by the auditor (or the transportation staff). hilarious

  2. oops says:

    Just goes to show what several have been saying all along, many of the “missing” items are not actually “missing” but have not been properly documented. Not that that’s ok, but at least its better than actually “missing” as in stolen.

    What will it take for the SB staff to properly account for its possessions? This has been going on for waaayyyyy too long.

  3. Floridan says:

    The truth is that any large organization is going to have unexplained losses. Do you think FP&L or Motorola can account for 100 percent of their inventory at any one time? As has been stated, in most cases it is a recording error — items surplused but inadvertently not deleted from inventory or someone moving to a new office and forgetting to take everything, etc.

  4. PinesPayback2Dave says:

    OK so we now know that the missing Fords are accounted for but what about the tax payer money the Chief of Police failed to be accountable for when the security company was overpaid….Oh yea it was the previous Directors fault…or was it George Bush’s fault..

  5. Parent says:

    Nobody is questioning the need Runcie and Woods have for a Ford Explorer? Isn’t Runcie driven everywhere by his staff?

  6. modeengunch says:

    We’re providing autos for the school folks? Explorers no less?
    No wonder our school taxes are so high. Are they transporting books and supplies? This crap needs to stop.

  7. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    In the many years I’ve been on the Audit Committee, I’ve found that in most cases it’s not accurate to say it’s simply recording errors. Look at the district’s website under Departments for the minutes of the Audit Committee.

    In the case of Transportation, the prior audit had about a million dollars’ worth of equipment unaccounted for, and this one has $980,000.

    Schools and departments have had high losses over the years, but because of the diligence of Chief Auditor Pat Reilly and auditor Mark Magli and his colleagues, we’ve seen much improvement.

    Transportation has been the exception. You can’t assume it’s just bad recordkeeping, especially when a prior high level administrator admitted he bet he knew where missing equipment went. Of course there was no effort made in the past to do anything to correct the situation.

    Comparing the school district to FPL or Motorola? Those businesses couldn’t exist for long with the same lack of accountability this district has had for too many years.

  8. Watcher says:

    Runcie drives himself

  9. correction says:

    no chip lamarca is driven everywhere by county paid staff..

  10. Mike Roberts says:

    Hey Chip, you must be doing something right cause apparently the folks on here are obsessed with you. They even talk about you when you aren’t the subject of the story!

  11. Jim Kale from Villages says:

    You cannot always trust what Chief Auditor is saying because the Audit Department is/was full of incompetent under-qualified staff. Remember the former director Facility Audit Dave Rhodes – did not have a college degree but his position required CPA! I heard that now Chief Auditor Reilly himared another useless and inexperience ex-project manager Jerry Usallan to replace Dave Rhodes. How could you trust them??

    I think Runcie should think twice before reacting to the report and should investigate the cronyism in the Office of Chief Auditor.

  12. Fly on the Wall says:

    Beg to differ with you Jim Kale. Dave was able to get back millions on the “Other” change order scam concocted by the Chief Building Official Lee Martin and Associate Superintendent Mike Garretson. Also, the lawsuits on construction projects that were a result of audits of the Facilities Department were successful, too. In just a few lawsuits, at least $3.3 million. Didn’t anyone find it unusual when the Auditing Department’s lawsuits were successful, why did the Board only allow only hiring two construction auditors when there were more than 100 construction projects and only 5 or 6 of these could be audited and reported every 6 months? Who reported the problem with the Construction Management at Risks projects when there was no risk because there were large contingencies added to these contracts. They also at least 10-15% more than other types of bids and the District never received any savings? Who reported the problems with the Temporary Certificates of Occupancy, close to 250-300 and very few, less than 10 Certificates of Occupancies? Shall we go on?

  13. Fly on the Wall says:

    Left out the Construction Management at Risk projects costs the District and the public 10-15% more than any other type of bid project and no savings were ever returned to the District.

    You need to look elsewhere in the District for the incompetence and there is plenty to go around.

  14. just one vote says:

    SBBC advertises positions to make it look like they will staff up and change. more inspecors, plan reviewers, engineers and pm’s brought in under current /old guard cronism, and that includes the facilities head will not change a thing. runcie needs to cut the head off the snake. till then same old same old, more passive aggressive performance from seasoned staff and NO BONDs from voters in 2014

  15. Michael Mayo says:

    Guess this is another case of the left-hand not knowing what the right is doing at the school board.

    This take-home vehicle is part of Runcie’s contract — originally, he was supposed to receive a $900-a-month car allowance, but that provision was stripped out by board members in final negotiations. Instead, he was allowed to get a district-provided car instead.

    Guess he got the Explorer. I wonder who pays for the gas?