Los Banos school board members argue over hiring of contractor

Greg Opinski, a contractor who once sued the Los Banos Unified School District over a construction contract at Pacheco High School, has been hired by the district as construction manager of the Mercey Springs Elementary School addition.

Opinski’s hiring Tuesday triggered heated arguments between board members and spawned complaints from members of the public, including several past board members.

Board Vice President Marlene Smith, clerk Tommy Jones, and members Carole Duffy and Dominic Falasco voted in favor of hiring Opinski during the special meeting. Board President Anthony Parreira and trustees Dennis Areias and John Mueller opposed it.

In the middle of the discussion, Smith said she was sick of the bickering.

“I thought I walked into a big pot of crap,” Smith said about when she started serving on the board. “This is a bunch of mess. … We have not done one productive thing for one kid in this school district.”

Smith complained that the board was building schools but not focusing on what’s happening in those schools.

“This school board is not a conducive group; it’s disjointed,” Smith said. “ I’m going to say it’s a testosterone issue in my opinion. And, I’m sorry, Dennis. You’re a part of that. And, Tommy Jones, you are, too.”

Areias fired back and was speaking about his 18 years on the board when he was interrupted by a board member who indicated that Aries’ tenure was “too long.” It wasn’t clear which trustee made the comment, but Aries then directed his attention to Jones.

“That’s fine, Tommy,” Areias said. “But we had no problems until four years ago when you got on the board.”

Former board members and several members of the public spoke out against the district hiring Opinski, citing his previous tussles with the school district and questioning the timing of the special meeting, which happened less than a week after the board reviewed details of the construction manager position at a regular board meeting.

Andree Soares, a former board member, said she didn’t have the background regarding the current project, but said she has experienced dealing with Opinski as a contractor.

“I will tell you it wasn’t a good experience,” Soares said, asking the board to consider pushing the hire to the next board meeting.

As construction manager, Opinski will assist in the expansion of Mercey Springs Elementary School, with a construction budget of $7 million, according to the contract.

Opinski will be responsible for coordination, administration and scheduling of all work on the project, and will be responsible to ensure completion within the budgeted cost of the project, according to the contract.

The contract states that Opinski will be paid no more than $541,208, and the district will reimburse Opinski or other vendors for reimbursable expenses up to $99,620.

Those at the meeting were also concerned that Opinski had already put more than 300 yet-to-be-paid hours into the project, according to a contract exhibit, despite not officially having taken the job as construction manager.

According to Enterprise archives, Opinski sued the school district in 2008 claiming that people associated with or working for the contractor who won the bid for a new high school had ties to the school district.

At the time, Opinski had pending lawsuits with other school districts in the county. The district eventually settled with Opinski, according to board comments Tuesday.

Former board member Colleen Menefee questioned the timing of the meeting, noting that acting Superintendent Dean Bubar couldn’t be present to give his input.

“It just leaves the impression something is being done a little underhanded,” Menefee said. “It doesn’t look good to the public.”

Falasco said the special meeting was scheduled to allow him the opportunity to be there because he previously was recovering from surgery.

Jack Mobley, who recently ran an unsuccessful campaign for Merced County supervisor, said he has worked with Opinski in the past and vouched for him.

“In fact, he’s easy to work with, and we haven’t had any problems with the building (he built for us), plumbing, infrastructure,” Mobley said.

And, as has been the case in previous meetings, discussion devolved from questions to accusations.

Areias expressed his suspicions about Opinski, asking how many people would put 300 hours into a project they wouldn’t be guaranteed to receive.

Areias also blasted Smith, Jones, Duffy and Falasco for the timing of the meeting.

Parreira said he was concerned about the contract not specifying a definitive cost. Mueller, who voted against the contract along with Parreira and Areias, noted the potential cost seemed excessive compared to other school projects.

Smith, Jones and Falasco noted that hiring Opinski was a better alternative than the lease-leaseback agreement used to build the recently constructed Creekside Junior High School.

They claimed the contract allows the board to see where every dollar goes, while Areias defended the lease-leaseback and financing of the middle school.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Los Banos school board members argue over hiring of contractor."